Carla was now facing a truth that she didn't want to be tied to, but in her fierce determination to defend herself and not accept it, she doubted everything, from the people around her, from herself.Born in the land of her late father and knowing the power that surrounded him, at least in part, she sensed that those laws would be like a thick and heavy blanket, impossible to remove, toxic, suffocating, and shocking. Her foreboding had a whispering voice telling her right in the ear: "Get ready, because you have no way out".«Exit», she thought, fighting that voice during the travel home.Carla imagined what she would do when arrived, the steps to take, the drawers would open and perhaps leave half-closed in the rush her head was lucubrating to have under an escape plan.She got off the bus at the usual stop, near the popular market used to frequent, the same one she went to not so long ago, a while ago, to buy kitchen utensils, and various ingredients from that gentleman who was her
Carla felt something in her chest, a great pressure that seemed to cover her stomach and explode right there, disconcerting."Carla!" He ran and covered her with the umbrella. "What are you doing?""No. What are you doing here?!" With that question, she ran ahead of him towards her house.He gritted his teeth, but couldn't stand to argue in the rain, which, despite the umbrella, was partially wetting him. He ran after her and they met on the roofed porch as she shook off the excess water to locate the front door, keys inside her handbag."Gimme, I'll help you...""No," she cut him off, emphasizing the movement of her hands on the purse he pretended to grab. "That's it," she announced when the door listened to her after using the key.They went into the house.She turned on the light and in front of Max's eyes, an entire wooden house unfolded. It smelled of flowers, flour, and something like sugar. Suddenly cookies bring back memories of times in his life that he had not recalled."Wh
Walk through the house, despair. All-hazards calls, unanswered calls. Carla wrote an email to her Aunt Lin, her mother's sister, to help her locate an attorney to advise her and serve as a companion in the midst of all the madness.Her distress prompted to urgently settle down in front of her computer. She needed to get in touch with her aunt as soon as possible.She was in a lot of trouble. For Carla, the choking inside her confirmed her theory: things would get worse if she didn't do something about it.Wearing her home clothes, her straight, black, long hair tied up in a high bun, this being a December night, barely illuminated by the dim light from the kitchen, she turned on her laptop, opened the email application and started typing, trying to placate the strong feeling of injustice that was sweeping over her at that hour.To: lingreat100@email.cityFrom: carladavis1986@email.city"Auntie Lin, I need urgent help! And I hope you read this email in time. I need a lawyer, maybe you
Christmas Eve arrived. It was a few hours before the beginning of the celebration.The most disconcerting thing for Carla, in all her life, was not having recognized an evildoer, an obstacle of her boss Maximiliano Bastidas, some months ago. Or collaborating with the city's justice system, or with the authorities, to have one of the most wanted men in the whole country imprisoned. Much less that those events that happened not so long ago made her and Max interact better, get to know each other a little more, just a little, and come to feel something, a kind of attraction that could be summed up physically.Nor was it finding out that her father had thought of her at a certain point in her life and left her an inheritance she did not want, much less signing a non-disclosure agreement and a prenuptial document, something she had never thought of doing, at least not under those circumstances and much less without a lawyer to back her up. What was truly disconcerting was receiving at home
"Can you explain to me how you're getting married? Have you gone crazy?!" Seda Bastidas arrived at Maximiliano's house as if she were the devil in the mood to argue that morning."Good morning, Mother," the son greeted, still eating his breakfast at the main table, while glancing at the newspaper, wearing blue pajama overalls and a white cotton flannel.His hair was wet because of the shower after exercising early in the morning."Please join me." He pointed to one of the chairs that were usually empty."Answer me, Maximiliano!"He raised his eyebrows and looked at her."Who told you?""Lenis Evans."Maximiliano sighed."I completely forgot that you two are friends.""Of course, we are friends, very close indeed. And as a good friend of mine, she asked me if I bought the dress for your wedding."Without remedy, Seda, a very well-preserved elderly woman, with long and abundant red hair, wearing long pants and armhole sleeves with bronze and white stripes, low and cork shoes, plus a pai
The task was done for Maximiliano. The prenuptial contract was in front of him, George had sent it to him.The plans of the English property too there, on the other side, he had been looking at them since the morning, after the discussion with Carla in the living room of his house. Never forget the reason that business strategy exists and is worth it.He leaned his body against his chair and sighed, felt pissed off with himself. Never treated a woman the way he had treated Carla that morning. Her face seething, desperate to carve out trenches where could protect herself, where she could sit and understand that could demand her rights, demonstrating, with her annoyance, that don't and wouldn't agree with any of the decisions he made and would make from now on. The situation, the subtle mistrust, the future wedding, having her at home, the December pressure, getting married, and even Carla's very existence were hitting his judgment. Also, he was aware that he liked her. If she hadn't s
Maximiliano stopped the Mercedes at the entrance of a building full of journalists and onlookers, stepping onto a red carpet that seemed unnecessary to the CEO himself.They were celebrating Christmas, not an anniversary or the most spectacular investment, even so, he was very happy that his press team and the organization of the Protocol department were doing well their job."Maximiliano!" shouted the cameramen. "Here, Max! Here!"With an arrogant smile, he looked at one camera and another and greeted some people who were also arriving, workers of the consortium, and businessmen, all of them joining the Christmas cheer.Lenis smiled, standing on the other side of the double doors."George is the luckiest man in the world. You look beautiful, as always, but today more," he complimented the woman, who was dressed in gold from head to toe."Here." She handed him a Christmas hat."You're kidding."She smiled more openly and denied it."Not at all."Max smiled back, flashing his sexy smil
An hour later, the CEO parked in front of Carla Davis' house. It was almost midnight, so if his plan worked, he had to hurry up."B.J., I'm right behind you."The bodyguard, with the loudspeaker on, corroborated the information his boss gave him."Sir?""You can go. "The street has cameras yet?"Correct. They were re-installed recently, but we hadn't put them to work until we received the order.""I'll give it now. Connect with them, you don't need to be here. Get some rest and Merry Christmas.""Are you sure, sir?""Merry Christmas, B.J." Max reiterated and hung up the call.He stepped out of the vehicle, still wearing his tuxedo.He pulled a package from the passenger seat and walked to the front door of Carla's house.He sighed deeply, avoiding that strange feeling that had settled in the pit of his stomach since he parked in front of the house.He watched as B.J. walked away, leaving him alone. Rang the doorbell a couple of times, heard the noise after a few minutes, and also kno
Arriving at the mountains, Daniel's pick-up entered the second village, a very picturesque place that welcomed him with the decoration of the local fair, and quiet people walking here and there.From rock they went to pop, then to ballads... several songs played on the vehicle's stereo helped them to cheer up, especially the guards. Glint wanted them to feel that this was not a job, but an adventure, an outing with friends. Daniel loved empathy, he thought that this word and its precise action saved his nights and days of boredom and idleness. Sometimes, he felt people inside his hands; it was not something too pleasant when it happened all the time, but in the moments he needed it most, perfection was something that always worked for him."Turn on the GPS," Daniel commanded to the driver, who obeyed, lowering the volume of the music to open the app that would help them get to the inn.There were still a few meters to go, as the reservation was located at the end of the village. At th
She sighed; at least she got what she wanted, for him to walk away to change clothes.One of the things Max assureds her once during those long conversations on the bed, was the lack of cameras on that side of the building, functioning as an intimate area where people could be naked if they wanted, people she never saw, but Max only indicated the two of them could undress there if they wanted to; he did it constantly, didn't care because he knew very well that there were no cameras. For that reason, Carla used to always make sure she was not accompanied, to go with her bathing suit on, however, because of the recent circumstances, she went down without anything prepared and had to undress there, so she took off the gray panties with unusual details in its confection and armhole sleeve, staying in her underwear, a tight white bikini tailored, which she then took off without looking away from the gym.Carla put on the full white swimsuit, gathered her black hair in an onion-style ponyta
Daniel gave precise instructions to everyone. Leaving the original bar in charge to his assistant, he decided it was time to withdraw for a moment from all the pressure, even from the networks, promising to turn off his cell phone by the time he reached his destination.His driver was already waiting for him in one of the pick-ups destined for his trip; two guards from the new team he recently hired, all dressed in civilian clothes, were standing by, one at the door of his apartment, the other in the lobby of the building.After paying a good amount of money to each of them, especially to the heads of the yellow and pink media who were after him, he remembered the words of his lawyer, who repeated on several occasions how beneficial it was for him that the police had Hilary's sister, who was the only troublemaker who could disrupt everything with her denunciations a vox póluli, in custody and isolated.Daniel was in a hurry. Several days before that September 15, he found out who the
Carla didn't let anyone open the door for her and when the youngest bodyguard wanted to help, Maximiliano signaled him not to intervene, to leave her alone.She went up the elevator alone, Max had to resort to another one to get to the floor. She entered the apartment alone and slammed the door a few seconds before it arrived, without missing anything, neither noises nor stomping much less the enormous female annoyance.Max walked in and closed the door, wanting very much to slam it too, but restrained himself. His phone was ringing, but he didn't pay attention, didn't even take it out of his pants pocket. As soon as he took off his jacket, he threw the keys to the apartment into the glass bowl and continued walking with energetic steps in search of his wife, wherever she was.He found the door to Carla's room open, the handbag on the bed, the golden sandals on the floor, scattered as if nothing, messy. He heard water but not much. He knocked on the door."Carla, let me in."She didn'
Carla tilted her head to one side, throwing it back slightly with a smile full of doubt."What?""I imagine your husband wouldn't have wanted to bother you with such a tidbit of information, and I apologize for being the unwise one to blurt it out, but I think you should know all about it. Brandon Hial is the nephew of your father's wife, Carla. That's a reality that he knew all along."Carla didn't speak for a couple of seconds."What?"Yul exhaled quite a lot of air, stirring in the armchair. Age and so much work added to her back a perennial pain that always made her move every time she sat down."It's a fact of life, girl, sorry again to tell you. Brandon was sought out by his aunt when she found out who his girlfriend was. They didn't have any kind of closeness, but he always knew who his aunt was, of course, you wouldn't think the reporter found out about her roots late." She laughed a little at that. "What he didn't know was you, his girlfriend, were the daughter of Fred Daviso
Already upstairs, and after crossing the threshold of the hall, the couple was greeted by each member of the board directors, except, of course, the head of the press office, since there was still a vacancy to be filled after what happened with Brandon, he was expelled from the payroll.Everyone surrounded the big table. When they saw the majority shareholders arrive, they rose courteously to greet them. "Please, come in," Romina D'Marc greeted, head of publicity, who was currently in charge of filling the gap left by the journalist after what happened at the museum."Mr. Bastidas," Mr. Francisco Billabond greeted, shaking hands with both the newcomer and his wife, "let me express my most sincere congratulations on your day, on behalf of the entire team," the head of the public relations department of Davison & Associates continued. "Please take your seats."Maximiliano looked around, analyzing everyone's body language, as well as an inspection of the place in question, realizing tha
One of the things he most admired about Carla, and what Max liked the most, was that she didn't wear the clothes that he ordered to put in her closet, expensive clothes he ordered to buy, clothes he offered her as a gift. She always left everything put away, Carla didn't touch the pants, dresses, or shoes, and Max knew that the word pride didn't fit, she wasn't proud, Carla simply didn't see the need to wear anything else if she already had her closet, one that she could bring from The City and that, to his surprise, worked perfectly, everything suited her very well and looked exquisite because Carla always (proving it to him every day) had good taste.Max began to corroborate this again when he saw his wife almost parading out of the hallway of rooms in the apartment they shared wearing a sublime outfit that made her look extremely elegant and even much more so than any party dress he could have bought for her. A gray-blue panty with vertical timbered reliefs that were only noticeab
Pissed off, very upset, almost scared. Peter couldn't believe that one of the most dangerous criminals that The City had ever had the misfortune to meet was still harming, regardless of being in prison. He didn't want to say anything to anyone yet, despite the need to keep Max and George informed. He wanted to corroborate his suspicions by finding out much more about this Oswaldo Hurtado, who seemed like a ghost.In about two weeks, Oswaldo took him through a line of inquiry he didn't want to revisit, points in the capital, and contacts he had left behind.When Lenis Evans, the secretary of his friend Maximiliano, came into their lives, Peter realized that Evans' name must be false, and little by little, the very vicissitudes of destiny, a destiny that would keep them together forever, made them understand that it was indeed so. Her name was not Lenis Evans, but Lisa Diaz; she was married to the advisor of the ex-governor Jefferson Smith, currently imprisoned as well and not only for
(Fifteen days earlier).Peter was sitting in one of the office chairs that surrounded the large central table of his office, which was the interior of a shed and a large gray building nicknamed Spaceship, which was nothing more than the headquarters of his security agency, one that he created several years ago after specializing in international security and high-risk protocols.In front of large computer screens, monitors connected to several computers, surrounded by keyboards and mice, he was watching everything, still, thoughtful, after having reviewed the evidence in front of him.He was accompanied by one of his star agents, Jaya Takur, nicknamed J.T., who was an expert in communication technology and research, updated with the latest trends used by the best agencies in the world. Both of them, silent, each one immersed in their investigation, analyzed everything they ordered in front of them.The autopsy was approved by the judge and Peter had just given Maximiliano the results.