We have been friends since the intelligence department, although Leo and I already knew each other in the traffic police". Sofia listened and looked at him, but her whole body had frozen there inside that vehicle as if the cold outside had penetrated the bodywork. "There was a delicate situation in the department, it was affecting us. We had to work for people we didn't want to work for, do things we didn't want to do, collaborate in dubious cases with strange methods, and it's not easy to quit in a job like that, or to get a change for another headquarters. So we made plans to fight these people who were our bosses in the end. It didn't work. Well, it worked, but only for a very short time. Leonel had been demoted when he came in police custody of your person." He paused, watching for Sofia's reactions. "Things didn't continue in the best way after we managed to get you out of the country. ""What happened after that? Why are you still a detective and Leonel is not?" There was sile
Elizabeth Cord's barefoot swung like a pendulum in time with her discomfort. Leonel had left her embarked once again. Dressed in red lingerie, she had kicked off her stilettos from the exhaustion of waiting for her partner, or at least, the man she had been dating. She was a patient woman, but she didn't like feeling foolish or being made fun of. She used to take a deep breath every time tycoon Leonel Vos decided on her, but this shipment wouldn't pass up. She dialed the phone number several times, but none of them were answered, neither by him nor by Frank. The calls went to voicemail with only a few rings, which meant that Leonel was rejecting her. On the bed, that man used to adore her in ways no gentleman ever had before. It always depended on his mood, sometimes on how his day was going, if he made money, or if some project came to fruition. And it wasn't often, but he did seek her out, he would come to her on rare occasions. When that happened, Elizabeth would cancel everyth
The young man narrowed his gaze at the device, suddenly changing his grimace. He slowly straightened up as she spoke. "Miraculously, it was me who saw it. I didn't think I could do it, but I managed to catch you with that girl hiding in there. How could you think of bringing a woman into the sentry box? Have you gone mad? Aren't there enough hotels in Albany? How disgusting and unethical!" The young man looked at her with a lot of pallor and bewilderment, also annoyance and harshness. "At least you're still with her?" He didn't answer, barely breathing. "Look, just so we understand each other. You let me in, and I won't say anything to your boss about this." There was a silence that didn't last long. "Come on, Chris, I know what this is like. You and I know what it's like. Leonel upset? You don't want to see him like this. He's going to fire you, but because he feels mocked by someone he "trusts," he won't give you good recommendations, and that's little with what he could do to
Sofia didn't leave. She invested her time in researching everything she could through social networks, the Internet, or referrals about the two men who seemed to be great enemies. One of those men was the father of her son, that fleeting lover she had when she was younger and who abandoned her from the beginning. The other was the one who saved her from him, and a miserable life as well; the same one who was using everything in his power, it seemed, to drive her away. She was no fool. She defined herself as someone who changed, a person with some stages already burned, despite her young age. Sofia Sullivan was another woman. She was pretty sure that something very bad happened to the businessman, St. John's words confirmed it. But she was even more certain that Gael had something to do with everything. After the conversation she had with the detective, she left the house that morning with nervousness. She didn't like to see the black van parked on a corner again. She didn't know if
They talked just a little on the subject, she seemed to pretend well to feel open to it, but Larry heard another time about the Cliffs, owning a lot in New York State. He didn't know them, just as many didn't know him closely either, but they were ultra millionaires, creditors of organizations and businesses that even normal people couldn't spot. Larry agreed with Mr. Vos: Sofia had to be careful if a man like the businessman (who had previously saved her life and especially of the same family) was the one who advised her. She told him that was the reason she went to Raymond St. Jhons; that was pleased in a way because he knew the detective. His sister was a friend of his wife's, and at the Stone Village fairs, which were held in May, they almost always overlapped, greeted each other, and shared a word or two; the director liked him. Now, a couple of times, he wondered: «Do those men over there work for the New York Intelligence station or Mr. Vos?» Larry repressed his urge to find o
Sofia was seated in front of a table in a beautiful solarium with incredibly beautiful flowers that she had never seen before. There was peace, but only in the place. Sofia inside was a sea of many things at once. They never hid her face or her eyes, they let her see everything. They had taken off her raincoat, leaving her in a long-sleeved wool sweater, jeans, and boots. They didn't cross words with her at any time. She realized—perfectly—where Gael's house was, where he lived with his wife, of whom she knew absolutely nothing, scolding herself for not having investigated a little more. It didn't matter; she was already there and felt somewhat protected because, at all times, the man who worked for Leonel had followed them. The opulence was extreme. For her, there was too much luxury surrounding them as she passed through corridors and areas of high ceilings, marble floors, the finest furnishings, and pleasant smells, but no people; they didn't run into a single person as she was
Leonel wanted to be alone, but he knew that Frank, eventually, would have to come in. When Mark—one of his best men—told him what had happened, he could no longer carry out his chores, Leonel could not concentrate on anything else. He was no longer confronted only with the fact that Sofia was in town, not accepting his invitation to go on a trip. Now it was also about the grave danger she was in by leaving in that car. Also, his brain kept searching for the person who could have told Gael that she and Liam were there and not in Europe. Since she decided to stay, he began to embrace as good the idea of Sofia not leaving the same area, nor staying overnight in other areas too. He even liked the idea of her living at the principal's house, after realizing the teacher and Mr. McDonald had no romantic relationship between them. Cliff figured it out too fast. Leonel was sure that if Gael decided out of the blue to check up on him again, he would find out through those inquiries, wondering
Leonel got out of his pick-up holding a bottle with a golden ribbon. He was accompanied by Frank. A couple of men were also with him, although they only got out of another pickup behind and were stationed there to guard the main entrance and a little of the surrounding area. At the same time, the van that the businessman had sent for Sofia and Liam was still there, on the same corner. Larry saw him arrive. Leonel arrived at the celebration half an hour after the professor had been at the teacher's house. He approached the entrance to welcome the sponsor. "Mr. Vos." Both shook hands. He nodded toward Loman out of courtesy, receiving the same greeting. "Come in, please." "Happy birthday, Mr. McDonald. I have brought you this present." Leonel handed him the bottle of thick, tinted glass, much like the presentation of champagne. Larry nodded. "Thank you, that's very kind." They moved forward a few steps until they reached the middle of the living room, which was located on the righ
"Thank you for waiting," Sofia said to Raymond after she had asked his permission to go and change. She was not so foolish as not to notice the looks he gave her as soon as she approached. Raymond rose from the furniture to politely greet her in the living room, where he made himself comfortable while waiting for the teacher. He sat back down when she did. Sofia in a single-seater and he in the three-seater armchair. "Okay, Raymond, tell me, what's going on? What are you doing in San Juan?" "Nothing's going on, Sofia. I know it may seem strange for you to travel back here, but I needed to do a few things here on the island. As you may have noticed, I work together with Leonel. You will likely see me often when it comes to his business." "Okay, it's fine, although I don't understand much, you manage at your own pace. Where is he?""He's busy." Ray avoided the pressure of his jaw. She stared at him. "He tightened the security in this house, then you come... Why all this? And why
It was already 20:00hrs in San Juan, and Leonel had not answered a couple of calls and text messages. Frank called her, explaining his boss sent word that he would contact her soon and apologized for the inconvenience and absence, he was attending to matters that consumed all his time. Half an hour after she hung up the short conversation with Mr. Loman, Liliana arrived out of her working hours, bringing with her a couple of pizzas and soft drinks, plus some desserts that, according to the cook, were sent by Mr. Vos as an apology. Sofia didn't say anything, but it all seemed very strange to her. However, she didn't know exactly what Leonel's work routines were like, the exact things he was dedicated to, she didn't know the details of his specific tasks. Food plans at Larry's school? In other schools or NGOs? Sale of the articles he saw that time when he invited her to dinner? Coordination of companies, management of shares, assets, protocol acts, commitments with personalities, inv
Frank sat in front of his boss's bed, who was lying down, resting from an operation on his left arm. Mr. Vos would recover, but the bullet wound tore the muscle, entering from the shoulder and exiting a point below, causing cracks and splinters in the forearm bone. The businessman should have been operated on immediately, but Frank himself, aided by the family doctor and his influences, arranged to leave the hospital as soon as possible. After what had happened, they couldn't risk staying inside the medical center at the mercy of any of Gael Cliff's henchmen. "Now this looks like a clinic," Mark joked, entering the room and speaking in a low tone so as not to wake Vos. "What the hell happened?" he asked, already seated in another corner of the room. "I think that Mr. Cliff wanted to prove a point of authority over Leonel, albeit a messy one. He didn't ask very intelligent questions. He insisted on knowing where his son's mother was and by logic, he must already know. We thought he
Sofia was not feeling well that day, it seemed that the previous night's dinner had gone bad for her.She experienced a fever in the early morning, which she cured on her own by taking medicine. "Liam?" she said to her son, who was entering her room. She stretched to check the time on her cell phone. It was about 06:00 in the morning. "Mommy, are you okay? Why aren't you out of bed yet?" Sofia wrinkled her eyebrows tenderly as she saw her little boy worried and talking in his tiny voice. "Oh, honey. Yes, I've been feeling a little sick since last night, but I'm better now. I'll be changing soon, okay? Now, tell me something, I see you already dressed, why did you get up so early?" She was really surprised to see her son ready to go to school when there was more than an hour left for his classes to start. "I woke up to a noise." She accentuated the furrowing of her brows. Liam was not a light sleeper, especially at night, as opposed to naps, the few times he took them. "What no
"I'd love to put a bullet between those wretched eyebrows," Gael growled. "I don't know what you're waiting for." Gael looked into Leonel's dark eyes. "If you won't do it, then put that gun down, your arm is going to get tired," Leonel said.Gael took a couple of seconds, but he lowered the gun and smiled as if he was dumbfounded by something in particular. "Leo-Leo, the businessman who orders." He laughed. "I'll pretend that none of your detective friends are around here, somewhere in the walls or on the ceiling, waiting for me to say something that will bring the fucking police here." He pointed around with his gun and gestured with his free hand. "I'll also pretend I'm crazy enough to imagine you've already made a deal with your old Intelligence department to turn me in like a Thanksgiving turkey. Anyway, I came all this way so that you could tell me yourself what you intend to do with Sophia and what the plan is to use her. I certainly don't know exactly where you've taken her
Everyone would know perfectly well that the place was not watched by any camera. Only a few knew that Leonel once, not so distant that time, came to own shares of the place, that after parading almost completely from Gael's ranks, he sold those shares to never again own anything that would link him to Mr. Cliff. However, Leonel kept going to that improvised gym, a huge and transformed shed with a wide space, almost as big as a mini hangar, but he did it in very specific cases, those in which the businessman needed to touch from time to time that opaque world devoid of feelings. The parking lot was open; no one could notice anything strange; it was just vehicles entering the site like any other night; with the difference that day, it would be closed for training. Neither Frank nor he said anything at all, silence was the best behavior they could perform as they drove the van into the large covered parking lot of the shed. Both gentlemen could see the Nordic man standing by the back d
The hours passed under great tension. Frank was worried about his boss, who had not left his room all afternoon, after moving from the mini-mall back to the building to get ready before going to meet Gael Cliff. Mark was prescribed rest that day, as he had hardly had any, so he didn't notice their arrival on the floor. The time to leave for the meeting at Troy arrived, Loman was to let Mr. Vos know that they were to leave. Leonel permitted him to enter the bedroom after hearing the knock on the door. Loman found him readying his gun and placing it behind his back, pulling his jacket over his black sweater, and tucking his gloves into his pockets. He turned and Frank could see the determination washing over his boss's face. "All set?" Vos asked. "Yes, sir. The team is waiting downstairs and another one has already started." "Raymond?" "Monitor the area. He left for there an hour ago." Leonel nodded. With his bulletproof vest on over his sweater, his thick jacket with zipper i
Liliana gave a splendid smile. She sat down in one of the high chairs across the counter from the teacher. "Boricuas love romance as much as we love to party. And we can smell the chemistry of two people a mile away." She shrugged and stood up. "I don't know what the story is between you, but there's candela, there's candela pura." Sofia laughed, felt her cheeks flush, and hated herself for it. What the cook said reminded her of some people back in Spain. "You take me back to my years in Madrid. By the way, I met some of your fellow countrymen there. Not many, mostly clients of the restaurant where I worked. Are you usually that extroverted all the time?" "Well, what can I tell you? Yes, yes we are. Not all of us, but it's something that is definitely in our blood." She pointed to her arm. It's inevitable, you know? And it gets rough when we get infatuated with someone. And wham, there we are, watching and seeing everything, so we don't miss anything." Sofia loved the accent of
Sofia furrowed as she saw one of the guards sitting in front of the house. "New position?" she asked Mr. Francisco, as she sat in the front passenger seat of the vehicle. The teacher had steadfastly refused to ride in the back seat next to Liam, especially when they were just going to school, it also happened when they went shopping. Sofia still felt uncomfortable with so much privilege. "I think Mr. Vos transferred him to that job today." The chauffeur almost shrugged. "But we already have to go with a security team back there." She looked in the rearview mirror, spotting the vehicle following them; at that moment, it was parked next to the curb, just like them. "Live with another team surrounding the house, have fixed communications on recording alert in case a suspicious call comes in, not to mention the alarms activated 24 hours a day, the cameras around the perimeter..." "And some of them are living by the pool, right mom?" Liam interjected with his innocent voice to complet