"I'm sorry I didn't come to the director's party yesterday, I was working," Raymond explained a few seconds after she hung up. "No problem." She put on her seatbelt and that's when she saw it: the Nordic's car stopped at a corner very close to the house. Her whole body went into tension. Raymond noticed how she pressed herself closer to the seat. "You sure have met Asgard." She looked up at him. Sofia still wondered how this man who represented the law could know about the existence of these people who seemed to represent everything that was wrong with Albany, but at the same time, her brain made her conclude that precisely because he was a lawman, he must know all the secret and dark loopholes of the place. Besides, she could not ignore the confession he made to her so few days ago, about having been a colleague of Leonel Vos and being in the middle of it all. "Asgard... As if I had gone to see him alone" she threw out the words bitterly. They arrived at the school. All vehicle
Twelfth dawned and after all the protocol, where Raymond once again drove her (the same way they did the day before, with Liam in the principal's car), teacher Sullivan managed to say goodbye to her students, apologized for the inconvenience, and corroborated with them every class, their contact list, phone numbers and email addresses. She emphasized that her educational plan would be to continue with online classes, although she emphasized talking first with their parents about it, to see if they agreed with this method. Still, she was hopeful that after the pandemic hit the world, families with children in the educational system were already accustomed to using virtual methods for learning. She saw no other way to keep in touch with her new life in Stone Village. Larry was in full agreement and that made the board not exclude her from upcoming payroll payments. «Okay, I'm out of here, done; I got it.» Sofia was shaking her hands and thinking about it constantly, several times, out
«They guard her too much; this is crazy,» Elizabeth thought, who had also joined the line of people surrounding Principal Larry McDonald's house. The woman couldn't help herself. She had too much anger built up, and she felt humiliated, even though she knew exactly what her mistake was. And it wasn't just the blackmail of Leonel's employee, who she thought should have been fired by now. She was sure that the biggest mistake was to have fallen in love with Mr. Vos. Now, with every neuron in her brain on him, she couldn't turn away, she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't. Try as she might, she could not manage to take any steps other than being close to the reason she felt ruined what little had with the businessman. When she left the building, didn't leave the area at once, she stayed patiently and very close to wait for one of the people who worked for Leonel to make an appearance out of there, or for him, even if it was the next day; she was willing to wait until
Sofia felt some relief at hearing that, causing her tears to dry. She walked into the great room of Larry's house and smiled. "Girls, a hug, will you? Oh, how nice..." she said, hugging her friend's daughters, girls she felt like nieces. "We're leaving now. Liam?" Sofia's son smiled sadly and hugged each girl. He was embarrassed and didn't want to do it, but he had no problem pleasing his mom. The teacher gave the princesses in that home some nice words and told them both at the same time that they would see each other soon. "Are you ready?" the detective asked over the phone. "We're out the door," she reported. "Come out now." Sofia looked at Larry and Fabiola. She hugged him tightly, then looked at each other's faces. Everything was too heavy and complicated for this friendship forged years ago. Then the women shared a hug, too, saying good things to each other and wishing all the best. Leonel watched her leave, she was in a hurry, hardly looking sideways, concentrating on
Raymond explained to the teacher during the flight that Leonel had already taken care of everything in San Juan: accommodation for that night and the installation during the time she and Liam would be there. The child and the mother felt tired. She would have liked to walk around a bit, see some of the surroundings, and get into what little she could see through the car window, but there was no time or energy for that. Sofia had no idea what she would find the next day. She had information about the school, its location, and the contacts of Larry's friend, who also served as a teacher and campus coordinator, but no one informed her of the magnitude of her status in which she would live there in Puerto Rico, she didn't know where she would be staying, nor all the things she would benefit from, not even intuiting it when it was a vehicle with an assigned driver who picked them up at the airport and not a cab, being a luxurious dark blue van with a very well dressed driver, plaid shirt
The woman could not move; in her head, only one question was formulated: how is it possible for him to be here? Leonel approached her. When he had her close enough, he placed his hands on her delicate shoulders covered by the pink cloth. He rolled his manly palms a little lower, encircling her arms, squeezing a little, looking into her face, contemplating once again the beauty in Sofia's face, controlling himself, calming the fire in his hands and that violence in his mouth, feelings that were born just by seeing her. He was not wearing a suit, but a black sweater that made Sofia salivate, they lowered her gaze and quickly looked at the man's body, stunned by the detail; she couldn't believe she was seeing him there, so beautiful, so handsome, so powerful. "How is it...?" Sofia's words didn't reach the end because it was Mr. Vos's mouth, which fell in a crash and mutilated them before they could be released. The teacher's skin was filled with a great sensation and surrendered to
(Days ago...)A day after Larry's party, Mark, the man who worked for Leonel, had an order, and he was sure it would be easy to execute. However, there was always a great risk of everything going wrong. Leonel Vos' closest and most trusted team had worked closely with Gael Cliff's men as if every one of them had been on the payroll of the same company. But those who were truly loyal to the businessman and former intelligence officer had a life incentive: to put an end to the mafias and powers led by the Cliffs, especially the son, Gael. They turned out to be few police officers in Vos' favor, those that even he trained (in the beginning) for the benefit of his enemy. The businessman's men, who were part of his clandestine security company, were trained to fight, carry out espionage, and speak at least two languages; they also learned to handle themselves within the world of the elite, to use formal suits and good behavior for different celebrations. Each one of them, women and men,
Amapola nodded, realizing that there was no way out. "Good. Don't be absent, Harais. I know where you live and what you do when you don't come here. I know details of your life that you yourself don't even imagine anyone else could know. I could use all that information to harm you. If you go crazy and give me away, we understand that you are inside a place full of danger, don't we? Asgard is one of many here, that's why it will fall sooner or later, but it won't be easy. I don't think you dare to give away an infiltrator." "He's coming today," she announced. "I know, that's why I won't be here long. He knows me, he can't see me. If he sees me here, he'll know what I'm up to and everything will be ruined, so you won't say anything about me. You'll lie and you'll do it right. You'll say I was just another one of the bunch, whatever, always distract the attention of your coworkers and your boss from me. In the meantime, work with the Nordic; don't show any mood swings in front of him
"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