Chapter 14:

Michael meets Christina's gaze and he feels his heart skip a beat.

"Ok Comare." he said with a stern posture while he tried not to flinch from the pain he felt all over his body.

Upon hearing this, Mario's jaws clenched even more causing his gums to bleed a little.

"Yes Mario, can I help you?" Christina asked with a furrowed eyebrow. She did not even look at him because she was agitated by Mario's interruption.

'Could he come at a better time than this?' She thought to herself, annoyed.

"No, comare, it's just that I have not seen…" Christina cut Mario's sentence short with a simple hand wave signal. Mario is outraged with this and storms out of the bedroom before he could be more embarrassed by her.

He gently closes the door because he did not want to slam it as it would annoy the comare. 'How dare she treat me like that in front of that idiot? I have been here longer than him and then this so-called Michael came in and 5 minutes later he ruined my chance to be with Christina.' He thought to himself as fierce jealousy surged within him. He stomped his foot on the ground, leaving the hallway.

Back in Christina's bedroom…

"Don't mind Mario, I am sure he had a stressful day without me to consult with." Christina says with a silly smirk on her face.

Michael didn’t respond. Merely keeping his face void of any emotions.

Seeing this, Christina frowns and thinks he’s more grumpy than he is and she’s supposed to be the boss here.

He didn’t really seem meek like the other soldiers. Who was he really? She couldn’t help but wonder.

Dinner was later served to them and they both enjoyed the meal. After they were done eating, they sneaked into the covers and chatted the night away….

In that moment Christina forgets she is a leader of one most feared cartels in the world.

"So, Michael, tell me more about yourself." She said with her eyes wide open in anticipation of his answer.

"What do you want to know?" He asked quietly.

"Well, things like where are you from? What you did for work? Your family?" She asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

Michael scoffs at Christina's questions without showing his true emotions. 'How dare she ask me such questions when she kidnaps people without caring about them or their families and what they go through looking for their loved ones.' He thought to himself.

'This woman is crazy!' He muttered to himself while he kept a stern poise on his face.

He lets out a single cough to clear his throat.

"I was a construction worker and I was raised by a single mom. My father was killed by the neighbourhood gangsters because he refused to pay a tax of some sort to them." He said while feeling his anger brewing up inside as memories of his father's death came back to him. He lied about his work and the people who killed his father but it's true that he was raised by a single mom.

Michael's father was murdered by a small time local mafia in the community he lived in. He was young but still remembered everything and he vowed to take revenge one day….but he has never done it till now. He had the chance to get revenge by taking down the Chris cartel.

Christina does not yet catch on that he has hatred for the cartel because she just thinks it was a simple gang kill gone wrong… "you’re not alone in this, my father was killed too and till this day I don't know who sent the hit on him." She said with a faraway look on her face.

Michael sees the look on her face and thinks that just maybe she has a soul in her even after committing all these crimes. He reaches out for her hand and gently caresses it.

“At least you’ve grown into a strong and powerful woman.” He says quietly while looking into her gorgeous eyes.

‘She’s so beautiful.’ The thought occurs to him before he could stop himself.

Christina's face brightens up with a smile… At least they have one thing in common and that is both there father's were murdered unfairly.

***********

Meanwhile with commander Mario….

Mario is furious with the way Christina treated him so he hatches a plan on how to separate them both. He calls his trusted mole outside the mansion and orders him to hit one of comare Chris's local warehouse.

"Are you sure boss? If I do this there is no going back." He asked in a shaky voice. He knew how Christina punished people who betrayed her.

"Yes, just make sure it looks like the Russian cartel did it. They are already in bad books with the comare so it's high time we take out the competition." He said with a low tone voice so that no one could hear him.

"Ok boss but it's your baby to nurse once it's done. Don't just drag me back to the comare." The mole replied.

"I know, just do a good clean job and you can keep the cash and drugs you find there. Take that as your payment for a job well done. I will send you the information you need to successfully execute the job." Mario whispered with a wide grin on his face…

He quickly cuts the call and sends the mole the details he needed to execute the job without being traced back to him.

Mario then awaits for the job to be done. He paces back and forth in his office while waiting for the call..

30 minutes later he gets the call he was waiting for..

"Hello commander, we have been hit by the Russian cartel. We need backup as soon as possible…” Then the man on the other end of the call suddenly goes quiet. This is because he was shot dead.

"Hello! hello!" Mario frantically spoke to him. He hears loud gun shots accompanied by men shouting out loud. He rushes to the comare's room and knocks once before entering the room.

"Comare, we need you now. The Russians have finally attacked one of the warehouses . We need to go now." He said while his knees wobbled with fear. The ball had now been kicked and there was no going back now. He had betrayed his friend and comare.

"What? Those sons of bitches will get it from me now. Inform the soldiers we move out in 5." She said while jumping out of the bed and quickly dressed up in jeans and a black leather jacket with black boots. She opens her safe and grabs her gun holster with the guns.

"Michael, I need you to be here when I get back." She said with a bold face.

"I can come with you comare."

"No, I need you to be strong and fit for me. I will be back soon." She said while she kissed Michael's forehead. She dashes out of the mansion with commander Mario and a small army…

Mario is happy but keeps a straight face so that Christina cannot get any ideas…

Michael remains behind and sees an opportunity to go through Christina's room. But before doing so, he casually looks around for cameras. He doesn't see any. He lets out a sigh of relief… 'good I can finally check her room.' He murmured to himself.

He quickly looks around the room for any evidence he could find but he finds nothing apart from a locked safe. He tries to open it but fails.

'I have a strong feeling that the evidence I need to bring her down is here. But how do I get the password to this safe?' He questioned himself. Then a light bulb went on in his head.

“What if I take advantage of Christina liking me and play along to be in love with her? I’m sure she will be able to tell me anything I ask for.” He muttered out loud while softly caressing his chin.

Meanwhile, Christina and Mario arrive at the warehouse and comare Chris orders Commander Mario to lead the small army inside the warehouse to do a quick sweep and check for any live bodies but they find no one.

All the drugs and the money were taken and the gruesome scene they found is unexplainable. The soldiers were all shot in the head and the Ladies who package the drugs had their throats slit off. This was to make sure there were no survivors to tell the tale.

'Job well done!' Mario quietly thought to himself while he gave out a wicked smirk on his face but he quickly disguised it with a serious bold face. He goes back to comare Chris's car to give her a report. She slides her window down halfway…

"It's bad comare, there are no survivors and all the drugs and money have been taken."

"Then the whole warehouse has been branded by the Russian cartel's logo." Mario added in a low tone voice while facing the ground.

"How much did they take?" She asked with an emotionless face

“Earlier this morning, the accountant called me and said he would bring in 35 million dollars for this week. Then I am not sure about the drugs which were in stock,” he responded.

“Ok make sure the place is cleaned up and bring in new stock and soldiers. I want operations to resume immediately,” she said and immediately closed the car window while ordering the driver to drive back to the mansion.

She gets back and heads straight to Michael… She enters the room while breathing heavily. She starts to pace back and forth in her room with flared nostrils.

Michael starts to fidget…'does she know what I did in her room when she left?’ He wondered. Suddenly he remembers Mario telling her about one of her warehouses being broken into. He takes a long deep breath and slowly exhales. 'This is it Michael, comfort her so she can build her trust in you.'

He walks up to her and holds her hands..

"What's wrong?" He asked her..

Christina looks at him with her eyes narrowed and cold.

"The Russian cartel attacked one of my warehouses and slaughtered everyone while they walked away with my money and drugs worth millions of dollars." She said.

"But aren't the other cartel afraid of you pulling out such a scheme?" He asked with a frown.

This sounded suspicious to him because no one ever dared to go to war with the Chris cartel because it had one of the strongest armies. And to wage war with them is suicide.

He pushes back some strings of hair which were on her face. Christina's heartbeat starts to slow down and her breathing calms down.

"You are right Michael, this is suspicious. No one can dare wage war against me but all the evidence points to them. I will have to take revenge." She said hastily.

"Ok but first I need you to calm down and drink this glass of wine.” He said while pouring out a glass to her. He sits her down on the bed and gently massages her hand.

“What's your favourite snack for late night?" he asked with a bright smile on his face.

For a moment, Christina is lost in his smile. She felt herself melting like hot lava.

"I have chefs for that Michael.." She responds.

"No no no. I want you to sit here while I make you the best omelette you have ever tasted." He said while striding out of her room to go to the kitchen.

Christina's face is beaming with so much happiness. 'No man has ever done that before. Does Michael like me too?' She grinned to herself with nervousness.

'Oh well, let's see how far my game with him will go.' She let out a small chuckle.

A few minutes later Michael walks into the room without his shirt on and his abs are shiny with what looked like sweat or cooking oil…. Christina further looked down and imagined him naked. She lets out a giggle.

"Michael, where is your shirt?" She asked while she felt butterflies in her stomach.

But then again she loved the view of Michael’s abs and she did not mind whatever he had planned for her that night.