Heartless People

SEVEN

"We kill everybody, my dear.

Some with bullets, some with words, and everybody with our deeds.

We drive people into their graves, and neither see it nor feel it."

Maxim Gorky.

CAMILA

"Which one, ma'am?" Adriana held up two teal dresses for me to wear for my first day with the bloody Irish clan, but I really didn't care what I wore as long as I got through the damn day.

"Dr. Lopez, what do you think?" I asked the older man bandaging my wrist. Dr. Lopez was the only doctor I trusted enough to touch me. After all, he was the one who had delivered me, and he had seen more than enough of my injuries to not even bother asking.

He looked up, pushing his thick glasses up his nose before finishing his work  on my wrist. "The long sleeved one would be best to hide your wound. It won't hide the one on your ankle but that one is not as bad as your wrist."

He was right. I had used so much force to pull the plastic arm off the chair that it had cut deeply into my wrist. The idiot had made her cuffs with reinforced steel, which made it easy to break the chair, but it still hurt like a bitch and would scar.

Adriana looked at me waiting. "white heels, ma'am?"

I nodded, rubbing my wrist once the doctor let go. I had to fight the urge to throw this damn ugly ring down the drain every time I looked at my hand.

Daniel held the door open for Dr. lopez, but not before handing him an envelope with more than enough money to make sure he wouldn't have to work for a while.

"Ma'am, after the announcement of your and Ms. Jauregui's wedding this morning, I have a few magazines, charities, and interviewers  looking to have a moment with you." Daniel told me with a phone in his hands.

After raising from my chair, Adriana handed me the dress as I walked behind the screen.

"Daniel, do I look like Martha fucking Stewart?"

"No, ma'am. I would never think you would be foolish enough to end up in jail." He cleared his throat, and I laughed. Stepping out from behind the screen, I let Adriana drop the white heels at my feet.

"Then tell them to go fuck themselves."

"That would not be wise, mio bambino dolce." My father coughed as he was wheeled in by his nurse.

Walking over to him, I kissed him on the cheek.

"Why can't I tell them to fuck themselves?" I asked him as Adriana handed me my bracelets.

"Because, to the rest of the world, you are the fiancée to one of the most powerful women in this country. You aren't the Boss to them. They want a Kate Middleton or a first lady, someone to kiss babies and write big checks on behalf of your fiancée," my father snapped at me, causing me to stop and stare into his dying eyes.

"Daniel. Adriana. Leave." In seconds they, along with my father's nurse, were gone. "You're still mad that I shot her."

He frowned at me. "I do not have time to hold on to anger. And yet, here you are, forcing me to waste time to discipline you." Shaking my head, I smiled. "You should be proud I didn't kill her. She is a spoiled brat who thinks she was born in the nineteen twenties when woman served their partners and bowed down to their will. I'm not now, nor shall I ever be, any one's arm candy."

"Karla." He sighed, using my first name like when he was annoyed or pissed. "You are as hard headed as your mother."

"Thank you. I will take that as a complement." I turned away from him.