The Queen of Africa

Chapter 13

         Rose walked away from the meeting room in silence with Jacques trailing behind her, Daniel had said that he heard some of his men commenting on the cruelness of the new mafia boss and one of them had let slip that his name was Miguél, unfortunately, none of them had heard of him so they had to postpone the topic and continue with actual meeting. 

“Jacques” she called out to him 

“Yes?” he replied and came to her side holding his phone 

“You’re going to be in charge of things this weekend, Tony wants me to visit him in South Africa” 

“Well that’s good, because I just received a message that the annual meeting of Mafia leaders around the world is on Wednesday in South Africa, 7pm. And Of course, you're hosting.” 

“Great” she muttered sarcastically “that means I have to stay an extra weak, fun” Jacques rolled his eyes 

“Don’t be so annoyed viper, take it as a week to relax, God knows you need it and plus the new Italian mafia leader will be at the meeting, so that would be a chance to see him” she paused and scowled 

“All the more reason to be annoyed, but…” she sighed “I’m going to have to agree with you, it’s an opportunity I can’t miss” she said and continued walking.

   

“So what are you going to do now?” Jacques asked, she raised a brow 

“What else? Go home and pack, I’ve already told Simon to prepare the plane, I leave tomorrow” 

“So soon” 

“I want to talk to Kasham, the local gangs have been misbehaving lately, I want to show them who’s in control” 

“I heard about it, 15 people were killed last week” 

“I know, so I’m replacing their leaders” 

“That’s good” he commented and nodded in agreement. 

She went to her office as Jacques went to check on the men, she picked up her bag and walked out of the warehouse and to her black Audi, she slid in and drove off to her house in the middle of the woods. She drove on the normal trail with many thoughts in her head, the present situation was confusing but she had to deal with this tactfully, mistakes could not be made. She finally reached the house, the bungalow was painted with navy blue and green so as to blend it. She came out of the car and smiled as her two Arabian grey and black haired tigers greeted her with a mellow growl, they had been a present from Tony when she became the ruling mafia leader, Remus and Romulus named after the two twins that founded the city of Rome in Greek and roman mythology. She patted their heads gently and walked to the front door with them trailing behind her, she signalled them to stay outside as she went inside. The inside of the house was beautiful painted with grey and white swirls of design and paintings on the wall, the place was tidy, so the person she hired to clean her house when she was away had been doing her job. She walked over to the steel coloured freezer in the kitchen and brought out two raw medium steaks. She walked back to front porch and placed it on the ground before whistling a tune and watching as they devoured the meat.

   

    She walked back into the house and closed the door, the place was empty as she expected and she could almost wish for a companion but she had to remove that thought from her mind especially the one about a brown haired police officer. She walked upstairs to her room and dropped her bag on the sofa with a sigh, she sat down on the bed and removed her boots and she quickly took off her clothes as she went to take a shower. The hot water poured on her back creating a steam, she grabbed a sponge and furiously scrubbed her body as if practically trying to remove the memory of that night, the night she had made a grave mistake, she had let her instincts down and as a result let a man enter her mind. She had tried unfruitfully to remove him from her mind over the years but nothing ever worked, she placed her head on the shower wall with a sigh, she had to try, she had to keep fighting this attraction she had for a damned police officer, of all people, she had to like a police officer, fate was definitely not on her side.

    She walked out with a light white towel wrapped around her and a smaller one on her head, she put on a pair of black shorts and a large sized purple T-shirt. She walked over to the full length mirror placed at the other side of the room and stared at herself while drying her hair, her black hair fell limply on the side of her face and her light brown eyes looked weary from all the work she had been doing, maybe she did really need that break, she tried to imagine herself younger, 10 years again, did she have that bright spark in her eyes as the kids she saw in the park? Was there ever a happy day in her childhood? Did she have a best friend? She couldn’t remember, her past was dark and void, she had forced herself to forget her past focusing only on the present that was what Tony taught her, that was how she lived. She walked over to the queen sized bed and laid on it, the room was silent and lonely, she hated it, she hated everything, she wanted to feel loved, and she wanted the happiness she should have had when she was young not harsh trainings that caused her fractured ribs for weeks. 

    She wanted to cry out her sorrows, the pains she had kept bottled up over the years determined not to let her weaknesses show like a warrior she was built to be. She had felt loved once before, she banged her head on the pillow furiously, that night with Jason had been a mistake but it was only time she could remember being held gently like glass, the only time someone had whispered sweet promises through the night and the only time she had felt free, not caring about the regrets of the next day or what would happen next only on his soft blue eyes that worshipped her. She sighed and placed her head on the pillow, closing her eyes and allowing her thoughts to be filled with a particular officer before sleep took her.