"It was absolutely nothing. I had no ties. No bittersweet memories. I was leaving nothing behind. Never experienced companionship, never been in love. And in that moment, all I felt was loneliness and regret."
But there's always a first time..
We got in the car towards the event, I could feel some adrenaline in my stomach, I closed my eyes in an attempt to meditate and focus on the mission "Are you okay?" Harry asked, I nodded and looked outside the window ''I still don't feel comfortable with missions like that." I said "You get used to it." He tried to calm me down ''Really? And how do you know?'' I said looking at him with an ironic look, he looked me up and down checking my red dress and my thigh exposed by the high gap on the fabric ''Well.. You're right, I don't.'' He looked at me, I giggled and heard Merlin.
''Remember this mission will be in three steps, so please don't screw it up.'' He warned us ''Jack Webber. Our target.'' I focused on the photo that appeared through the contact lenses that already bothered my eyes, I would rather be wearing glasses like Harry ''The man is a charlatan, a passionate romantic, his target is mostly married women, do not approach at this stage, I want you to pay attention to each step, attitude, conversation, everything that he may share with someone.'' Merlin warned us.
''Draw attention among the guests, make yourself known, for any problem, Egssy will be there to help but don't talk to him, nor exchange signs, no one can know that you two know him. Everyone has the same mission in this first stage.'' I took a deep breath as we entered a private parking lot ''This mission requires great care, seek any kind of approach to his allies, if I may call them. Good luck Mr. and Mrs. Lastra.'' I cleared my throat ''Why do we have to be Italians and not just British?'' I asked ''Our friend Jack apparently has a thing for Italian women.'' Merlin ended the call, I looked at Harry who kept his eyebrows raised in an ironic way, probably messing with me in his mind.
The mission was going to be a long one, first getting along with the guests, getting our position among everyone, so that in the next month at the next event, we could already share some superficial friendships in common with Jack and try to be invited to his private party in Glasgow, in his mansion, where the ultimate goal would be to enter one of his security rooms to disable all her mercenary plans to enter the British parliament through hackers and high computer intelligence, which would be on the same day that the queen would give a speech to the people and most of the royal security are occupied. A mission that would take about 2 months, just thinking about keeping my head on it for so long made me stressed, a lot can happen in this much time.
"Merlin, we're in." Harry said after closing my door, I held on his arm and we entered through the big and luxurious door of the hotel. We didn't waste time socializing with another couple at the bar, even so I could see all the strange looks on us, we were totally unknown in the middle of so many people with money, Harry spared no effort in making it very clear about our investments in Italy. Most of the wives were too old to trade matters with me, but I didn't let that stop me from bringing something in common with everyone.
''I really don't understand how these women manage to live in this enviroment.'' I whispered infront of Harry, who kept his eyes on the crowd. ''I assume you get used to it.'' He said, I looked around and my gaze crossed Egssy's "I'll be right back." I told Harry and went to the ladies room, straight to the mirror and opened my bag, pulling out a small bottle of eye drops. There were two women in their early 20s talking beside me, about 10 steps away, they both looked at me and changed the subject, I looked at my reflection and put the liquid in my eyes in an attempt to relieve the irritating sensation of using contact lenses "I'm so sorry for the discomfort, let's try to fix this for the next step." I heard Merlin speak, Icleared my throat and blinked a few times.
''Do I know you?'' I heard the voice beside me as I stared at the girl in a the black dress and smiled '' Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Elizabeta.'' I held out my hand to intodruce myself '' Alisson, and this is Jennifer.'' she introduced her friend, I greeted them both ''We had never seen you at these events, so I was in doubt about who you are.'' She spoke crossing my personal line ''I came with my husband, we are from Italy, we're here to get to know better the British market.'' I tried my best ''Do you know Jack?'' she asked, I hesitated for a few seconds ''Jack Webber.'' She added ''Oh, yes, I actually only heard of him, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him yet.'' I smiled sympathetically.
''I'm sure he will be interested in meeting you and your husband, he has a lot of contacts in Italy.'' She gave me an opportunistic smile ''Do you work with him?'' I asked ''Yes, we work togheter for 2 years now, I'm sure that you and your spouse will identify with him a lot. After all, he also knows how to throw a party.'' Both giggled ''Alisson Garner and Jennifer Leston, both have been working for him for over 10 years, Alisson is in charge of finding new investors to pay for the dirty work. I'm going to search for more information, enought for now Lancelot.'' I heard Merlin.
''I'm sure of that, I hope to meet you two more often. It was a pleasure.'' I smiled and left the room, Harry was a few meters away from the bathroom, talking to a blonde woman who appeared to be his age, I looked around ''Lancelot, your husband is talking to another girl.'' Eggsy joked over the call ''He's working and you should too.'' I whispered a little uncomfortably ''The goal is to get peoples attention.'' I took a deep breath and went silent.
Your husband. I looked at Harry and imagined for a moment what would be like to be married, to have real human contact again, after all, it has been 7 years since I have had any kind of relationship with anyone, and I knew that for Harry, it has been many more years. I got carried away by the fantasy and walked towards both of them and took Harry's arm "Hello." I smiled without showing my teeth to the nice woman in front of me "Hi." She said surprised "Lise, this is Taylor, one of the directors of the LCL bank in France.'' Harry introduced us ''Taylor, this is my wife, Elisabeta.'' Harry used my fake name as I held out my hand and we greeted each other ''It's was a pleasure, I hope to see you soon.'' She smiled and said goodbye, I looked up at Harry.
''I don't want you exchanging this kind of flert with another women, did you hear me?'' I joked, but Harry didn't got it and Merlin could see his expression from my glasses and let out a low chuckle, making Harry understand the situation, Harry looked around completely ignoring it at first, I kept my eyes on him, who looked at me again this time with an expression I had never seen before, and then held my hand "I would never make you jealous, Darling." He replied, I couldn't tell if it was a joke or if he actually mean it ''I should had brought popcorn.'' I heard Merlin again.
