Ugly Ronney: mafia romance [English]

Chapter 2-5

Yeraz was giving final instructions to his team. Sitting on the leather seat in the back of the vehicle, I closed my eyes and massaged my temples, feeling the headache coming on. It was the sound of the door that made me open my eyes again. This man, with an unreal perfection, impeccably dressed in his suit, sat in front of me. He had taken off his glasses. I noticed his large signet ring with a skull and crossbones on it, a sign of membership in the Mitaras Almawt. I hardly flinched, but Yeraz perceived this tiny movement. The corner of his lip curled slightly. Something ominous passed through his deep, black eyes. There was no one inside the van but us, except the driver, who didn't seem to be paying any attention to us.

Sitting in front of me, the young man stared at me as if he were trying to decipher an impossible enigma. At first glance, I had to admit that everything about him was impressive: his stature, his charisma. The sleeves of his shirt, slightly rolled up, revealed muscular forearms with prominent veins, and one could guess the contours of his muscular torso. Caleb is far from being built like this, I thought, almost confused. I immediately regretted looking into his eyes again. Yeraz was looking at me with his darkest gaze.

"So, what is my mother's plan this time to get me to give her the keys to my father's kingdom?"

I adjusted my glasses and wiggled from one buttock to the other. I couldn't get the image of the very battered man I had met at the club out of my head. It kept coming back to me in flashes.

"There may be no plan. A mother is a mother, you know."

I said these words in a low but sincere voice. Yeraz sighed and laughed silently. He took his dark gaze off mine and looked out the window. The car was speeding along Jalen Avenue.

"You don't know her. She controls everything in my brother and sisters' lives. Manager and mother don't go together."

He seemed to hold a grudge against her. I squinted behind my bifocal glasses and tried to gain a little more confidence, but my voice remained hesitant.

"Your female assistants never stay long. Why?"

Yeraz stared into my dark eyes again and my self-control vanished in a second. The corner of his mouth turned up in a strange smile while the shadow of the city lights danced across his face, blending with the darkness of the night.

"There's a clause on the last page of the contract. Did you read it, Miss Jimenez?"

His low voice, with its seductive intonations, unintentionally made me feel dizzy.

"No, not yet, Mr. Khan. I will see the contract this weekend, on Friday."

Yeraz settled down at the back of the seat. He seemed to enjoy intimidating me. He was definitely the kind of person who was used to possessing and controlling everything by hypnotizing his audience with his natural charm.

"My assistants have all violated the first and second clauses of the contract."

"What are they?"

"You'll find out soon enough, Miss Jimenez. But with you, it will be impossible to go beyond the rules of the game. My mother has it all figured out!"

"What about your male assistants? Why did they quit? Is it for the same reason as the female ones?"

Yeraz uttered an evil little laugh before regaining his seriousness.

"No! We all have things to hide, unmentionable secrets. I like to delve into the lives of the people around me, who advise me in my work. I dust off the skeletons in their closets and use them to fire them at the slightest mistake. Mediocrity infuriates me."

His last words ran through my veins. I could tell by his tone that they were for me. The word mediocre was the nicest word anyone had ever used to define me, but Mr. Khan didn't know that. To hurt me, I needed more.

"The people I meet are often uncomfortable," he continued. "I see admiration in their eyes, fear, envy, or even a certain fascination with me, but you are different. You don't have any of those feelings. What I see is disdain, even intense disgust for me."

His irises were now staring at me with obvious hostility. The flashes came back to me in bursts.

"You are mistaken. Never... No! I would never allow myself for a moment to..."

"To judge me?"

Disoriented, I stammered like a baby. Yeraz seemed to read me like an open book.

"I don't envy anyone in my life, that's true. Everyone goes on their own journey. I just want to do my job and I'm not looking for anything in return, Mr. Khan."

"I don't think you can do it without motivation. There must be something in it for you."

"That's right," I cut him off without meaning to. "I have my own motivations."

Suddenly suspicious, Yeraz squinted, then was about to open his mouth when his driver interrupted him.

"You have arrived, sir."

A few seconds of heavy silence settled in the van. Yeraz was still looking deep inside me to solve the riddle. His jaw tightened. Just when I thought my time had come, the van door opened to release this beast in the grip of his inner demons. I stood up a little quickly and stumbled awkwardly over him. His hands closed on my wrists with a steel grip and he pushed me back brutally on the seat.

"Don't ever touch me again!" he yelled.

Yeraz got out of the vehicle. My limbs shaking, I shook my head to get my thoughts back in place while taking a deep breath. I was relieved to no longer be in front of this man, who I found mysterious, hateful, and complex. I had never felt such a polar atmosphere with anyone else. During the whole trip, we had not been even a meter apart from each other, and yet the space that separated me from him had seemed infinite.