Ugly Ronney: mafia romance [English]

Chapter 12-5

I stopped in front of the entrance of Camilia's office. After taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door, then opened it while praying to come out of this place alive.

She was sitting behind her desk and invited me to sit down with an energetic movement of her chin and a friendly smile. Her glasses at the end of her nose gave her a surly look.

"Hello, Ronney. How have you been since yesterday?"

"Fine...and you?"

She looked at me with slight reproach in her eyes, and maybe I deserved it. Camilia broke the silence with a new question.

"Do you remember the terms of the contract?"

I was emptying myself of all my energy. She absolutely suspected something.

I stammered, "Yes, I remember. No rules have been broken."

Or almost.

"So you didn't sleep with my son?" My face showed genuine shock. She insisted, "Did you fall in love with him? Or the other way around?"

"No, no!"

Shocked by such direct questions, I avoided looking her in the eye for a few moments before turning back to her.

"Yeraz and I haven't had any intimate relations, and there are no feelings, neither on his side nor on mine."

Camilia listened to me with attention, eager to detect the smallest parcel of a lie in my words. I felt her cold and sharp glance on me, similar to steel blades, stabbing me.

"Ronney, I'm not stupid. I saw the disastrous show last night, and I saw that surreal scene between my son and you."

She breathed in to keep her composure. Embarrassed, I felt my cheeks getting redder and redder. I forced myself to look straight ahead to avoid staring at the floor.

"We've formed a bond, but not the one you suspect. Yeraz trusts me most of the time. I can get him to confide in me. He has also met some of my family members, so he sees the life we have in my tough neighborhood. Yes, there is affection at times when he opens up to me. These are rare moments and I take advantage of them to talk to him about another life he could have."

I stopped and looked at Camilia with fear and respect. Her expression finally softened and her black eyes took on an indescribable hue. There was in her whole person an air of natural distinction.

"So that's it? There's nothing more?"

I pressed my lips together to keep them closed, then shook my head when suddenly Yeraz's request came back to me.

"He wants me to move in with him, until my contract ends."

I tried a poor smile, ashamed of my own voice. Camilia raised an eyebrow, waiting for me to continue.

"Your son is a person with low self-confidence, even though he pretends otherwise. He's borderline paranoid, and is probably afraid I'll pass on sensitive information to others. I agreed to calm things down."

There was some truth in my words. We weren't going to share the same bed. Yeraz would have more self-control if he knew I wasn't too far from him.

Camilia rose from her armchair and stood solidly on her legs in front of her desk, still looking me right in the eyes. She wore narrow pants that fit her hips and a white lace top with long sleeves. "Gorgeous" was the word that came to my mind at that moment. At the same age, I would look like an old mummy decomposing, my only bright object being my braces. Camilia took off her big glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I'm sorry, Ronney. All that commotion last night between Yeraz and Hadriel made me lose my mind. I don't know how I could have imagined for a moment that anything was going on between you and my son. Yeraz is incapable of loving a woman. I think you are very brave to throw yourself into saving the soul of such a dark person. You have my full trust today."

I could tell by her tone that she was supporting me. I allowed myself to breathe again.

We finished the discussion on the Roskuf company, the hot issue of the moment which made all the investors shake in their boots. I confided to Camilia my doubts. The accounting file had falsified its figures. I suspected a pyramidal fraud, a Ponzi system, a scam as old as the world.

"Dig into this. If it turns out you're right, we could lose everything. The investors would turn against Yeraz, and his life would be in danger. God, I can't lose him."

The distress in Camilia's voice turned my stomach. The love for her son was so great. Nothing counted more for her than her children. Absolutely nothing.

I left the room, my heart heavy with secrets. I hadn't told her about the kiss in Los Cabos.

A voice called out to me as I walked down the hall. I turned and showed a forced smile.

"Peter. Hello."

"I'm glad to see you're still alive, Miss Jimenez. How is your little vacation in your lovely neighborhood going?"

I gritted my teeth. His sarcastic tone tinged with disdain ruffled my hair. Camilia's assistant stood right in front of me, his hands behind his back, while haughtily raising his chin.

"I'm enjoying it, Peter. Thanks."

I turned to leave, but Peter raised his voice to stop me.

"That's great! Now that you have some free time, we can continue your coaching session."

My face contorted as Peter revealed the pair of Louboutin hidden behind his back.

"No, I have so much to do," I stammered, backing away.

"I have to win a challenge, Miss Jimenez! Don't make it harder for me. Follow me into the living room, upstairs. I'm a very busy man myself. I'm taking a chance on you. Remember: we dance-walk, dance-walk."

Peter headed for the stairs, swinging his hips from left to right and repeating the last words over and over. He was capable of chasing me all over Sheryl Valley to put those dizzyingly high heels on my feet. He wouldn't give up. I sighed deeply, looking defeated, then joined him upstairs.