PINK MIST 2 ½

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

"Hello?" The husky voice of Mr. Jonas resonated through my speaker.

My eyes widened, my heart was thumping fast and hard in my chest. My mouth had turned into cotton. A few pearls of sweat slowly started to descend from my forehead, burning my eyes.

"Yes?" The man spoke once again.

"Hello, Mr. Jonas?" I finally gathered the courage to speak.

"This is him," he paused, "with whom am I speaking?"

"Excuse me for taking so long to reply... poor signal. I'm Valeria Seretis, I've contacted you about a position in Africa a few months back."

"Ms Seretis, yeah. I remember you clearly by your impressive résumé."

A small grin formed on my lips, glad to hear that I seemed interesting enough for him to still remember me.

"I'm very happy to hear that, Sir."

"So what do I owe the pleasure of your call Miss?"

"Uh... I was wondering... if the position was still available?"

I suddenly found myself stuttering. As if I was torn between wanting to run far away, and dreading the possibility of not seeing his stupid gorgeous face ever again.

"Will you please give me a second to check?"

"Of course," I mumbled.

It only took him a couple of minutes before he addressed to me once again. A couple of minutes that seemed longer than freaking eternity itself. My fingernails were tapping on my coffee table so hard that it felt like I was damaging the poor furniture.

"Miss Seretis, I have both good and bad news," the man's voice made my blood turn thick, barely allowing it to pump through my veins.

"Bad news first, please?"

"I'm afraid the position in Africa has been already covered."

"Oh..." I sighed, not sure if it was by relief or sorrow.

"But I have an other proposition for you, if you're interested in working with us."

"Oh? Please, do tell."

"There is a position that has barely opened up in Boston."

"Would you mind informing me a bit more about it?"

"I'd be glad," the man's voice was rather enthusiastic, "You will be responsible in our new department; it deals with teenage trafficking, and focuses on boys. There are many facilities that take care of women, but not enough that deal with men or boys. People some times completely ignore that a male can still be a victim of rape, of prostitution and everything else a woman can."

His words were piercing through my heart. As if the universe was putting on a sick act just to hurt me a bit more. Every gear in my brain was running frantically, they were all on fire.

The man was still talking, and I was trying to absorb as much information as possible. He was analyzing the needs of the position and the responsibilities I would have to take in order to live up to it.

I was very much aware that Nathan's situation was quite different, that he had put himself into it somehow. But on the other hand, Ebony was the one who blackmailed, tricking him into agreeing while he was desperate. A deal with the devil.