Chapter 14

“Any news on the target?” a voice asked as a man entered. The entire room was dark and concealed in it was one of the most feared men in the whole of New York City.

He sat in a chair, his legs on the large table before him as he sucked on his smoking pipe.

“Yes, sir,” the man answered, approaching him and bending to whisper something in his ear.

The man grinned. He was pleased to hear it.

“Tell the men to prepare to greet him,” he hesitated, then continued with a grin, “I can not wait to meet an old friend.”

The man nodded and walked away without replying.

***

The following morning, Julia woke up beaming.

“Today would be great!” She said with a smile. It was so weird that she could be this happy after shedding lots of tears last night.

Recalling that, she hurried to examine her face in the mirror. Of course, it was bloated and red, as she had expected. The sight of it was really noticeable and she thought of what to use to conceal it.

Out of nowhere, she thought of the black shades she had noticed in one of the drawers. She went over to the drawer and pulled it out. Hopefully, it was still there, and when she tested it, it fitted her perfectly, so she decided to leave them on.

“Why do you have those shades on?” Mrs Lorenzo inquired as soon as she saw Julia.

“My eyes are in a bad state, ma'am,” she said, “I'm afraid it might scare the boss so I had to put them on.” She added pointing to the glasses.

Mrs Lorenzo did not say a word as she left Julia to do her work.

“Good morning, boss,” Julia called out loud with a smile as she entered and dropped the coffee on his table. “I have made you a cup of sugar. Just the way you like it.”

Don raised his gaze.

“Who said you could wear sunglasses in the house?” he asked.

“My eyes are not worthy of seeing, boss.”

“Take it off.” He commanded.

Julia removed her spectacles, revealing her puffy and red eyes.

Don was taken aback.

“What brought about this? Were you crying?” He asked.

Julia was mute.

How was she going to tell him that her mother was the reason she was crying?

“Was it perhaps because of last night? Did I by any chance hurt you during sex.” He asked, in a subdued tone.

“What! No, not that. Seriously speaking, it really wasn't because of that.” Julia blurted out quickly.

What was her boss even thinking? she asked herself.

Shooting her a stern look, he asked, “Then, what is it?”

“Why do you care to know? It is not like you would do anything about it.” Julia said with a straight face. His constant questioning was already starting to irritate her.

“I am entitled to know what is wrong with you. Even though you are my servant, you are under my care and I have every right to know what is wrong with you!” He said in a high tone, but Julia did not flinch.

She had already become accustomed to his attitude.

“Well, it is something private and I do not wish for you to know.” She concluded.

Don inhaled deeply and said, “Then let it be,” before adding sharply, “but I do not want to see those miserable spectacles on your face!”

“Fine! I'll take them off if that is fine with you!” She shouted, her voice now cracking, “Always servant this, servant that, do you know I much I hate to be called a servant?”

“That is why you are here and as long as you're here you will remain one, okay?” Don yelled, his voice resonating across the space.

Upon hearing that, Julia stormed out of the room, tossing the sunglasses into one corner of the room. Her fury had flared up, and she wanted to cool down, so she headed directly to the rooftop.

***

When she was out of the office, Don wondered what was wrong with her. He was well aware of her temper but today had taken a whole different turn.

Why was she crying? He contemplated.

He realized she must have sobbed a lot to have her eyes that puffy. But the reason behind it was what he had no answer to.

When he realized he was overthinking the situation, he shook his head and buried his face in the paperwork in front of him.

***

In a matter of seconds, Julia arrived at the rooftop and took a seat on one edge of the balcony, which overlooked the main road outside the building. Her legs hung outside the balcony, unfazed by the height. She was seated at the top of the Rossini's mansion and beneath her was the road that runs past it.

Vehicles were in motion, and pedestrians were moving around. No one seems to take notice of the lady watching them in tears.

Her day hadn't even gone past some hours and she was already this sad. She had thought that everything would go well, but things ended up becoming worse.

She sniffled and dried her eyes as she continued to watch the people pass by, eventually becoming fascinated in the spectacle beneath her. She was at ease, with no interruptions or job to be done. Just her and–

“–how dare you joke with your life!” a voice thundered.

Oh, not again!

Julia recognized the voice but did not turn her head until she felt an arm grasp her and tug her backwards. She collapsed into his arms, locking her gaze on him. This time, his stare was warm, unlike the typical frigid eyes she was used to seeing.

“How dare you!” He said quietly, wrapping his arms securely over her body.