“Oh, what … let’s get in the car.”
Allyce looked back and took another hurried glance in the direction Severo had gone, before dwarfing back to the car.
After Severo took the phone away from her, he did not return it and she did not go to buy a new one.
At the moment, she was sitting in her car with nothing to do and no phone to play with.
It was the driver who saw that she looked bored and handed her two magazines.
However, the magazines in Severo’s car, all of them inexpensive, were not all she could read and, after a while, she found them uninteresting.
Without turning her head and looking out of the car window, she saw a man not far away looking in her direction.
The woman in the white dress, a tall, bony, average-looking J-woman, kept glancing in Allyce’s direction, as if deliberately trying to get her attention.
Allyce had a flash of doubt in her eyes and hesitated to get out of the car and go.
The bodyguards Severo had brought out were attentive and only glanced in the woman’s direction before turning to Allyce and saying, “Ma’am, let’s invite that lady over, she probably has something important to ask her”.
Allyce knew in his heart that even if they said “please”, they were actually going to arrest and interrogate him.
Although I had never been very fond of this method, it was the most direct and effective.
The woman’s behaviour was really suspicious.
Allyce nodded, “Good”.
The bodyguard got his permission and, without dawdling, got out of the car and went over to fetch the woman in the white dress.
The woman struggled as she approached: “What are you doing grabbing me, that’s rude, I could sue you …”.
“Madam, the man is here. The doorman didn’t care what the woman said, he just brought the man to Allyce.
The only reason these bodyguards can be so reckless is because Severo’s status is there.
No one dares to offend Severo so easily, and they are not afraid to offend others.
Allyce saw the woman in the white dress being held left and right and it didn’t seem right either, what if she was just looking over her shoulder and meant no harm?
With that in mind, Allyce’s tone was much softer: “Let her go for a moment”.
As soon as the woman was released, she approached Allyce with a smile and said: “What a nice lady.
Allyce was still seated inside the car, the windows were rolled down so that she could clearly see outside, and she could be seen outside, but she was always separated from her by a car door, and even if the woman did something improper, Allyce was at a distinct advantage.
Allyce looked closely at the woman, from the make of the clothes she wore, to the various small accessories, brooches and hairpins she wore, and came to the tentative conclusion that this woman had only an ordinary family background.
“Do you know me?” Allyce did not ask the woman directly why she kept looking at her, but chose to ask in an engaging way.
A flash of surprise crossed the woman’s face, as if she had not expected Allyce to ask her that question.
“Mrs. … do you remember me, I was lucky enough to go to the last party once and I’ve seen you, I know you are Mr. Betances’ wife, you are so beautiful …”
The more the woman spoke, the more excited she became, and as she spoke, she put her hand out of the car window, as if in a subconscious movement to grab Allyce’s hand after so much excitement.
Allyce frowned slightly and leaned back, not letting the woman touch her.
Instead, he saw the woman drop a small ball of paper from her hand into the car as she removed it.
Allyce looked at the ball of paper and then raised her eyes to the woman, without moving.
The woman had just acted in a way that seemed a bit rough to the bodyguards, and they immediately stopped her and restrained her once she was some distance from the car window.
The woman’s eyes blinked rapidly before returning to their previous appearance. “To be honest, I was just curious as to what kind of wife a man like Mr. Betances would have, and I took a few more glances out of curiosity, no harm intended, could you please let me go?
His tone was willful and sounded easy to understand without sounding phoney.
The bodyguards did not move and looked at Allyce in unison.
“Let go of this lady and apologise to her, you’re being unreasonable, how can you take care of people?”
Allyce said a few words of coronation and raised the windows, blocking the view outside.
Then he leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes slightly and said to the driver: “I’m a bit sleepy, take a break, don’t bother me”.
The driver lowered the bulkhead and Allyce’s eyes snapped open and she looked out of the car window to discover that the bouncer had released the woman and that several men were standing in front of the car watching the situation.
She rolled her eyes to make sure that her car window wasn’t going to be knocked on and that Severo hadn’t returned yet, and went over to pick up the small ball of paper the woman had dropped.
After picking it up, he did not dare to take it out immediately to read it, but hid it carefully in his bag as if he were a thief.
After a few seconds, he thought that, whatever it was, it was better to read it first.
He unfolded the small ball of paper with a familiar line of writing, with an unknown address and phone number.
The name “Gabrio” also appears at the bottom right.
Allyce’s jaw dropped – this was Gabrio’s handwriting!
He raised his head, rolled down the window and looked in the direction of the woman from before, but found nothing.
A bodyguard approached and asked: “Madam, what is it?
Allyce pulled at the corners of her mouth and tried to look like her old self: “Nothing, I just wanted to ask, is the gentleman back yet?”.
The doorman didn’t suspect anything and simply said: “The man talks about things, he should take a bit longer”.
Allyce smiled and nodded, and after rolling down the window she leaned back in her seat and took a long breath.
It’s like being a thief, it’s a nerve.
He read the little note several more times to make sure he had memorised its contents, then tore it up and put it in his hand, opened a bottle of water and poured some into his palm, twisting the pieces of paper into a paste before putting his hand back on top of the wastepaper basket and rinsing the water from his hand.
Once this was done, Allyce was distracted.
This little note was indeed sent by Gabrio at his request.
He was the only one who could have thought of such an appropriate and non-suspicious way of handing her the little note.
After all, all those things he had done indicated what a cautious heart he had.
But was I going to see him again?
Honestly, I should have gone to see him.
At the very least, it makes it clear … that they will not be friends when they meet again.
What has happened has happened, no one can change it, you can’t pretend it hasn’t happened.
Even if I wanted to make Severo and Gabrio friends, they would not agree.