(Filipo Valentino)
Well, now it only remains to finalize the details of the trigger, the double cartridge and the bolt. The custom grip with the coat of arms of the Valentini family (CNFV – Casa Nostra Famiglia Valentini) is the only painted part, the golden color in contrast with the black leaves an air of sophistication, I always dedicate myself to every detail and the efficiency of each shot, my babies wreak havoc on the enemies.
Finally! I’m done, I run my hand over my sweaty forehead and look carefully at my finished work, now I just have to send it to my team in the basement of this company and in six months these beauties will be in Italy.
“Mr. Valentini?”, Sophia knocks on the door three times.
“You can come in”, I speak and put my projects in the drawer, I check the time on my wristwatch, noon.
Sophie enters my living room, strutting in her six-inch heels, skirt and tight blouse. The only woman I never looked at with different eyes,, she’s the wife of my weapons manufacturing boss, the only one who works up here and knows what’s going on down there, and while I have a lot of respect for her marriage, I can’t say that she’s done it herself.
Well, what I mean is that even though she’s always smiling and handing out kind words to everyone, she’s a shameless bitch who cheats on her husband at work, I’m disgusted by that kind of attitude. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve caught her and my vice president screwing around in hir office, I stay out of it and always pretend I didn’t see it. I can’t stand cheating, but if it doesn’t involve me, I let everyone live life as they see fit, the husband cheats on her too, and that’s all the more reason not to tell hir, they deserve each other.
Fortunately for them, they both do their jobs with excellence, so as long as they don’t give me a headache, they can stay alive and working here.
“You urgently need to find a secretary”, she complains as she approaches my desk.
Sophie is Lucas’ assistant and secretary, I already offered her the position of my assistant, but she always refused so as not to be away from her lover. And it was thanks to her refusal that I met Emília, who to this day I don’t know where she ended up, she simply disappeared from the map. And it was thanks to Emília’s disappearance that I met Renata.
What an ironic world. One person always leaves, so that another can come along.
Sophie is taking care of my schedule until I put someone else in charge, I know it’s stressing her out, taking care of two bosses’ schedules is a lot for a secretary.
“What are the appointments for today?”, I ask.
“You has arranged a lunchtime meeting with the managers of Lux’my hotel. The meeting is about new computers and the installation of security systems throughout the hotel chain.”
“Okay, you can go now.”
Sophia turns and leaves the room, turning my chair around and gazing at the view from my window. It’s a beautiful day today, I need a drink. I get up, grab a glass and a bottle of whiskey, grab two ice cubes from the small freezer and place them in the glass along with some mint leaves. Delight!
My cell phone vibrates in my pants pocket, the name “Mom” flashes on the screen.
“Mamá!”, I answer the call.
My mom doesn’t speak English, only Italian, she couldn’t learn new languages so she wasn’t too smart, only the basics were allowed for mafia women, so we only spoke Italian.
– Hey, have you ever impregnated any woman out there?
‘Direct as always’, I think and roll my eyes.
“You know the answer”, I say calmly as I take a sip of my drink.
“You’re getting old, son!”, she provoke, “I want you to give me grandchildren!”
I take a deep breath, before answering him by asking my brothers, but Matteo has been trying to have kids for years and Vincenzo the last time I saw him kissing someone was on his visit last Friday and I blew it.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever have kids, Mom. You know damn well why, so please don’t stay….”
“Darling?”, Veronica’s voice fills the room.
“Mom, I’ll call you later.”
“Come visit me, I miss you my son, you never call later and…”, I hang up the phone and leave the glass on the shelf.
Without taking my eyes off Veronica, I approach her with hard steps, she notices I’m not in a good mood and starts to back away. I put my arm around her collarbone and push it against the wall, the thud of her back makes her open her mouth and suck in air harder.
“Who do you think you are?”, I ask with clenched teeth, she swallows saliva, “Since when do you think you can enter my office without permission?”
My day hasn’t started well, she still comes to bother me even more, no way!
“I miss you…”
“And I’m sick of you”, I tell her, looking at her, so she can feel the coldness both in my voice and in my eyes.
“Don’t talk like that, baby”, she touches my chest, I pull away, releasing her from my grip, she runs her hands over the place I was squeezing a few moments ago with my arm.
“Don’t call me nasty names.”
“It’s horrible to work here and see you so far away from me…..”
“Resign, I’m ready to sign your resignation.”
“I don’t want to get fired! I want a promotion! I want to be your personal assistant! I want to work directly for you, so I can have you like Emilia even had!”
I raise my eyebrows, is she jealous? Veronica has always been excellent, and despite setting up this whole position, she came from the humblest part of Brooklyn.
Now I get it, that’s why she gave Renata the cleaning job, she who wanted to be my assistant.
“Sorry, head receptionist”, I emphasize her job title, “But next week my new assistant starts work.”
I lie, I still haven’t decided if I’m going to give Renata the job of my assistant, but seeing Veronica’s face turn red with rage is quite interesting, not as interesting as Renata’s, but it’s good to pass the time.
“Who is it?”, she asks.
“That’s none of your business”, I tell her, smiling.
“It’s Renata, isn’t it?”
“Maybe yes, maybe no”, I say calmly as I put my hands in my pants pocket. She looks at me with narrowed eyes and shakes her head.
“What are you going to give her the job for? She must have a golden pussy.”
‘The pussy I don’t know yet, but she does have a honey mouth’ – I think and smile inside, Veronica keeps talking:
“That’s the only way she gets to such a high position without having any kind of experience! That woman from the favela, what did she do to get him into bed? Rather, what had she done in bed to gain his almost non-existent benevolence?”
“Stop! Who do you think you’re talking to?!?”, I exclaim the question irritably.
I never cared about any employee’s fame, but hearing Veronica say that about Renata brings a strange uneasiness to my chest.
“With an asshole! I’ve been working here for five fucking years, and I’ve never been able to earn a favor from you, the richest tycoon in the world, where all he pays for is a luxury hotel for women to fuck! Years of doing everything I can to earn a promotion, and when a spot finally opens up, he’ll give it to some random bitch who walked in here the other day and gave him her pussy to get it!”, she screams in exasperation.
“Put yourself in your place, you already gave it to me too and you want to give it to me again”, I say looking at her, her eyes fill with tears, I know each tear is one more fake than the other.
“I love you, I have always loved you!”, she speaks between tears, “I didn’t give myself to you for a position, I just wanted to be close to you, I never hid how much I….”
“Have you already finished the theater?”, I ask impatiently, she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.
“Please reconsider, I’ve worked here for so many years, more than anyone else I deserve this position….”
“I advise you that if you want to continue working here, shut up and get out of my office now!”
“Of course, sir”, she says with his head down and turns to the door.
“Take advantage of the benevolence I’m having by putting up with you in my company”, I say out loud, but she doesn’t look at me, just leaves the living room without closing the door.
Thinking about her words, I should have defended Renata’s honor and said that she never gave it to me, I even felt a little impulse in my chest to do that, I didn’t like the way Veronica talked about her, but honor has value only in Italy, and anyway, I intend to eat her before giving her the job. Anyway, I have to hurry and get to the meeting soon.
I still have a lot of things to arrange.