(Renata Pellegrini)
“There was an unforeseen event at the company, can we reschedule? … I understand, I hate missing appointments too, but really this problem can only be solved by myself, I ask for your understanding… Well then tomorrow at eight o’clock, meet me there at the hotel”, he turns off her cell phone and puts it in her pocket.
We exit the elevator and enter his living room, Veronica sits in one of the chairs in front of her desk, he motions with his hand for me to sit in the other one, I sit down. He goes to her seat behind the desk, crosses her arms over her chest and looks from me to Veronica.
“You almost lost me a million dollar meeting!”, he says with a straight face, what the hell! I didn’t mean to get in the way of his business, I just wanted to teach her a lesson in it.
I try to keep my gaze upward, but her gaze is cold and emotionless, not unlike the first look he gave me when we first met, it makes me look away and fold my hands in my lap, am I scared, again?
‘Where did all that courage go?’ – my mind taunts me.
So much had happened between me and him that I had forgotten about the danger alerts he raised in me. I look at the table and the memory comes to mind that a few hours ago I was sitting on it with him between my legs kissing me and squeezing me with his big strong hands.
“Cazzo!”, ‘Fuck!’, he yells and bangs the table with his fist scaring me, Veronica gives a little shriek of fear, “Now I’m working with donne stupide?!”
Donne stupide? He really called us stupid women?! Okay, Veronica really is, but not me!
I open my mouth to protest, but Veronica speaks faster.
“Darling, understand, she’s a savage, she came from a favela in Brazil, a third world country, she doesn’t have a lick of education, she doesn’t know where the place is…”
“What intimacy do you think you have with me to call me darling?”, he cuts off her speech.
“We are…”
“Boss and employee, nulla di più”, ‘nothing more’.
I stifle the urge to laugh, the way she lies about being friends, what a relief!
He knows the things she does and says he’ll get away with it because he’ll never believe anyone but her? I hope the answer is no, and that when he finds out he will take the necessary action.
“Who’s going to start explaining to me what the fuck they were thinking while making a scandal at my company!?”, he asks, looking at me angrily.
“O-on my lunch break”, I start to explain, his hard look makes me nervous, I feel like a naughty girl, which I have never been, “At lunch, she threatened to leave me at home without work if I didn’t go get some coffee for her….”
“Lying!”, Veronica interrupts me, “I had to organize the paperwork in my living room and I politely asked her to get me some coffee. That’s all.”
“Cagna Bugiarda!”, ‘the lying bitch’, I cursed between her teeth, “You threatened me! You said there’s no such thing as not doing, that you’re the boss and I’m the maid! And you’re already in the habit of doing this with other people! This is abuse of power!”, I say looking at Filippo.
“Stop lying! I would never force anyone to do anything for me, especially at lunchtime!”
“She spilled coffee all over you?”, Filippo asks me with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes”, I answer.
“Why did do that?”, he asks Veronica now.
“She started insulting me, calling me a whore, a woman of the fifth rank!”
“Did you really do this, Renata?”
“I did!”, I confess, “But it wasn’t out of the blue, she deserved it!”
“What did she do?”
I talked about everything in the smallest details and even added some events that I’m not sure if they happened or not with Caio.
“And she said that if someone told you, you would never believe it because she was you mistress and you were eating out of her hand, that you were just a puppy by her!”
I finish and he raises an eyebrow. Okay, I exaggerated a little in what Caio told me about what she was talking about, but she deserves it.
“Stop it!”, she shouts getting up, “Why do you lie so much?”, she asks with eyes full of fake tears, “When you came here I gave you work, when I do the scales I always call you, I treated you well….”
“You accused me of giving the pussy… of acting like a whore to get the job!”
“I never did anything like that!”, she cries out in tears, “Please, Sir. Valentini, believe me, I’ve been working here for five years! I’ve never done anything she accuses me of, you can’t trust this woman, I’ve been generous and welcoming to her and she’s trying to bring me down!”
“I don’t need to lie, if you want to fire me feel free, I refuse to continue working for someone who abuses her power and doesn’t respect limits, it’s your decision”, I finally say and fold my arms. leaning on the chair. .
He looks at me with narrowed eyes, I tremble inside, I feel as if there is a power cable between us and we are in a competition to see who knocks who down first.
I don’t want to maintain eye contact, he seems to see my soul inside, but at the same time I refuse to look away. If I’m going to get fired, I’ll walk out of here with my head held high.
“Miss Veronica”, he calls out to her.
“Yes?”
“I have two proposals for you”, he says, leaning his elbows on the table.
“Which one?”, she asks smiling, a rage inside me is growing. I can’t believe this, did he really not believe anything I said?
“As you were very supportive of Miss Renata and gave her a vacancy in the cleaning sector, I will give you the same solidarity, this vacancy can now be yours, or if you don’t want it, you go through Human Resources and sign your resignation for just cause.”
“What?”, she asks, blinking his eyes. I wasn’t expecting that either. Good, boss! Oh, yes, I liked it!
“Do you want me to draw it for you?”, he asks with a raised eyebrow.
“You can’t do that! I worked hard to work here and I didn’t just give you pussy at the job interview!”, she protests in tears.
“Miss Renata?”
“Yes?”
“If you want, I can get lawyers so you can sue Miss Veronica for defamation and moral damages.”
“That will not remain like this!”, she shouts and spreads her hands on the table making a loud noise, then leave the living room.
I breathe a sigh of relief, one less snake in my life.
“Am I going to be penalized for my attitude?”, I ask without the courage to face him.
“Later, I now have other matters to attend to.”
“Well, thank you very much, Sir. Valentini”, I get up and head towards the exit door of his living room.
I feel my arm being tugged, and my back against the smoked glass door, Filippo approaches, glancing furtively at me. His eyes are dark and his pupils dilated.
“I didn’t order you to leave the my living room” he says quietly.
“I-I’m sorry, I thought I’d better get back to work and not bother you any more….”
He leans over me and shuts me up with his mouth, I try to push him away, but his tongue caresses my lips in a request for passage to the inside of my mouth, and although I had a thousand reasons not to give in, they all flee from me, my mind leaving me at the mercy of this man’s kiss.
The kiss becomes more intense, his tongue plunges into my mouth doing a sensual, frantic dance with my tongue. His hands slide down my back and stop at my buttocks, he slaps me hard on my flesh making me smile between kisses. I grab his neck and run my fingers through his soft hair, lightly biting his bottom lip.
I’ve always seen it in movies and was really looking forward to it, and as I imagined, it’s really good! He smiles approvingly at my gesture and does the same to me.
I didn’t know I was craving this kiss so much until now, or rather this man’s kiss.
The phone rings and causes us to stop kissing, our ragged breaths mingling. It makes my sanity return, I open my eyes and watch his mouth, ajar, red from the kiss. He leans in and tries to kiss me again, but I pull away.
“Why do you do that with me?”, I ask softly, this man has the power to shatter my psychological, upset my senses and make me feel like I’m a teenager entering puberty.
“Because I want it you”, Filippo whispers in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.
“I need to get back to work”, I open the door behind me and rush out of his office.
I need to control myself! He’s my boss! If not I will give reason to the words of that woman.
I run to the locker room, I’m all dirty and smeared with sugar coffee, I grab my extra uniform from the closet and take a shower.
>End of work, 7:00 pm:
Today I don’t have Filippo or Amanda to drive me home, although the bus to get me off in front of the company, there is no stop nearby to take it. I take a deep breath and gather all my courage, I can’t depend on people, I need to manage on my own and it’s not that late, there must still be people walking in the streets ahead, it must not be dangerous.
I decide to go down the street and hope to find the place soon. As I turn a corner, I feel my heart hold tight and a strong shiver runs through my whole body, I speed up my steps, the feeling of being followed invades my mind, the same feeling I had when I was fifteen years old. I look back and see only the hue of the dimly lit night, I look forward again and clutch my bag tightly.
‘I shouldn’t have come alone’ – I think to myself as I speed up my steps even more. I swallow saliva, even against my will, I start to tremble, a feeling of fear takes over me, I feel tears gathering in my eyes, I can’t change the direction of my thoughts, with every step I take my breathing becomes more and more panting.
“Aah!”, I cry out in fear when I feel a big strong arm wrap around my neck and squeeze.
Shit!