Chapter 37
Two Days Later
“Lunch at two?” I ask as soon as she answers the phone.
“I can’t. I promised Julien I’d oversee the preparation of the brigadeiros for tonight’s reception.”
“Alright, Miss Freitas, but your shift ends at five. I’ll meet you in the lobby at exactly five o’clock.”
“I shouldn’t spend another night at your place.”
“Five o’clock. Don’t be late.”
I hang up before she can protest further.
She avoids being alone with me at work, even though I’ve convinced her to stay over at my place since we spent the night in the hotel.
I know this distance during the day is necessary, and I should be glad that one of us can think clearly, but that’s not what’s happening. I feel like a stalker trying to steal every opportunity we have to be together. The irony is that what’s hindering us is something Layla complained about the most in me: that I worked too much. Olívia takes her duties as seriously as I do.
She’s smart and learns quickly. My girlfriend has been spending a lot of time in the kitchen with Julien. At his request, she put together a menu of gourmetbrigadeiros, and he insisted on listing them as her creation.
Of course, I’ll want to taste them all. On her body, preferably.
Slowly, I’ve been bringing up topics from the past. Both about Layla and Olívia herself, but every time she seems uninterested. It’s as if she unconsciously avoids revelations.
Now, however, it’s urgent for me to come clean. I want her to know everything because I feel like neither of us can be fully committed in the relationship until this obstacle is overcome.
Yesterday, I took some time to carefully read through everything my late wife had about Olívia. At the time of her death, I glanced through the documentation, and some details escaped me, but now I have no doubt that Layla knew Olívia was living in precarious circumstances. She even knew that Olívia’s adoptive mother was sick, and not even that could touch her cold heart.
An hour before I’m supposed to meet her, Melissa informs me that Joaquín has arrived.
Before Olívia came into my life, I used to leave the office a little later, not as late as I used to before Nina was born, but still rarely before six. Lately, however, I’ve been organizing everything so that I can be with her as soon as possible.
Because of Valentina, I’ve had to moderate the amount of work I do, and I increasingly value the moments dedicated to her and Olívia.
“Wipe that silly grin off your face.”
I stand up to talk to my two-years-younger brother, who could very well be an old man if we consider his grumpiness.
He’s dropped in unannounced, but it doesn’t surprise me that he’s here. Joaquín is like a hunter who, once he starts on a trail, doesn’t stop until he unravels everything, and right now he’s obsessed with the circumstances of Olívia’s fall.
Although he was initially skeptical about her, to say the least, after I took her to lunch at my parents’ house, he stopped pestering me.
My brother couldn’t stand Layla from the moment he saw her, but he truly despised her when he found out about the agreement involving our divorce and, consequently, Valentina’s custody.
Like me, he’s very protective of the family, and even more so when it comes to Nina, so any woman who came into my life would be the target of his paranoia.
“What haven’t you told me about Olívia?”
“Have you considered that if I haven’t told you, it’s because it’s none of your business?”
“Alright,” he says as if conceding something.
Not for the first time, I think the woman who falls for him will need to be canonized, but despite always having the power to annoy me, today I’m in a good mood. “Did you find out anything?” I know that’s the only reason he would come here. Joaquín never wanted to get involved in the family business. Like all the siblings, he’s a major shareholder, but he leaves everything in my hands. “The footage really disappeared, didn’t it?”
“Yes. From the entire floor.” Before becoming a prosecutor, he worked for a few years as a police detective. When he decided on a career in law, my parents thought he would become a lawyer, although it wasn’t a total surprise that he chose to work helping to fight criminals. “Do you know what that means?”
“That there’s more than one person involved.”
