Chapter 11

Kiara Sky

If it wasn't that I begged Luke to come with me, I probably wouldn't have made it in one piece. One, because I couldn't drive to save my life and second, what he said stuck in my head and I couldn't go a minute without looking through the windows for a mysteriously looking car.

Where we eventually arrived was a kind of base. I wouldn't call it a house, and neither would I call it an establishment. The outside was plain and boring but on the inside, there was a lot. It had everything beautiful and there were men everywhere. With the majority of them in black suits, I felt odd being the only female in the room. I had the feeling I couldn't be the only one in the whole building, there had to be another girl. Maybe not the most feminine but at least, a woman. None of that I could know because I was restricted to a boring old room. Just a table, one chair, and a clock on the wall.

I sat here for a few minutes before someone delivered a note to me. It was some old paper like something torn off the edge and he scribbled down the words, stay put. Even Luke wasn't with me this time, he also had his important big boss assistant work to do while I sat in one place bored out of my mind.

It made me wonder what it would've been like if I was his assistant. If I interviewed a regular person and got the job fair and square. Am I going to have to get used to all of this stuff or would he have two different assistants for his two very different lives?

"Mi señora" My head snapped to the door as soon as I heard something that wasn't the ticking from the clock on the wall. Peeking his head through the door was a very familiar man, the host of yesterday's gathering, Giovanni.

"Ah, Giovanni, isn't it?"

"Correct," He said as he closed the door behind him. Giovanni was probably one of the very few people here that didn't have a blazer on. Just a white shirt and black pants. "Tell me, how are you holding up?"

"Well it's not the easiest but I can't wait to have this over with"

Giovanni gave me a warm smile as always and rested back on the chair. It looked as though he had something to say and it was evident as he glanced down to the ring on his finger as he stroked his chin carefully.

"What? Do you have something to tell me?"

"I heard of the stunt you pulled yesterday"

"Oh" I breathed, a shiver rippling down my spine "Yeah, everyone probably knows that now"

"Querida, you could've lost your life"

"By saving someone else's?"

"Cairo's the stealthiest woman on earth"

"He was going to kill her and I know I may have gone over the top but I'm not into seeing anyone kill somebody, okay? That wasn't the plan, I didn't think it would be like this from the start"

"Neither did we but things happen cariño"

"Who's we? The ring?"

"Muy lista querida"

"I don't speak Mexican or Spanish, I don't know what it is y'all are saying"

"Spanish"

"All of you?"

"No, just a few of us. We're from different places around the globe"

"So how did you meet?"

The conversation was going on to be the most inquisitive and I didn't mind one bit. He wasn't going to give me all the information but at least it'll give me an idea of the whole place and these people that never break a smile.

"Just a bunch of old men that met long ago for a game of chess and then the game became more than just a game. Friendship became brotherhood and it became stronger as years passed. The title passed on to generations, down to us"

"So you're all going to leave all of this for your kids?"

"Yes"

"And if I may ask, y'all still play chess and secure this kind of wealth? Where have I been all my life?"

"An average woman with an average mind" Giovanni laughed "Do you want anything to eat?"

Weirdly, he changed the topic so fast like he didn't just call me average-minded. I didn't want to push on, however, cause not only is this not Luke, but it's also deeper than what I think it is. The way I could see it, these guys aren't just into any kind of business and I didn't want to get myself into that kind of mess. At least not until I get out of here.

Hopefully.

"No," I said. We all know I had all the time in the world to eat breakfast cause nobody walked in to interrupt it. "I'm good"

"Luke said you haven't had anything to eat, it's going to be a long day and you'll spend most of it alone. Quite, unfortunately"

"I'd rather not have anything"

*

I kid you not, it was the longest day of my life.

No food, no water, just the ticking of the clock to remind me of how long a second could be. I slept and woke up three times, I even did a little cardio around the room and even with all of that, no one came to pick me up. 

I guess it doesn't take Einstein to see I made the worst decision by rejecting the meal but it's not my fault, okay? I had reasons, none of which you need to know of.

It was a quarter past nine when I decided to get up again. At that time, the air conditioner was on and the room was cooler. The other lights were also turned on so the room was the brightest it could be. 

I brushed my fingers over the edges of the table at the corner. Something prevented me from touching it ever since I got into the room. It just looked odd for a room so modern. Still in good position and standing firmly on the floor but the wood looked very old. It looked like a rare piece and I knew my playful self enough to not destroy it.

With boredom tearing me apart bit by bit, I pulled the drawer open. It revealed a space with a layer of white powder. I ran my finger over it to pick up a smell, that and every other effort to get what kind of powder it was was futile. I pulled open the second drawer, the same thing with even more of the whitish powder all over. Except that this time there was something else that caught my eye. A shiny glassy-looking object.

Trying to be careful with the powder everywhere, I picked the object up and it was a framed picture. Quite unexpected for a room that looked like the life was drawn out of it. I blew air from my mouth to clear the surface and my fingers with the rest. 

It was a picture of a group of people, about ten of them. None of them were males and one was a female, Cairo. One surprising thing about the picture is that some of them had Xs over their faces, six in total so there were only four that didn't have the X on them. Then again, there was someone in the picture that wasn't really captured well, or maybe it was intentional that he or she looked that way. 

It was a man on a chair and every other part of him was blurry. The only parts that weren't were his feet and fingers and the stick he held on to. He was covered in the shadow of the other nine that stood around him and from the way it looked, he was probably the leader or something.

"Curiosity killed the cat" The voice came from behind me and the moment I heard it the frame dropped from my hands.

Bet you were thinking it fell on the floor and broke, then I injured myself like a damsel and he helped me clean it up, and bam, romance!

Well, no, not this time. The frame fell back right into the drawer and I closed it back before turning to Antonio "Satisfaction brought it back"

"You're not allowed to touch everything you see"

"No one told me that, it's not like they're rules hung on the wall or something"

"That's why you have a brain, even if you don't have any manners"

"Patience patience patience" I chanted repeatedly cause that hurt, it did and he wasn't going to apologize. He also has a gun and the upper hand here so I'm not going to be proving anything to him. Not this decade.

"I'll only wait five minutes by the car. Delay me one minute and you'll spend the night here"