CHAPTER 2

Adriana

I look at the third recruit: he is a man, in his early thirties.

I talk to him about the basic things he needs to know. He looks at me insistently, I don't know exactly what this way of looking at me means.

Me: It's good? Do you understand?

Pablo: Yes, ma'am. I will not disappoint you.

Me: Thank you, young man! The regular meeting will take place in a few minutes.

Pablo: Okay, thank you, ma'am.

He gives me another hard look and walks out of my office.

I am used to attracting the gaze of many men on me but the gaze of this young man is different. I don't see any desire, any attraction. I can't even decipher concretely what his gaze conveys.

One thing is sure, he attracted my attention considerably.

I have breakfast on the dining table next to my office before going to the meeting I am chairing.

Pablo

I just saw her in real life. She is even more beautiful than she looked in the many pictures I downloaded of her. She is a tough lady and very strict. Her character is completely opposite to what I imagined.

I walk down the stairs to my new colleagues.

Right away, Marita starts to make eyes at me.

I am used to it of course. Being a very handsome stallion with blond hair, women have always thrown themselves at my feet. It was either that or that the ones who showed some resistance at the beginning all ended up falling like feathers.

I know that this success was not only due to my looks, my charisma played a big role.

I knew how to give a woman what she wanted without her even saying it openly. I was like a magician.

In short, no woman has ever resisted me and I don't think that will happen in the future.

Marita tries to ask me questions to get to know me better, but at the same time I notice the way she tries to seduce me. Normally, the frivolous Pablo would jump at the chance but I am not here for that reason. I am here for a very clear and precise plan and I don't intend to leave here without having carried it out.

Marita

I am very excited to start this new adventure. I feel that there are some good surprises waiting for me.

Speaking of surprises, one of my teammates, Pablo, is more beautiful than the word itself. He is a true Greek god. I have literally fallen under his spell. I try to do everything to attract his attention but he remains unmoved. I rather think that he is discreet. And I love discreet guys. I intend to do everything to have him all to myself. And as if luck were on my side, I am the only girl among our trio. Of course, I'm not the only woman in this mafia, there are some very beautiful ones, especially the old ones. I just hope that he and I won't be separated.

Against all odds, Anthony, the second boy, sticks to my sneakers. He only asks me tons of questions that make me drunk. Me, I just want to be alone with my Don Juan : Pablo.

I really feel that this new beginning will be the most beautiful and amazing.

I breathe out and go to the big meeting room like everyone else: The boss is waiting for us.

Adriana

In the large meeting room, I am standing with my back turned, working out the final details of my speech.

I hear my employees enter the room and take their seats.

With my tablet in hand, I scrutinize every detail.

A few minutes later, my handler, Juan, whispers in my ear that the staff is complete.

I turn around and cast my eyes around the room.

Me: Well, I'm going to start this meeting by asking all of you here to have a minute of silence for my late husband, the one because of whom the Mafia of Monte Carlo exists today.

A minute of silence during which the silence reigns in this gigantic room for the memory of Carlo Santos.

I take the floor again.

Me: Thank you. We have with us today three new recruits: People who have decided to work with us. New people, please come to the front so that the old people can get to know you.

They do so and each one introduces himself.

Eventually they sit down.

Me: Dear new recruits, I am very proud to have you on my team. This place is a hospitable place. Do not be afraid. If you happen to receive a single threat of intimidation, please feel free to come and report it to me. My office is wide open, but I generally don't like to be bothered with impertinent questions. Whatever your need, however small, please contact my henchman Juan here. He will take care of your commission. Here, hard work is the order of the day, there is no room for the lazy or the whining. You must be able to sacrifice your life for your superior if he is in danger during a mission. I think you get paid more than enough for that. The last thing I don't mess around with, I don't have any mercy on, is treason. We are facing a competition between mafias, not to mention the law enforcement agencies that love to hunt us down. We have never been charged and this will not happen because we have techniques that are still unsuspected today. As I was saying, nobody betrays me here. I must be able to count on your unfailing loyalty. If the opposite happens, you will pay with your life and worse for those who have families: your families will pay for you.

I keep silent and look at them all surely.

Me: I'm done as far as protocol information goes. I wish you good luck for the next mission.... which is now.

I see the stunned looks of the three newcomers. The old ones were quiet. They are used to it.

I would like to examine how they react and adapt when they are under pressure.

Me: Good luck!

I walk out of the meeting room, a wry smile on my lips.

Anthony

We've only been here since yesterday and we're already being put on a mission. I know I didn't come here to sleep on my laurels but I didn't know things would happen so quickly.

Pablo, Marita and I walk behind the Baroness' henchman, Adriana. He is in charge of giving us the instructions to carry out the mission that has been assigned to us.

He leads us directly to a mini bus.

Juan: You, Pablo, are going to lead the mission because according to your information you have a little more experience in the field than the other two. You will have to unload the cargo that is on the place that is on the map. A collaborator is waiting for you on the spot to facilitate the exchange. Where things get tricky is that the lane is full of policemen, that's where Marita will intervene, to distract the policemen. It's up to you to decide how this will be done. Be careful, you only have thirty minutes. A little advice: don't dawdle. The boss hates slow people.

As soon as he finished talking, he had already left us there.

Me: Erm... did anyone understand anything he just said in such a quick line?

Marita: Me, I'm still so absent-minded.

Pablo: You heard what he just said... We have thirty minutes (he looks at his watch) correction twenty-seven minutes.

He runs into the minibus on the driver's side.

Unlike Marita and I who don't know how to behave, Pablo quickly put his foot down. He sort of saved us.

To escape the police, his plan was to pass Marita off as a pregnant woman who was about to give birth. Pablo was driving, so I had to pretend to be her distraught husband. I was in the back seat and was as confused as possible. Marita also played her role to perfection between the high-pitched screams she gave and her nails that she reinforced in my flesh. She should have made a career in the cinema.

With the crazy traffic, we had no trouble with the police. Everything went more smoothly than we could have imagined.

The shipment was very well received and we even arrived at headquarters a minute early. And this is thanks to Pablo who drove the minibus like a fury.

The astonished and especially admiring looks of the elders showed us that we had passed the test.

Juan, Adriana's henchman, was in charge of checking the cargo but the boss wanted to thank us personally.

We went to her office where she wanted us to have a drink with her.

Adriana: I am convinced now of your efficiency and I am sure that we will achieve great things together.

Cheers.

Our four glasses of champagne clink together.

This new beginning makes me particularly happy, especially since everything started well.

Nevertheless, I am a very grateful person. I wanted to clear the air.

Me: Excuse me Madam Boss for interrupting this emotional moment. But I would like to point out that the greatest credit goes to Pablo. Certainly we worked as a team but he knew how to be a good leader.

Marita: Yes, Anthony is right, Madam.

She turns to him

Adriana: Congratulations Pablo. I'm proud to have you on my team.

Pablo: Thank you, ma'am.

Pablo

I take the last sip of my champagne.

With Marita and Anthony, we take leave of Adriana.

This mission was a mission where the slightest flaw would have sent us to jail. But we knew how to take it with tact.

Anthony is a guy who started by winning my sympathy. At first I was prostrate in my shell but he seems like a good person. He makes me want to be closer with him. I'm starting to like him.

Next door, Marita is trying to get noticed by me. She is a very beautiful young redhead. Physically, she is perfect but I don't know why I am not attracted to her. I see her warning signs but I remain unmoved.

It is two o'clock in the evening. I go to my room.

I take off my shirt, sit on my bed and fall backwards on it.

Looking up at the ceiling, I think back to everything I've had to go through.

I look like a confident boy who has everything going for him, but that wasn't always the case.

I remember when I was six years old, that's when I really noticed that I was different from other kids my age. When I saw them running into their parents' arms at the end of school, screaming: Daddy! Mommy!

Other kids my age had parents, but I didn't.

Instead of a father or mother, I had Samaritan sisters who were kind enough to take care of me.

I was an orphan.

I grew up with this difference. My heart was filled with bitterness and sadness. Why me? Why could everyone else have parental warmth and not me? What had I done wrong?

Strangely enough, no one wanted to adopt me. In my childhood mind, I thought I was either an ugly duckling or a jinx.

The government didn't want to keep me in the orphanage long enough, I had to go to a foster home but I didn't want to. I begged a sister who agreed to keep me in her home on the sly. So I grew up with her until I was eighteen.

And then I started to ask myself questions. Who gave birth to me? Who is my mother? Because according to the story the sisters told me, I was dropped off in front of their orphanage and according to their experience, mothers are used to doing that. So I wanted to know this "mother" there.

I first found my solace in the gym. My real profession is a fitness coach. I guess that's one of the reasons why many women fall for me because of my looks.

I've been searching for years for my mother. It wasn't easy. At one point, I even wanted to give up but I persevered.

Eventually I found out who she was. I was expecting an old lady who was crumbling under the weight of poverty, but I was surprised to find out that she was a very wealthy and influential lady.

She had money, and why didn't she seek me out?

The reality was hard to accept but without a doubt, she had written me off. I was part of her past.

So I came up with a well-structured plan to make her experience everything she let me experience. I wanted to make her life as bitter as mine had been all those years.

I am here to get back at her. I want to be the main actor of her painful karma.

My mother is Adriana.