Chapter 22

— Like this?! — Nina says, letting go.

— Look, we're going to be late, so let's go, girl! — Patel says, impatiently. She was not a woman with a way with words.

— I... I have to get dressed and get my cell phone!

— Did you just remember your cell phone now?

Nina's eyes widened, remembering that Dominic had told her to pay attention to her cell phone. And that day, she was so busy with her tasks that she left the device aside.

Nina runs into the house and Patel follows her, she takes her cell phone from Hannah's room and Patel observes the environment.

Nina jumps when she realizes that Patel was in her daughter's room and looking around suspiciously.

— My mother never removed the decorations from the room I slept in as a child, can you believe it? — she says, giving an awkward smile.

— OK! Let's go! — Patel takes Nina's hand and walks away, pulling her by the hand.

Arriving at the car, Patel pushes Nina inside, gets into the driver's seat and steps on the accelerator.

Nina is bewildered, everything happened so fast and she didn't understand anything.

She unlocks her cell phone and looks at the notifications; she notices that there are some messages from Dominic. He knew they were his because he had saved his number when he gave him the black card.

In the messages he asked her where he could find her, as they had an important appointment that day. Nina wondered how he found out that she was at her house, as she gave that address when hiring, but had no way of knowing that she was exactly in that place.

She wondered if Dominic knew a way to track her, and that wasn't good, and she also breathed a sigh of relief that she had decided to go to his house exactly on the day he sent Patel to pick her up.

It had been more than two hours since the first message and at that moment Nina realized that she was probably late.

She looked at herself and realized that she was wearing ordinary clothes, shorts and a t-shirt, which had some stains on it, from cleaning the house wearing those clothes. Not to mention his messy hair and oily face.

— Hey Patel! Come back to my house, I can't go to an important appointment like this! — She goes into despair.

Patel rolls his eyes and without flinching, says:

— Of course you can't go like that!

Soon after, Patel hits the brakes, parking in front of an establishment.

Before Nina could look around, Patel opened the door, took her out and pulled her by the hand again.

She took Nina inside the place, which apparently did not have an identifying sign. As soon as she entered, Nina was approached by several people.

They spun her around, said several things at the same time, touched her hair, her face, her clothes, leaving her completely dizzy.

A short time later, they walked away and Nina looked at herself in the mirror.

Her face was impeccably made up, the makeup was light and highlighted her beautiful eyes.

Her hair was tied up in an elaborate hairstyle and her dress was stunning. The color of the fabric was off-white, with small crystal stones embedded in it that gave the fabric several shiny points.

The dress was foot-length and lightly outlined Nina's curves, her back was uncovered, down to her waist, giving her a subtle sensuality.

As she looked at himself, trying to understand why he was dressed that way, she heard Patel approaching.

— Mr Dominic asked me to give him this…

Patel had a black box, which he opened and there was a set of jewelry.

The earring was small, two shiny stones, which left Nina intrigued. The necklace had a very thin chain and the pendant was a shiny stone, in the same pattern as the earrings.

Before Nina said anything, Patel put the jewelry on her.

— Yes, they are... — Nina says, but ends up shaking her head in the negative. He thought they couldn't be diamonds, since he barely knew Dominic, he wouldn't put such expensive jewelry on an unknown woman.

The jewelry was beautiful and delicate, but what impressed Nina was the tiara that Patel placed on her head. It was encrusted with several shiny stones that, above Nina's dark hair, seemed to shine even more.

— You don't need all that, Patel. Where are we going? — Nina says, not knowing how to act. She didn't know where they were going and was so covered in luxuries that she felt uncomfortable.

— You'll know now, we're already late! — Patel says and pulls Nina back, but when she gets to the car, she just opens the door and waits for her to get in. You could see that Patel wanted her not to get messy.

Nina enters, but is distressed, her hands feel sweaty and she feels a bad feeling.

— Patel, can you tell Mr Dominic that I give up? I don't want to work overtime anymore. — she says and feels her heart speed up.

—Tell him yourself. — Patel says and continues driving.

The car enters a street that with every centimeter traveled increases the number of people and the noise of voices, leaving Nina even more distressed.

The car stops and Patel gets out and opens the door for her. Nina looks outside and sees a red carpet and lots of flashes. She widens her eyes and nods, she decided she wouldn't get out of the car.

Nina digs her nails into her palm, nervous. Wondering what Dominic wanted with that, she herself had told him that she wanted to stay out of the spotlight. He knew that if he attracted too much attention, he could attract bad people into his life.

— Miss Nina, I can't stay here for long. Other people are waiting in line for cars. — Patel says, while still holding the door.

— Let's get out of here, Patel. I do not want to go out.

— If you don't leave, you'll attract more attention than if you do. Everyone will want to know who the crazy woman was who was afraid of the paparazzi.

— Are you serious?

— Of course, everyone is already asking who is in the car and doesn't want to get out and they know that this is Dominic's car, it won't be difficult for them to find you and follow you.

- Follow?! — she asks scared, the worst thing at that moment was having photographers following her and publishing photos of her going to the hospital.

Thinking about it, Nina carefully puts one foot out, cranes her neck and takes a small look. A flash blinds her and she squints her eyes, but doesn't hold back, takes a deep breath and gets out of the car.

Nina starts smiling and waving, she thought Patel was right. If she appeared as a person who wanted to appear, everyone would lose interest in her, since she was nothing more than an unknown person on display.

And that worked, as they soon stopped taking photos and shouting for her to leave.

Nina smiled victoriously, but her smile stopped when she saw the man standing in front of her.

Dominic looked beautiful, dressed in a black smokey suit, which fit her perfectly.

Her hair had messy strands pulled back. His face was clean without any imperfections, and his icy eyes were enigmatic and alluring.

He observed Nina, who was more beautiful than he imagined. She was just the right amount of sensuality, and for him, she was the most attractive woman on that occasion.

Passing his moment of contemplation, he walked towards her. The photographers, noticing Dominic's presence, turned their attention to Nina again.

She tried to wave away, so Dominic wouldn't come any closer, but he quickly caught up with her.

Dominic, chin up, looked in the direction of the flashes, put one hand in her pocket and the other reached for Nina's back.

Because the dress had a low back, it touched her bare skin. His touch was light and delicate, his hand went down your back, causing goose bumps, until he found where your cleavage ended and placed his hand lightly on the part covered by the fabric.

Nina, at that moment, released the breath she held instinctively, as soon as she felt his touch.

Before she knew it, Dominic guided her away from the photographers, saving her from more awkward moments in front of them.

They entered the Hotel Montenegro, where a party was being held for the rich and famous.

Dominic and Nina walked among people, attracting attention wherever they went. The two were perfect side by side, there was no denying it.

Dominic had an imposing and domineering aura and Nina sparkled, like her diamonds.

A waiter passes by them with a tray full of glasses and Dominic takes one and hands it to Nina. She turns the entire contents into her mouth, drinking it all at once.

— I think it's better not to get you any more champagne, that's not how you drink it. — Dominic says, warning her.

— It's your fault! I don't think you have any idea how nervous I am. — Nina says and tries to grab another glass, which is taken from her hand by Dominic.

— Nervousness and alcohol are not a good combination. When he calms down, I'll let him take more.

The two talk without realizing that they were being watched by people who knew them well.

Kira and Samuel watched Dominic and Nina, who received all the attention at the party.

— That woman came back from hell! — Kira says, practically growling.

Samuel remains silent and just watching the couple with a less than satisfied expression.

— She really is a bitch. — Kira continues — He managed to jump onto Dominic's bed. Poor thing, she's finding herself, but she'll just be another toy in his hand.

— Poor thing? Dominic will cover her in diamonds. Do you really think it's suffering?

— Dominic already had better criteria for girls. I don't believe he's going to give diamonds to such a short woman.

— Take a good look at the jewelry she's wearing. He already gave her diamonds. Shit! I won't let Dominic win again!

— Win?! — Kira looks at her husband and notices that Samuel couldn't take his eyes off Nina. He walks without giving him any satisfaction and Kira holds his arm — What do you mean to win, Samuel?

— Let go of me, you crazy woman! — he pulls your arm, sharply. — Don't follow me, okay?! Today I don't feel like putting up with you!

Samuel slips into the crowd and leaves Kira behind. She feels like crying and tries to stop the tears that insist on welling up with her fingers, preventing them from smudging her makeup.

Kira looks around and sees her mother-in-law and goes to her.

— Have you seen that wretched woman is back? She is with Dominic and at the same time trying to seduce Samuel. We have to do something!

— Then that little bitch reappeared. — Rosália looks in the direction that Kira was pointing — I'm going to go talk to Dominic, he mustn't know the type of bitch who is next to him. And you, Kira, do something. I can't always solve your problems for you.