"Get the car ready." Mariama said, her eyes fixed on the mirror, then she moved her eyes.
She was holding a wine flute of champagne in her left hand while the other was holding her expensive phone as she scrolled mindlessly.
"What should I tell the driver?" Rachel asked and immediately sounded so stupid she wished she could go back in time and stop herself from asking that stupid question.
Mariama half turned to give her a shot dirty look.
"Tell him I'm going for ballet classes, stupid. "
"I'm sorry Madame M." Rachel said and went out to do her bidding, then came back.
"I think we are kind of late ." Rachel reminded her again," The meeting was supposed to start by 10:00 a.m, but it is 11:15 already."
"So what do you want me to do, start wailing?" Mariama rolled her eyes.
There was a brief knock on the door and Juan Pablo came in wearing a loose cotton shirt, his hair was kind of messy and his tattoo seemed to glow in the early morning sunlight,he was the true definition of a quiet and ruthless mafia lord.
"I would like to take my leave," Rachel said and sneaked out.
"Hey, my cup of tea. How was your night ?" He said, pressing his lips in the hollow of her neck.
"You look beautiful."
She stretched her red-painted lips and smiled.
She couldn't deny the fact that in all of those 5 years she had grown to love Juan, not because he had helped her, but because sometimes the heart cries to be with the one it wants.
"Wish me luck ."she said to him as he circled his hands around her waist.
"Of course I will." He said and turned to her to face him.
He cupped her face in his arms as he pressed his lips to hers, and they shared a hot but brief passionate kiss.
She remembered five years ago when she was just a naive, uneducated girl, but he had sent her to school and polished her up to a wealthy standard.
She owed him a lot, actually, even her life, and she hoped that when he heard that she was about to take the company from his nephew it wasn't going to break him.
He shouldn't see her as ungrateful. Besides, he had vowed to help her take revenge on those who wanted to kill her five years ago. Funny how he didn't bother to ask who they were.
Anyway, he knows how to get what he wants.
Every piece of information was at his fingertips, but the only information that wasn't on his tips was her identity.
Anyway, she had decided five years back that when it was time she was going to tell him.
Every time that thought came to her head, she remembered that he was a freaking mafia Lord and who knew everything or just maybe he might have found out her identity, but decided to keep mute.
But the next question which always came to her head always made her cringe.
She waved it aside.
"I love you." she said to him, looking longingly at him .
"Where is Annette ?"she asked and almost laughed at the fact that she had given her daughter her name.
It was for a reason though, a reason which she was looking forward to seeing manifest.
"She's fine, but I want you to be really careful."
There was a small knock and Rachel ducked her head and pointed at her wrist, indicating that they were wasting time.
"Honey, I think I should get going now. I'm almost late for the meeting. "
"Okay, my cup of tea,"he said, and kissed her temples and she smiled at him before going down the stairs.
Aaron, her driver, held the door open as she got in and in a few minutes they were racing to Esteban Investments.
"Did you do as instructed,"She said to Rachel, who looked at her kind of confused before she began to relay what she had found.
"He is about to get married."
Mariama looked at her from the corner of her eyes and hid her surprise ." Oh, really?"
And Rachel nodded, scrolling through the tablet in her hand.
She wasn't the one that was going to ask who the idiot had getting married to, but Rachel had already begun spilling.
She read from a blog then stopped," I'm not quite sure about this." She squinted her eyes, trying to make her voice sound convincing.
"So I entrusted you with an investigating job, and you relied on blogs."
"No, yes, not really." Rachel stuttered ." Just that some people are thinking he wants to get married to his father's wife."
"How about you working for those' some people' after you refund me the money I paid you for the job and I sack your sorry ass." Mariama said coldly, her voice and her face void of any emotion.
The car pulled up to the big magnificent building which had the words:
'Esteban Investments' written in big bold black letters.
She walked through the corridor as Rachel was on her heels. She knew that the meeting had already started.
But there was one thing she wanted to command, and it was attention and power. Just as Rachel pushed the door open, and she stood in the doorway, all eyes turned in her direction.
The entire room was as silent as a graveyard. From all indications, everyone had been awaiting her presence.
She loved this with every fiber in her.
Stylishly she walked to the other end of the table and sat down.
"I was so busy with so many things, but I had to squeeze myself to come to this meeting. "
Raphael sat so still staring at her. His mouth hung open. Never in his life would he believe that this woman he had seen his uncle with the other day was the one he wanted to sell the company to.
Mariama felt Raphael gazing at her, and she felt like she needed to make an introduction.
"I am Mariama Navarette, CEO and owner of MN couture, Founder of Perez foods and wine, Ariama Malls and the list goes on and on."
The board members were impressed, and they nodded and looked at this woman who spoke with so many vibes and steeze .
She was indeed the perfect person to buy the company from Raphael's wretched hands.
Raphael was so shocked his heart almost stopped beating, she was the owner of MN couture, the biggest fashion house in Spain and the second biggest in all of Europe. The same lady he had seen yesterday.His uncle's wife.
Does that mean that Roxana knew about this and told him not to sell the company to her?
"So can we proceed with the signing of the document,"she said.
But that very moment he really wanted to sell the company to her when Roxanna's voice from last night came to his ears and he did what would make the board of directors bundle him up and fly him to hell.
He cleared his throat and stood up, adjusting the s
uit.
"I don't think we can go on with the signing of the document. "
The board of directors stared at him sharply and murmurings arose.
"I'm not interested in selling the company." He voiced out." I have changed my mind."