Ethelyn was playing with her hair when someone knocked. Again. She sighed and called, 'Come in'. It was none other than Adrian Diaz. He was here every once in a while to scream at her, tell her what a failure she was, what a pain, what a burden, what an "incompetent bitch", he had said last time. Only it wasn't just him this time. Right behind him, his father walked with a lot more authority, as though he owned the room, and although he didn't, she knew he could have it any second he wanted.
Adrian started, "Nickolas", glancing back at his father as though the man was making him uncomfortable. "Please, sit", I tried to make the atmosphere breathable. Meanwhile, his father simply waited. At least it clarified, whatever this was about had nothing whatsoever to do with Adrian. He hesitantly continued, "Go on a date with me." His father frowned but stayed silent. So this had got to be close to where we were supposed to be heading but not close enough?
If his father wasn't here, this wouldn't be happening at all. She wasn't going to let him lighten the blow, as though she needed to be coddled at all, much less from him. "May I talk to you alone, Mr. Diaz?" She said.
"Adrian", Diaz senior commanded and the man who says and does what he wants seems dead. He up and walked out without a question, a look or hesitation. This was Diego Dias we were talking about. The belief was that he had skinned his own wife leaving the bones for the government dogs to take care of. Why was the government obedient? Same reason I'm careful. Questioning what he wants is all it takes. The Governor of the Bank of Spain tried and the Prime Minister tried. What followed was more criminals than they could count surfaced, leading to a million new problems, destroying the country within two months.
Finally, the man bothered to sit, only he looked even more intimidating this way. That might have something to do with how more of his attention was now directed at me. I just looked at him and waited. Except he didn't bother saying anything and we just stared at each other. Knowing it was a battle I couldn't win, I started, "Well? What do you want from me?"
"To marry him."
My eyes tried to jump out from under the my skin. This was worse than I thought. I instantly understood why Adrain had been uncomfortable. "Why?"
"Because he's dumb and useless and I'm getting old. Whatever a man can do", he turned towards the window and chuckled, "he can't live forever." Looking back at me he said, "Not that I want to either, but I do want things to remain this way until… well, it's a long story that I will share with you in time. For now", he laughed, "well, you know."
He looked at me with a kind smile, one that crinkled his eyes just enough to hide the half-tear I knew was there. "Well, then why me?"
"I told you he's dumb, right? You're not. I choose you to eventually succeed me, for now, work with me for the next couple of years. For that to happen without you being family, you'd have to leave your business and… disappear. But you need your business standing if you're to be taken more seriously than 'a random woman'."
"You could train him."
His eyes flashed with more pain and hurt than anger. "I can train a boy who sees me as the man who ruined and continues to ruin his life? To turn him into the next me? Teach him to kill his wife?"
"Why can't you tell him that you didn't?"
"Do you honestly need to ask that, kid?" He said, showing more disappointment than he probably felt. In my brain, however, all the puzzle pieces, the timing of the rumours were so apparent that I knew exactly what had happened. For his wife's safety, her identity had been changed, any trace of her deleted from the world and into a happy life where she wasn't being hunted to get back at Diego. The supposed murder had happened right after she was shot for the second time in the same week. They'd said he'd done it to prove he didn't care about her, that she wasn't the weakness they made her out to be.
But his son, a mother deprived 8 year old treated like a monster from the beginning… to him, of course it was all his father's fault. And it was. He chose this life. And the reputation and politics that came with it. Adrian hadn't.
I paused. A marriage. To control his… Empire? "What exactly is my job description? And not as a wife."
"The easiest way to put it would be meeting a lot of important people, keeping them… amenable to your needs. Your needs being to essentially keep the country afloat until the foundations become more solid. My absence would make the market crash, the criminals wild, the government lenient. Until they get better at their jobs, we gotta do it for them. And of course, there's drug dealing and money laundering in there somewhere."
"We?"
"Spain's got 5 of us. The rest of the world? More than a couple thousand."
"So you're essentially an administrative backup?"
"That's one way to put it. Sure. And we are each other's backup. So we make the foundation until they make it for themselves."
"How'd they know they need to?"
"Ethelyn, I need my sleep, you know? I've had an entire day of being boned, I deserve a break."
I laugh staring at his eyes shine, "I'll let you go for now. This whole marriage thing though? I don't know about this. Nor about the job. But I've had a full day of boring meetings and brain hammering arguments too. Let's not come back to this for a while."
He simply nodded in understanding. "I was hoping for an easier yes but I guess, then you wouldn't be who I need. So you two, you're gonna… go on a date then?"
"I'll…", I sighed, "I'll talk to him." He knew I couldn't say no to him, I valued my skin more than that.
He laughed and left.