James Falinni, president of Falinni & Darrida law firm, was leaving a business lunch at D'aggi restaurant. His clients, two Chinese executives whose company was looking to invest in the country's energy sector, came out first, followed by their security group. It was a sunny, quiet Friday afternoon. The traffic began to clear up due to the departure of entire families from the city to spend the weekend in their summer houses or recreational centers. James would pass it on the family yacht with his fiancée, also a lawyer, Tiffany Sandoval, a woman who at her 28 was head of the legal department of the Ministry of Energy and, I must admit, not only by her family's contacts and family name. That woman was a genius in law and jurisprudence, as well as a cunning and cold wolf of overflowing ambition, no blinking while taking a decision which fired three hundred employees of a company that had failed to meet the deadline of a delivery for the minister. No one was surprised that Tiffany was not only considered the best lawyer in the entire ministry but was also the right hand and main adviser of her boss.
"Dad Bear is leaving. He's going through the front door,” Martinez said over the intercom.
"Understood, I see him", I replied.
When the doorman opened the glass door of the restaurant, I saw the man who was not only my boss, but also the one I had to protect with my life. His head grazed the upper edge of the door with his almost seven steps of height. He smiled at the doorman and the brightness of his teeth almost eclipsed the light of his rosy lips, bordered by the shadow of a chestnut beard that always seemed freshly shaven. If it hadn't been for the fact that Martinez and Penagos were about the same height as him, they would have looked ridiculous when they stood next to him. As he walked down the stairs to the sidewalk, I opened the back door of the car and for a second his eyes stared up at me, at the same time a ray of sunlight hit them, and they flashed a wild green glow that made my legs tremble. As he climbed in, I let myself be suffocated by his cologne, as I always liked to do when he got so close. I closed the door and waited until Martinez and Penagos had gotten into the rear vehicle. Only then I got into the driver's side seat, beside Fonseca. He looked at me and nodded.
"Green light, we're out", he said before pressing the accelerator.
I watched in the rearview mirror as James ran his fingers across the iPhone screen. Although he didn't look like it, I knew him well enough to know that he was in a good mood and not because our route was ahead to the airport, but because the meeting with the Chinese had been a success.
"How was your meeting, sir?" I asked, more than out of curiosity, to gloat over my skill.
"Great, it was just as I expected. Thanks for asking, Elizabeth.
I smiled and noticed her look up to meet mine in the rearview mirror. I loved that we looked at each other that way, knowing we were complicit in a secret only known by us, hidden from the world, even from his fiancée.
"Centaur, we've been followed by a black Yamaha since we left," Martinez said over the intercom, “Let it pass over”.
Fonseca looked at me, waiting for my opinion. I nodded and he slowed down. The motorcycle soon appeared. Through the mirror on the door, I saw that it was coming in my direction, the same one in which James was sitting. I verified, in milliseconds, that James's glass was up as my hand went to the side of my waist, over the holster of the gun. There were two men on the Yamaha, wearing motorcycle-helmets. Although I hadn't even been an escort for a year, I knew the movements of someone who was about to draw a weapon or who came with the intent to harm, it wasn't the case with those guys, but I did notice that they were looking at the car with special attention. That was what warned me, and I knew that we were not indifferent to them.
"Fonseca, speed up," I said as the motorcycle passed the car in which Martínez and Penagos were riding.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw James's worried face.
Before Fonseca put the vehicle in gear, the motorcycle passed us and the man sitting in the back turned his head. It was impossible for me to see his eyes due to the motorcycle-helmet, but it was as if I had guessed the expression on his face and there, I saw the confirmation of my suspicion: he dropped, or rather threw, a package in front of us, forcing Fonseca to turn to avoid hitting it. When doing so, he exposed our side and at that moment the motorcycle stopped. I knew what his intentions were just by seeing that he put his hand inside his jacket. Before he pulled out the mini uzi, I had already opened my door and, relying on its armor, used it as a shield, truncating the angle from which James's side would have received the full contents of the machine gun charger. The force of the impacts knocked me back. Fortunately for James, they were not the best gunners, and they made several mistakes: they had gotten far ahead of the vehicle and the shooter unloaded the entire contents of the charger as if he were spreading air freshener, so several bullets did not even hit the car. However, it was this detail that changed my luck; one of the bullets hit the ground and the casing bounced, piercing me in the groin. When I felt the impact, just a few millimeters from the bottom edge of my bulletproof vest, I thought it was a stone, but seconds later the pain was excruciating, and I fell to the ground. By this time, the rookie had fired all his ammunition and started the motorcycle. They must have left knowing that they hadn't achieved their goal and, I don't know, maybe also scared thinking that they had killed me, because the blood soon dyed the asphalt around me.
I heard voices and thought I saw lights, but I was no longer fully conscious. I don't know what happened next, only that I felt very cold and that I kept thinking about Antonella's fate if I died. I don't know when the ambulance arrived, they picked me up and I got to the hospital. I thought I heard James's voice next to me and I even though he took my hand, but my thoughts were still focused on Antonella, for whom I couldn't die.She was only nine and I was her only family. Without me, she would go to an orphanage and be alone for the rest of her life.
During that fog of thoughts and sensations, I questioned the decisions that had led me to this situation in which my life was hanging by a thread. At what point did it occur to me that it might be a good idea to integrate the security group of a man like James Falinni, whose fortune, prestige, and connections turned out to be a man with many enemies. I know that, when I decided to do it, I did so not only convinced that the income increase and the bonuses would allow Antonella a more comfortable life and a better education, but also, and perhaps it was the most decisive thing, because I wanted to be close to James when being part of his bodyguards, I would see him when I picked him up at his mansion in the mornings, I would accompany him to all his meetings outside the law firm and I would be with him at night, when he returned home. That was the main reason, who was I lying to? I was in love with James Falinni even though he was a committed man and now, in a hospital bed, a few minutes before entering emergency surgery, I was risking my life and the possibility of leaving Antonella alone for my selfishness.
What circumstances brought me here?
Please, at least let me tell them.
