Chapter Twenty

Irene

The following Monday, Irene almost arrived late at work due to the public transportation being late. When she hurried in, she saw Christian through his open door, looking out the window in his office.

“Good morning, Christian. Coffee?”

“Please.”

A few moments later, she walked into his office with his coffee. He was still staring out of his window.

“Here you are.” She put his cup on his desk.

“Thank you.” He turned around. “You were late. How come?”

“My car broke down last Wednesday. I don’t have the money to buy a replacement, so I’m traveling by public transportation for the moment.”

“Didn’t the people in the HR department offer you a company car?”

“No, they didn’t.”

“That is strange. Anyone who is working in or for upper management gets a company car. Well, I’ll make sure you get one. Do you prefer a particular car?”

“As long as it gets me from point A to point B, I’ll be glad to have any car.”

“I’ll have one at your door quickly.”

“Thank you, Christian.”

“Oh, don’t thank me, this is pure self-interest. I want you to be at the office on time, not depending on the hours of public transportation.”

Irene nodded and returned to her desk.

Later, she saw Angelo approaching with the man she had seen before in the restaurant.

“Good morning, Irene,” Angelo said. “Looking beautiful, as always. How are you today?” He winked.

“Good morning, Angelo. I am fine, and how are you?”

“I couldn’t be better. Is Mr. Saunders in?”

“I’ll check if he is available,” Irene said. “You can sit over there while you are waiting.”

She pointed at some armchairs that stood against the wall opposite her desk. After she called Christian, she got up to make coffee for the visitors. When she returned, Mr. Saunders was just letting the men into his office.

Christian saw her coming with the tray with coffee and he smiled. “You already got us coffee! Perfect, thank you Irene!”

She put the tray on the desk and walked back to her own desk. She was doing the things she had to do when she heard loud voices coming from Christian’s office.

Looking up, she noticed that the door to his office was slightly ajar. She knew it wasn’t polite to eavesdrop, but she couldn’t help it. She needed to know if Mr. Saunders was alright.

“You call your boss immediately. I want to talk to him as soon as possible! I don’t care what kind of excuses you have, but I will cancel the deal if he doesn’t show up!”

She recognized that voice—that was Mr. Mercer.

“But Mr. Mercer, I can assure you, I have full authority.” That was Christian’s voice.

“Mr. Hunter never negotiates with his clients, let alone follows up with the contracts. Everything that needs to be discussed needs to be discussed with me!”

“Call your boss. I want to speak to him, now! I have important matters to discuss and little time.”

“Even if he comes here, he could only be here by tomorrow. He doesn’t live nearby!”

“Get him over here!”—Mercer growled—“or the deal is off!”

Irene heard chairs moving.

“No, wait!” The clanging of coffee cups was heard, and then a loud thump. The pleading way Christian spoke made the hairs on her arms stand up. Did they just attack him?

“Wait, I’ll call Mr. Hunter. I’ll make sure he is here by tomorrow! Please, let me go!”

“You better call me when you know when he’ll be here. And remember, no Hunter, no deal!”

The door opened, and Mercer stormed out, followed by Angelo. Mercer was already on his way to the elevator, but Angelo slacked a little.

“Irene,” he said quietly. “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”

“Er…” She didn’t know what to say. What if this guy had two faces? Was he involved with the things that Mr. Mercer was doing?

The business that Mr. Mercer ran didn’t seem to be entirely clean. What did that mean for Angelo? She remembered he’d just asked her a question. “I don’t know what time I’ll be done.” She tried to avoid his question.

“What if you call me when you’re done? I’ll come and pick you up. Just dinner, then I’ll drop you off at home afterward.”

“Okay, that is fine.” She couldn’t find a way to turn him down. “I’ll see you tonight.”

A little while later, Christian opened his door and came out. He tried to loosen his tie a little. There was sweat on his forehead, and his hair looked like he’d just gotten out of bed.

“Christian.” Irene approached him with concern on her face. “Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine, Irene, thank you. I have a lunch meeting, so I’ll be out for a while.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later then.”

That night, Irene was getting a little anxious while she waited for Angelo’s car to show up. She had just called Angelo to pick her up. She decided to confront him about what happened earlier.

She didn’t have to wait long before his car pulled up in front. She quickly got in, and he brought her to a little bistro close to her apartment. While they waited for their order, Irene started fiddling with her napkin.

Angelo laid his hand on her hands to stop her, and she looked at him.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“No, it’s nothing,” she said, avoiding eye contact.

“Seriously, stop playing with your napkin,” he said, a little sterner. “What’s on your mind?”

“I—I don’t know. It’s none of my business,” she kept looking down at her hands, “but this morning I heard a lot of loud noises coming from Mr. Saunders’s office, and I wanted to ask you what was going on.”

“You’re right, it is indeed none of your business, but it was just a heated discussion.” Angelo shrugged. “Nothing special.”

“So heated that Christian was shaking and sweating when he came out of his office?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“What kind of business does Mr. Mercer have?”

“Irene, is this some kind of interrogation?” Angelo looked annoyed.

“Shut it, girl. You have no idea who or what you’re dealing with right now. You really don’t want to get involved. I just do what I’m paid for. I don’t ask questions.”

The rest of the dinner was quiet. The feeling that something was off about Angelo got stronger.

When they were waiting for dessert, Angelo’s phone rang, and he excused himself to answer it and walked outside. Irene looked around the little bistro, where a few people were enjoying their food.

A tall, broad man with big tattoos and huge muscles leaning against the bar stood out. When they made eye contact, he pushed himself off the bar and strolled her way.

“Excuse me, young lady, can I ask you something?” He took a chair from another table, turned it around, and straddled it.

“Er, sure.” Irene had no idea what the man wanted.

“Sorry, where are my manners? Let me introduce myself first. My name is Jett.” He stuck out his hand to shake hers.

“Irene,” she said, and she shook his hand. “What do you want to ask me?”

“Well, I don’t want to be rude, but do you know who your boyfriend is?” Jett crossed his wrists over the backrest of the chair, his hands dangling.

Irene frowned. Again, someone was asking about Angelo. “Er, do you know him?”

“I don’t know him well, but I know he means no good.”

“How do you know he means no good if you don’t know him at all?”

Jett shrugged. “I just know. Let’s say I can sense it. I can sense a thug from afar. Just as I know you don’t belong in his world.” He smiled in a friendly way.

“His world?”

“You are normal right?” Jett frowned, confused.

“Are you—are you in the mafia?”

She started to understand why he was talking about living in different worlds. But what she still didn’t understand was why he was so sure Angelo was bad news when he didn’t even know the guy. They were quiet for a while.

“So, you know that the mafia’s active in these parts...well, that makes what I want to say to you so much easier.” He smiled.

She looked at him, confused.

“The guy doesn’t belong to a family. You know what a family is, right? It’s like an organization, but it also really is like a family. Guys like him need a family and a leader to keep going straight.

“Unaffiliated thugs are dangerous. They steal, rape women, destroy homes, murder whole families. Nothing good comes from them. There’s actually a bunch of them not far from here.”

Irene now got a little anxious. The off feeling she’d had earlier turned into a really bad feeling. “So you’re saying I should stay away from him?”

“Yes. I don’t want to worry you—you’re a regular civilian, and they mostly leave you guys alone, but you should be careful. I just wanted to warn you.” Jett gave her a wink, got up from his chair, and put it back in its spot.

“Thank you for your concern.”

A while after Jett left her, Angelo came back from outside. He looked moody. “We need to leave, something came up. I have to drop you off at your place,” he grumbled.

He left some bills on the table and turned around to leave. “Are you coming?”

Irene quickly grabbed her stuff and followed behind him. Dessert forgotten.