by Kris Buendía
Damn bitch. She wil not take away from me what it is mine. It is about time.
“What do you think so much about?”
“It is not your business, Pippa.”
“Until when are we going to fol ow them?”
Gideon says goodbye to her with a kiss on the mouth while they are outside the pigsty where Cinder lives. Does she not see that they have nothing in common?
I was so close to make him mine. I hope the trip to England works. And if not, that is what the fol owing plans are for. Giving up is not part of my vocabulary, it is part Cinder’s and it fits better.
“Paris, this is kil ing you. You should stop. It worries me...”
I do not let her finish, she annoys me.
Again, the voice of my sister makes my blood stop running through my body. The palm of my hand goes directly to her face. It is not the first time that I give myself the pleasure of doing it and she stil does not learn. I am sure she loves me to do this, I do not understand it, but who cares.
“Stop getting into my life, damn sister, or I wil make you suffer like them. Do not forget that I am the one who gives you money so you can take drugs. You are a stupid addict.”
Pippa does not cry. She never does it and she does not hit me in response. She just listens to what I have to say when she makes me angry. I should be a little more understanding and good, but she does not give reasons for me to try to help her. The one who wants to heal, does it on his own, but Pippa does not do it, she is stil as docile in order to keep her addiction afloat.
«I am sorry, damn sister, that is your fucking problem.»
“If mom finds out you are stil using that white shit on your nose, she is going to kick you out of the house and I wil have you fired from Graysson Publicity.” I smile smugly and her face shows horror.
“No, please, Paris.” Her prayers are one of my favourite actions of her.
I like it that way.
“Then put your shit in your nose or whatever you can do right now and let me watch in peace.”
I need to see them one more time. I need to know what they are doing so that at the moment of making them fal , it wil be even more pleasant to see Cinder suffer.
I have everything ready and I just wait for the right moment.
They have been together enough for him to be more interested in her. The more he fal s in love, the better the reaction wil be when he actual y figures it out who she is.
She is not the girl who serves his coffee.
she is the girl who cleans the floors of his office and also a murderer. But that depends on me.
I need to get the necessary evidence to link her. In al this time have not achieved it but I have make her believe that it is in my hands.
“She is a son of a bitch.”
I listen to Pippa inhaling through her nose.
That familiar sound that would annoy me another time, but right now it is just a whisper in the air. My mantra is that it is her problem and not mine.
“What wil happen if Gideon does not care that she cleans the floors of the company?” I watch Pippa wipe her nose while asking the question.
Should I give her another slap? Maybe not. She does not deserve it.
“I real y do not count on that bothering him.”
“So?” I stop looking out the window of my car and glare with at my addict sister.
“What do you think he is going to think when he find out that his sweet girl is a murderer?” I am sure that the satisfaction in my face speaks for itself.
Pippa’s face is enough to realise that my plan works to perfectly.
“How wil that affect Gideon?”
“That is the best part.” I look back at my victims. “Not every day your world takes a 180-degree turn. You will see it when the time comes.”
14
I told Gideon to leave me at Le Dome, I just waited for him to leave to go back like a bolt to Graysson Publicity. I felt that someone was chasing me through the corridors even though I knew that no one could be at that time of the day wandering around.
I did not take away that feeling throughout the day and luckily, the only thing I had to clean was the hal of the company.
While I listen music through my headphones and continue cleaning up and down, I see the black queen go through the gates of Graysson Publicity.
Esther Bagott.
Of course she does not see me from where I am, but seeing her here, only means one thing.
Problems.
“Hel o, Cinder.” Merit greets me while I put on my apron and I receive the order of my first customer.
“You do not look good. Have you eaten?”
The food has not been a problem. I left my house fleeing from Gideon, which I forgot completely, although he cal ed me three times to remind me and I promised him I would eat.
Something that has not happened.
“I am fine, Merit. It has been a long day.”
“I know, honey. You have those in which you only need a drink.”
I pass from the drink.
Again, my mobile starts to vibrate inside my pants bag but I do not care right now. The cafeteria is on those days when you know you had a shit day and ten customers arrive every five minutes. I was wrong in the change of two customers, in the order of three others and I made wait for others more delivering the coffee that did not correspond.
“Three coffee to take.” A voice that I recognise says to me and I drop the hot pot on my feet.
I have Paris, Pippa and Esther in front of me.
“For God's sake, what a mess you have made, Cinder El a.” Says Esther, looks at me from head to toe with repudiation. “If your father was alive…”
With tears in the eyes I ask her:
“Do not you dare mention my father, Esther.”
My voice is trembling, but I am firm with my words.
“Go out you of here.”
“Do you dare to order us tom leave?” Paris speaks. “It is you who should not work in this place, or in any other.”
“Is everything al right, Cinder?” Merit comes to in my defence and sees the disaster I caused. “For God's sake, Cinder! Are you okay? Have you hurt yourself?”
“Do you worry about her?” Esther turn to Merit.
“She has made a mess in your caffe, you should fire her right now.”
Merit opens her eyes wide. I am about to fal to blows, but I do not thanks to Merit.
“How dare you say something like that?”
“Merit, I wil take care of it, please serve the clients while I take care of these women.”
“No, I wil not let you talk to them.” Merit comes to my defence.
I do not want Merit to worry or do this bigger than it is, so I go away from the counter where they are and face them face to face. If someone should leave, will be them.
Pippa’s face leaves much to be desired, she always looks at me with pity and she looks little lucid, besides emaciated and skinny.
Instead Paris, with her designer dress, perfect hair and loaded makeup. Her mother is a cheap imitation of her.
She is a ridiculous old woman over the years.
“You’d better get out of here, otherwise I would tel the guard to get you out of here right now.”
My threat makes them laugh.
“You are disgusting, Cinder.” Paris spits her poison on me.
My madness and desperation take over me, so much that I take the first thing that my hands touch from the table near me and throw it towards them.
“Your coffee to take is served.”
Her scream of euphoria is heard throughout the caffe taking the attention of al the staff. Merit laughs and also some customers for giving them their due.
Also for me, I do not know what Paris is capable of, it is the first time I have the audacity to do something like that. Mona was right, one day I should stop fearing them.
“You are a fucking bitch!” Paris shouts, at the same time she gives me a slap, which makes me fal to
the ground.
“Damn you, Cinder El a!” Shouts Esther.
Very careful y I get up from the floor, Merit comes to me but I move her so that Paris can not hurt her too.
“Are you asking for more, Cinder?” She asks, laughing at me. I had never faced her before, after receiving a blow.
“Your blows wil not hurt me more than you have done to me, Paris.”
My words make her even more angry. Now her fist is the one that is going to hit directly to my face, I prepare for the impact, but it never comes even if I close my eyes. When I open them, I see that a hand has gotten in her way.
Gideon.
He holds Paris’s arm in the air. Esther sees him and cares about her image. Pippa, who barely had been touched by the coffee, does not hesitate to see him, in fact, I think she never does.
But Paris’s face of horror it is obvious. For Gideon to see what she was about to do tel s me that he did not know that part of her, or maybe he did. But the difference it is me and Gideon does not know who I am
“What are you doing?” Paris
sounds offended. “She just threw my coffee on me.”
Gideon does not say anything. But when his eyes meet mine, his dark look says it al .
«He said he would kil anyone who dared hurt myself»
“Gideon.” Esther’s voice seems to offend him.
“This little girl is crazy, she has thrown our coffee on us, Paris has tried…”
“What Paris has wanted to do,” interrupts. “She wil now do it over my dead body.”
“Gideon, how dare you?” Paris tel s him and Gideon stil holds her hand.
This is bigger than me. I feel Merit’s hand on my arm and takes me away from there. But in reality, I do not want to go anywhere in specific, I just want to get out of here.
“Cinder, go back and wash your face, honey.”
I leave from there as soon as I am authorised and let Gideon deal with Paris, after al , they are almost family and I do not fit into any of this. I do not know what the hel I was thinking when I did what I did.
Paris must be to tel ing Gideon he truth and now…now I feel like I am lost.
GIDEON
If I was not a gentleman, I am sure I would put my hands on her neck and squeeze her until her eyes stopped seeing the light. Cinder ran out and refused to come back. I will not be calm until I can see her and know that she is fine.
But my my assistant’s cal tel ing me that Sharp was waiting for me in my office, made me return as soon as possible.
“Gideon.”
“Do you have what I asked? I hope you have done the job right this time. I need answers as soon as possible or I wil be a fucking deranged.
Sharp sits in front of me and begins to say:
“You said her father's name was familiar to you and you were right.” He continues. “His father was Eric Mattis and he worked for Graysson Publicity in the eighties and he died five years ago.”
“Almost at the same time I took the reins of the company.” My mind quickly travels to those years where I hated having to take my father's businesses and leave my England live.
“Yes. Both of you lost your parents almost the same year.”
“The difference may be that maybe Mr. Mattis was real y a father, not like mine. Continue.”
My hard sharp words are not a surprise for Sharp. He was the one who found my father dead in his office when he was his personal bodyguard.
But that is also another story. As wel as the womaniser he was and the countless times he cheated and mistreated my mother.
“Mr. Mattis remarried Esther Bagott and Cinder graduated with honours at the design school the same year as her friend Mona Cabel .”
Listen to that last name gives meaning to everything.
“That means that El a is…”
«Her stepsisters»
I get up from my chair and Sharp does the same. This time he wil not be able to stop me.
“Gideon, do not make a madness. There is something more and I think you wil not like it.”
There is nothing worse than knowing that my sweet girl has suffered thanks to Paris Bagott.
“Speak.” I order.
“Miss Mattis works at Graysson Publicity.”
That makes no sense.
“Be more clear.” This time I say it with barely patience.
Sharp hands me a folder and it contains a photography when I open it. What I see next does not make me feel different about her. On the contrary, I feel that I have the pleasure of being bigger than me.
In al aspects.
And I see more light now.
“Cinder El a Mattis works for you.” Sharp explains me what does not need an explanation.
“She cleans floors in this company. She works for you.”
I do not like his tone. It is as if he tried to make me ashamed of her, when it is al the opposite and I am even more surprised. This is what I saw in her, the insecurity that emanated in her eyes, claiming the difference between the two of us.
How could I be ashamed?
I squeeze my fists and look at Sharp, I do not mind hitting him right here. His job is what I tel him and that is not tel ing me what I have to do.
El a.
My sweet girl told me that she had two cruel stepsisters in the past. Two of them.
I have had them al the time in front of me.
“That is al , Sharp if I need anything I will cal you.”
I leave my office and I know where to look for more answers. Everyone in the corridors steps aside when they see me. They are always afraid of me and I do not know why. But that is the reputation that I earn thanks to my father.
The father who made me abandon what I most wanted and the culprit of al my misfortunes.
I enter without knocking into her office and I find her doing al sorts of things, except for working. She knew I would be here as soon as she saw me leave the caffe.
“Gideon.” She stands up and touches her hair as if that mattered to me.
“I see you are better, your clothes look good.”
Hearing me praise her «more or less» makes her eyes light up.
“Thank you, I have found something to change.
How are you?”
“I am fine.” I go around her giant office. It is quite luxurious to have a simple executive job at Graysson Publicity. I would not be surprised to know why she is here, clearly marked her place here when El a’s father passed away.
But then, why did she end up here and El a cleaning floors in my fucking company?
Something is not right.
“Gideon, are you sure you are fine?”
“Why do you hate her so much?” Her smile is erased when she hears the origin of my question.
“I do not know what are you talking about.”
“Don't you dare lie to me in my fucking face, Paris. I know you and I know that you have been pretty hard with the staff, it has never mattered to me because you do your work wel , keeping the boundaries between you and me. But what I saw today in the cafe leaves a lot that to be desired. So do not make me repeat the question.”
She looks nervous as wel as annoyed. She has started to hyperventilate and that body language only means one thing.
She wil lie to me in my fucking face.
“I told you that she had purposely thrown my coffee into my dress. Do you have any idea how much it costs?”
“No, it does not interest me. The only thing that matters to me and I hope it is clear to you is that if I ever see something like that again, you wil know who I real y am.”
“Are you threatening me?” She approaches me and puts a hand on my shoulder. “Come on, we have had such a good time in the past. Don't you remember?”
I remove her hand from my shoulder as if it burned me.
“It wil be because it never happened, Paris.
Between you and me there has not been, there is not and there wil not be nothing.
She is about to scream. To
become a possessed witch or something worse. But instead, she smiles at me.
“You are interested in her?”
“I do not have to answer that question. My interest in women or in whom, it is none of your business, Paris.”
I wil watch her from now on. Showing me as her enemy would be a mistake, I can not tel her that I know that El a is her stepsister.
Shit. They are so different, they have no important link to earn that title.
“Wel , because you and her have nothing in common.”
I count of the one to a mil ion to not put her in her place right here.
“I hate that people feel with the power to humiliate others and less in my presence. I would have done it with anyone, but I wil not tolerate you doing it with her… except with her. Are you understanding, Paris? Or do I have to repeat it? But I warn you, if I say it again, I wil not be that nice and neither wil be my words.
She clears her throat. She has always feared me. She has always known that I am a man of little patience, I do not know why, but she has taken the cost of analyse me, so let her analyse that.
“For God's sake, Gideon. Take it easy.”
I raise my eyebrow in response. I walk through the door and say before leaving:
“Spread the warning to your sister and your mother too.”
15
I am the last to leave Le Dome. I swore and promised Merit a thousand times that I would be fine even though I knew in my heart that it was not true. I saw Gideon leave the caffe pretending that he did not know me, but nevertheless he defended me from Paris and her mother. He did not have to do it, I know how to defend myself.
Now I wil have to walk home complaining that again, I was wrong.
He ashamed of me. And it wil be worse when he knows that I also clean in his company. I refuse to take pity on myself in this way. I would rather have pity about fal ing in love with a man I do not deserve.
«I am in love with him»
“No, no, no.”
I shake my head without stopping while I continue walking under the ful moon. It would be a bad idea if I met with the boys and went to have fun tonight, I do not know. I suppose no and even less when I receive Gracie’s cal .
“Two in a week?” I cross the street while I talk on my cel phone with my friend. “Are you sure you are okay?”