—04—

This is absolutely mental!

I was brought by Lucero's men to my bedroom and they almost touched me. Thank God Lucero appeared in front of the door and cleared his throat to catch the men's attention and they scurried off right away.

I thanked him and he told me to call for him if anything like this happens again, now I'm left alone in my large, spacious bedroom with nothing to do.

Well, I guess there's one good thing that comes from this. No More School.

"I'm sure my aunt is worried for me, and uncle, and Dalia." I sigh and sit on my bed looking around. When suddenly a thought pops out. Do I even have clothes here? I run to the door on my left and open it to reveal a walk in closet filled with expensive dresses and more clothes and lingerie.

I guess they were prepared for me.

I chose a nice– not so formal dress for me to wear to dinner. They're having dinner soon and I got words from Lucero that I'll be joining them in the dining room.

I make myself look presentable and walk out of my bedroom toward the kitchen.

A couple of chefs run around for ingredients and I watch them cook in the doorway.

I feel someone tap my shoulder and I spin around and meet with an old lady.

"Excuse me, I have to go through." She says, politely.

"Oh, sorry. Please." I step aside for her and she nods at me with a smile on her face.

I decided to take a walk in the garden and it is magnificent, it's full of flowers of different kinds and butterflies.

"Beautiful isn't it." A voice submerges from my left and I look there to see a man with a cigarette in between his lips, sitting on a bench.

"Uh, yes." I look at his face and see an identical feature with Lucero. "Are you-"

"I'm Lucero's brother, Rhys." He extends a hand for me to shake and I shake it.

"Cara." I smile and he smiles back.

"Nice to meet you Cara." He stands from his seat and nudges his chin inside. "It's cold out here, let's get inside, we don't want you to freeze to death now, do we?" He chuckles and it's the cutest thing ever, he's not as scary as Lucero though. He's a cuter version.

"Anything I need to know before dinner starts?" I query.

"No, other than not to make business conversations at the dining table, you'll be fine." He puts out the smoke and throws it in the nearest can.

I nod and walk behind him like a lost pup.

"Where can I sit?" I whisper to Rhys when I see most of the seats occupied and it's a long and wide table we've got here. "There's a lot of people."

"You can sit next to me or next to Lucero and they are the men who work for him, it's a must to eat together."

I nod once and look at the head of the table and see Lucero glaring at me and Rhys.

I sit next to Rhys since Luce has been giving me the look since I walked in and I don't feel more comfortable sitting next to him than I am now.

I don't look up from my plate while I wait for my meal.

"Patron." (Boss) The chef walks in and heads to where Lucero sits first. "Bon appetit."

Then the chef walks away and we are left to wait on the girls in maid uniforms to give out our food.

The scent of the food is magnificent.

I pick up my fork when I see everyone around me start to eat and stab at the carrot and munch on it.

"Is the food not to your liking?" Rhys sits up and looks at me.

"The food is fine." I offer him a polite smile and stab on my steak and munch on it.

After dinner, Lucero says to meet him in his office. So I did.

I knock on the office door twice before hearing him say "enter" before entering.

A girl sits in front of him, her back facing me. When she hears me entering she spins her head to look at me and gives me a small smile.

I walk forward and sit beside her looking at Lucero who's looking at our awkward interaction.

"You asked for me." I said matter of factly.

"Yes, I want to introduce you to Jenna. She'll be your friend while you're here." He lights up a cigarette and inhales the smoke into his lungs.

"I'm happy to be your friend Cara." Jenna says shaking hands with me.

"I'm very relieved to hear that I've got myself a friend here, is there anything else?" I squint my eyes at Lucero who's too busy smoking to notice me trying not to inhale into the smoke. "Sorry can you put out your cigarette?" I wave my hand in front of me to get rid of the smoke in the air.

"And why should I listen to you." He says but put it out anyway, he huffs out the last air and pours himself a glass of alcohol looking beverage.

"Thank you, I have to ask you something." I say, looking at Lucero then at Jenna. "Uhm..." Lucero signals Jenna to get out and she does. "Okay, uh, you said if your mother says something to me I should tell you." He nods and I continue, "Well, where is she?" I ask, he scrunches his brows.

"She's in her room, mostly. She comes out when she wants to." He sips on his beverage and offers it to me. I shake my head and stand from my seat.

"Alright then, if there's nothing else, good night." I push the chair back into its place and walk out the door.

"If you want to negotiate your terms, you can." He speaks up.

"Negotiation? No thanks." I wave him goodbye and walk back to my room.

I plop down on my bed and take a deep breath.

My phone pings with a message and I open it to see it's from Lucero.

Lucero: Starting tomorrow you're coming with me wherever I go.

Me: Why?

Lucero: Don't ask too many questions.

I roll my eyes and throw the phone on my bedside table.

I try to sleep but halfway to dreamland, I hear my bedroom door opening and I'm fully conscious again. I pretended to sleep but he caught me.

"I know you're not asleep." Lucero says and sits on the edge of my bed.

"You sound drunk." I use my elbows to prop me up on the bed.

"I do?" He sighs and falls back onto his back and closes his eyes.

"This is my bedroom, yours is... wherever yours is." I look at him and see his lips parted open and his eyes fully close, his soft breathing fills the room. "Fine, I'll let you sleep since your bedroom is a mile away." I turn to my side and try to get some sleep but his voice stops me.

"It's not. It's right next to yours, but yours is closer and I don't have the energy to walk another five steps." He breathes softly and gets up to properly sleep on my pillow.

"People from this generation should stop being so lazy." I remark.

"You're right. They should stop acting like they have tumours in their ass." He voices out in his own words.

"What?" I look at him weirdly. Drunk Lucero is the worst. What is he even saying?

"Goodnight cara mia." (my dear) He kisses the back of my head and snores softly in my ear.

Then we both fell asleep.