The Code of Intimacy

Chapter 2

Sandro’s POV

The room fell silent when the ringing of the last shot I made faded into thin air and the body in front of me thudded loudly on the floor, blood started to flood. I c****d my head to the side and stretched my arms.

“Have you found someone to do the job?”, I asked Morris, one of my best men. He was leaning on the wall, the shadows casted upon his figure. Putting my gun on the table, I reached for the towel and wiped my hands with it.

“Mr. Molina suggested someone but we are still looking if the man can get the job done. We are going to try and negotiate a contract just to be safe”, his deep voice pleased me enough knowing he offered assurance. He never failed and that was for sure.

I opened my mouth to say something more but his phone rang. I narrowed my eyes on him because I simply hated to be interrupted. He smirked at me casually and answered his phone.

“Tonight? Okay, I’ll be there”, he cut off the call after a minute and stood straighter.

“That’s Dy. He found the one we are looking for. Mr. Molina asked to meet tonight and he’ll be giving us what we want”, I nodded, and he walked to the door and opened it. It creaked open and I followed him. Some thoughts were running through my mind, mostly, about the woman on the auction three days ago. There was something about her that I could not quite figure out. I was good at reading people which was why that was one of the reasons I lead my family successfully but that little butterfly just made me think of many things lately.

There were times when I just sit in my office, drinking whisky and my mind would unconsciously wander off to her face. Her eyes.

I love her eyes.

Fuck! I even love her scent.

It reminded me of the fresh fragrance of cherry blossoms and apples.

“You coming, boss?”, Morris asked and I was quite taken aback because he knew that I don’t usually go and deal with these kinds of negotiation. Most of the times, Morris go and I would just wait for the positive outcome but I needed something to do tonight to set my mind off of her.

“Yes”, and with that, I could feel something good might happen. There should be or else I have to put another bullet in someone’s body.

************************************************

We arrived at the restaurant, exactly at eight in the evening. No one was there except for a few body guards and security team lurking around the whole place. It was one of the best things I liked the most with Mr. Molina, exclusivity.

We found him sitting at the table set at the center of the area. He was facing us and was talking with someone in front of him whose back was at us. I pulled at my suit properly and walked briskly to them, Morris at my side.

The old man Molina stood from his chair making his seat scrape on the marble floor.

“Mr. Dela Constanza”, he greeted me with a smile but the hard feature he had never faded.

“Mr. Molina”, I greeted back. Morris did the same and my eyes landed on the woman who remained seated. I narrowed my eyes on her. I just didn’t like to be ignored when I wanted attention. This was a meeting between us might as well give us some credit and respect in here.

“Cherry”, Mr. Molina called and the woman slowly got up from her seat. She was moving unwillingly, I noticed, and her body tensed up when we arrived.

My eyes never wavered off her. I took every movement she made.

“Yes, Sir”, she answered him timidly. Her hair was like curtains, hiding her face from me and I did not like that one bit. And then and there, it hit me. That smell.

Her smell that was too sweet sending my mind into a reeling sensation.

My senses were getting hyped up on the anticipation of knowing that this was the woman that managed to get into my head for the past few days.

And every sweet suspicion I had gathered in my bones was confirmed when she finally stood there facing me.

Cherry blossoms and apples.

I smirked at her and my grin went wider when she stood there frozen in recognition.

“Cherry, dear, this is Mr. Dela Cosntanza, a business associate”, Mr. Molina introduced me but I grew annoyed with the way he said “dear”.

What was she doing with this old rotting man?

A heard a chuckle from beside me. Morris.

“Stop glaring at them like you wanted some bloody murder, boss. We are here to negotiate”, he whispered.

“I can’t help it”, I simply replied.

Still a little annoyed, I sat down when they did and did not bother to shake hands with her. When I finally settled down on my chair opposite to her, I saw her released a sigh of... relief?

I saw her smiled at the old man and my hands shook, itching to land a punch onto something or more particularly, someone. My face grew even more grim and expressionless.

“Let’s get to business”, I practically spat.

Morris coughed and cleared his throat before making the negotiations. On the entire time, I was looking intensely at the woman in front of me. She was looking at Morris but I knew that I was looking at her.

“Can we know the person you recommended? Can we meet him?”

“How badly do you need somebody like ‘him’ to hack a system? This person is my best asset but for some valid reason, I’ll leave ‘him’ into your care. The only condition that I needed before I seal this contract is that you have to keep this person safe no matter what”, my brows raised into this. We were not exactly used to having this kind of condition in line with our life.

“We need to know first who this person is”, I finally said.

Mr. Molina sighed deeply and was struggling with something.

“And… please do not touch he—him. I mean literally. Just let the person do the job”

“Cut this entire chase, man. We are running out of time. Say the name and we promise to protect him to whatever crap this is about”, Morris insisted. Different things were now swimming around my f*****g head.

First, who was this woman? Is she tied to the connection of Mr. Molina’s mafia?

Did she know how dangerous it is for her?

And why Mr. Molina so adamant with the safety of one person that he was willing to hand that person over to us if he is the best asset he got? It will be a big loss on his part.

One of the things you have to keep no matter what was your asset when you were in a mafia family.

It could bring advantages to your side and to hand it over so easily to others was not just a simple thing to do. Something was up. There always was.

“Cherry”, Mr. Molina said. At first, I thought he was just calling out the woman… again, much to my irritation but silence filled the surroundings and it was then that it dawned to me.

I looked over to Morris and found him looking interestedly at the woman who was named Cherry. She was kind of fidgeting with her fingers, eyes casted down on her lap.

It was her.

It was not a ‘him’.

It was her.

And there two things crept up to me.

One, she was the one who’s going to do the job we needed.

And two, she was MINE to keep safe.

MINE to keep, at last.

And I was just wondering, why shouldn’t I touch her?

Fuck that rule!