Chapter 29 The Study
Carlos's face twisted in shock as his phone rang in the dining room. He glanced at me and then the screen before standing up and walking out of the room without any explanation.
I continued my meal, eating quietly until he walked back in, "I’m gonna be out for a moment but I’ll be back soon." He said.
Reading his tensed expression, I couldn’t help but ask "Why? What’s wrong?"
"Nothing. It’s just work, I’ll be back soon." He said
"Okay," I said, quietly nodding my head
He turned to walk out of the room but suddenly halted. His head turned to me, his expression suddenly shifting to serious. His voice low, he said "Don’t leave the house nor do something I’ll make you regret doing."
Before I could respond, he pressed further "I’m warning you because if you do anything you shouldn't, there will be consequences you can't predict or control."
I slowly nodded.
I know Carlos more than enough to know that he can do whatever it is to me if I offend him. He may look calm on the outside, but when someone hurts or offends him, he becomes dangerous and can be cruel, like a predator waiting to strike.
As he walked away, I could hear him instructing the guards to keep an eye on me and not let me out of the mansion.
That’s so typical of him but I don’t even have the intention to go anywhere as I am very much aware that things would only be worst for me when I try to run.
After finishing my meal, I head out of the dining room only to be faced with two muscular men. "Where are you going ma’am?" The white one asked
"Umm… to my room." I replied, skeptically "Why did you ask?"
"Sir Carlos instructed us to keep an eye on you while he’s away." The other said
"Okay…. So?" I questioned confused
"So we have to keep an eye on you and make sure nothing wrong is going on."
"Nothing wrong is gonna happen. I’m not going anywhere."
"We can’t be sure of that."
I shrugged "Okay, whatever." I walked past them.
I could hear their footsteps behind me, walking very closely to me. It made me feel very uncomfortable.
I don’t know what Carlos was thinking make this two men follow me all around. I’m not going anywhere and even if I wanted to, the whole place is surrounded with guards, there is no way I can leave.
Walking into the bedroom, I stepped in and was about to close the door when the guard stopped me "We need to make sure you’re not trying to leave."
"I’ll just stay in my room. I’m not going anywhere. And even if I wanted to, I couldn’t run. This is the second floor. There’s no way out," I said.
"There’s a window right there. We can’t take any chances," He replied.
"I wouldn’t even fit through that window. And even if I could squeeze through, it’s too high to jump and even if I did, I’d hurt myself. Besides, there are guards everywhere, I couldn’t escape even if I tried."
The men exchanged a glance, then one of them looked at me and said, "We’re just doing our job, ma’am. The door stays open."
I was about to speak when Sophia’s voice chipped in "I think you should let me handle this." She walked up to them and said something in Spanish, I didn’t understand but it seemed like whatever she said worked because they both walked away from me.
I asked, "What did you tell them ?"
"Nothing serious, just Sir Carlos’s instructions." She replied with a smile
"Well, whatever that is. Thank you, I couldn’t imagine having them all around me all day."
"Yes but now you’re gonna have me all around you all day." She said with a bit of laughter in her voice
"I’m very much okay with that."
Sophia walked into the room with me, and I sat quietly on the bed, staring at the ceiling, lost in thoughts about my life. After a moment of silence, she asked, "Do you wanna do something fun?"
"Yeah, sure," I replied.
"Let’s tour the house. It’ll be fun and this way, no one will panic since you’re not stepping outside."
"Okay," I said with a small nod.
She started by showing me the gym. I never really cared for gyms, but this one was impressive. Then came the music room, followed by the art room. Each space felt like a world of its own. It was massive and I just couldn’t help but wonder what Carlos is doing with a house this big. It almost feels like a fortress.
When we reached another door, she paused. "This is Sir Carlos’s office," She said quietly. "It’s very confidential. We’re not allowed to go in."
"What if I want to check it out?"
"We can’t. He has very important things there."
"And that’s why I need to check. Cover up for me." I said reaching the door knob but Sophia quickly stopped me
"What are you going to look in there anyway?"
"Anything that will explain why Carlos trapped me here."
"I don’t think it’s a great idea."
"It’s probably not but I’m gonna have to do it anyway. I really want to know." I pressed
"But what if he only brought you here because he likes you, After all, you’re the only woman he’s ever brought here."
I couldn’t help but scoff. "Look, I already know he didn’t marry me or bring me here because he likes me. It’s not out of love or anything good. He knows something about me that I don’t, and I need to find out what it is. Please, just let me."
Sophia hesitated, glancing down the hallway before looking back at me. "Okay, fine. But you have five minutes. Don’t make a mess.”
"I won’t," I promised.
I stepped into the study and headed straight for his desk. The key was still in the lock of the first drawer so I opened it and started flipping through files, there were so many of them, all neatly labeled and stacked.
At the bottom of the pile, was one that caught my eyes, it’s labeled “Erica Menendez.”
I opened it, and the first thing I saw was a section titled “Mission.” Below that was a photo of me as a teenager…. A photo I don’t remember taking.
I was just about to turn to the next page when Sophia burst in.
"He’s home. He’s home!"
My heart dropped. I quickly shoved everything back into place and shut the drawer, trying to stay calm even as my pulse thundered in my chest.
I rushed out of the study and slipped back into my room just in time.
"Did you find anything?" Sophia whispered.
"Not really," I said, still catching my breath. "But I saw a file with my photo on it, it was titled mission but on the cover was a name that wasn’t mine."
"What name?"
"Erica Menendez. Do you know who that is?" I asked.
Sophia shook her head. "No. But what do you think it means?"
I hesitated for a second, thinking about it before I shook my head "I don’t know yet," I said softly. "But I’m going to find out."