Chapter 2 Two

ARIA

He knew my name.

Calvin Walters knew my name and I had been rude to him. I knew Mr Walters as the world knew him: a renowned, first-world shipping tycoon but most importantly, I knew him as the most mentioned name in the Rodriguez household. My father used his shipping line to bring in his very fragile merchandise, fragile as in illegal. It was true that I was aware of the sort of business my father ran, being a mafia boss and all but I couldn't exactly blame him. It was a role he was born into which was why I could guess how indignant he was going to be when he found out what I had done.

I stared at the strange words of admiration and another idea came to mind: what if he was a fraud posing as the real Calvin Walters?

It happened on some occasions but the man that was just earlier sitting opposite me was too real to be a fraud. Was it the watch, the confidence, the looks, oh, the looks.... It had to be definitely him but I had to be sure before jumping into conclusions. I paid the bill for my wasted coffee and on my way out, the waitress gave me another cup, filled to the brim.

"It's for you miss,the gentleman said I should give it to you" was the summary of her explanation. I hesitated, deciding she was to be the first to confirm my fears.

"Do you, by any chance know who that gentleman was?"

The waitress, Jessy, according to her Me button, swept her lashes, examining me from crown to heel like I had asked an abominable question. I felt like a simpleton, immediately regretting asking her.

"Why, that was Mr Calvin Walters, a fine gentleman indeed. What I wouldn't give to...." She stopped speaking, suddenly remembering that I stood before her. She thrust the coffee at me again and this time, I took it from her, eyeballing her behind her back and she stalked off on to the next customer. She obviously did not know whose daughter I was, the insolent bitch. I was in need of one more confirmation: Ignatius.

Ignatius, or Iggy, as I fondly nicknamed him, had been beside my father years before I was born and if anyone knew anything about my father's business, it was Ignatius. He carried out the dirty jobs on my father's behalf and he was the indisputable leader of my security team. His past was an ugly, tangled mess that he had never gotten over though.

I waltzed out of the cafe, sipping from my coffee cup. Iggy, who had been leaning against the car, rose to a standstill on sight of me. I continued walking until I got in front of him, pushed down my sunshades and met his eyes fearlessly.

"Ignatius, tell me that you didn't know that man was Calvin Walters." I went straight to the point, waiting for his response. He lowered his eyes, a form of respect for his superiors but since he was taller, he could not avoid my angry, hazel eyes.

"I knew who he was and that was why I did not intervene. He had been permitted by El Diablo to have a conversation with you...." Fears confirmed.

"And when were you supposed to tell me this? After I had already embarrassed myself? Or after I had embarrassed him?!"

"You forbade us to come into the cafe and Mr Walters would never hurt you." His tone was gruff as usual yet not raising his voice at the very least.

I wanted to be angry but honestly, I knew it wasn't his fault. He had only been following my instructions and he had been my CSO for the longest time. Some habits were hard to break; there was nothing that could be done about it.

"Let's just go home," I suggested, subtly offering my forgiveness. He rushed to open the door for me like a gentleman and I glided into my car. I had two escort cars, one before my private car and another behind it. Sometimes when we cruised along the streets, we looked like a scene from a dubbed version of Fast and Furious.

"We go home," Ignatius ordered in an unnecessary loud voice with simple diction for the benefit of those who only knew a little English. He sat beside me afterwards. He always rode in the same car as I.

"Home," I murmured in my curved elbow as the car drove away.

CALVIN

"Maybe you shouldn't have told her your name, sir," a familiar voice said from beside me. Harris was my second-in-command, my right hand man and the most loyal fellow I knew. I had found him in a junkyard, picking pockets with the other boys. I had cleaned him up and given him an option to change his life which he had accepted with both hands. Now he was my eyes and ears where mine could not be. However, even he could not understand the force within me that kept me going-revenge.

"Rafael knew we were meeting and besides that, it doesn't matter. She could have gotten my name from any business or even gossip tabloid on the market." To prove my point, I tossed a miniature magazine at Harris without caring to open it. He slowly revealed the contents and there I was, on the inner front cover, looking majestic in my favourite suit.

That was how famous I was but I had never been handed anything on a silver platter. I had worked for everything I had, starting from nothing and struggling to the top. From groveling before highfalutin bastards to begging for contracts, I had managed to dig my way to the A-list people on the planets. By the time I was 24, I was already recognised as one of England's distinguished and successful young billionaires. I had established my shipping companies in almost every state in England and a few on Hispanic land by then.

I had scratched the ground through dust and earth to get gold all for one purpose: to get at the bastard who had taken my mother away from me. I could remember it like it was yesterday:

"Mommy, why can't I go play?" I remember asking, as I frowned up at my mom. She had laughed and scattered my hair, a habit of hers I hated.

"Mom! Not the hair," four year me complained, at that young age already conscious of my appearance.

"Sorry. I always forget. We are here to see the doctor concerning our baby," she explained, pointing at her protruded stomach. She always called it 'our baby' though in reality, she was the only one carrying the baby.

After waiting for another hour, I got bored of being in a place for so long. She was probably used to it because after all, it was her working place.

"I have to take a leak, Mommy," I had suddenly announced, getting up from my chair and shoving my action figure in my pinafore pockets.

"Calvin....." Mom called, doubting my excuse and raising a brown at me.

"I mean it. My bladder is about to burst," I exaggerated, bouncing around in my urgency. She nodded, permitting me to go ahead. I soon slipped through the bathroom door. That was the last time I saw my mother alive.

I had come out of the bathroom to find my mother lying helplessly in a pool of blood, most of it leaking out from between her legs.

"Mommy," little me had cried, innocently unaware of the gravity of the situation but scared anyways.

"Mommy, get up. You are lying on our baby." I had tried to turn her over on her back but the weight of her body must have multiplied overnight. The blood was getting on my arms, my face and my favourite pinafore. It was then I heard the continuous gunshots. I became terrified and hid under a chair, beside Mom, unwilling to leave her. I did not know when I fell asleep. All I remembered was waking up to the blaring of ambulance sirens and a gentle pair of hands pulling me from my hiding place, taking me from Mom.

"Mommy! Mommy!!" I remember screaming, as she was captured away on a stretcher, totally enveloped in a dull green body bag.

I was British born and bred but my Spanish mother had contributed to my mixed cultural heritage. My dad had died in a train wreck in New York, both parents taken away from me so violently. I shook my head vehemently as if to get rid of the disturbing memories out of my head but honestly, they were the same demons that got me going everyday, giving me a reason to wake up every morning.

We were headed for my jetport, from which I would fly back to England. New Mexico had its perks but English soil was my home, comparable to none. It was also the home of a strategy I had been putting together since the day I had held my first hundred pounds worth of profit. I was going to avenge my mother by destroying the bastard who had taken her away from me. He did not deserve an easy death; I planned to take everything he had, bit by bit until he begged for death, starting from his precious daughter: Ariana Idalia Rodriguez.