5

Things happened in a matter of seconds. Seeing the amount of weapons and drugs on the table, Evangeline’s hands faltered and the tray ended up on the floor. As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, the elastic of his hair ceased and left all that tangle of wires, armed.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

As soon as the man at the end of the table screams, all the others get up and take their weapons out of the waist, ready to tear Evangeline out of there and make her never snoop again.

"I... I..." she couldn’t formulate a sentence, she was so nervous.

Evangeline looked at all the faces there and focused on the one she knew. Her mouth was trembling and she was able to cry at any moment. Evie turns and runs down the stairs, hating herself for being so curious and for losing the only money that would lead her to the recital.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Blake Castello, the man at the end of the table and owner of everything where they stepped, screams, angry with the laziness of their employees. "GO AFTER HER!”

Before they could do what the boss asked, Alec also stood up and told everyone to stop.

"I go there." he says, closing the buttons of the jacket.

"For what? The girl saw what she shouldn’t have. She needs to be silenced!”

Alec sighs heavily and turns to his father. Fresh from London, where he spent half his life, he was too tired to start an argument.

"You sent me here to take over the business, didn’t you?" Blake doesn’t answer, just occupies his chair again. "So I’m gonna go down and solve this problem.’

Alec walks to leave the room, but before closing the doors, his father reminds him of something.

"We’re mobsters, Alec. No being an asshole.”

As he smiled at the guests and searched for the girl with the red hair, Blake’s phrase echoed through Alec’s head. He didn’t want that fate. He didn’t want to be a mobster, as his father says. But also as Blake Castello always chants, that was his only choice of life.

In the vast garden, he hears a cry coming from the flowery area. Not to frighten her, he walks on tiptoe and watches her from afar. She was sitting on the floor, clinging to her legs and sobbing.

"Why are you crying?”

As she speaks, the whole plan of not scaring Evangeline goes down the drain. She jumps up and stares at Alec with her eyes red and wide.

Evie still had no idea where she was or who those people were, in possession of weapons and drugs. So she wasn’t crying out of fear of what they might do to her. Evangeline cried because she was sure she would be fired early and lose the money she needed.

"I asked you a question." Alec says, seeing that Evangeline just looked at him scared. "Why are you crying?”

"I shouldn’t have gone in there...”

"No.”

"And because of my damn curiosity, I’ll lose the money I’d make today." she starts walking around, completely flustered. "Wow... what a hate!”

"What’s the money for?”

"It’s not of your interest." the words came out faster than Evie could think, but she did not regret it. "You came all this way to fire me, didn’t you? Just do it.”

There was something in Evangeline’s angry voice that lit up Alec’s whole body. Unlike what his father expected, Alec was romantic. He hoped to find a person who would stand by his side for who he is and not for the amount of money he carries. And at the height of his twenty"eight years, he had not yet fallen in love.

"I won’t fire you. Answer me something?”

"It depends." Evie sniffs and crosses her arms, keeping her tough pose.

"How did you end up here? I mean, are you part of the staff in this house?”

"No." she replies. It didn’t seem to be an invasive question. "My mother... she does. She told me she was having a party and they needed help.”

That answer made Alec get the answer he was looking for. Evangeline had no idea who they were or what they were doing. And he didn’t know if he should tell.

"Those men upstairs were not at all satisfied with their intrusion." Alec mutters, walking to the stone bench there. "No one should know what was going on in that room. You shouldn’t see what was on the table.”

Although Alec’s voice was the quietest there was, Evie felt fear. She knew that if someone was in possession of weapons and drugs, good thing that person should not be.

"Are you going to kill me?”

"What?" Alec laughs, trying to ease the situation. After all, his father’s henchmen would surely do it. "No! I just need you to keep secret everything you’ve seen.’

"And if I speak, then you kill me?”

"God, no!" he keeps laughing. "Do I look that bad?”

Evangeline didn’t think so. In fact, she couldn’t think of anything about that mysterious and handsome man. She was so worried about losing the one good thing in her life, nothing mattered to her anymore.

"No." She finally occupies the empty space next to Alec on the stone bench. "Sorry. I’m just... sorry.”

"You haven’t told me your name yet.”

"Evangeline. Evie.”

He doesn’t speak, but he thinks that name suits Evie perfectly. The voluminous red hair, white skin and slightly greenish eyes, left that incredibly beautiful girl in Alec’s eyes.

"Why did you come to work here?" he continues with his interrogation. There was so much Alec wanted to know. "You seem to be much more than just a maid.”

"I’m not all that either. I just needed the money. I do, actually.”

Evie looks in the direction of the mansion, where the party continued without any hindrance. She then thinks of her mother, why she was there that night and again feels like crying.

"I hate my mother." Evie whispers, her eyes burning.

"Look, we have something in common. But first you. What happened?”