(Renata Pellegrini)
"You're here early," Veronica says with a trembling smile on her face. I think even she is afraid of him. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"And since when do I owe you any satisfaction? You're the one who works for me."
I'm not even surprised, what could you expect from a big CEO like him? He's just another asshole in the world. Arrogant and overbearing. Just another idiot who just because he has money thinks he has the world under his feet.
Maybe he really does, he is the richest man in the world, he must have everything he wants. From objects to women, maybe for him it doesn't even make a difference, men with money think that women are objects, that all they have to do is shake a few hundred dollar bills and they are theirs.
I don't doubt Veronica is one of the women who dreams of having him. I roll my eyes at this thought. But well done to her, it's exactly as the saying goes: he who wounds with iron will be wounded with iron. I smiled inwardly as I finished my thought.
"Sorry, sir, it was not my intention to demand anything from you," Veronica says with her head down, now she remembered that just like me, she is just another employee.
Well, maybe not like me, I'm sure that as soon as I set foot out of this room, I'll be out of here.
"And what about you?" He turns and approaches me again, why does this man exude so much danger? His eyes stare at me suspiciously.
Never in my life have my legs felt so weak as they do now. This man looks as if he is going to turn me inside out just by looking at me. The air seems to have thinned from nowhere. Every step he takes closer to me creates a sensation of shrinking in size. He must be at least forty centimeters taller than me.
"Ragazza, don't make me say it one more time," he whispers menacingly in my ear, his deep voice coupled with his Italian accent making the hair on my legs stand on end. Do I have a thing for Italians? Is this why I have never fallen in love with a Brazilian?
Ragazza means girl and this brings back memories of my father, only he called me that.
He puts his hands in his pants pockets, striking a bad man's pose. I feel a tangle of butterflies inside my stomach.
Where did my voice go? Lord help me! Get this man away from me! Help me!
I look away from him and see Veronica hurriedly approaching.
"Mr. Valentini, she is the new janitor…"
"New?" he snaps his tongue. "When did you start employing people without my consent?"
Wow, I had no idea he was so controlling. I thought tycoons his size didn't care who was or wasn't hired, at least not the janitorial staff.
"She was desperate, sir. I just wanted to help her…"
"I didn't know this was a charity, Miss Veronica."
"I'm sending her away right now, sir."
Oh my God... I knew it would end like this, just when I think something in my life is finally going to change for the better, the storms come and blow it all away again.
I feel my eyes burning, how am I going to go back to Brazil? I am ashamed to ask for help from my teacher who has already done so much for me.
I will have to humiliate myself once again, I can't be fired now. I need to at least receive my first salary so that I can return to Brazil.
I hope this man has something beating inside his rib cage.
"Mr. Filippo," I start, but a hand stops me.
What was that? My cheek is burning, did I really get slapped? In the face?!
"How dare you call him by his first name! You little shit!"
I've never fought in my life, I've always been against violence. But I've reached my limit of humiliation for today. My father, when he was alive, taught me the art of self-defense, while a friend of my mother's - he died a year before my parents - taught me street fighting, and said that I should only use it if I needed to impose respect on someone.
That time has come!
I am about two inches taller than Veronica. I grab the collar of her dress shirt and pull it tight, making her stand on tiptoe. She tries to pull my hands to let go, but I just bring her closer to my face.
"Look here, you stuck up little prick, I'm not your fucking punching bag so you dare raise your frumpy hand to me. And if you do it again, mark my words," I look into her eyes and she trembles before my gaze, I like it that way, I bring my mouth close to her ear and whisper: "You better have a lot of money anyway, because you're going to need a lot to fix your face because I'm going to punch it until it's deformed."
I let go of the collar of her blouse and she falls on her ass on the floor. I stop myself from laughing at her frightened face, but it only lasts a few seconds, she gets up from the floor and her face gets redder and redder.
"How dare you threaten me, you dirty girl!" she shouts in exasperation.
"Lower your tone, bitch, you're not talking to your little girlfriends," I say calmly, making her even more irritated.
"Ungrateful snake! You were desperate and I helped you!"
"If you really wanted to help me," I start to spit out the words, feeling all the anger I've been holding inside me for the last fifteen minutes. "You would have let me do the interview I came here for and not forced me into a cleaning job!"
"And you have shown that you are not even qualified for a simple cleaning position, you would never be suitable to be Mr. Valentini's assistant!"
Oh, how I hate her! I clench my hands into fists and start stepping hard on the floor, approaching her.
"Puttana," I call her a bitch between my teeth.
I'm going to break this woman's high nose right now! I'm already in the mud, I'm going to sink a little deeper, I have nothing left to lose here.
With blood in my eyes, I raise my arms to grab the thin neck of this giraffe dwarf, but Filippo puts his big body between me and Veronica.
"Leave the room, now!" he orders in a deep, dominating voice. What a man with a strong presence!
Is this right? I can't believe my eyes.