Garcìa

chapter 10

Valentina spent most of the past year in the United States until she moved back to Spain for her last client. She went back right after the New Year. She settled back in with her grandparents but she knew she had to leave soon. She shrugged the thoughts away and focused on driving.

She was currently on her way to Barcelona. Not too far from her grandparents' beach house. Her last client had an office building in Barcelona. She drove through the different landscapes until she saw the sign of Barcelona. She smiled to herself as she drove into Barcelona. She only had a few minutes until she arrived at the building.

She drove into the parking lot before parking her car. She grabbed her bag and put her sunglasses back down on her nose. She locked her car and walked towards the entry. She pushed the doors open before walking into a busy lobby. People were walking around in fast paces. She took a deep breath before walking towards the front desk. They were busy calling but a woman noticed Valentina and held up a finger, indicating to wait just a second.

"Ola, how can I help you?" the woman said with a small smile after she hung up.

"Ola, I'm Ms. VI, here to see Mr. Pérez." Valentina replied.

The woman nodded before typing away at her computer. She rolled backwards with her chair and grabbed what seemed to be a visitor's pass. The woman scanned it through a device before laying it down in front of Valentina.

"Here is your visitor's pass. Mr. Pérez is waiting for you on the twelfth floor, the big wooden door. Hard to miss." the kind woman explained.

"Gracias." Valentina said before taking the pass and going to the elevators.

It was a big building and Valentina remembered how much more at home she felt in Venice, with Ms. Esposito. She shrugged her thoughts away and focused on the task at hand, her last client. After this, she would be able to go back to New York. Take over the company from her uncle and together with Rafael she would bring down Elijah.

The meeting with Mr. Pérez went quite well. He was very acceptant after he signed the NDA and she revealed who she was. He told her how he held high respect for her parents. He was easier than she had expected. She thought he was going to be the most difficult to convince but she was proved wrong.

She went out of the building, into the parking lot. She entered her car and dropped her bag in the passenger seat. She let out a deep breath. She got every single client on board that she wanted. They would back her up, they had contacts that could help support her. Make a name for herself. Have power, the power she needed to bring down Elijah. She was about to start her car when her phone rang.

"Hello, Valentina." Rafael's voice rang through.

"Hello, Raf. To what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked him with a small smile.

"One thing I have appreciated over the years, is your ability to come up with better nicknames." he said with a small chuckle, one she had started hearing more often when they spoke.

"You're welcome. I could still be calling you Raffy." she told him which earned a grunt from him.

"Don't remind me!" he said which caused her to laugh.

"You're so easy to irritate, it's funny."

"Is it now?"

"It really is. But you didn't answer my question, Rafael."

"Right. Well, like the old fashioned way, I thought I would call to see how the meeting went. You know, your last client and all." he explained.

"It went better than I thought. Apparently, he held a lot of respect for my parents which worked in my favour." she replied.

"That's good to hear. You're flying here tomorrow, right?"

"Yes, the plane will take off around eight at night."

"I'll be waiting at the airport for you." he said and a smile made it's way onto Valentina's face.

"I'll see you soon then, Raffy." she said, teasing him with the nickname.

"Stop it with the nickname or I won't be there at the airport." he said, causing her to fake gasp.

"You wouldn't." she said, faking panic.

"I would though."

"You wouldn't, you care about me too much." she said with a smile.

"I uh, right, yes. I care." he mumbled out.

"You're acting weird so I'll just leave you be. I'll text you when we take off." she told him.

"Alright. Good night, Valentina." he said.

"Good night, Rafael." she said and they hung up.

She sighed before dropping her phone in the chair beside her. She was about to start the car when her phone rang again.

"Rafael, what do you want? We talked like three seconds ago." she complained.

"Oh god, my brother is clingy." Kelly's voice rang through the phone.

"Oh god, Kelly I'm so sorry. I didn't look at the contact before picking up. How are you?" Valentina said.

"Better now that I know my brother has double called you a few times."

"You don't want to know. He says he 'forgets' what he wanted to talk about and that's why he's calling. Idiot." Valentina explained while shaking her head.

"My son can be many things but he's not stupid. He had a reason."

"Sierra! How are you? We haven't spoken in quite a while."

"Hello dear, I'm quite alright. I'll get your number from my daughter so we can call more often. How are you? You know, with moving back and all." Sierra responded.

"I'm pretty sure Kelly will throw my number in your face but it's good to hear you're alright. I'm doing fine, just not really thinking about it yet." Valentina replied.

"We won't hold you up any longer. Go spent time with your grandparents."

"Thank you, Sierra. I'll see both of you very soon." Valentina said to the two women on the other side.

"See you then, Val!" Kelly yelled through the phone before Sierra and Valentina said goodbye to each other.

Valentina chuckled before setting her phone in the passenger seat. To be honest with herself, she was quite excited to meet Kelly and Sierra in person. Over the past few years, they had called a lot and they grew quite close. They even FaceTimed with Valentina's grandparents. Valentina sighed before getting out of the parking lot.