9: Trust Issues

Faith felt like a criminal held under investigation. It shouldn’t be like this. It should be the other way around. She should put Mateo under inspection. He is the one who has the answers to her questions, after all. But here she is sitting in the middle of a lavishing office with tall bookcases, a small bar with numerous alcoholic drinks on display in one corner – some of them seem to be extremely expensive, a desk in the middle of the room, a sofa set and center table in the other corner of the spacious room, and a huge LED on the wall. By the window of the office, there is a water wall. This room has its own world.

She wanted to look around, she was mesmerized by the locale, but how could she when this strange man is sitting across her – staring so blankly at her? She feels stiff under his explorative gaze. She couldn’t bring herself to look him in his intimidating eyes nor could she look around, therefore her eyes fixed on her fidgeting fingers on her lap.

When she heard him heave a sigh, she dared to look him in the eyes. His slanted eyes narrow at her. He slightly tilted his head, “I thought you had questions,” He monotonously spoke. His husky voice made her gulp. She does! Faith slowly nodded her head. She has been so determined to talk to him, that she didn’t prepare for how she is going to start it. “Ask them. I don’t have all day for you,” He added.

“How do you know me?” This was the first question that popped into her mind. There was nothing but haze around her. She doesn’t even know what is true and what is not around her. All of a sudden she has been pushed into this hollow where there is no end for her. Her life is spiraling all over, and during this, she was asked to look for one man who has all her answers, but now the biggest question for her was – how does this man know Faith? What is his relation to her? If they are not related, then why him?

Mateo leaned against his chair causing it to squeal at the impact. He rests his head back, but his eyes never left her. He intertwined his fingers over his stomach and kept on staring at her. There is something about the way he looks at her that made her heart race in her chest. She can’t put a finger on what exactly she feels towards him. Is she scared? Is she anxious? Is she nervous?

“I don’t know you,” He replied unvaryingly.

Faith pinched her eyebrows, “Then why did my father ask me to come to see you? Why did he have the card that you signed? Was it really your signature on it? What is this all about?” She asked. Mateo didn’t reply instantly. He likes to take his time. He rolled his tongue in his mouth while Faith heaved a sigh, “And please, don’t start with – I don’t know you. Your father must have misunderstood or that you know nothing because you and I both know you will be lying. Mistakes are never so meticulous. So, please, without wasting time tell me – how do I know you?” She asked. Her voice came out shaky and her eyes pleaded.

“I stand by my words. I didn’t know your father, nor do I know you.” He replied. I let out a balking sigh. This is not going anywhere. “However,” He added. I halted and averted my eyes back on him, “I have seen you before – once,” he told me.

She squinted her eyes at his response. She hunched and tried to recall his face. Her eyes searched for any detail that she would have remembered. His face is very indelible. It cannot be easily forgotten. Faith is not sure if it is the fact that he is incredibly handsome, or maybe because he always has this blank expression on his face, or perhaps it is the fact that he has a personality that turns heads toward him – she is sure if she had seen him before she would have remembered, but the first time she ever saw him or met was the day she came to see him for the first time.

I shook my head, “I don’t think I ever met you before. I would have remembered if I did,” Faith replied.

He sighed, “We never met before. I just saw you. You were younger then.” His answer somehow only complicated things for me.

She feels bemused as she watched him, “I don’t understand.” She mumbled.

He sighed and hunched. He placed his intertwined hands on the desk, “There are questions I can’t answer, Faith. I am in no place to answer them for you. All I can tell is that the day I saw you, I made a promise to someone that if something ever happened to your parents I would take you under my care,” His response made my heart drop to my stomach.

“What do you mean you promised? Whom did you make this promise to? My parents? And why did they think anything would happen to them? Were they always in danger? I – I don’t understand. You say you can’t answer all my questions – if you can’t then who can?” Faith’s head started to spin. She thought talking to him would simplify everything for her. She thought she would be getting closure, but this does nothing but complicates everything for her.

Mateo didn’t answer her immediately. He watched me as Faith tried to make sense of what he told her. He slowly exhaled with a frown creasing his forehead. “All I can say is that Faith, there is so much you don’t know about. There is so much you were never supposed to find out for your own good. What happened with your family wasn’t supposed to happen, but yes, there was always a threat.” He paused and sighed, “Even I didn’t think something like this would ever happen. Unfortunately, it did. Years ago I made a promise to this person to take care of you only till you turn eighteen, but you are older than that now,” He informed her.

Faith slowly blinked. Her eyes burned with leashed tears, “Who did you make that promise to? My father?” She whispered.

Mateo kept staring at her. Not a single expression made it to his face as he answered, “Yes.”

Faith couldn’t speak after his response. Her father’s face came to her mind. She knows he was never a criminal. He loved them all so much. He would have never done anything to hurt her, but then why did he do it? If he could spare her life, why couldn’t he do the same for her mother and siblings? What was their crime? He cared enough to ask Mateo to look after her if something goes wrong, but he didn’t care about the fact that he would be leaving his daughter all alone in his cruel world.

Mateo watched as Faith’s eyes lowered. He could see the tears glisten in her eyes. He watched as a fat tear dropped off her eye and landed on her lap. He averted his eyes. This is all he can tell her, the rest she needs to find out in time. He sighed and stood on his feet. He expected her to look at him or ask him where he was going but instead, she remained still – deep in her throughs. He heard her sniffle. Mateo doesn’t think he can do anything for her, but he sure is going to fix himself a drink. With a glance at the girl. He tried to walk past her to the small bar, but he stopped when Faith held his wrist.

Mateo looked down at her, while she remained still. She didn’t look at him nor did she turn to him. She just grabbed him by his wrist. Mateo halted and watched her as she let out a shaky breath. “My father was not a bad man, was he? He didn’t want to do this, right? He did want to kill his own family, right?” She whispered without even looking at him, as her cold fingers tightened around his wrist.

Mateo sighed, “I didn’t know him well enough to answer you that,” He replied.

Faith gulped and lift her head. His eyes looked bigger with tears in them. Mateo blinked as she spoke again, “The people that are after me, are they going to kill me?” She asked in a small voice.

“Not on my watch, no.” He replied firmly.

Tears streamed down her face as she blinked. Her nose turned pink, and so did her cheeks and the tip of her ears. “What am I going to do now?” Her lower lip quivered.

This time Mateo couldn’t answer her. He didn’t have an answer. What was Faith going to do now? She was left alone. She can’t live freely because of the threat around her. There is so much yet to be answered to her – Mateo doesn’t know what she is going to do now, but his job is almost done – he just has to hand her over to HIM, and then he can return to his life.

“I don’t understand anything,” She whispered as her grip tightened around his wrist.

Mateo looked down at her hand around his wrist. He slowly removed it and freed himself, “You will. Soon, you will.” He answered. Faith just blinked and watched him walk to the bar.

Mateo called Levi into his office after that. As soon as Levi walked in, Mateo turned with a glass of whiskey in his hand, “Levi, show her the room she will be staying in.” Mateo ordered Levi, who nodded his head and looked at bemused Faith.

Faint pulled her eyebrows together and got on her feet. She looked at Mateo, who stood by the bar, “But I didn’t get any answers from you. I have so much more to ask. You can’t shut me out like this,” She complained.

Mateo heaved a sigh and put the napkin on the bar on counter of the bar before placing his glass over it. He scratched over his eyebrow and glanced at Levi, who was already looking between his friend/boss and Faith. “I already told you as much as I could. I am not the person who has answers for you.” He told her.

Faith stepped closer to him. Levi’s hand automatically reached out for the gun tugged under the back of the jeans. This is a habit of his. Whenever someone comes close to Mateo, Levi gets on high alert. He has been trained to do so. Levi isn’t Mateo’s bodyguard, but like everyone else around Mateo – he has been trained to protect him. Mateo glanced at his friend. He didn’t even have to say or act on anything – his mere glance made Levi take his hand off the gun.

Levi knows Faith is harmless, but he can’t trust her or anyone around Mateo. Faith was still unknown to what had happened in the room as she stepped closer to Mateo and stared into his eyes, “Then who will answer them for me?” She asked.

Mateo rolled his tongue over in between his lips, “You will be talking to them soon,” He replied.

Faith opened her mouth to object when Mateo continued. He didn’t let her speak, “Till then, you will be staying here – under complete protection. It would be better if you don’t tell anyone about your location – no one at all,” He emphasized.

Faith closed her mouth and gulped. “Why?” She asked.

Mateo hates going into details. He always keeps them short, “For your own protection. After what happened to you, you shouldn’t be trusting anyone around you. Do not let anyone know about your stay here.” He warned her again.

She narrowed her eyes, “In that case, I shouldn’t trust you either.” She replied.

Mateo smirked, “You shouldn’t,” He replied short without any hint of hesitation.

Faith was taken back. Even when she is getting familiar with Mateo’s nature, she didn’t think he would be so clear about it. She blinked and absentmindedly took a step back from him. Levi saw the way Mateo was staring her down. He was getting irritated by her. Before Faith says something stupid, and Mateo lashes out at her or once again throws her out of the club – Levi decided to intervene.

He stepped closer to her, “Faith, come on, I will show you your room.” He spoke to her. Faith turned her head to look at the giant man named, Levi. She glanced at Mateo, who now had his back at her while he faced the bar. She exhaled a heavy sigh. She was exhausted. Maybe, she should just go and get some sleep. It has been a while since she had a proper sleep. She feels like her capability to think aptly has diminished because of her lack of rest.

She nodded at Levi before she turned her head to Mateo. She stared at her back, “I am leaving now, but I will be back tomorrow, Mr. Nixon. If you don’t have the answers then you take me to the person who has. Because one way or another, I am finding out the truth.” She spoke with determination, but Mateo refused to engage with her. She didn’t expect him to anyway, therefore she didn’t wait and turned to Levi. As she gets close to the door that Levi had opened for her – she halts, “Mr. Nixon, thank you for coming for me tonight. I hope I will not regret trusting you.” She spoke genuinely and without waiting for his reply – she let herself escort out by Levi.

Mateo slowly turned around when he heard the door gently being closed. He drank from his glass as he squinted his eyes and stared at the closed door. Tomorrow he will talk to Aurthur and ask him to take this girl away. To Mateo, Faith smells like nothing but the trouble he doesn’t want to get into. The sooner she leaves, the better it will be for both of them.

As Levi was guiding her to her temporary room, Faith looked around. It doesn’t look like this place would be this spacious from the outside. The fact that there are rooms to live within the club was baffling to her. It was very quiet around at the moment, she wonders what it would be like when the club is open. She guesses she will have to wait for tomorrow to know.

Levi stopped in front of a door and turned to look at her, “Your things are already in your room.” He told her.

Levi looks just as scary as Mateo, but Faith isn't scared of him as she is of Mateo. In fact, she feels safer around this giant, than around Mateo. Levi is tall than Mateo. Mateo is leaner than Levi. Levi could easily be used to scare people away, but as much as Faith has come to know this man – he is not as scary as he looks – not to her at least. He is a gentle giant.

She offers him a smile, “Thank you, Levi.”

Levi smiled back and nodded his head. He was about to walk away when he halted and turned to look at her, “Faith,” He called her. She hummed as he continued, “You can trust Mateo. Believe me, he is going beyond his comfort just to help you.” He told her.

“Do you think he cares for me?” She couldn’t help but ask.

Levi mutely chuckled, “I don’t know if he cares for you or if he is just keeping his promise.” Levi shrugged, “Either way, you can trust him. He is helping you out here. Whatever Mateo does, he gives it all for it.” He added. “Have some patience. I know it must be hard for you now, but be patient with him – trust in him.” He said.

Trust – how meaningless that word has become for Faith.