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“Do I know you from somewhere?”
She looked confused for a few seconds, “Me?”
“Yes. You look very familiar. I mean, aside from your amazing presentation, have we met somewhere else?” I asked.
She shook her head, “No, I don’t think so. Apart from seeing you and hearing about you in the media, this is the first time I’m laying eyes on you in person. I wouldn’t forget someone as remarkable as you.”
I nodded and apologized, “I’m sorry. Let’s get back into it.” I said, and she continued with her methods. She was an extremely brilliant woman, and listening to her was so interesting.
A few minutes into our conversation, a young woman slightly out of breath came up behind Vivian and I immediately recognized her face. Valentina, from that night filled with passion in New York. She had her brunette hair flowing freely and her face was covered in makeup. She looked more mature than I remember, her lips lined in red lipstick. Her dress was a coffee brown dress that stopped right on her knees. She paired them with a cream-colored high heeled shoe and some drop earrings.
Vivian introduced her twin sister to us and made a joke I wasn’t sure I had heard. I could not believe I was looking at the face of Valentina, the one who gave me a memorable night and was gone by the morning.
“Valentina,” I said her name when her sister introduced me to her.
She looked at me, “Leon.” She said in a low voice.
Antonio asked a follow-up question about if we had worked together in the past, and I gave a vague answer. My mind was still trying to get used to the fact that Valentina was standing right in front of me.
Chapter7
Valentina
“How are you doing? How have things been with you?” Leon asked as if suddenly recovering from his shock at seeing me. I didn’t want to let him into my life or give him any hints as to what was going on with me. I just met him again after years and wasn’t sure I should be sharing information about myself with him.
“I’m doing well, thank you,” I responded. My eyes started looking around the hall to see if there was somewhere I could escape. My brain couldn’t handle being around him as he had already started asking me questions, and I didn’t want that to happen.
The conversation steered back towards the tech event and I was grateful for that. When the little circle that had formed broke off, Vivian took me to the coffee table to get some coffee and get in a few words.
“Where do you know Leon Pierce from?” she asked as she put some sugar into the little cup of coffee that she handed to me.
“Promise not to freak out,” I said, and she looked more interested.
“Why would I freak out? I promise I won’t,” she said.
“Remember that one night out in New York? The night that resulted in the pregnancy of Ava?”
Vivian opened her eyes and mouth wide. “Leon Pierce? He was your one-night stand?”
“Yes, he was but he doesn’t know though and I don’t want to tell him.”
“Wow! This is the news of the century. Do you not know who Leon Pierce is?” she asked.
“Who is he?”
“He is the third son of the Pierce family. One of the wealthiest families I know. They own their own Oil company and they’re all oil tycoons. This is huge,” she said, sounding a bit excited.
“I don’t… I don’t want to tell him about Ava, Vivian. You’re not listening to me.”
She calmed down and looked at me and saw the concerned look on my face. “Why?”
I thought about it for a few seconds. I just found out that Leon was a wealthy and highly influential person. If I told him about Ava, he might want to be in her life and I didn’t know him well or trust him. I didn’t want a total stranger around my child. I also worried that if I refused to let him into her life, he might use his influence. “Because he might try to take Ava from me with his influence and money. I do not have that kind of influence, you know that.”
She paused for a few minutes and looked around us. Then she took a sip from her coffee, “Val, I don’t think he would do that. He might just want to be in his daughter’s life.”
“We cannot be too sure. I don’t want to take chances. You’re also forgetting that I don’t even know this man. I don’t want him anywhere near Ava.”
A voice over the speakers announced the start of the second presentation and everyone started making their way back into the hall. Vivian had to be there for the second presentation, so she told me,
