Perfection.

That was the only word he could use to describe her. No matter how hard he had tried to think about it, his mind always returned to that single word. She was perfection.

His fingers lazily drew circles on her hip as she slept. He had never felt skin so smooth.

From what he had seen, she had two indents on her lower back but at that moment, they were concealed by the blanket he had covered her with. He was sure he had heard about them somewhere. They're called something related to dimples?

True to her words, there was a tattoo the form of half a waist bead around her waist with the charms having random letters. He decided to ask her what it meant when she woke up.

Eniola moved in her sleep, forcing him to pause his worship.

He looked at the braids circling the bed to find her still asleep and could not stop himself from planting a kiss on her shoulder.

He had no idea why she was over conscious of such a perfect body.

A part of him wanted to kill every single person that had seen her the way she was the previous night. Especially Kent. They were extremely lucky he just got into the picture.

"Don't stop now, baby." She grumbled, keeping his retreating hand in place all with her eyes closed.

His jealous fit would have to wait.

Tobias smiled at her while brushing a bit of her hair away, "Good morning."

"Hm..."

Eniola turned on her side and buried her face into his chest, "It's fucking cold here."

"I did ask you to put on my clothes at least." He reminded her and she groaned. Her hand left him to form a fist against his clothed chest.

A finger pressed against his lips, "Don't try to scold me. We just fucked."

It was enough for him to keep his reprimanding to himself.

"What time is it anyway?"

Tobias reached for his phone, expertly ignoring the missed calls he had gotten from Alvaro in the past hour. "It's five in the morning."

"Yeah, I'm going back to sleep." She grumbled, attempting to enter his body with her excessive cuddling.

He did not mind it at all.

She stayed quiet for a moment then peeked at him. "You have no right to look so innocent."

He laughed at her jab as he felt the weight of her leg. His hand lightly grabbed her thigh simply for the fun of it.

He was obsessed with the texture of her skin.

"Are you still upset with me?" She asked and he shook his head.

The entire issue had been pushed to the back of his mind since the previous night.

"It was your call from the start of it," he said easily. "I'm just a little unhappy that Anthony had to suffer for nothing."

A part of him was relieved that it was just Anthony. He could not imagine a closer person getting hurt.

It still did not mean he was not going to get back at the Berlusconis.

"What about Luca? Any news?" Eniola asked while he played with the beads in her hair.

"Not yet."

He would prefer if the boy simply disappeared from the face of the earth. And the detective as well.

He could not wait to kill one and the other was better off as far away from him and the family as possible.

"What would you do if you found him?" She asked again and he bit his lip.

"I do not want to find him." He confessed and she raised a brow at him but said nothing about it.

"So you're going to just end this, right?"

He nodded in response.

"Then what do you need fifteen million for?" She questioned, rubbing her eyes with her palm.

"You can go back to sleep, Fuego." He said softly and she shook her head.

"Tell me first."

He watched her slowly blink for a few moments before giving in, "It's a little something for Anthony, Maria and the time my men have spent here."

"Oh. That's thoughtful of you." She commended tiredly, her hands slowly crawled under his shirt as she spoke.

Tobias took it as her way of searching for warmth.

"Was last night too much for you? You're not going to lock me out again, are you?" She asked quietly.

He kissed the side of her face.

"It wasn't. And I'm not." He answered honestly, relieved at the sight of her small smile.

"So you liked it?"

Heat traveled to his ears when he felt her fingers tapping on his chest, occasionally hitting his nipple.

"I did." He cleared his throat, a bit hesitant with his own question, "What about you? Did you..."

He could not find it in himself to complete the question.

"I'd do it again if I didn't feel so tired." She teased with a small laugh, tugging at his nipple.

He laughed at her actions, forcing an excited gasp out of her as he suddenly hovered over her.

"Then let me do all the work."

He had always wanted to taste her anyway.

~~~

Tobias was outside his office for a few moments as he sat on the floor with Cricket.

It had been a while since he saw her.

"No no, it's all yours." He said kindly, nudging the stray piece of chicken back to her. He could only wonder where she had gotten it from as she selflessly nibbled on it.

His men were spoiling her under the guise of not liking cats. He on the other hand would spoil her either way and not just with a single piece of chicken.

He stood up and dusted his jeans when he realized she now paid zero attention to him and went into the office.

"What do you want, Alvaro?" He asked, showing the half-naked man his call log that was flooded with missed calls.

Alvaro, who was on a call, raised a finger to him and gestured to the notepad he seemed to be writing on. You did not just shut me up.

Tobias ignored him and his book and went to sit down.

It was one of the few times Alvaro was anything less than over dressed as he only wore a pair of satin pants. It looked like his sleeping attire.

His hair was down and touching his shoulders as he repeatedly brushed it away. His wrists were bare unlike all the times he had bracelets and watches concealing the almost fading scars.

He grabbed Alvaro's hand to closely observe them.

They should have been fainter by now.

Varo sent him a funny look as he took back his wrist, barely sparing it a glance.

"Yes, mami. Bot is very cute." He drawled, tapping the fountain pen on the desk.

He sounded tired but the smile on his face gave Tobias an idea of who he was talking to.

Varo listened for a while then laughed, "I watch it every night." His eyes widened at whatever the person said before he quickly added. "Bot is one of them... right? The blue one?"

He quickly pressed the phone to his inked chest and turned to Tobias.

"Quick, names of the kids in Team Umizoomi!" Tobias could only raise a brow in pure confusion.

"Team what?"

Alvaro rolled his eyes and returned to the phone.

"I just can't remember at the— oh, Kai. What's up?" His light voice dulled to his normal tone as he spoke to the new person while Tobias waited.

You shouldn't have called me twelve times if you were not ready to talk.

"Yeah, we talked. Thank you." He said, using the nub of the pen to itch his hair.

The change of conversation made Tobias lose interest and a shiny object caught his attention.

It was one of Varo's hair clips.

It was the shape of a single gold flower and had rubies for petals. Tobias was sure he had seen it before.

He spun it around the table, frowning at its inability to keep spinning before Alvaro took it from him.

"You'll ruin it."

Tobias simply stared at him and the notepad. "Was that Hanifa?"

Varo nodded with a small smile as he pushed his hair back with the clip.

"Yeah. Kai says there's this cartoon she's obsessed with and she wants me to watch it too." He said, still grinning. "I really like that kid, you know?"

"Yeah, she's literally your daughter. It's not like you have a choice."

Tobias envied him for a moment, wondering if he would ever be settled enough to have a child or even a complete family.

"Right so I've been calling you all morning since you asked me to not come up..." He quickly added the last part. "I got a message from Giannini."

"So soon?"

"Si." He nodded, reading off the notepad, "Something about getting the money ready tomorrow and not today..."

Tobias kissed his teeth at the news, "He can't get five million in a day and he wants to start a cartel."

"Fifteen million." Alvaro corrected and Tobias waved him away then crossed his arms over his chest.

"It's the same thing. Just figure something out, por favor? I want to be done with this as soon as possible."

Alvaro nodded, scribbling down something.

"Would there be anything else?" He questioned and it seemed like Varo remembered something as he groaned.

"I almost forgot." He said, yawning. "The council wants to see you."

Tobias raised his brow. He hadn't seen them in two years and would have preferred to keep it that way.

"Por que?" For what? He asked.

"It's about Lucado. They must have heard about everything so they want you to give a report." He scoffed at the pettiness.

They wouldn't have asked his father to give a fucking report if he murdered half of Spain for no reason. He didn't even plan on killing anyone... yet. It was his fault for honoring their calls the past few years ago.

"When?"

"Well, if you can go today you could be back by tomorrow. Better just get it over and done with." The lawyer suggested.

I have other plans for God's sake.

"Alright." He said with a frown as he tapped his fingers on the desk, "Tell Clara to get the jet ready then."

Varo's head snapped up at the mention of Clara and looked around the room.

"When did she leave?" He asked and Tobias shrugged. "She was here a while ago."

"Would there be anything else, Alvaro?" He asked again and Varo loudly exhaled.

"What are you going to tell the council?"

Tobias bit his lip in thought.

He was not going to tell them the truth. Obviously. And he also had every right to withhold information from them. They had no authority to interrogate him on other matters anyway..

"We'll see."

Varo smirked at him as a thought came to him, "Lemme guess. No suit this time?"

"Nothing stops me from going in my sleeping clothes, Alvaro. I could not care any less than I already do." He said lightly, knowing how much they preferred formal dressing. Well I preferred to not go to Spain so each to their own.

"And they say I'm the rebellious one." Varo joked as he typed a quick message on his phone. "Clara says whenever you're ready."

"Gracias."

"So..." The lawyer drawled, "What are you going to tell Gillian? Something tells me she won't take the idea of you leaving too well."

"I'll only be gone for a day. She'll understand." Varo gave him a disbelieving look as he spoke.

"With what happened yesterday, I'm not sure she would."

Tobias narrowed his eyes.

"What does settling things with Berlusconi have to do with her not understanding?" Varo shook his head, reaching for a conveniently placed bottle of water.

"Not that. Did she not tell you?" He asked.

"Tell me what exactly?" She did not tell him a lot of things.

Varo threw him a bored look as he cracked open the water, "She had a confrontation with Esmeralda."

Eh?

He wondered if that was the reason she was so upset the previous night.

"Yep." Alvaro nodded, getting ready to talk like it was some gossip. "Clara told me she went to the bathroom with Gillian and Rebecca and for some weird ass reason, Esme was there."

Tobias gestured for him to continue, leaning in.

"Right. It was really just Esmeralda telling her how lucky she was to have you helping her out with this shit and Eniola replying with 'back the fuck up', in her words." He said, "Clara said Gillian was seconds away from pulling Esme's hair from her head before Vittore came in. Apparently, she just had to remind her that she was your ex."

"And all that happened in the span of five minutes?" Tobias asked, finding it easy to believe that it had truly happened. It was Eniola after all.

"A lot can happen in five minutes. We almost unalived that guy too, remember?" Varo reminded him.

"Esmeralda did not touch her, did she?" He asked, knowing very well he would take back the hand he lent to her.

"You think she could take on Gillian if she did?" Varo replied with a snort. "Why are you so invested anyway? Finally started something together?"

His hand found the back of his head as he rubbed it in thought. Was sleeping together the start of something?

"Not exactly..." He trailed off.

They did not even get to talk about their relationship.

"Why are you so nervous?" Varo probed, "Y'all fucked or something?"

Tobias' eyes quickly averted from the amusement Varo's held.

"It's not that—" He was interrupted by the lawyer's loud laughter.

"About fucking time!" He said, holding his stomach in laughter as something about seeing Tobias so fluttered seemed so funny to him.

"Shut up." Tobias said, narrowing his eyes at the hollering man. "And tell your brother that Esmeralda will be coming for coke on Tuesday."

This quickly quelled Alvaro's laughter.

"What? Why?" He asked, frowning.

"I agreed to give her two tonnes." He said easily, pushing the idea of discussing his sex life to the back of his mind.

"And what are you asking for in return, Gato?" Alvaro asked and Tobias gave a small smile.

Even Alvaro knew he always had a reason for everything he did.

"Nothing... yet." He slowly added. "Let's wait until after the Chinese elections."

"I guess I'll have to trust you on that. I'll tell Pepe about it." He said, looking at the time on his phone. "You better get going if you want to be back by tomorrow evening."

"I'll get a bag ready then." He said tiredly. The prospect of meeting with the council already exhausted him.

"Alright."

Varo's eyes followed him as he rounded the table and his eyes caught a piece of clothing on his sofa.

"Alvaro?" He called, raising the fabric up. "Why's there a bra in my office?"

Varo's brow nearly disappeared into his hairline as he stared at it. "Uh huh..."

Tobias narrowed his eyes at the baby blue bra before throwing it at the lawyer.

Eniola prefer darker colours.

"You and Clara better keep whatever you have going on out of my office."

~~~

He returned from his jog, taking off his earphones as Olegario waved at him in greeting.

It had been a while.

New York was becoming too cold for his liking and if it were the previous years, he would have been spending the holidays in Cadiz.

He headed straight for his room, planning to tell Eniola about the quick travel then leave. He wanted to assure her he would be gone for just a day.

"Tobias, what the hell is this?"

The last thing he expected was Eniola waving a piece of paper in his face with smoke almost coming out her ears.

Cautiously, he took it from her, squinting his eyes at the fine print.

It was Esmeralda's business card.

"That fucking bitch!" She exclaimed as she stomped away. "She's so fucking full of herself. Do you know that?!"

The distinct clinging of metal drew his attention.

"I swear, I didn't get the chance yesterday but today, I'm going to fuck her up!"

Tobias's eyes widened as he saw and heard Eniola cock the gun. He did not know whether to calm her down or hide first.

"Enny..." He started, gently taking a step back when she narrowed her eyes at him.

"You were planning to call her, weren't you?" She asked quietly as she seemed out of breath. Her heaving chest was not making matters better. "You said she was nothing to worry about."

"She-" Tobias thought against explaining as he exhaled. "Just put the gun down so we can talk, please?"

It took her a long while but she did as she said, letting it drop to the floor as she sat on the bed. He took it as a cue to finally approach her and kneel in front of her.

"Fuego..." He started, gently taking her palm in his, "I have no intentions of calling her." He said honestly.

Although they were going to do business together, he had not been personally involved with such relations. Alvaro and his brother handled it well enough. He mainly stepped in when the partners forgot who was in charge.

"I promised I would not leave you, did I not?" He added softly, watching her beautiful eyes.

He was thankful she was not shedding tears but still hurt that she failed to trust him. He on the other hand would pluck his eyes out and let her lead him.

"You did..." She murmured, idly rubbing his knuckles with her index. "Can you see how crazy you're making me seem?"

If that was a red flag, he was colourblind because the feeling was fucking mutual.

Tobias smiled at her small pout, finally at ease that she was calm and no longer unhappy.

Just as she did not want him to leave, he did not want to be without her.

"Go to Spain with me."

~~~