The Secrets We Keep

Ch.3

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ch.3

Azalea Santos

I watched my mother take her last breath and slowly felt the cold touch of her skin replace her warmth. My head fell to my hand which was holding her now limp one and I wept repeating her last words over and over.

I woke up gasping for air in a sweat, again.

"Breath Azalea," Amara was right next to me and trying to calm me down.

She grabbed me a glass of water and placed it in front of me. I took it because I knew she'd shove it down my throat even if I didn't.

"Thanks Mara."

"I have to go, I have a shoot in less than an hour but you better go back to sleep Azzy, I'll text you later."

"Yess ma'am, what time is it anyways?"

"Almost 6:30 am."

I yawned

"Please do me a favour and send me a bunch of hot pics of you in Italy,"
Amara said, grabbing her things.

"Mar it's a mission and there's a goal it's not just a cute vacation," I replied walking to the kitchen.

"I forget you're excessively grumpy in the morning, anyways I don't care I want hot mission pics!! Byeee bae."

I chuckled and rushed a goodbye as she left my penthouse.

After laying on my sofa for a bit and enjoying the rest of the sunrise from my view of New York, I began cleaning up last night's mess.

My mind of course went to the one thing I haven't been able to get over, this mission.

I know I can do it. I just didn't expect a mission like this one would come so soon.

I also wonder why James never told me why I'm only going after the Italian mafia rather than the russians. What he is not telling me still is a question I'll have to figure out during the mission.

...

I spent the rest of the morning cleaning my entire home so when I get back from this mission I can have a clean house. It's the one comfort I know I can always come back to.

I moved in here after a year or two of working with James, I was able to afford It after a few missions.
I started working with James 2 years after my mom died.

I technically don't need to go into the office today for much mission training or prep.

Caitlin just needs me to go over a few details to make sure things are set to perfection. I may as well go, i'll triple check the plan and i'll get to train afterwards.

I drove to the office, greeted the secretary as usual.

Meetings with Caitlin went well and James made sure to go over every single detail to perfect this mission and complete its goal.

I worked on tweaking some things to get into the slight character and persona of Angelina Fonzi and came up with my sob story.

Granted I can be myself besides the story and name since they don't personally know the girl too well.

Very grateful about this because I don't think I could hold up any sort of stupid rich bitch act for this long of a mission.

I just hope this Alisa chick is emotional enough to buy it. I told James I'll bring my mom up if it comes to it.

After a long workout and a couple shooting practice sessions I headed to our facilities indoor pool.

I normally used this pool strictly for swimming tests like holding my breath underwater for long periods of time, ect.

I felt like swimming to clear my head of the stress that awaits me tomorrow.

After throwing on my training swimsuit I divided in and swam laps for an hour.

I let myself float for a while and then completely submerged myself in the cool water, blocking out everything and everyone.

Some people fear this feeling, this sensation of being entirely alone submerged and surrounded by the purity and darkness of something we so desperately need such as water.

Though many also fear the fact that they are enclosing their oxygen supply for a period of time, people fail to realise the control they have of this.

The second it slips from their fingertips chaos arises.

Almost submerging for a minute too long I bring myself up to the surface of the pool gasping for air.

I quickly slipped out of the water, grabbed my towel and headed to the showers to change and go home to rest.

...

The rest of my evening went well and was overall very relaxing. I had what Amara calls " a self care night".

I called my best friend for a bit and she told me all about her photoshoot and show she had tonight.

I took a long bath, did some skin care, did my nails, had a few drinks and finished packing.

If there's one exciting normal thing about this mission it's the outfits Caitlin chose for me to wear and the fact that I'll be in a huge mansion in Italy.

Maybe Mar was right and it won't be too bad overall, but I need to focus on completing this mission smoothly for James .

I've always dreamt of travelling in Europe with my mom someday. Not exactly how I planned my first trip there but it's something.

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