Chapter 9
I woke with my heart racing.
Rapid, insistent knocking at the door. Someone was out there, persistent, demanding.
My body still burned with traces of last night's pleasure, as if desire had branded itself onto my skin.
Fernando lay beside me like a child, with the tranquility of someone who doesn't carry the weight of an entire state on his shoulders.
He slept deeply while chaos crept closer without his knowing.
I jumped out of bed, instant panic disorienting me for a moment. Where was I? Oh, yes, the hotel. The presidential suite. Fernando, naked beside me, while the world outside began to crumble.
“Glória?” Renato, the head of security, called from the other side of the door, his voice urgent. “Ms. Glória, the governor has disappeared.”
My eyes widened, and my mind spiraled into a whirlwind of thoughts.
What do you mean, disappeared? He was right there, lying down, so present and yet so distant.
The governor, the man everyone was counting on...
and here I was, with him, in a hotel, in my bed, oblivious to the chaos forming around us.
Fernando grumbled beside me, stirring slowly. My body was still tense, trying to control my breathing. I couldn't let him wake up, not now. The last thing I wanted was for him to realize the chaos barreling toward us.
Shit.
“What?” My voice came out fractured as I tried to make sense of what was happening.
“The governor isn't in his room. He's disappeared, Ms. Glória!” Renato's voice reached me, deeper now and heavy with concern. But the image of Fernando lying there asleep, oblivious to everything that was about to happen, made me want to scream in frustration.
I couldn't let this happen. I needed to act fast. I grabbed the robe from the floor and headed to the bathroom without wasting time, closing the door behind me.
“Everything's fine, Renato. Just... one moment. I...” My voice failed, anxiety squeezing my chest.
Deep down, I knew Renato couldn't discover that Fernando was lying there beside me. I couldn't let them find out anything.
Fernando opened his eyes slowly, confused, still half-asleep. He looked at me with the gaze of someone who hadn't yet grasped the gravity of the situation.
“Who's at the door?” His hoarse voice, heavy with sleep, made my heart beat faster.
I took a deep breath, trying to regain my composure as I leaned against the edge of the sink.
“There's been a small misunderstanding. They think you've disappeared.” I spoke quickly, trying to sound calm, but my voice betrayed the nervousness I was trying to hide.
“Disappeared? What?” He sat up, clearly beginning to grasp the gravity of the situation. His nakedness, his presence beside me—all of it was starting to add up in a dangerous way.
I almost laughed from nerves. Almost.
“Get dressed. And fast, Fernando.” My voice came out firm, but with a touch of desperation.
I grabbed his clothes and tossed them toward him. I watched him scramble, trying to hide the tension gripping me. The situation was already past the point of no return.
“You're going to have to leave through a side corridor. I'll cover for you here. Then we'll sort it out.” My voice was almost lifeless as I tried to maintain control of the situation.
Fernando looked at the door, then at me. He shrugged as if it were just another joke, but the tension in the air was palpable.
“Okay, but let me know when they leave.” He hurried to put on his shirt and pull on his pants, not even noticing the damage that had already been done.
I took a deep breath and cracked the door open, just enough to see Renato and the security guards. My heart was in my throat, but I maintained my composure. Now I was part of this game, and there was no going back.
“The governor still hasn't... didn't he speak with you?” Renato seemed even more alarmed.
“I was sleeping. He must have left early, maybe went straight to the event.” My voice came out almost natural, even though the whirlwind of thoughts was eating away at me.
Renato hesitated. He seemed skeptical but didn't question further.
“We're going to check.”
I closed the door quickly, letting out a sigh of relief. They didn't suspect anything. Or at least, that's what I wanted to believe.
Fernando looked at me with an expression that said everything. He knew exactly what had happened, and nothing more could be hidden between us.
“This is crazy, isn't it?” His voice, deeper now, didn't hide the frustration and exhaustion I knew he felt.
“It is,” I replied, trying to catch my breath. “But you got yourself into this. Now let's end this charade.”
Silence settled between us, heavy and thick. Part of me wanted to take a step toward him, forget the world, forget everything. But I knew that what was happening between us wasn't simple. It was a tangle of desires and emotional confusion that I didn't know how to control.
Before, it had seemed like just a game. Now, the tension between us was palpable, and it all felt bigger than any political situation surrounding him. He wasn't just beside me—he was part of me. It was as if he had seeped into every part of me, into my desires, my thoughts.
The minutes dragged like hours. Each second seemed to stretch, the tension in the air building with every passing moment.
I could feel my heart pounding hard in my chest, ready to burst. The silence between us was heavy—words no longer enough to express what had happened.
We tried to keep moving, to maintain composure, but Fernando's presence beside me was a weight I couldn't ignore.
Finally, we managed to leave the room without anyone noticing what was really happening.
Time seemed to have both stopped and accelerated at once.
Every step, every movement was calculated, as if the outside world might discover what was going on between us at any moment.
The trip back was silent—a thick silence broken only by the sound of our breathing.
The feeling that everything had changed was almost palpable.
It wasn't just what had happened between us, but how everything seemed to have become irreversibly intertwined.
As if a new path had been set, with no turning back.
Something had shifted—something inside me and inside him.
What might once have been dismissed as a slip or a distraction had now become part of a complex, delicate web of emotions that neither of us could fully unravel.
The tension still hung in the air, like the echo of a scream we hadn't uttered—latent, ready to break free.
We both knew something had changed irreversibly.
From that moment on, nothing would ever be the same.
Every gesture, every glance seemed charged with new meaning—deeper, more intense.
I felt torn between what politics demanded of me and what my heart was beginning to whisper, and I didn't know if I was ready to face this new dilemma.
The following night, after the last employee had left and the palace had fallen silent, I decided to go to his office. He was there, buried in papers as always, trying to organize a chaos greater than he could control.
“You're pulling away from me.” My voice was low and direct, no room for evasion.
He didn't look up right away. The weight of politics consumed him, but I knew he felt the same electricity I did. When he finally met my eyes, I saw exhaustion and anguish reflected there.
“I'm not. I'm just trying to work,” he murmured, his words a weak defense.
I crossed my arms and stepped closer.
“Don't give me that, Fernando. I can see you're pulling away. And if you think this distance is going to work…” My voice faltered, but the frustration was stronger than anything else.
He stood up, restless, and walked toward me. The silence between us spoke louder than any words could.
“I can't separate things anymore,” he murmured, and I heard the sincerity in his voice.
I took a deep breath. The desire between us was undeniable—a storm about to break.
“Neither can I,” I said, the words barely more than a sigh.
The tension between us had reached its peak. There was no going back. His eyes locked on mine, and in one swift motion, he pulled me to him—rough yet gentle all at once.
There were no more words, no more rules. Desire took over, and I surrendered to him completely. The world around us seemed to crumble, but we both knew there was no turning back. What we had was stronger than any political game.
And I was no longer willing to deny it.