Chapter 3
Soon there are amazing smells filling the villa, two pots simmering, some sort of cake in the oven, and little banana leaf parcels steaming in a covered bowl, Maria pretends not to notice as Tony comes to investigate, casually swirling his second glass of whiskey, he seems happily chilled, “ten more minutes siñor Tony” she says. He watches as she plucks little wrapped banana leaf packages from an empty pot and unwraps them to reveal dough like sausages, laying them out on a plate, steam rises from them and he wonders how she doesn’t burn herself touching everything with her bare hands. He is so close and just wants to touch her, she can tell to, his wife has not been affectionate with him in a long time she thinks, so as he gets closer she lets him, until he is close enough that she leans back into him, she can hear the light sigh of relief, his body relaxing a little agains her. “Will you stay for dinner, eat with us” he whispers in her ear, “you want me to stay” Maria asks softly and he nods into her shoulder, he is so gentle, like a touch starved man or a curious child wanting comfort. “Ok, sí señor” she says, “thank you Kitten” he smiles pulling away. She watches curiously as he pulls out his wallet and folds a note in his fingers, then to her shock he slips it into her pocket, walking away casually like he didn’t just give her the money, the equivalent of two hours of hard work for what, for cooking, for agreeing to stay, for the slight affection?
Maria sets up the table, nervously setting a place for herself as well before plating up, the men move to the table and she sets the food up, rice and beans, Guanimes, Pollo Guisado and ice water, she stands by the table unsure but Tony gestures to the chair. “Come Kitten, sit down” he directs and Maria tentatively sits, she takes his plate and serves him before doing the same with the other for the other men, serving herself last, describing each dish as she goes, she gets lots of praise and is very shocked at the compliments. Conversation is light and they try to include her but never push, treating her like an equal and not like someone below them, even more shocking is the fact that when they are done, Tony’s friends clean the table and pack the dirty dishes in the machine. She freaks out a little but they insist that because she cooked they should help clean up, Tony stays at the table with her trying to figure out what movies she likes, she admits that she has only seen very few, the one Starwars one she saw is her favourite and she is a big Starwars fan.
Tony asks if she has heard of a movie called The Mask of Zorro or The Legend of Zorro, she hasn’t and he follows up with an odd question, can she use a sword or fence, all the men are grinning and keen to hear her answer to this seemingly out of the blue question. “Well, I suppose I don’t know how to fence but I’m sure it wouldn’t be that difficult to learn since I can use a use a saber and that is like a sword” Maria states, the men laugh, the evening progresses and she serves desert, a coconut flan. Tony getting braver and pulling her onto the couch with him despite his friends warnings, he is paying for her company so he can do what he wants, she will not object, she needs the money, reluctantly he allows to her to leave and she heads straight to Micheal. He is not happy when she gets home, the cleaning company called and they don’t want her anymore, one of the other women accused her of fraternising with the client, not that he would care if she did but she needs the job, when she shows him the money from the day he is shocked. It’s at least 2 weeks worth of money for a day worth of work, she explains the man was kind but wanted affection, she thought maybe he wanted sex but when she got down on her knees he pulled her up straight away saying he didn’t want that.
Maria spends the night and Micheal wakes her slightly in the morning letting her know he is going to work, during the day she cleans for him like a good ser esposa, she goes home and tends to her father, cooks for him and cleans up that house as well, singing and dancing as she goes. When Micheal returns from work he is in a great mood, picking Maria up and spinning her around as she squeals and her father cheers, he got a call from the man who she cooked and cleaned for, they want he to come over again, every day from lunch till after dinner. On top of that he got a promotion she makes a cake in celebration and they dance till late into the night this time Michael falling asleep in her bed and Maria passing out on top of him, their wake up is slow and easy Maria stirring to a warm hand brushing hair from her face. “Dios mío eres tan hermosa María” he whispers, she smiles softly, “Michael, ¿no tienes trabajo?” she half teases and he groans “no María, solo déjame acostarme contigo unos momentos más”, she laughs softly and kisses his cheek, snuggling in closer with his arms wrapped around her. “Creo que mi padre cree que nos hemos casado” Maria whispers with a giggle, “ahh, el es viejo, que piense eso” Michael responds, she can feel him smiling against her skin, eventually they get up and he reminds her that the employer will send a car for her at eleven.
The days pass fast, a car picks her up and delivers her to the villa, she does a little bit of cleaning, cooks their meals, Tony is affectionate, he seems to crave touch, connection, he pays her ridiculous amount every day, he looks at her like a man in love. Maria doesn’t mind he is very handsome and surprisingly tries hard to keep her entertained, joking, going out for walks, he buys her clothes, beauty products, anything she shows remote interest in when they pass by shops, she has to decline his purchases a lot. Then Michael meets her out the front of the villa and walks home with her, the routine repeats, day after day, its been two weeks till one morning she opens the front door quietly and she can hear the men arguing, telling him he can’t stay here forever. He has work piling up and he can’t just hide away from the world, Maria is surprised to hear the Tony doesn’t want to leave her, he wants to bring her home with him, “She’s not a thing, a toy or souvenir you can just bring home Tony” Rhodey argues. “I know she’s not but I can give her a good life”, “you can’t make her go with you, what if she doesn’t want to leave”, “then I’ll stay”, “what no you can’t stay here, stop being ridiculous Tony we need to go home”, “I won’t leave her, you go, forward me a couple of mill and I’ll be fine”.
Maria gasps and runs from the villa in a panic, she can’t leave her home, leave her father, leave Michael, but sinor Tony is obviously a very important person, he can’t stay because of her, why would he want to she is nothing special, just a poor girl who cleans and cooks. When she gets to Michael’s house she is surprised to find the door ajar, inside it’s empty but trashed, his stuff strewn everywhere, the place destroyed, then she is not alone, threatening men filling the doorway, Pedro’s men, “be a good girl Maria and we’ll be gentle” one growls. She slowly slips her hand into her pocket grasping a crystal her other still in her bag wraps tightly around the cool metal, “I won’t go anywhere with you!” she hisses pulling both items out and shoving the crystal in the slot, they laugh at her little metal pipe. But the joking stops once it lights up, the room suddenly heating up significantly as plasma shoots from each side, “what the fuck is that” one guy states and then she sets upon them screaming, she won’t be raped or beaten, sold for sex, she will defend herself the only way she knows how, with a lightsaber. She cuts through four men before the rest run off, probably to get weapons, Maria turns the saber off panting and jumps when the phone rings, she is crying by the time she answers it and it’s Michael telling her to run, to meet her a few streets away.
By the time she gets to him she is crying, Michael examines her face, somehow they got a few good hit in and he presses a tissue to her bleeding lip, “Tenemos que ir a María, te llevaré al hombre que te emplea” he says dragging her through the streets. She struggles in his grip but he pulls her onto a stashed motorcycle that roars to life and they both duck as men start shooting at them while they race off, they escape and Maria argues when they get to the villa that she can’t be here anymore, sinor Tony wants to take her back to America with him. Michael says she needs to go with him, she isn’t safe here, Maria argues she won’t leave her father and he falls quiet for a second looking sad “María, pensé que lo sabías, fueron a tu casa primero, tu padre se ha ido, lo mataron”. “No, no, ESTÁS MINTIENDO” she screams hitting his chest, cars pull up and she screams at them “MARÍA, VE, ENTRA EN LA VILLA!” Michael yells seeing the door open, he shoves them up the stairs and into the house as she screams and sobs then to his surprise he sees her employer. Sinor Tony is none other than Tony Stark, billionaire, Ironman, not only will Maria be safe but she will have a very good life, she will be American royalty, she will never go hungry or be without a roof over her head, a warm bed, she won’t get sick from temperature, even his servant look healthy.
Tony looks over at the commotion happening by the front door and sees a ruffled young man desperately shove Maria inside, the girl is a sobbing mess, blood dripping from a split lip and even more staining her clothes, the young mans hands are blood stained too, his shirt is quickly turning red. When he looks up at Tony his expression conveys his pure surprise, Maria might not know who he is but this boy definitely does, “Mr Stark we have a dozen armed men coming up the drive” Jarvis says in Tony’s earpiece, maybe the boy is her brother, he’ll have to protect them both. “We have incoming, armed hostiles, Happy you take upstairs, Rhodey suit up, let’s give them a little surprise” Tony orders, Rhodey pulls the straps on his jacket and Tony double tap his arch reactor, nanite suits wrapping around both men. Maria looks up and there are two ironmen standing in front of her, one grey and one red and gold, “I gotcha Kitten, no one is getting through to hurt you” the red one says and she recognises Tony’s voice, Tony, as in Tony Stark, god how did she not realise it, he seemed so familiar weeks ago at the job fair.
The door busts open, the men yelling and waving their guns, shooting into the ceiling before they assess the situation, Tony sighs and uses a pulse burst to shoot one of the men back out of the door, there is silence before the yelling starts up again, they think it’s a rouse. Interesting she makes sci-fi weapons and they think this is just another trick, Tony drops his mask and the guns fire through the room, they are after her and the young man, his mask goes back up “alright I’m done get out” Tony states, he and Rhodey shoot the men out of the villa. Bullets fly through the villa for a few seconds as the men shout more will come for her, the wannabe gangsters run off and Rhodey says they need to go now, Tony turns to see a sobbing Maria putting pressure of a bullet wound for the boy while he stares into her face lovingly, cupping her face. “te tienes que ir con el mi amor no te puedes quedar aqui ya te vendieron” he whispers and she shakes her head through the tears “no te dejaré”, he shoves her away “Maria no seas tonta aqui no hay nada para ti mas que la muerte” he growls but she crawls back.
Brown eyes lock on Tony’s filled with fear and determination, “please, take her, you give her good life, she safe in America, they sold her to Agosto, she will never be safe here, they kill her, they killed her padre before, she smart, good with machines, keep your house, she can be good wife” he begs coughing up blood. Tony can tell this young man doesn’t have much time left, “doesn’t matter what she want, you take her she lives, please”, “tendrás una buena vida en América, haz esto por mí” he wheezes cupping her face, she pushes forward pressing her lips to the young mans as his hand slips down. Tony can see the boy is gone, she sobs as she breaks away shaking him “Michael, Michael no me dejes, por favor, POR FAVOR” she cries, the villa filling with her screaming his name, “Maria my love, we need to go” Tony says softly as he watches her cling to the dead lovers body. After some wrestling they peel her away, everything starts to blur for her and the men can see, she is in shock, she sits quietly in the car, lets them manovre her onto the plane, organise for a replacement passport, papers and an asylum visa.