Subjugated Conscience: Valeria Torres and Antonio de Menezes

Explosive, that was the first word that came to mind when thinking of Valeria. The word spoke volumes with her. Her hair was a dark black, almost brown. It flowed down her shoulders, and it had this shine to it that made you want to run your fingers through it. She had these bright green eyes, and they could bore into your soul if she wanted them to. She had this voice and laugh that would make a man's knees tremble.

Valeria is the type of woman who knows what she wants and goes for it. She'll knock you down at every turn until you give in, but she's not unreasonable. She'll let you up, only so she can knock you back down again. If you're lucky enough to be on top then she'll respect you for it, but she won't let you stay there for long, because that's not *her* spot.

Valeria takes control of everything, and everyone around her, including me. I work for her as an accountant so I'm privy to all sorts of information about her business dealings and various other things that I'd rather not mention here. I have never told anyone what I've learned working for her (my lips are sealed tighter than Fort Knox), but I think that's the point. Me keeping secrets makes me useful to her.

I first met Valeria over ten years ago now. It was a rainy Thursday night at a bar called Mary's Place in downtown New Orleans. My girlfriend Carla and I were out drinking after a tough week at my job at American Can Company--the most toxic place on earth as far as I'm concerned--and we were looking for a little relaxation from life in general when we stumbled into Mary's Place. We got something much more than relaxation though because we met Valeria Torres that night. Carla would say fate brought us together, but I know different--I don't believe in fate or luck or any of those things anymore--it was all Valeria doing her thing.

I remember Carla walking up to Valeria and saying "I've got this one." She pointed at me and said "He'll buy us drinks." Valeria looked at me with those green eyes of hers and smiled this big smile that showed off all of her teeth (she doesn't like anyone who has bad teeth). Then she walked right up to me, wrapped her arms around my neck, rested her head on my chest, and said "You're mine tonight." Then she kissed me right on the mouth! That shocked me so much I didn't even realize Carla had left the bar until I felt Valeria take my hand and lead me away from where we were sitting by the door towards the bar where she signaled the bartender to get us two shots of Patron tequila (she likes Patron!).

"What's your name?" she asked while ordering our drinks from the bartender. "Antonio," I said after catching my breath from kissing her just moments before; "Antonio de Menezes." "Well Antonio de Menezes," she said with a giggle after hearing my name; "You're mine tonight." Then she winked at me before continuing our conversation: "So what do you do Antonio?" "I work in accounting," I replied; "American Can." "Oh," was all she said before giving the bartender our order which we received shortly after; "you like American Can? You like working there?" It took me a few seconds to figure out why she asked that question--I was still trying to process how quickly things had gone from zero to sixty with this woman--but when it clicked inside my head I knew exactly why she asked it: She wanted to know where my loyalties lied because she knew if my loyalty wasn't with American Can then it was with someone else who might be able to help her with whatever plans she had running through that pretty little head of hers.