The rest of the evening their eyes sought each other. At one point Raisa stared not caring who noticed. Matt kept rubbing Carolyn's back. The touch being symbolic that she was his. Raisa began to breathe harder as she began to feel her rage building. She chastised herself for getting so out of control with a woman who was not hers and hers alone. This was something she was not used to. She would stop this situation with Carolyn Stenbeck; she had other things to think about. In her mind this affair was over. She then turned around and walked out the party without once looking back.
Carolyn saw as Raisa left and she also told herself it was all over.
~~~~~~~~~~
The death count from the rains was devastating. Civil unrest could be felt in the air. There was talk of a workers strike and the army was now in a full 24-hour alert status. Graffiti, which was always present, began to take a political tinge. Flyers started to appear at Universities and fly by night newspapers were being spread to the populace.
President Padron was escalating security around, La Casa Rosada, the Official Presidential Residence. There was an obvious military presence everywhere. Terror escalated and the number of victims began to rise.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Matt, I want to leave Caracas!"
"Carolyn you are over reacting as usual!"
"Am I Matt? Look around you. I want to take Simon back home for awhile."
"No! He is my son too, Carolyn. You are not taking him anywhere." Matt began to pace.
Carolyn knew enough that this was not the way to approach Matt. With the laws of the country being what they were she needed Matt's permission to be able to take Simon out of the country. She had to stay focused. She had to do whatever she had to. For the first time since she had moved to Venezuela she was truly afraid.
When she drove to the market she could see the parking lot secured by the army. There was an over abundance of a police presence that everyone knew was yet another corrupt organization. Sides were clearly being established.
~~~~~~~~~~
The protests at the universities began suddenly and in great numbers. The students took to the streets. The army rolled. Chaos followed, electricity was interrupted and the city of lights became a city of violence. El Carolazo they called it. In all the barrios people opened their windows and started banging posts and pans loudly. The roar was deafening. The populace was not happy and like a sleeping giant it had begun to roar. The army moved in. Some demonstrators were taken in for questioning. The air became heavy; it was all a matter of time before civil war would erupt.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Matt please... let me take Simon to the states for awhile," she pleaded.
"No!"
"Matt, you won't even be here. You are going to be out in the oilrigs and if anything happens we will be cut off from each other for who knows how long. Let me take him to visit my parents for just awhile. He is out of school now in any case. Please Matt." She hoped that he would see the logic of her argument.
"Carolyn, we live in a very secure area..."
"Secure? Nothing is secure Matt. There are soldiers with machine guns in the supermarket parking lots and on the street. If anything brakes out they are not going to care where we live.... No one will be safe... and you won't be here!" Carolyn said hysterically.
"Carolyn..." he started to say when Clara came into the room.
"Mr. Stenbeck, Ms. Andieta in on the phone and wishes to speak to you. Shall I tell her you are at home?"
"Of course I am home for Ms. Andieta. I'll take the call in here" Matt walked over to the small table picked up the receiver. "Hello Ms Andieta."
Carolyn's arms went around her body protectively. She had managed to stop thinking of Raisa. And now when she had thought that she had gotten her out of her system she would just enter her mind again. Carolyn turned her back to Matt. She had to think on how to get Simon out of Venezuela. She kept telling herself they were all blind. The unrest could be felt on the street. No matter how hard Padron would try to control the students, they still protested and sooner or later bolder ones would pull the first trigger. She had to get her son out of this violent land. She would do it whether Matt liked it or not. She would find a way.
She was deep in thought so when two arms pulled her back into an embrace she jumped in fear. She turned quickly and was now staring at an angered face.
"What has gotten into you?" Matt tried grabbing her again. "I just wanted to hold you."
"Don't," Carolyn said as she put some distance between them.
"How long is this going to go on Carolyn? You are my wife; I have tried to be patient with you," he said as he started to approach her.
"I don't feel well Matt," she said softly averting his eyes.
"You haven't felt well in a long time Carolyn. If you think that I am going become a monk, you are very much mistaken. You better be feeling better by tonight!" He ranted as he slammed the door on his way out.
Matt called her later from the office. Apparently some of the directors had been invited for a week to the Hacienda Virago deep in the interior of the country. Ms Andieta rarely invited people out to the hacienda and this was not an invitation that was to be turned down. As soon as Carolyn hung up the phone she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall. They were both coming in for the kill; Matt and Raisa were takers. She would be damned if she were to become the meat to feed them.
She hated this land. She understood it less and less each day. The violence somehow permeated everything with its raw sensuality. Everything was too exposed. She was too exposed.
She had not slept with Matt since that first time she had been with Raisa. The thought of hands, any hands, touching her made her stomach turn after that first time with Raisa. She had not been able to stand even the thought of being touched. Until it became all she thought about. She would wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat as she dreamt of hands touching her body and just at the moment when she would surrender the face that would fill her dreams was that of Raisa Andieta. It got to the point where she avoided being in the same building with her.
And then of course it happened. That night at the Copeco Ball she had told herself over and over again that she could handle it. She had looked around and had actually managed to act the way that Matt had always wanted her to. In other words act the part. She was talking to Consuelo Betancourt one of the very few female executives at Copeco when quite suddenly she heard a voice call to her look at me Her eyes almost knew instinctively and she looked straight into the eyes of Raisa Andieta.
Her body heard the call and she was unable to stop herself. She walked up to Raisa; nothing else mattered but the fact that her blood was rumbling through her veins and the pounding in her ears was threatening to deafen her. She saw her hand reach out for Raisa and was surprised when the words I need to talk to you came out of her mouth. Raisa had simply said, Yes, come with me and she followed.
Both knew what the other one wanted. For the first time in her life Carolyn had acted out of pure instinct. Now it seemed to would pay for that mistake for the rest of her life.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Andreas, I want you there. Tell Nonna that I will be arriving in a day or two." Raisa's voice was melodic as she spoke to her brother. "I know that things are questionable right now but our position is solid. Don't worry about tha.t"