Raul
When Marcus enters my office, he takes one look at me and winces. "You look like shit," he says.
"Good morning to you, too," I say, rubbing my jaw. The stubble I'm still sporting because I didn't make time for a shave annoys me. I haven't gotten a shower yet, either, even if I'd gotten to the office early.
I have things to do and I need to do them now.
"What's going on?" Marcus sits down in front of my desk. He's impeccably dressed as usual, despite having come in more than an hour early, as I asked him to. His grey suit is immaculate, as is his blond hair, slightly damp from the shower.
"I think I found out something." I pace across the carpet in front of my desk. "I'll get confirmation later today, but I'd like to get started on a plan in case I'm right."
"Confirmation of what?"
"I'll tell you later. You'll need to cancel all your meetings this morning."
"All right. What are we doing?"
"You're going to speak to Kate. Privately. If it's in her office, have her security detail sweep the room for bugs first."
He cocks an eyebrow. "Me? Why not you?"
I clench my jaw in irritation. "I don't think she'll want to speak with me right now. She'll be more receptive to it coming from you."
"You had a fight?"
"Something like that."
"Last night?"
"Does it matter when it happened?"
He narrows his eyes. "You didn't go home last night, did you?" He gestures at my appearance. "Is this why you're wearing the same suit you wore yesterday?"
"I fell asleep."
"You fell asleep? Doing what?"
"It's not what you're thinking."
"I'm not thinking anything."
"Yes, you are."
"Well, you're not telling me anything."
"I'm telling you it's not what you're thinking. If it were, do you think I'd bother to hide it from you?" God knows I've told Marcus every sin and folly I'd ever committed since college. If I'd cheated on my wife, he'd be the first to know.
"Well, you didn't tell me about Yandra, so what am I supposed to think."
"That was her secret, not mine."
"All right. I'll concede that point. Now tell me what's really going on."
"I will." I sit down wearily on the sofa. "I need to meet with Nova first."
"I don't think a P.I. will help you out of your marital problems, Raul."
"I don't have marital problems, all right? We just had a little ... misunderstanding."
"Okay. And you want me to cancel all my meetings so I can smooth things over with your wife?"
"Of course not."
"Good, because I don't think that's in my job description."
"I want you to make sure she stays angry with me."
He stares at me. "I don't think that's in my job description either."
"I have a plan. Only I don't have time to explain everything right now, just what you need to know before you meet with Kate. But I need you to call her in five minutes and ask to meet with her right away."
I tell him as much as I could, in the time we had. I can tell by the expression on his face that he doesn't think much of my plan.
"Will you do it?" I say.
"I don't know, Raul. It seems a little ... drastic." He frowns, thinking. "I hope you realize the many ways this plan of yours could go wrong."
I smile wryly. "You know me better than that."
"Are you sure you're not just stressed? Building that new facility in Raleigh is a tremendous project, Raul. Not to mention all the security you have to maintain around the new manufacturing formulas."
"I'm always stressed. If I weren't, I'd quit this job and do something else."
He gets to his feet and buttons his suit jacket. "This better pan out. I don't want to think I'm risking Kate throttling me for nothing."
"Thank you." I put a hand on his shoulder. "This should all be over soon. I'll meet you for lunch, I should have confirmation by then."
***
Katelin
"Let me get this story straight," I say. I don't look at Marcus, instead, my focus is on my water goblet. I move my fingertip down one side, drawing a line through the condensation. "The reason Raul didn't come home last night was because he was with another woman."
"Yes," he says. After a pause, he adds slowly, "Are you supposed to know who it is?"
"I think so." I shrug. "I can guess, anyway."
"You and he are having problems, aren't you?"
"I thought we hid that well enough."
"You did. Maybe too well."
I laugh. "I make it a point to always be good at my job."
He looks around, as though checking that no one was listening or observing us where we sat just outside of a random café we picked to meet at. Of course, he doesn't bother to be subtle about it. "This is going to be tricky. I'm not sure how we're supposed to play it."
"Well, I'm not making a scene."
"Of course you won't."
"Do I seem that cold, Marcus?"
"No, no." He put a hand on mine. "You're pragmatic. And you know the last thing we need right now is a full-blown scandal."
I smile and squeeze his hand. "You're pragmatic too. I think that's why Raul needs you."
"He needs you too, you know."
Shrugging, I pour myself more tea. "Apparently not, seeing how easily replaceable I was."
"You know what I mean."
"So, are you here to console me?" I take a sip of tea, grateful for the way it soothed my frazzled nerves.
"I'm here to be your friend."
"Thank you."
"Let me take you out to dinner. It will do us both some good."
I raise an eyebrow. "My husband will be busy tonight, I take it?"
"He'll be busy all day. But I'm meeting him for lunch, probably with Nova, who will hopefully have something significant to report." He hesitates long enough to tell me there's something else, something big. "The police may be considering Raul as a person of interest in Saldana's murder."
I nearly drop my cup. This is too much, I don't think I can take any more of this. "Since when?"
"Since today. The media has latched on to it, they're asking questions."
"Jesus."
"It won't go anywhere, I promise."
"But... the damage will be done, won't it? The board is going to want to fire him."
"Well, Saldana isn't there to agitate them anymore, and I think cooler heads will prevail." He smiles wryly. "At the very least, they'll give Raul a few days to get out of this."
***
Raul
There is a flash of concern on Bianca Hernandez-Smith's expression before she masks it with a smile. "Raul, how are you?" she said, getting up from her desk.
I take my cousin's hands and kiss her on the cheek. "I'm hanging in there," I reply. "Please don't worry."
"Come, let's sit here." She leads me to the sofa and takes a chair beside it. "I asked Pamela to bring us coffee. What can I do for you?"
"First, I'd like to apologize." I lean forward, resting my arms on my knees. "You've been COO for two years now, I think it's past time we worked more closely on the day-to-day running of the company."
"No need to apologize, Raul. I think we've both done our jobs pretty well so far, don't you think?"
"Yes, absolutely." I take a deep breath. "I had the idea that getting you on board everything I was working on would take too much of your time, and it wouldn't be fair to your family. I had no kids, no one to miss me at nine p.m. But now..." I spread my hands. "Was that unfair to you?"
She smiles. "I suspected as much. You really hated not seeing enough of your parents growing up, didn't you?"
I wince. "I guess I didn't hide that too well, did I?"
"Not to us, no."
There's a knock on the door, then her assistant comes in with a tray. "Good afternoon, Señor Marin," Pamela says, smiling.
"Thank you, Pam," Bianca says, gesturing to indicate that she put the tray on the coffee table. "We'll serve ourselves. Did you want something else, Raul?"
"Thank you, no," I say. Turning to the elderly, silver-haired assistant, I tell her, "Gracias, Mrs. Owens."
After she leaves, Bianca pours coffee for both of us.
"There's something else, too," I say, watching her quick, spare movements as she adds milk and sugar, the way both of us like it. "I assume you've read the newspaper websites this morning?"
"Yes," Bianca says. She shakes her head. "It's ridiculous. The police don't have a shred of evidence against you. I hope you had our PR people take care of it?"
"Yes. But I'd like to have you work with them on that, if that's all right with you."
"Oh?"
"Let's face it, they'll probably like you more than me right now."
"Our PR firm or the press?" She grins before taking a sip of coffee.
"Both." I lean back and stare at the ceiling. "If I get arrested—"
"Raul, no. That's not—"
"Listen." I lean forward again. Dropping my voice, I say, "The police combed through Saldana's finances. They found several unexplained payments of large amounts from dummy corporations, which I think they suspect could be traced to me."
Her eyebrows shot up. "How do you know this?"
"Press contacts."
"You mean someone in the police department."
I shrug.
She shakes her head. "But you and Saldana hated each other. That doesn't even make sense."
"It doesn't have to. The CCTV at the country club had been compromised. There were two hundred guests at that party. They're desperate for a suspect, someone to arrest."
"So they can look like they're doing their job." She places her coffee cup on the table. "Useless pigs. What do they think you could possibly be paying him for?"
"Blackmail, I'm guessing. One of the oldest motives for murder in the world."
"Puñeta." She mutters the word under her breath.
Seeing Bianca curse always makes me smile, as she only does it in front of our cousins. "Will you do it?"
Her gaze is fierce now. "If it's my job, I'll do it, of course."
"It is. If I get arrested," I repeat. "I'm putting you in charge of the company."
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