A Deal with Alejandro

by Maya Blake

  A grim smile touched Gael’s lips. ‘And does that statement apply to everyone here, or just me?’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ he demanded, yearning for something, anything to help end this conversation. With an unstoppable compulsion, he sought out Elise.

  She was at Kenzo’s table, with the old man and his grandsons surrounding her. Alejandro watched as Jason Ishikawa leaned over and whispered in her ear. She laughed, her face so beautiful. His breath caught.

  ‘Nothing. Forget it,’ Gael murmured.

  Alejandro barely heard him leave. Jealousy pounded, strong and hot through him as he watched her interact with the younger Ishikawa brother.

  As if sensing his regard, she lifted her head. Her expression dimmed, escalating his suspicion that something was wrong.

  Something he’d said to her in the car had upset her. But what?

  Go to her. Find out. Claim her.

  No. She needed to be handled with care. If she was as innocent as he was beginning to believe she was, the way he was feeling right now would cause more harm than good. She wasn’t a fragile creature by any means, but neither was she equipped to handle the riotous emotions surging through his veins. She’d already borne the brunt of his jealousy on more than one occasion.

  He needed to calm down a little...or a lot, before he tackled anything further with her.

  He mingled. He sipped vintage champagne. He forced himself not to react each time Jason whispered in her ear.

  Alejandro turned away, knowing he was one heartbeat from ripping Jason Ishikawa from her side. He swallowed his ire, torturously reined in his fraying control, and mingled for an hour until the traditional dinner gong sounded.

  ‘Alejandro?’

  Her voice lanced through him, touched him places he couldn’t quite name. Turning from the female acquaintance who’d sought him out under the pretext of discussing business only to shoot him interest-filled looks the moment they were alone, he glanced at Elise.

  ‘Are you ready to be seated?’ she asked.

  ‘Sí. Are you?’ he enquired, refusing to glance in Jason Ishikawa’s direction.

  Her eyes skated away from him, but her smile stayed in place. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then come.’ Dismissing the acquaintance with a stiff smile, he held out his arm.

  She hesitated. Dread snapped up his spine.

  ‘Something wrong?’ he asked as they neared their table.

  ‘Is there any reason it should be?’ she tossed back.

  ‘You’re answering my questions with questions. Is this a prelude to an argument, guapa?’

  She swallowed. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking—’

  ‘Mr Aguilar, my grandfather would be honoured if you and Elise would consider joining us at our table.’

  Alejandro faced Jason Ishikawa, every nerve in his body yearning to refuse the invitation. In fact, right then, he wanted to call a halt to everything: the merger that had dominated his life up to only a handful of days ago but was now a load he wanted to shed. The brother whose weighted gaze he could even now feel upon him... Everything, just so he could walk out of the party with Elise.

  But leaving would be a gross insult not just to her and her grandmother, but also to their hosts. So he gritted his teeth and nodded his acceptance.

  A few feet from the table, he noticed Gael had also been relocated. And Elise was placed beside Kenzo, with his grandsons on either side of them.

  The old man had an agenda of his own, one Alejandro wasn’t certain of yet. But he would play along. For now.

  He’d come to Kyoto with the intention of saving the merger, but no deal was worth mind games or further interminable delays if they meant not having Elise in his bed. He would leave here tonight with the merger agreed. Or he would not.

  It was that simple.

  Decision made, he allowed himself to enjoy the food, the drink, and his immediate companions. For his own state of mind, he chose to ignore the overt gestures Jason made towards Elise. She would be leaving here with him, not Jason. And after tonight, there would be no doubt in her mind that she was his. He would make sure she understood that attention from other men wouldn’t be tolerated.

  Once dinner was over, he sat back as Gael invited a female guest to the dance floor. Elise excused herself to the bathroom and the Ishikawa brothers went off to fulfil their hosting duties.

  He wasn’t surprised when Kenzo stood and gestured for Alejandro to walk with him.

  They stepped out into the balmy late-April evening, Kenzo’s steps slow but steady as they took a meandering path that led to a smaller, well-lit pagoda surrounded by stone statues.

  Inside, the old man selected a seat, indicating the one opposite him. Once Alejandro sat, he said, ‘Speak, son.’

  ‘You know why I’m here.’

  ‘You think I’m the one getting in the way of the merger?’

  ‘I just want straight answers.’

  Kenzo nodded. ‘Very well. You’re a lone wolf, Mr Aguilar. Your brother—’ he looked to where Gael was swaying on the dance floor, smiling down at the woman in his arms ‘—he has his issues, but he has a better understanding of what the term family means. You, on the other hand, do not. My grandsons may very well override my wishes—they have the majority vote, after all. But I mean to sway them to my way of thinking.’

  ‘Which is what exactly?’ He was only mildly curious, the decision to walk away solidifying with each passing minute.

  ‘That selling what I’ve spent my lifetime building to a man who is so determined to reject his blood and his past won’t end well. Ishikawa Corporation is about family. I won’t go to my grave without ensuring my legacy remains intact.’

  ‘And that’s your final word on the matter?’ Alejandro asked.

  ‘You’ll do one of two things. You’ll either walk away from this deal, or you’ll reassess your priorities and do what is necessary for your own soul. Either way, I wish you the best. But I urge you to do the latter.’

  The old man’s parting words struck him hard. Alejandro sat, frozen in place, as Kenzo rose and shuffled off. He wasn’t aware how long he sat there, staring at the water. It might have been three minutes. Or three hours.

  But words he’d pushed away for a long time suddenly surged back, pounding through his brain.

  Family. Compromise. Brother. Legacy.

  When he sensed a presence behind him, Alejandro didn’t need to look to know it was his brother. Gael took the seat Kenzo had vacated, his elbows braced on his knees. He looked as if he needed a drink.

  ‘You met with the old man?’

  Alejandro nodded.

  ‘Did he give you the family spiel, too?’

  ‘Sí, he did.’

  Gael sighed. ‘I guess you win this round. Kudos to you.’

  Alejandro frowned. ‘What?’

  Gael spread his hands. ‘I have to give it to you, it was a good move. Although, I thought...’ He shook his head. ‘Forget what I thought.’

  ‘Gael, what are you talking about?’

  His brother froze. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use my name.’

  The pang in Alejandro’s chest was deep and painful. ‘Well. Perhaps...’ He paused, not quite sure how to proceed. ‘When this is done, we need to talk.’

  Gael’s smile was grim and unwelcoming. ‘So I can listen to you gloat? No, thanks. Your neat trick paid off. You bagged this one. Accept the congrats and let’s retreat to our respective kingdoms, sí?’

  ‘I don’t play tricks.’ He spiked his fingers through his hair. ‘Look, things didn’t happen the way you thought they did...those three weeks when your mother went missing.’

  Gael frowned. ‘I was there, I know what happened.’

  ‘You thought I was too busy chasing girls to help you. I wasn’t. I was dealing with my own mother and the breakdown she was having over the whole thing.’

  Gael’s mouth twisted. ‘Right.’

  Alejandro sighed. ‘You found her in the end,
didn’t you?’

  ‘No thanks to you.’

  Alejandro’s smile felt as stiff and grim as his soul. ‘You found her thanks to a note shoved under your door at half-past eight on a Saturday night. I can repeat the exact words on the note if you want?’

  His brother’s face went slack. ‘You?’

  Alejandro nodded. ‘The time when I wasn’t trying to talk my mother down from full-blown depression, I was trying to get my father to come home. I attended soccer practice because my coach warned me he’d throw me off the team if I missed any more games.’

  Gael shook his head. ‘You...’ he breathed again.

  ‘It wasn’t as easy for me as you think. Trust me on that.’

  His brother stared at him for an age, before he nodded. ‘Okay.’

  Alejandro stared off at the reflective lake for a minute before he turned around. ‘The deal is yours if you want it.’

  Gael looked puzzled. ‘Why would you hand me a deal that’s already yours? I wouldn’t have gone that way myself, but you played your ace and you won. There’s no need to be coy about it.’

  ‘Santa Maria, I have zero idea what you’re talking about,’ he growled.

  ‘I’m talking about Elise.’ Gael shook his head. ‘Bringing an exquisitely beautiful woman with Japanese ancestry to pave the path for you? She’s playing the part to perfection, I have to give her that. The old man is eating out of her hand. And if my eyesight is still twenty-twenty, Jason’s set on getting lucky before the night is out.’

  Cold dread tightened Alejandro’s nape. He lunged for Gael’s lapels. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘I said—’

  ‘Where is she?’

  Gael drew back sharply. ‘Hey—’

  ‘Where?’

  His brother pointed to the gardens at the side of the pavilion.

  He barely felt the ground beneath his feet as he sprinted towards the cluster of cherry-blossom trees. The few guests who’d drifted out to enjoy the evening air hurried out of his way. His frenzied gaze darted over them, searching for her.

  She wasn’t there.

  A quick three-sixty turn and he wondered whether Gael had got it wrong. But then he spotted an archway into another garden. The typical Japanese garden was designed around a pond of lotus flowers, water lilies and rock steps.

  Alejandro appreciated none of that as he stepped over a short bridge and arrived at a shallow waterfall that fed the lake. To one side of it pooled a larger pond, with a love seat at the end of it, complete with mood lighting.

  He froze at the sight before him, shock and disbelief colluding to tell him he was hallucinating. But then a more urgent sensation took hold. The ever-tightening vice around his heart forced him to breathe through the shock, to blink away the disbelief.

  To acknowledge that Elise was indeed in Jason’s arms.

  Kissing him.

  ‘Elise.’ His voice was a ragged croak. She didn’t hear him. Her eyes were shut, her face concentrated...hand on his chest...lost in the kiss.

  His dead feet stumbled closer, every atom in his body hoping he’d mistaken her for someone else. But it was her. The red dress. The hair. The body.

  ‘Dios mio. Elise!’

  They parted unhurriedly, as if he were a nuisance they were reluctant to deal with.

  Jason raised his head, speared him with a triumphant look. ‘Mr Aguilar, you’re intruding on a—’

  ‘Do not speak!’ he snarled, his gaze fixed on Elise’s back, which remained rigidly turned to him. ‘Turn around, Elise. Now.’

  She turned slowly. Her face was coolly indifferent. But her eyes blinked sultrily as if she was drunk. Drunk on another man’s kiss.

  ‘Explain this to me,’ he rasped.

  One shoulder lifted. ‘I would’ve thought it was obvious?’

  The loud clanging in his head wouldn’t stop. ‘Why?’

  ‘I don’t owe you any explanations, Alejandro. Not when it comes to my personal life. Just as you don’t owe me any about yours.’

  Alejandro stared at her, heard the cool words. Still his mind refused to compute.

  ‘Was there something else you needed?’

  Shaky fingers spiked his hair. ‘Madre de Dios, I thought you were different.’

  An expression crossed her face, but he was too far gone to read it accurately. But then her features settled once more into serene, treacherous perfection. ‘I am different, Alejandro. Shame you’re too blind to see it.’

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Six months later

  ALEJANDRO STARED AT his flashing phone. Margo wouldn’t put the call through if it weren’t essential. She’d borne the consequence of not heeding his do not disturb edict the single time she’d taken her eye off that particular ball.

  A fleeting twinge in some remote corner of his being was the only sign that he regretted his scathing reaction to her mishap. To her credit, she hadn’t cried. Or thrown a tantrum. She’d sucked it up and made sure it didn’t happen again.

  He admired that. Her ability to be what he wanted her to be. If he was brutally honest with himself, Margo was the only constant in his life.

  Now that everything had changed.

  Which made him certain this call was probably important.

  He started to reach for it. It stopped ringing. He exhaled in relief and turned in his seat. About to rise and head to his window, he paused as his mobile began to ring.

  He recognised Gael’s number. This twinge was a different sort. A hint of apprehension. Anticipation. His brother had called only once since Japan. The conversation had been tense, the past tentatively broached. It had by no means been a reconciliatory call, and Alejandro wasn’t certain if they’d ever get there.

  But somewhere in his heart a tiny sprouting of hope lingered. He hadn’t decided whether to feed it yet...

  He picked up the phone and slid his thumb across the surface. ‘Alejandro.’

  ‘Good to know you’re alive. Now I don’t have to badger your PA into listening at your door for signs of life,’ Gael drawled.

  ‘Anything in particular I can help you with?’ he demanded gruffly.

  Gael paused a tense beat. ‘Your diary is clear for the next two hours. And no, Margo didn’t divulge that information. I graduated first in my class from MIT. I know my way around computer code.’

  Alejandro gritted his teeth. ‘Please tell me you did not just admit to hacking my company’s system?’

  ‘Of course not. Your appointment is with me.’

  Discomfort moved through him, but then so did a certain level of acceptance. For better or worse, Gael was his brother. The question now remained how to move forward with this. ‘Then why are you calling me beforehand?’

  ‘You have a private chef. I’m proposing a lunch meeting to discuss new developments.’

  Alejandro exhaled. ‘The food will be taken care of. Explain the second part.’

  Gael paused for a moment. ‘The Ishikawa deal may be back on the table.’

  ‘I’m not interested.’

  His brother made an impatient sound. ‘I’ll be there in ten. We’ll discuss this further.’ He hung up before Alejandro could draw breath.

  After relaying instructions to Margo, he tossed the phone down and jerked to his feet. He started to head for his window, but changed course at the last moment.

  This was something else she’d ruined. He couldn’t enjoy the view now without remembering her sketch of him standing at this very window, staring out. She’d seen inside him. Uncovered what he’d spent over a decade trying to hide.

  She’d made him believe there was a connection between them.

  But it’d been a lie.

  She’d changed everything.

  His world had been an acceptable regiment of clinical routine before her. SNV was his number one priority. Nothing else mattered.

  Elise Jameson had thrown a grenade into that existence. She’d made him feel. Worse, she’d made him...hope. To think he’d actually been considering making
adjustments in his life that included family and compromise. That he’d spent that hour in Kenzo’s garden, seeking ways to accommodate the new and uncharted into his life.

  When all the while she’d been pursuing another agenda. So far he’d stopped himself from dissecting which part of her history had been a lie. Her claimed innocence? The fact that landing one of the Ishikawa brothers had been an addendum to her job or her goal from the beginning, probably orchestrated by her grandmother? Because when Alejandro thought about it, he noticed that she’d resisted any discussion about them. Any pursuit of a sexual nature had come from Alejandro. Because she hadn’t been interested?

  No. She had been. He wasn’t insane enough to have misread their chemistry.

  But she still fell into another man’s arms.

  Balling his fists, he shoved them into his pockets and turned his back on the view, just as the door opened and his brother entered.

  Gael was dressed for an early start to the weekend, if his jeans, T-shirt and leather biker jacket were any indication. The mid-October temperatures were balmy enough not to require further covering, which suited his west coast resident brother.

  They exchanged a less stiff nod, then Gael crossed to the drinks cabinet and pour two cognacs. He handed one to Alejandro.

  ‘You don’t think this is premature? Celebrating a dead deal before a conversation has even taken place?’

  Gael shrugged as he sat down on the sofa, his focus slightly pensive. ‘Prematurity means there’s something to mature into.’

  Alejandro downed the drink, revelling for a single mindless moment in the warmth that flowed through him because he knew it wouldn’t last. ‘You’re pushy.’

  ‘I’m relentless. And ruthless.’ Gael sipped his drink. ‘And you’re the man I keep hearing all these formidable stories about. From this side of the room, I’m not seeing much evidence of it,’ he mocked.

  ‘You flew all the way here from California with this feeble tactic? To reverse-psych me into entering into this deal with you?’

  Gael raised a brow. ‘Tell me if it’s working and I’ll tailor my answer accordingly.’

  ‘It’s not working.’