by Lucy Monroe
“More threats?”
“Common decency should be enough to convince you to better behavior, but it is not. Threats will have to suffice, but please remember. I never bluff.”
“I know you don’t.”
“Good.” Basilio took a firmer grip on his temper. Never before had he been moved to violence outside his time in the gym, where it was part of training his body. “You will sign a gag order, promising never to comment on the incident of five years ago again, other than to support the story that the Madison family in no way blames, or has ever blamed, Miranda Smith, née Weber, for the tragic but unavoidable accident. You will release a press announcement to that effect, as well.”
“No way. If I do that, people are going to start asking why. Someone is going to figure out that Tiffany lost track of Jamie.”
“Lost track of would imply she was watching him at all, and evidence is not in her favor.”
“I can’t let this destroy my family.”
“You were happy to destroy Miranda’s family.”
“We never attacked her father or grandparents.”
“Her father had to change schools from the place he’d worked most of his adult life. Her grandparents faced the jackal reporters you set on Miranda. None of this is negotiable, Carlos.”
“You know I prefer Carl.”
“That matters less than nothing in this moment, but let us be clear. I do not approve of the way you’ve divorced yourself from our father by taking the name of your stepfather and Americanizing your name. I find your attitude to family and honor contemptible.”
Carlos flinched as if struck. “I’m your older brother. It is not your job to correct me.”
“Someone needs to. Had you and Gracia been allowed to spend time regularly with our father, instead of being raised in America by your mother and stepfather exclusively, perhaps you would not be so entitled and lacking in character.”
“You don’t need to be so offensive. Our father was the one who had an affair and married his bit on the side.”
“That bit on the side was my mother and she suffered the same indignity and yet did not turn that into an excuse for me to live without a conscience.”
“I’m sure your business rivals would not say the same.”
“Integrity is part and parcel of every deal I’ve made, no matter how brutal I’ve had to be in the business arena. You cannot even begin to say the same thing.”
“All of this stuff you want me to do for Miranda is going to destroy my family and cause serious issues for the Madison Realty Group.”
“You should have considered the fact that there are consequences to every action, good or bad.”
“It’s your job to help your family.”
“And if you hadn’t shown up acting like a loudmouthed buffoon, Miranda would have agreed to cancel the interview. Now she’s set to let us all crash and burn.”
“And you’re going to let that happen? The Perez name is going to be dragged through the mud, too, and we both know how important that is to you.”
“I am aware.” He had to hope that once her temper had cooled some, Miranda might consider her actions and the impact they would have on Jamie and Grace. “She won’t back down on my behalf, or even yours, but Miranda has more compassion in her tiny finger than you and the entire Madison family has in its collective body.”
Carlos looked at him wonderingly. “You’ve fallen for the little gold digger.”
“Excuse me?” He didn’t care about the accusation that he’d fallen for Miranda, but no way in hell was he tolerating more name-calling on her behalf.
An aha expression crossed Carlos’s features. “I mean Miranda.”
“She is no gold digger. She never had any expectation of a lasting relationship with me.” Only now did he realize, after she’d walked away from him with such finality, that perhaps he wished she did.
“She’s a saint,” Carlos said, his voice laced with sarcasm.
“Es verdad, she is something very special.”
“You have fallen for her!”
“I never denied it.”
“Never mind what she’s set to do to our family, which apparently you no longer care about, but you can’t have a relationship with a woman like that! You could do so much better.”
“There is no better.”
“You cannot be serious.”
“You think not? When have you known me to joke?”
“She’s a nobody!”
“She’s a woman who dedicates her life to the welfare of children. What could be more laudable?”
“That right there should tell you that she feels guilty about what happened to Jamie. That she is guilty.”
“Don’t be more stupid than you can help.” Miranda had said something else had sparked her desire to go into social work.
Basilio hoped that there was still a chance she would tell him what that was. Though that hope was slim. Basilio was no quitter, though. And that was something the little spitfire would learn.
“So, even without the promise of her canceling the interview, you want me to basically throw my family under the bus.”
“Sí. If you do, there is a chance, slim as it might be, that she will agree to back out of the morning news show.”
“I can’t do that, Baz. If you think with your brain and not your dick, you’d realize that.”
“I don’t care which brain you use. Just use it to consider what I will do to you and your company if you don’t follow through on what I’ve asked.”
“Gracia brought you over to help us, not make things worse.”
“Gracia asked for my help on the basis of a series of lies. You are lucky I’m even giving you the choice to take a less damaging path than full disclosure.”
“Thank you so much,” Carlos said with bitter sarcasm. “When your girlfriend plans to reveal everything anyway.”
“That was her hurt and anger talking.”
“You think you can seduce her into backing down?” Carlos asked with clear hope.
“I believe her own sense of compassion and concern for others will be enough.”
“Now who’s being stupid?”
“Still you.” Basilio shrugged at his brother’s huff of offense. “You asked.”
“Tell me at least you’re going to try to seduce her again. It worked once. It could work again.”
“Oh, I’m going to get her into bed again, but I won’t be trying to convince her of anything but accepting me back into her life.”
“You’re lovestruck! I never would have thought the great Basilio Perez could be brought down by a mere woman.”
“I am in no way brought down.” He was the same man he’d always been. The problem here was that his brother had never actually known that man. “If you knew me at all, you would be aware that I do not believe in the concept of romantic love.”
Growing up with a father who fell in and out of love so easily and quickly, how could Basilio believe that emotion was anything but a temporary burst of endorphins responsible for some of history’s worst decisions, especially the most immediate history of his family?
“And yet you are willing to devastate the family you have never shown anything but loyalty to for the sake of this woman. How is that not love?”
“The fact I will not support the destruction of an innocent life—for the second time, no less—is hardly some kind of proof I believe in fairy tales.”
“Whatever you say.”
“I hope for your sake that you mean that.”
Shaking his head, Carlos stood. “I need to talk to Tiffany.”
“I expect to hear from you or a media rep within forty-eight hours.”
“You really are a cold bastard, aren’t you?”
“So it has been said.” Basilio thought of something else
he realized needed to be put in place. “You and Tiffany will sign a contract for a visitation schedule for your children with Papá and myself in Spain.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Your children deserve to have adults in their lives who will teach them the meaning of integrity and true family loyalty.”
“You can say that after what you are making me do?”
“Without a single doubt, sí.”
“You can’t force me to give you visitation with my children.”
“Can’t I?”
Once again, Carlos’s naturally olive complexion paled. “Forced visitation isn’t going to endear you to them.”
“You assume they will not enjoy their time in Spain with a doting grandfather.”
“And you? They’ll be terrified of you.”
“They are not afraid of me now. You will do and say nothing to change that, either. Not if you want continued business connections with the Perez group.”
“You’re big on the threats.”
“They should not be necessary.” Basilio allowed every bit of disgust he felt for his brother show in his voice.
The older man winced like he’d gotten the message. “I should have made a bigger effort to be a brother to you. You wouldn’t be doing this if I had.”
“It’s doubtful, but maybe. However, the past is the past and cannot be changed.”
“Maybe we could work on being brothers now.”
Basilio didn’t laugh at his brother’s obvious attempt to use the family card again. “Go home and speak to your wife and whoever else you need to. Just remember my deadline.”
Carlos frowned when Basilio ignored his overture, but for once he showed some intelligence and left the condo without another word.
Basilio was in no way shocked when he got a phone call from his oldest stepmother. He told her in no uncertain terms what he thought of what had been done to Miranda in the name of protecting Tiffany, as well as the fact Basilio had no intention of backing down from what he had told Carlos. Mrs. Madison tried crying and then shouting at him. When none of her cajoling or threatening worked, she hung up on him.
Thirty minutes later he received a call from his father. This one took more out of Basilio, but he’d learned long ago how to stand up to his father. He could never have saved the company otherwise, much less stop the financial hemorrhaging that was his father’s ex-wives.
“So this woman is important enough to you for you to abandon your family.”
“She is innocent and does not deserve what was done to her. Had they told me the truth in the beginning, this is the outcome I would have been looking for.”
“You think so? You are a ruthless man, Basilio, my son. I do not believe you would have cared nearly so much about the impact your brother’s actions had on Miranda’s life if you had not come to care for her.”
“You know I do not believe in that nonsense.”
“Your cynicism toward love is my fault.” His father sounded sad about that fact.
“You also taught me what I know about honor and integrity. Do not tell me you approve of the lies Carlos has spread about Miranda, or the way his wife was so grossly neglectful she did not know Jamie had left the park until she heard the sirens and looked up from her phone. How long does it take a four-year-old to wander two city blocks?”
“They have taken measures to make sure such a thing does not happen again.”
“Yes, I noticed the way she’s never left alone with the children. You don’t think she might want simply to change her behavior?”
“Do not judge so harshly. You have never been a parent.”
“But you have, and no matter what else you had going on in your life, I was always safe with you.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
“I’m not going to back off. Carlos knows what he needs to do. I don’t suppose he told you that part of my demands was for his children to visit us in Spain regularly.”
“No. He did not. You’re going to make sure I get to see my grandchildren more than once every couple of years when Carlos allows me to visit?”
“That is the plan, yes. The way Carlos and Gracia grew up without your influence is not something we want repeated in the next generation.”
“They are not bad people.”
“Just supremely spoiled, self-indulgent and too comfortable with dishonesty as a means to protect them from facing the consequences of their own actions.”
“Were you honest with this young woman when you met her?”
“No, but I never lied outright to her, and I never would have lied about her, causing her hurt.”
“You do care about her.”
Basilio wasn’t answering that claim again. He changed the subject and managed to end the call without discussing Miranda any further.
* * *
Randi sat next to Kayla on her sofa, each of them eating out of the pint containers of their favorite ice cream flavors. She’d already done the crying bit when Randi told her sister about the whole sorry mess. Now it was time for mindless comfort, or so Kayla claimed.
“You’re sure it was all an act?” Kayla asked as Meg Ryan finally admitted her feelings to Billy Crystal in one of Randi’s favorite throwback movies. “Baz sure acted like a guy hung up on a woman.”
“He’s Carl Madison’s brother.” Shouldn’t that say it all?
“You can’t hold him accountable for having such a lousy person as a brother. Our mom is no reflection of who we are.”
“He seduced me to get me to cancel the interview.”
“Did he say that?”
“Yes!” Well, he hadn’t denied it. That was as good as.
“And you didn’t knee him in the family jewels?”
“There was enough violence going around.”
Kayla nodded, her curly black hair bouncing a little. “That’s kind of what I mean, though. I think his feelings changed. He stood up for you, in a white-knight sort of way.”
“If you say so.”
“Didn’t you say that he was going to convince his brother to do a press release absolving you of guilt in the accident?” Kayla asked.
“He was probably lying!”
“He doesn’t seem like a man who lies a lot.”
“How can you say that? He hid his connection to the Madisons from me.”
“But he wasn’t lying outright to you. He told you all about having a brother and sister that didn’t live in Spain, even a niece and nephew.”
“How was I supposed to leap from that to the truth?”
“Well, I don’t think he meant you to, but I also think he told you as much truth as he could.”
“Only so he could hurt me.”
“No, his plan would have helped you more than it would the Madisons.”
“You’re assuming he was sincere about it.”
“I guess I am.”
“I’m not.”
Her sister didn’t keep pushing it. Just gave her a one-armed hug before putting in another romantic comedy.
* * *
It was close to midnight a day later when Miranda reached for her phone. She’d ignored several texts and messages from Baz. But she couldn’t sleep. The night before had been bad enough, but now she was nearly drunk with exhaustion, only her brain would not shut down. She could not get Baz’s deal out of her head, or the prospect of hurting two innocent, defenseless children with her actions.
She dialed his number, almost hoping she woke him from a sound sleep. The only thing better would be for him to be lying awake just like she was. Fat chance of that, though.
The man had no conscience to bother.
He answered on the first ring. “Miranda?”
“Yes, it’s me. Didn’t your phone tell you who was calling?”
&n
bsp; “Sí, but I had a hard time believing it. You have not replied to my texts or messages.”
“I deleted them without reading or listening to any.”
“I see.”
“I doubt it.” He’d have to have feelings to understand hers.
“But you have called me now.”
“That deal you offered me in the car...”
“It was not a deal. I simply outlined what I was willing to do for you.”
“In exchange for me not doing the interview. That makes it a deal.”
“If I told you I planned to keep my side regardless?”
Her heart stuttered, but she refused to be taken in so easily. “I would not believe you, and if I did, I’d wonder what your angle was.”
“All right.”
“All right what?”
“I accept you do not trust me at all.”
“How could I?” she demanded, her voice low with pain. “You lied to me from the moment we met.”
“I tried very hard not to lie to you.”
“So you say.” That his words were what Kayla said might be true didn’t matter. Randi couldn’t let it matter. Trusting him would only bring her more pain. “Look, I called because the arguments you made for me not doing the interview are still valid, even if they were made by a lying bastard.”
Besides, no matter what she’d threatened, Randi had no desire to go onto national television and humiliate herself by telling the world that she’d got taken in once again by a smooth operator who wanted to use sex as a way to get to her.
“I’m deeply relieved you think so, but not surprised.”
“You aren’t?” she couldn’t stop herself asking.
“No. You are a very compassionate, caring woman, and highly intelligent.”
Why did he have to say things like that? “So complimentary to the enemy.”
“I do not consider you the enemy.”
“Well, I can’t say the same about you.” Her heart and head might not be in the same place, but he never had to know that.
“I am sorry to hear that.”
