21. Ciara
CHAPTER 21
ciara
T he next morning, I was standing in Carlos’s office having opened another bottle of wine. It wasn’t helping, though.. My hands wouldn't stop shaking as I set my third glass down on Carlos's old desk—now my desk. The carved mahogany holding a thousand memories: late-night strategy sessions, shared dreams, betrayals.
Through the study window, I watched Sebastian and Maxine walking in the garden. Too close. Always too close these days. Sebastian's protective stance and the way Maxine leaned into him—they reminded me so much of Carlos and me at their age. Before ambition and compromise reshaped everything.
"They're getting suspicious." David's voice from the doorway made me jump, wine sloshing over the rim of my glass. "Maxine asked about the Mountain View properties today."
"She what?" The room spun slightly as I stood. "What did you tell her?"
"Nothing." He closed the door, his features sharp with anxiety. "But Sebastian's been going through the old financial records. Looking into the factory closures."
"I told you those severance packages were too obvious." My fingers found the delicate chain around my neck—a matching piece to the one Carlos always wore. His final gift to me before we did what we did. My heart was heavy with unspoken disappointment.
"And what would you have suggested?" David ran a hand through his graying hair. "The shareholders were breathing down our necks. If anyone traces those fund transfers..."
"No one will find anything." But my voice lacked conviction. These walls had ears lately. Brooklyn had been watching me with shrewd eyes so like her father's. And this morning, I caught Sebastian in the study, going over the quarterly reports.
A burst of laughter from the garden drew me back to the window. Maxine was chasing Sebastian with a garden hose, her face lit with joy. For a moment, she looked so much like Carlos that my chest ached.
"We should send her to manage the European division," I said, not looking at David. "Just until things settle down."
"She won't go." David moved behind me, his hands gripping my shoulders too tightly. "And separating them now would only make them more suspicious. We need to handle this carefully."
"Carefully?" I laughed, the sound brittle. "Was it careful, what we did to the pension fund? The way we justified it as 'necessary restructuring'—" I choked on the words.
"It was necessary." His fingers dug in painfully. "The market was shifting. We had to adapt or watch everything collapse. The company, our reputation, our family?—"
"Family?" I wrenched away from him. "We're destroying our family with every decision, David. Every compromise, every justification. And now our children are following the trail?—"
"They're not children anymore." His expression hardened. "And if they keep digging, they'll have to learn how the real world works. Just like we did."
Ice slid down my spine. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying we need to be prepared. To do what's necessary."
Through the window, I watched Sebastian turn the hose back on Maxine, and they were both laughing like they didn’t have a care in the world. The thought of what we were doing, even though it was necessary, made my stomach turn. Or maybe it was the wine. Or the guilt.
"I saw them in the boardroom this morning," I said quietly. "Going through the merger documents."
David went still. "The offshore accounts?"
"They couldn't know about those. Could they?"
But Carlos was always clever about teaching them to look deeper, to question everything. Always encouraging their sense of ethics, even after he stepped down. The conversations, the mentoring, the values he instilled…
"I'll handle it." David's voice was cold. "Tomorrow at the board meeting. You make sure Maxine reviews the new proposals. I'll deal with Sebastian."
"David—"
"Do you want to lose everything?" He grabbed me by the arm. "The company? Your reputation? Your daughter's future?"
My daughter. I closed my eyes, seeing Carlos's face the day he resigned rather than approve our ‘cost-saving measures’. The disappointment in his eyes hurt more than any accusation.
"Just..." My voice cracked. "Don't destroy them."
"That depends entirely on them." He released me and straightened his tie. "Get some sleep, darling. Tomorrow will be... educational."
After he left, I stayed at the window, watching our children plot their noble intervention in the gathering dusk. The wine sat sour in my stomach as memories surfaced. Carlos teaching Maxine corporate responsibility, Sebastian's idealistic first proposals to the board, family dinners filled with discussions of ethics before pragmatism took over.
I should warn them. I should run down there and explain how the real world worked. Should?—
But the weight of position and power held me in place. I was my father's daughter after all—practical to the end. Corporate legacy above all else.
Even if it meant watching my children's idealism shatter against reality.
I drained my glass and turned away from the window. Tomorrow then. Let the cards fall where they might.
Carlos would be so disappointed with what we'd become.