Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
Alejandro
After landing at LAX, I’m headed back to my hotel for my meeting with the mayor when I bump into Malcolm Grant and his wife in the lobby.
“Alejandro.” Amanda gives me two air kisses on either side of my face, enveloping me in a cloud of cloyingly sweet perfume.
Malcolm shakes my hand from where he stands behind her. He’s an investor in our vineyard, and he and his wife also spend a lot of money in my hotel. He loves the golf and she loves the spa.
“Where have you been keeping that lovely new wife of yours these days?” Amanda flutters her eyelashes at me.
“I should be asking that of you, Amanda. She’s out doing charity work almost every day.” At least according to the daily reports of her comings and goings I get from Jacob.
Amanda blinks, but then a slow smile plays over her lips.
I don’t like this feeling that she knows something I don’t. “What is it?”
She fiddles with her earring and purses her lips while she looks between me and her husband.
“What is it, Amanda?” I snap.
“It’s not my place to say,” she says coyly, and I know she’s lying. Amanda Grant lives for drama, and any chance to cause some is a good day out for her. “But Alana only attended one of our lunches, and that was about three weeks ago now. She left after an hour.”
I snarl, sure she must be lying about that too. “She what?”
Amanda makes a tutting noise. “Well, I suppose some people just aren’t cut out for charity work. It does take its toll.”
Malcolm keeps glancing at the bar, and it’s obvious he wants to be anywhere but here right now, but his wife is reveling in the tension. “I do wonder why she told you she was doing charity work though.”
Anger surges in a violent swell through my chest before thundering around my entire body. If Alana isn’t with Amanda and her hangers-on, then where the fuck is she going every day?
“I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding.” Forcing a smile, I lift Amanda’s hand and kiss it. I’ll be fucked if I air my dirty laundry in the lobby of my hotel. “Please excuse me, I have a meeting with the mayor I’ll be late for.”
“Of course. Bye, Alejandro,” she says sweetly, while Malcolm stands there looking like he wants the ground to swallow him whole.
I storm through the lobby and into the conference suite, and only when I have some privacy do I take my phone out of my pocket and dial Jacob’s number.
“Hi, Boss,” he answers cheerfully. He’s grown used to my check-ins since Alana’s arrival.
“Where is Alana?” I bark.
“She’s by the pool, Boss. Just saw her there myself.”
Rage simmers hot and fierce in my veins. “And yesterday? After her shopping trip? Where did she go then?”
“She went out to do her charity work with Hugo, like I told you.”
“Just her and Hugo?”
“Yeah. You said she didn’t need a driver as long as he was with her. Is there a problem, Boss?” His voice goes high at the end.
I grit my teeth. I did tell him that, and now I wonder if my earlier instincts were right and if I made a huge mistake leaving my wife alone all day in the company of her young ex-Navy SEAL bodyguard. I roll my neck and work to keep my voice calm. “And she goes to do this charity work every day?”
“Most days, yeah.”
“And how long are they usually gone?”
“Usually about five or six hours. Sometimes all day.”
“And where is Hugo today?” I snap, annoyance bleeding into my tone.
“It’s Wednesday, Boss. It’s his day off.”
I end the call without another word as my blood thunders in my ears.
Charity work! That lying, cheating puta.
I knew she wasn’t to be trusted. She is her father’s daughter, after all.
And as for Hugo, once I’m through with him, he’ll be begging me for a quick death.
I should go and find him right now and crush his skull, but I’ll deal with her first. Then she can watch while I slice off his balls and force-feed them to him.
I feel a hand on my shoulder and spin around to find Jax behind me. “Everything okay, amigo?” he asks, frowning.
“No, everything is not okay.” I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“Will it wait until after our meeting? The mayor has arrived.”
I button my suit jacket and flex my neck muscles to relieve tension. It does fuck all, but I have to take this meeting with the mayor. Maybe it will give me a chance to calm down before I confront my lying whore of a wife. If I go home now, I might break my cardinal rule of never hurting a woman.
She complained about feeling like a prisoner in my house before—she has no fucking idea. She won’t be stepping foot over the threshold ever again. I will chain her to the fucking bed and use her like the fucking puta she is.