Chapter 53
Chapter
Fifty-Three
Alejandro
Ileave for my meeting with her father before she wakes the next morning, ready to tell him to stay the fuck away from my wife unless he wants me to let her know how much of a piece of shit he is.
I don’t want him anywhere near her ever again, poisoning her against me.
He may be her father, but he gave up any right to her love and loyalty when he sold her to the devil—a fact I will also reveal if he pushes me too far.
I suspect he expected me to fall in love with her even less than I did, and now he’s lost all his bargaining chips where she’s concerned. I don’t give a fuck about his name, any permits he might be able to fix, or doors he can open. I would burn it all to the ground before I ever hurt her.
Leaning against the car, I glance at my watch and growl, “Carmichael’s late.” I fucking hate tardiness.
Jax pops his cinnamon gum. “He’s a prick, amigo. You already know this. He’s playing with you. Using any means he can to try and prove he has the upper hand.”
We’re meeting at a private landing strip near LAX. It’s deserted today, at my request. Aside from my driver, there’s only Jax and me here. I don’t trust Carmichael, but I don’t expect any trouble from him either. He’s a coward at heart.
“Looks like he’s decided to show up.” Jax gestures at the approaching vehicles, and the two black sedans roll to a stop a few hundred yards away.
My father-in-law climbs out, his security detail by his side. “Wait here, okay?” I say to Jax, who nods.
Carmichael and I meet in the middle, his security staying back by his cars. No doubt he’d rather not have them hear what I have to say. I recognize Paolo.
“Alejandro.” Carmichael greets me with an outstretched hand and a smile that’s as fake as his persona.
“You’re late.”
He shrugs, nonchalant as fuck and way more arrogant than he has any right to be. “Traffic.” After our last meeting, I’d expect him to be a little more contrite, but the man doesn’t know the meaning of the word humility.
He drops his hand after it becomes clear that I have no intention of shaking it.
“How’s my beautiful daughter doing? I hope you’re looking after her.
” To the untrained ear, that might sound sincere, but we both know he doesn’t give a single fuck about her.
He only cares about what she can do for him.
“Alana is fine.”
“Is there a reason I’m meeting you here and not at your house? I assume she doesn’t know we’re meeting today. She didn’t mention it when we chatted last night.”
Chatted? I suppress a snort. Like he ever calls her to chat. “No, she doesn’t, and she won’t find out. Any business between you and me stays between us. Why did you call her last night?”
He barks out a fake, annoying-as-fuck laugh. “Because she’s my daughter, or have you forgotten that?”
“I truly wish that I could, Carmichael. Yes, she’s your daughter, but you’ve barely spoken to her at all since we got married. So why the urge to chat last night?”
He rolls his head from side to side. “I was simply checking in on her, as is my right and duty as her father.”
Sanctimonious prick. “That might hold more weight if you hadn’t sold her to me, you piece of shit.”
His face twists in a scowl. “I seem to recall you having no problem with that at the time. And I did not sell her to you. That was a legitimate donation to my campaign.” He says it so convincingly I’m sure he almost believes it.
A donation that went to his personal account in the Caymans.
“What exactly has crawled up your ass this morning?”
I resist the urge to punch him in the face. My father still requires his services, and for that reason alone, he’s valuable. For the time being.
“My father needs your help with permits. The city’s blocking some of the proposals for a hotel expansion he’s invested in, and he needs you to fix it.” I pull an envelope from my pocket and hand it to him. “Everything you need to know is in there.”
He takes it from me and weighs the envelope in his hand. “Feels a little light.”
“Well, it’s only a small favor I’m asking. Besides, I gave you three million dollars not so long ago. Remember?”
He smirks at me. “I bet she’s worth every cent though, isn’t she?”
Hijo de puta! I lunge forward and grab him by the collar of his jacket. Two of his bodyguards run toward us as he struggles. “Get your hands off me,” he snarls. “I think you forget who you’re dealing with.”
I let him go before I do something I regret, and his men back away again. “I think you forget who you’re dealing with, cabrón. You seem to think you’re untouchable, but I’ll remind you that my family has much more important men than you at our disposal.”
“Maybe so. But like it or not, you and I are family now. And if you want it to stay that way, I’d suggest you remember that.
My daughter might have been your wife for the past few months, but she will always be my daughter first and foremost. That means her loyalty will always be to me.
How do you know I haven’t already had her finding out all of your little secrets for me, Alejandro?
All I’d have to do is snap my fingers and she’d come running back home to daddy. ”
My lip curls, but he’s hit a nerve. Yes, I know she loves me, but will her loyalty always lie with this snake? Still, I refuse to give him the satisfaction of letting him know he’s gotten to me. “You really think that? Then you have no idea who your daughter is.”
“You think you know her?” He laughs. “You know nothing about her. Nothing!”
I know she’s nothing like the woman this lying sack of shit convinced me she was. “I know that she’d disown you if she ever found out about Bethany Cooper.”
The color drains from his face, and even his lips turn white. It’s so satisfying to watch a man realize he’s beaten. “W-what?”
“Oh, I think you heard me. Bethany Cooper. Remember her? Of course you do. Tell me, Carmichael, did you tie the noose around her neck, or did you have one of your hired goons do it for you?”
Quick as a flash, he regains his composure, and morphs back into the polished, unflappable politician right before my eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Well, that may be, but your daughter is an intelligent woman. I’m sure if I presented her with the evidence, she’d be able to connect those dots all for herself.”
“Fuck you,” he says through gritted teeth. “You do that and you can kiss these permits goodbye.” He waves the envelope. “Not to mention all the other little problems I help smooth over for you.”
I shrug. “That would hurt my business, but we’d recover. You, on the other hand—can you really come back from a scandal like that? Even if it was never proven, mud sticks, you know.”
His face turns red, mottled with rage. “What the hell do you want from me?”
“Aside from fixing the permits? I want you to stay out of your daughter’s life. When we have our children, I want you nowhere near them, you sick fuck.”
He scoffs. “She’ll never accept that. She’s my daughter, Alejandro. I don’t think you appreciate how much family means to my Alana.”
“Then cut her off, Carmichael. It won’t be hard seeing as you barely communicate anyway.
And she’s strong. She’ll get over it. Alternatively, I will cut her off for you.
I’ll tell her all about your little donation request for her hand in marriage.
Promise to stay away, and I won’t tell her about the schoolgirl you raped and murdered. Do we have a deal?”
He blusters but quickly recovers his composure.
“You think that she belongs to you, but she is my daughter. Even if I do cut her off, that won’t change.
You will never be able to trust her. I taught her well, my friend.
My Alana is a chameleon. You will have to live every day not knowing if she’s speaking the truth or lies.
You will always wonder if she’s spying on you and reporting back to me. ”
“Well, I guess I’ll have to take that chance. Make sure the permits are approved, Carmichael, and stay the hell away from my wife. ” I turn and walk away from him before I beat his face to a pulp.
Jax opens the car door, and I climb in with him close behind.
My jaw is clenched so tightly that I think I might grind my teeth to stumps.
I fucking hate that piece of shit, and I hate even more that I’m tied to him.
I despise the fact that I paid him for his daughter, that he had any hand in our union.
I only wish I had met her some other way—picked her up in my hotel bar or saw her at a fundraising dinner and caught her eye from across the room.
Jax tells our driver to take us to our next stop, but I feel his eyes on me. “Everything okay, amigo?”
“Carmichael is lower than a fucking snake.”
“Like I said earlier, we already knew that. What happened?”
Leaning back in my seat, I relay my conversation with Foster Carmichael. The only thing I leave out is the part about how I’ll never be able to trust Alana. I’m still processing that myself.