CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER THREE
F OR THE FIRST time Matias realized that he might have taken this too far.
He could have ruined his father in a variety of ways. He had decided to do it with a smile on his face. Because one thing Javier Balcazar had been very clear on when he was in the process of trying to bend his children to his will, was that you had to be ruthless to be successful.
You could not be kind. You could not give love. You could not receive love. You had to show no weakness, no happiness, no zeal for life.
So when Matias had made the decision that he was going to start a business competing with his own father and ultimately, absorb his father’s company, he’d made the decision to cultivate a public persona that was opposite to Javier in every way.
To prove he was, and always had been, wrong in every way.
That he was cruel because he liked it, not because he had to be.
That he could have been a good father if he weren’t a bad man.
Matias had thought that he was playing a game with his playboy persona. He had been certain of it, in fact. Auggie might call him the Pitbull, but he felt more accurately, biblically, even, he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Innocent until proven otherwise.
But he had gotten to the point where he had let his guard down, where he had lost himself so much behind the polished veneer of playboy that he had made the sort of miscalculation that meant he had allowed someone to gain access to information about him, then he had retreated further beyond the veil than he had imagined.
The path was set. He had walked it for so long he didn’t have to think about the destination.
Maybe that was the problem. This life, building wealth, acting like nothing mattered, taking a new woman to bed nearly every night, it was its own all-consuming endeavor. He never paused to think, because he never had to. He had, in the beginning. He had decided, after Seraphina’s funeral that he would be everything his father had never been. That he would take his father’s hallowed name and twist it into something different. That he would style himself as an entirely new man, and that he would exceed his father’s success by more money, and more notoriety than the other man could ever fathom. He had never stolen from him. He had never needed to. Whatever Charmaine had found... It wasn’t what she thought it was.
But he supposed that didn’t matter. Public perception was what mattered.
His legacy was what mattered. Not in the way his father saw it, no, quite the opposite. What he wanted was to prove the old man useless, obsolete. His methods an exercise in pointless cruelty, and if he or anyone else believed that he had achieved his success by stealing from a man he despised he would feel like a victory had been handed to Javier.
He would not allow it.
“Me?”
He looked at Augusta. She had been his assistant, his flight attendant, for the past three months. She had practiced utmost discretion in all things. He practically lived on his jet, and the person who attended him there was the one that he saw most of anyone in his life.
She was beautiful, but in an almost nondescript way. Though, this morning, there was something different about her.
Perhaps it was the high color on her cheeks, the way that she was breathing hard. Perhaps it was that her long brown hair was loose around her shoulders, and wild from her running up the driveway.
Perhaps it was that she had no makeup on. Usually, she had a full face of it, very natural, but very polished.
There was something intimate about seeing her like this. He imagined not many did.
That was unimportant.
Her beauty was secondary to everything else. Though, he did feel that if he was going to show up with a random fiancée, she had to be believably beautiful.
Also, he had spent so much time with her over the last three months, and that was well documented.
There would of course, be women who tried to sell stories of him sleeping with them on the plane. There was nothing he could do about that. He didn’t ask women to sign NDAs. Often, his treatment of them earned him respect even after they parted.
They didn’t know him. Of course they didn’t. But the performance he put on with them was a pleasant one.
If he could say one thing for the way he chose to live his life it was that he didn’t cause harm without intending to.
And he would never hurt the innocent.
The guilty, on the other hand...
“We will have to come up with a convincing story, obviously,” he said.
She blinked, her mouth dropping open. “About what exactly?”
“There have been witnesses,” he said. “To my being in the same space as you while enjoying the company of another woman.”
“Well, and maybe your plan is crazy,” she said. “Did you ever stop to think of that?”
“No. Because it must be a woman that I have spent significant time with, and there is no one else.”
“Well... Obviously we just got together then,” she said. He could see the brightness in her eyes, a frantic thought process turning there. “It can work. So yes, there have been other women, but we were trying to keep things professional.”
“Obviously. Because we have a contract.”
“It’s up next week,” she said.
“Too long,” he said. “We have to get the news out immediately. We almost have to make it look as if this is a backlash to our announcement. We have no time.”
He picked up his phone and texted his PR firm. “There. I told them that they need to see the story that we are engaged. We will supply photographs within the next few hours, but we need the rumors to get out now.”
“This is... Well, this is utterly unhinged,” she said, flexing her hands like little claws, looking extremely twitchy.
An odd thing, because Auggie had, in his view, always been polished and calm. But she’d shown up here in a rage he’d never seen before, and had not seemed to take a full breath since.
“Very few things matter to me, Augusta. But one is that I extricate myself from my father’s legacy, and I will not have a narrative dominating the media that I have stolen my success from him. My father is a horrible man.”
“I got the feeling that you didn’t like him very much.”
Few people spent large amounts of time in his presence. He was always on the move. But he wasn’t shocked that Auggie had picked up on that after being around him so frequently these past months. Even with his most polished veneer on he never said a nice thing about Javier Balcazar.
She’d been present when his father had called on a couple of occasions. His father only ever called to remind Matias of the past. He only ever did it to drip poison into his ear, and he knew in those moments his veneer...slipped.
“An understatement,” he said. “I hate my father. I hate him with every fiber of my being. I hope that he dies an old, lonely man. I wish him a long life only so that time can begin to twist everything that he is so proud of. That he might lose control of everything, including his body, so that he can know what it was like to grow up in his shadow. I despise my father,” he said, all of the darkness in him rising up to the surface. “And this is the most appalling claim that could’ve ever been made against me.”
“Do you think perhaps it’s worth combating the rumors?”
“No,” he said, his voice rough. “If we deny them, it cannot be right away. And it must be with the sort of attitude that suggests I find the rumors beneath me. I am living my life.”
“They aren’t true, though,” she said.
“No,” he said. “They’re not true. I keep information on my father’s company, but it isn’t to steal from him. It’s to keep tabs on him.”
“You have stolen information,” she said.
“No one will understand why except for me,” he said.
“Well, all the world thinks that you’re this... Dumb handsome log who sort of charmed his way into success.”
“Because it doesn’t benefit me to have them think of me otherwise. I like it that my enemies don’t see me coming. You know I’m not dumb, Augusta.”
“Yes,” she said. “I do. Except the whole thing with Charmaine was dumb.”
“It was... It was thoughtless. I... I have been playing this part long enough that sometimes I forget.”
She shook her head. “I just... The problem is, if we pretend to get engaged, and then eventually we break up, how is that going to reflect on Your Girl Friday.”
“We will part as I always do with my exes, Tesoro. Amicably. I remain friends with every woman who has ever graced my bed. I like women. I don’t use them out of an abundance of disdain as many do.”
“How nice of you,” she said.
“Are you mocking me?”
“Yes,” she said. “I am. Because you’re trying to paint this... This confusing thing that you are, that you’re doing, as something that is perfectly normal when it is absolutely not.”
“I don’t care what normal is,” he said. “It has always been about revenge. Always. Do you know what my father wanted from his children? Compliance. He wanted us to be perfect mirrors of him. His daughter had to be angelic and feminine, pure in all ways. And I was to be his right hand. We were not raised with love, affection or care. We were raised under the iron fist of his authority and that does not make for a normal childhood. Therefore, it does not lead to a normal life.”
Her eyes darted away from his. “I can understand that.”
He very much doubted she could understand it. At least to the degree that she thought. She had no idea what it was like to grow up with a father like his.
Perhaps that wasn’t fair. But he did not traffic in fairness.
Also, he trusted her. Even if it made no sense. But she’d seen him. In more unguarded moments—even if not many—than any other person had in years. She was here. She knew him. She knew this. It had to be her.
“We have to negotiate the terms of this,” she said.
“You have already signed an NDA,” he said.
“And you will have to sign one as well,” she said, her dark eyes boring into his. She was a tiny little thing, but she was determined. He had always seen that quality in her. He had... Liked Auggie from the moment he had met her, though he refused to refer to her by the nickname he had heard the other women at the company call her.
It was a strange name for a small, cute woman. And yet, in some way she exemplified it. But nicknames implied an intimacy that he did not experience with... Anyone.
“If you insist,” he said.
“I do. Because if the truth of this came out, then it would be seen as entirely unethical. Already, we are walking a fine line. Because my clients will think that it’s possible for me to become sexually involved with them. And...” Her cheeks went scarlet, and when she looked up at him then, he felt an answering tightness in his stomach.
Ridiculous. He’d had sex not twelve hours earlier. With a woman who had betrayed him, no less. Why should he get physically excited by the woman standing in front of him?
Because she interests you. Not the you that you pretend to be. The one that exists underneath.
He ignored that internal voice.
It was true, he was the living embodiment of the duality of man. But he didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about that.
It was his ruthlessness that propelled him, it was his charisma that kept him afloat.
There was that very old concept. Being like a duck. Calm on the surface, paddling like hell underneath. He wouldn’t compare himself to a duck. Perhaps a shark.
Though the media had chosen to compare him to a golden retriever.
“That’s why you call me the Pitbull,” he said, suddenly realizing. “Because you know that I’m not what they say.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course I know that. Do you really think you seem like a golden retriever? Like a happy, biddable, people-pleasing family pet?”
“The press seems to think so.”
“You’re a handsome man. And people love to apply positive qualities to men, particularly when they’re handsome. But I’ve never thought the description of you seemed at all legitimate. Not even close.”
“What is it you see?”
She drew back, just slightly. “I think you’re dangerous. I haven’t decided quite in what way.”
“You think that I might’ve committed corporate espionage,” he said.
“I actually don’t. Mostly because you don’t seem like a man who is angry that he got caught. I believe you. You’re angry because you think stealing from your father is beneath you.”
“Yes. But more than that, it defies the very point of... All of this.”
“You have to tell me the truth.”
“I don’t talk about the past.”
She sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Let’s go into the dining room.”
“Why?”
“I need coffee. I got woken up by a reporter demanding to know if I wanted to spill secrets about you. And I ran straight over here to try and fix it. When did Charmaine leave, by the way?”
“She didn’t stay the whole night. Women never do.”
“Well, undoubtedly not women on your father’s payroll.”
He growled. “Unconscionable...”
“Why did you let her in?”
“Because I...” He did not like this. Being centered by a tiny little creature. This was how he had lived his life for years. And of course, this was where his father saw weakness. He hadn’t believed that it really was a weakness of his. He had thought it was part of the show. And yet, the show and the man had become one and the same. He engaged in the behavior, so what did it matter?—Was it part of a put-on or not? The truth was, he was indiscriminate when it came to taking lovers. His father knew that. And so of course that was the avenue that he took to come at him.
The mistake he had made was that in his disdain he had begun to minimize who his father was. He had shrunk him down to being a cruel man, and because cruelty was something that he despised, he had convinced himself that perhaps the cruelty was stupidity. Of course not. A person could be cruel and yet be horrendously clever. It was one of the great injustices of the world.
His father was clever.
But Matias was cleverer still, and he would see that he won this game.
His father wanted revenge for the loss of money.
Matias wanted revenge for the loss of his sister.
His motivation would always run deeper. It would always be more intense.
His motivation would always allow him to win.
Surely the monster couldn’t win twice.
He stepped toward the dining room, and Augusta followed him. Then she went on through to the kitchen. “My staff has made coffee,” he said.
“Excellent,” she chirped.
Chirped .
She was far too cheerful about all of this. She returned with two cups of coffee, and set one in front of him, before taking a position down at the opposite end of the table and staring at him through the steam billowing up from her coffee mug.
“This relationship will be purely for show. No wedding. Just an engagement announcement.”
“Agreed.”
“I’m putting it in writing in the contract. There will be no sexual contact between us.”
“ Tesoro , surely you understand that there must be a level of physical contact between the two of us in public.”
“A level. But remember, the fascination here will come from the fact that you’re acting as a romantic and not a player.”
“Your point?”
She lifted a shoulder. “What would people think if you looked at me differently. If you held onto me differently?”
“Why aren’t you a publicist?”
“I don’t want to be a wholesale minder of thoughtless billionaires.”
“And yet you’re so very good at it,” he said dryly.
“I’m embroiled. I am at the center of this. Whether I want to be or not. That means I have to take some responsibility for it. I accept that. I intend to do that. I intend to come out of this like a damned Phoenix. I will rise from the ashes of your father. Not from yours.”
She picked up her coffee mug, and took a sip.
“You are ruthless,” he said.
“I can be. I don’t come from anything. I don’t come from wealth or status. I come from a small town in Oregon. I never thought that I would see the world. I spent my life working to survive. Navigating complicated government systems and the flawed American medical system. I’ve been a caregiver. I’m not doing it again. What I do, I do for myself.”
If he had been another man he might have asked for details. But he wasn’t a man who knew people. He didn’t need to know Augusta.
Still, it was impossible to ignore her fierceness here. Her conviction.
“All right. Romantic. I can do that.”
He wouldn’t sleep with her. Sex was what had gotten him into this situation, and he felt the need to reevaluate some things. That was the problem. He had committed to this one hundred percent. He gave no quarter. He had to become what the media saw in many ways. He didn’t pause to reflect. Because the character that he played would never engage in self-reflection. But also because the predator within knew the steps.
He wondered how long it had been since he had engaged in any kind of reckoning.
Perhaps because the last one had been so painful, he had simply decided not to have them anymore.
Because breaking the connection between his heart and the world, his soul and himself, often seemed the most expedient way forward.
“I will require you to be available on demand.”
“For a period of time,” she said.
“Two months, and we reevaluate at that point.”
“All right.”
“But if I don’t feel that the job is done, then the job is not done,” he said.
“You must promise when all of this is done you’ll speak highly of me. You’ll make sure that my character is not besmirched, and you will recommend me, and my business to all of your billionaire friends.”
He chuckled. “Done.” He lifted a shoulder. “I am notorious for keeping things beyond cordial with women that I’ve associated with in the past. Thus ending our engagement will never reflect poorly on you.”
“It can’t reflect poorly on you either.”
“No,” he said. “If it does, then the whole thing will be for nothing.”
“We’ll evaluate that narrative at the end of the two months as well,” she said. “We’ll see how the wind is blowing in regard to the headlines.”
“How soon can you collect your things from your hotel?”
“I only brought one bag.”
“We are going to fly to London.”
“London?”
“I think it’s the best place for rampant media attention. It’s either that, or New York or LA. I have offices in both places, but...”
“No. London.”
“Perfect.” She looked down at her hands. “I need to stop by Your Girl Friday before we make any public appearances.”
“That is acceptable, but you will have to come to my penthouse no later than two o’clock in order to ready yourself for our public debut.”
“That’s fine. I can do that.”
“Perfect. I will simply secure some new flight staff, and then we will be off.”