15. Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fourteen
H ours later, Rafael stood by a window in his office and stared at the endless rows of agave growing in the distance. Behind him, his siblings heatedly discussed the situation with Beverly. He fumed silently as he replayed Sky’s confession from last night. He would never forgive himself for being the reason she had been separated from her sister for all those years.
Because of me, she lost all that time with Maddie.
Because of Beverly , Sky’s imaginary voice corrected.
Beverly.
That miserable, reprehensible, disgraceful—
“Are you planning to make another statement?” Dina had flown in from Toronto to support them. She now had full control of the temporary war room they had set up in his home office.
“I don’t think you should, Rafa,” Lola interjected before he could answer. “The statement you made yesterday was perfect.”
“We’re not making any more statements,” Rafael concurred. “I said what I needed to say. Our privacy was invaded, and we did nothing wrong.”
“Did our people dig up anything useful on Beverly?” Beto asked. “If they didn’t, I can reach out to my contacts.”
Lola scowled at their brother. “I think we have enough trouble without roping in your underworld contacts.”
Beto raised both hands in mock surrender. “Fine. I won’t offer again.”
“Did they find anything?” Dina asked. “Surely, that woman has dark secrets.”
“She’s broke,” Rafael revealed. He grabbed a thick file from his desk and handed it to his sister. “She’s filed bankruptcy twice. She burned through every penny of her divorce settlement and sold all the properties and stock she inherited from her parents. I think she was expecting to get money from Maddie’s will, but it all went to Sky and Jasper.”
“Which is why she wants custody of Jasper so badly,” Lola said with a sad shake of her head. “It’s not about him. It’s about the money in his trust.” She made a face. “That woman is despicable.”
“She keeps insisting that Sky had something to do with Maddie and Jaime’s deaths. Maybe she’s the one who should be investigated,” Dina remarked darkly.
Rafael wouldn’t admit it, but he had shared the same thought.
“It would be easy to start that rumor.” Lola reached for her cup of coffee and gave it a sip. “Let Beverly get a taste of her own bitter medicine.”
“And then what?” Rafael asked. “She retaliates in some other disgusting way?” He shook his head. “I don’t want this dragged out in public a minute longer. As much as I want to hurt Beverly for humiliating my wife and causing her so much pain, I want to protect Sky more. She needs this to end as quickly as possible.”
“So, pay Beverly,” Beto replied matter-of-factly. “Find out what the number is that makes her go away forever.”
“It will be a big one,” Dina warned. “And there will have to be strings attached. Very legal strings.”
“I’d rather sue her,” Lola argued. “She should have to pay the costs for hiring a crisis management team, going after the accounts that are sharing the video, wiping it from the internet. Hell, we should have her charged for revenge porn and arrested.”
“That will take months,” Beto pointed out. “And Rafael is right. Sky has suffered enough. If money solves this problem, let’s spend it and be done with it.”
“Sky is our family, and I don’t want people thinking they can screw with us and get away with it,” Lola grumbled.
“She won’t get away with it,” Dina promised. “There are other ways to make her life miserable.”
Rafael saw the conspiratorial smile his sisters shared and decided the less he knew about that the better. “So, we’re agreed on the payoff?”
“Only if she gives up the custody lawsuit,” Beto clarified.
“And issues a public apology to Sky,” Lola insisted.
Dina agreed. “It’s the least she can do.”
Rafael nodded. “The very least.”
"It won’t be sincere,” Beto said. “Sky may not even want it.”
“She can make that decision for herself.”
“How is she?” Dina asked carefully. “I wanted to see her, but Mama said she’s hiding.”
“She’s not hiding,” Lola interjected with an eye roll. “She’s sequestered.”
“Sequestered?” Beto echoed with some amusement. “Like a jury?”
“She’s resting,” Rafael said a bit too forcefully. “She’s enjoying some peace and quiet and privacy.”
“All right,” Dina replied with a frown. “I wasn’t trying to be critical of her. I would run away and never show my face again if someone shared a video of me doing that. ”
“She can’t do that,” Lola insisted. “Rafael, you two staying cooped up here is not a great idea. People will mistake that for an admission of guilt. You should be seen outside the compound.”
He winced at the idea of dragging Sky out into public. “I don’t think she’s ready.”
“We’ll go with you,” Beto offered. “You, Sky, me, Lola. We’ll have dinner at Vaquero or Licha’s.”
Rafael considered the suggestion. Both restaurants were small, intimate places known for serving VIP clientele. If they made a family appearance at one of the establishments, it would demonstrate the family had nothing to hide and were standing strong together.
“We’ll all go,” Dina decided. “We’ll bring Mama and Camila and Jasper and even Jovita.”
“I’ll get with our PR and have them arrange some light press. Candid photos that we allegedly didn’t even know were happening.”
“I’ll handle Sky’s outfit,” Dina said. “I’ll make sure she looks incredible. Modest but alluring. Confident. Poised.”
“I’ll have my friends with large followings share and repost and make sure to have them talk about privacy and consent and agency. Like Maria Elena and the PR team talked about in regard to reframing the online discussion to make Beverly look like the villain she is,” Lola continued.
At that moment, Rafael appreciated the love and support of his family. He was so incredibly lucky to have siblings who would drop everything and rush to his wife’s aide.
“We love her, Rafael,” Dina said, drawing him back into the conversation. “Sky has been part of our family for years, and now she’s your family. We will do whatever it takes to protect her.”
“Thank you,” he said roughly. His throat ached as a deluge of emotions washed over him. “It means so much to me to know that I can always count on my brothers and sisters.”
Brothers . None of them flinched at the mistake. Jaime was gone, but he was still part of their family.
“Why don’t you go spend time with Sky and Jasper?” Beto suggested. “We’ll handle everything.”
He started to insist he could handle this situation and his wife and nephew, but he realized that he didn’t have to juggle his responsibilities. He didn’t have to exhaust himself doing everything for everyone. He could delegate and trust his siblings to manage all the details.
“Thank you. I’ll be in my wing if you need me.”
Our wing , he silently corrected as he made his way across the house. We’ll need to make some changes to our space. A proper nursery for Jasper. A quiet office for Sky to write in.
Once he had reached adulthood, his mother encouraged him to pick a section of the house to make his own. The sprawling estate had plenty of space for each sibling to have their own wing if they wanted it.
Dina had staked her own claim, connecting a series of rooms for a cozy space to share with Camila. For now, Lola and Beto remained in their childhood bedrooms near their mother. Lola because she enjoyed the view of the gardens, and Beto because he was only at the house a few times a month.
Jaime and Maddie had often used the guest wing when they visited, but they had been discussing remodeling before the accident.
When he entered his bedroom, he was surprised by the silence. This time of afternoon, he had expected to find Jasper cranky and refusing to nap which seemed to be his habit lately. There were no toys on the floor. No snack crumbs littering the rug. No sippy cups or bottles on the couch. It was clean and tidy and eerily quiet.
“Sky?” He called out nervously. His heightened senses caught the sound of water. “Sky?”
“In here,” she yelled back. “I’m in the tub.”
“With Jasper?” Assuming his nephew had made some colossal mess and needed a pre-nap bath, he made his way toward the bathroom.
“No. Just me. Jasper is with your mother and Camila. He was still fussing a bit, and your mother decided to have a pediatrician make a house call. I made the mistake of yawning, and she sent me to bed!”
That sounded exactly like his mother.
When he reached the bathroom, he hesitated at the open door. Despite confessing their love only a few hours ago, their relationship remained fairly chaste. He hadn’t seen her naked, and she hadn’t invited him. Not wanting to push her boundaries when things were still so new between them, he remained outside the door.
“How did your meeting go?”
He heard the slight anxiety in her voice, and he wished he could soothe her fears. “We have a plan. Beverly isn’t going to get away with this.”
The sound of moving water echoed in the bathroom. It was easy for him to imagine her in the claw foot tub, soaking in hot water. Too easy, and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other while trying to tame his raging lust.
“I don’t want to antagonize her, Rafa. We’ve already seen what she can do to hurt us.”
“We’re not going to antagonize her. We’re going to offer her money.”
“I don’t like that either. She’s going to get paid for being a mean, old bitch?”
“It’s that, or we go to court,” he warned gently. “Your feelings on that were pretty clear.”
“They were,” she agreed reluctantly. “Do you think paying her off will actually work? What’s to stop her from coming back again and again with her hand out for more?”
“The attorneys will handle that,” he promised. “Whatever she gets will come with strings that keep her tied up and out of our way.”
“As long as you’re sure Jasper will be safe, and she’ll leave us alone...”
“I’m sure.” He wasn’t actually sure. There was always a chance Beverly would do something even stupider. Right now, though, Sky didn’t need to hear that. She needed to know that he would protect her and Jasper. “We were thinking that going out for dinner as a family would be a positive step. Make a public show of family support. Would you be okay with that?”
She didn’t answer immediately. He held his breath while he waited. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...
“Yes, I’ll be okay if you’re with me.”
“I’m not going anywhere unless it’s right beside you,” he vowed.
“Well, if you’re serious about staying close, maybe you could come in here and get me a towel? I forgot to grab one,” she admitted sheepishly.
He laughed and entered the bathroom to help his wife. “I keep thinking I should have a towel rack or some hooks installed closer to that tub, but I never use the bath.”
His breath arrested in his throat at the sight of Sky reclined in the tub. She had one foot up on the edge, her poppy red toenails bright in the sun, and she dragged a soapy hand along her calf toward her knee. The smell of something fresh and beachy hit his nose. He noticed the blue tinge to the water and something shimmery floating in the bubbles.
“Is that glitter?”
Sky glanced up at him with an apologetic smile. “Sorry. Camila offered me some of her bath bombs. I didn’t realize they were shimmery like this until after I’d tossed them into your tub.” As if worried he would be upset, she hurriedly added, “I’ll clean the tub when I’m done.”
“You won’t, and it’s your bathtub now,” he corrected.
“Well, if it’s my tub, I’m definitely going to clean it, Rafa. I can’t leave glittery bubble dust all over the place for your mom’s housekeepers.”
“Our housekeepers,” he corrected again. “This is your house now. You’re part of the family.”
“Still,” she argued, “it won’t kill me to tidy up after myself.”
“If you insist,” he grumbled, retrieving a fluffy white towel from the cabinet. He gestured toward the small table and teak bench near the tub. “Do you want me to leave it here?”
“Um...” She looked at him and then the table and then the tile floor. “Could you actually help me out of the tub? I should have put down a towel. These bath bombs have oil in them, so I’m sure my feet are going to be slippery.”
“We need to go shopping.” He moved closer to the tub. “This bathroom is not outfitted for a woman and baby. I only use the shower and tend to be more of a minimalist.”
“I’ve noticed.” She tugged on the drain to empty the tub and carefully rose from the bubbly water. “Thankfully, I enjoy the same aesthetic. Jasper, on the other hand, is a bit of a maximalist.”
Rafael laughed softly at that description of their nephew and his insane collection of toys and clothing and baby gear. He started to say something about a nursery, but the words died on his tongue as Sky’s lush body came into view. He had known she would be gorgeous, but he was staggered by the sight of her standing there, dripping water and bubbles like an erotic tableau.
All those years of travel and her work as a tour guide in Iceland had toned her body like an athlete. She had powerful arms and shoulders and strong, shapely legs. His needful gaze lingered on her breasts and hips and ass. He had never wanted any woman as much as he wanted his wife.
“Rafa?” she asked uncertainly. Her face had gone a little pink, and she blushed under his hungry stare.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t stare like that.” He cleared his throat and held out his hand to help her out of the tub.
“Why not? We are married, aren’t we?” She took his hand, and their gazes clashed. She practically dared him to look again.
So he did.