Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Dinner at Titus’s estate in Pacific Palisades wasn’t just a dinner; it was an experience. Yes, that. That’s exactly what this man wanted to bring me through, from the moment I walked out of my townhouse and stepped into his car.
I was impressed, but but not intimidated. I helped create these experiences for a living.
What impressed me wasn’t the luxury. It was the precision. Every member of his staff moved with flawless efficiency.
But again, this was Titus Hawk I was talking about. The man still hadn’t given me what I came for; instead, for some reason I couldn’t figure out, he was more interested in learning about me.
Elites like him didn’t become personal with me… they hired me, and I took their preferences and turned their events into masterpieces. So, unless I was being offered a position with Hawk Enterprise as their exclusive event architect, I was wasting my time here.
I leaned back slightly in my chair, crossing one leg over the other, letting the silence stretch just long enough before I decided to question the angle this man seemed to be taking.
“Are we going to discuss business tonight?” I asked calmly. “Or was the helicopter part of a very elaborate interview process?”
“As I said earlier, before I discuss business,” Titus’s gaze didn’t waver, “I prefer to understand who I’m working with.”
I smiled faintly. “That’s not how this usually works,” I replied, setting my glass down. “You hire me, I execute, and you get exactly what you want.”
“And what if I want more than that?”
My eyes held his. “Then you’re hiring the wrong person.”
The silence that settled between us was heavier this time because I meant exactly what I had just told him. I didn’t blur the lines. I didn’t mix business with personal curiosity, and I most certainly did not let men like him turn something transactional into something… messy.
I’d learned that lesson once, and I didn’t need to learn it again.
“Ms. Veléz,” he started, “I’m sure you are well aware that I don’t operate as most of your previous clients do.”
“You say previous clients as if they are past tense and no longer mine?”
“After tonight, that will most likely be the case,” he returned.
“Which is also why you and I didn’t meet in the usual fashion, and why I nearly fired my entire financial department for bringing someone in without my direct approval, especially for an event where my planning team is expected to know every detail I require.
Everything in my life is executed with precision and accuracy.
That night on my yacht, you were a risk.
You had no idea who I was, what I expected, or how I wanted that event to be presented while hosting elites. ”
“No, I may not have,” I answered him with the same directness he was using on me, “but what I did know was that the planners you had faith in abandoned you and left you to depend on someone who wasn’t aware of your vision for that night.”
His eyes narrowed. “The fact that you kept everything contained and that the night moved in exactly the direction I needed it to is why I brought you here. You’re an interesting woman, and I’ve come to believe I can trust you with planning future events.”
“If that is the case, Mr. Hawk,” I answered, “I believe the personal questions should be directed to you. It appears you want your event planners to know your personal tastes while entertaining these one-percenters.”
I watched a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. “I’d say you’ve already seen them,” he replied. “From the moment you were picked up, to how my staff operates, to the way this meal was prepared… everything reflects my preferences when I’m entertaining people of importance.”
The way he said that line, how his eyes seemed to study me as I sat here next to him… it caught me completely off guard.
“While I understand I’m important,” I said, “I don’t believe I need all the show and the impressions you wish to push on me in order to work for you.”
“You intrigue me,” he said, sitting up, eyes still staring into my soul. “Come,” he rose and extended his hand.
There was no explanation, no elaboration, just a command. My eyes dropped briefly to his outstretched hand. I could’ve refused and stayed exactly where I was. I normally would’ve forced this conversation back into business, where it belonged.
Strangely, I didn’t. It wasn’t because I trusted the man. I think it was more because I wanted to see where this was going. Without reservation, I placed my hand in his and let him help me to my feet. His grip was firm but not lingering, and he released me just as quickly.
“Where are we going?” I asked, falling into step beside him as he led me away from the candlelit table.
“You wanted to understand how I operate,” he replied evenly. “This is part of it.”
His answer didn’t sit right with me, but I didn’t let it stop me from following him to his home. We moved through the open terrace, the sound of the ocean fading slightly as we stepped inside.
The shift was immediate. The warmth, quiet, and the way the space felt were different from the rest of the house. Titus didn’t speak as he led me down a hallway lined with clean architecture and minimal décor, with no clutter or excess.
He stopped in front of a set of double doors, and I didn’t fail to notice the slight hesitation as his hand rested on the door handle.
What the hell is this man up to? I thought as he opened the door.
The room wasn’t what I expected. There was no dramatic lighting and nothing over-the-top in the design. Strangely, it was… quiet. Almost as if the room whispered the reason Titus had it decorated like this instead of screaming it.
Shelves lined one wall with books, awards, and framed documents. Across the room, another wall held photographs, and that’s what caught my attention. Nothing in here was staged or curated for show. Hell, I would imagine this was a room off-limits to house guests, maybe even staff.
I walked with ease to where the portraits hung and let my gaze drift over the images. There was a framed picture of a younger Titus and his brothers. In that photo, an older man stood beside him, looking sharp and commanding.
I didn’t need to ask to determine that this was their dad.
“You wanted to understand me and my business preferences,” Titus said from behind me.
Oddly, his voice was still controlled, but different. It was softer and less performative.
“This is where that starts,” he said.
I turned slightly, watching him now instead of the room. This no longer seemed like a billionaire with a strategy. Well, not entirely, anyway.
I couldn’t nail it down, but I could easily see that this was something else.
“Most people assume everything my brothers and I have was built from nothing,” he continued. “That it was easy to step into this world and dominate it as we have.” I watched him as his gaze briefly shifted to one of the photographs. “It wasn’t.”
I could tell that he was no longer trying to impress me but to make himself and his intentions understood.
What caught me off guard was that men like Titus Hawk didn’t explain themselves.
They never offered pieces of their past like this, especially to someone they were trusting to plan their events.
I crossed my arms, not defensively, but to ground myself because none of this was making any sense.
Unless, of course, Titus wanted more than to hire me tonight, which wasn’t uncommon among wealthy men either.
They were used to getting whatever they wanted, and it was all because money seemed to buy everything, including what they envisioned as their own happiness.
“Why are you showing me this?”
Titus’s eyes came back to mine. “Because if you’re going to work for me,” he said, “you need to understand what drives me. You also need to understand why I take everything seriously, down to the last detail. Any planner who works for me must feel as convicted by my business visions as I do.” His expression was severe. “Whether they agree with me or not.”
I exhaled slowly, my gaze drifting back to the photos despite myself.
The next image my eyes landed on was a younger version of Titus, standing beside a beautiful Spanish woman with her hand gracefully tucked into the bend of his arm.
She was stunning, but it wasn’t her who caught my attention.
It was him. The look I’d been seeing on his face ever since he decided to make tonight more personal than business was the same expression he wore in the photo.
“That photo was taken the day I left for Oxford,” he said, answering my curiosity. “The woman is my late mother, Isabel Velázquez Hawk. She was the visionary behind Hawk Enterprise.”
“She’s very beautiful,” I said honestly.
“You remind me of her,” he said in a way that got my full attention.
His voice wasn’t just low, it was resolute.
“Um?” I said, not knowing how to respond to that.
That got a smile out of him, and in a way that touched his golden eyes that I’d never seen until now.
“It is the highest compliment,” he finally said, eyes searching mine. “I would never dare compare any woman on this planet to the woman who shaped the man I became, despite how my father demanded his sons be raised.”
“I’m not sure what—”
“What any of this has to do with hiring you as my event planner?” he finished for me.
“Right,” I said, pulling myself together and regaining my composure.
“Without delving into my family background, I’ll say that my father was not the type to let my mother’s Spanish heritage influence the Hawk family name.
That’s why my brothers and I aren’t named after any of the greats from my mother’s prestigious family.
Instead, we have more English names that reflect my father’s desire to pass on his legacy through his children.
My mother was the only woman brave enough to challenge him and was fearless in resisting his dominance. ”
“Well, I’m not trying to insult her, but if you and your brothers took names of—”
“She allowed him that,” Titus smoothly cut me off. “Just as my father had control of his family the way he wanted, my mother did, too. She just wasn’t obvious about it. It’s what I’ve noticed about you since the first day I interacted with you and watched you put powerful men in their place.”
“Well, it’s just who I am,” I answered him truthfully. “I’m not afraid of men in power. In the end, they’re just regular men with a lot of money who spend their lives focused on nothing but creating legacies and trying to give themselves purpose during their short time on this planet.”
“Short time?”
“You aren’t gods, and you’re not immortal, if that’s what you think.” I smiled at the humor crossing his face again. “Although I sadly feel that’s what all of you believe you are.”
“Life is precious, and after losing my father at a young age and my mother not too long ago, trust me, Ms. Veléz, I most assuredly know that I’m not immortal.”
“Well,” I smiled, finding this man quite attractive beneath the hardened mask he’d worn since I first met him, “so long as you don’t think you’re a son of Zeus, I believe you and I could work well together.”
He slid his hands in his pockets, licked his lips, and studied me as if his final decision in hiring me had been made.
Billionaires were difficult and petty people to work with when it came to putting their lives on display at these events, but Jesus, not for a second did I believe I’d be going down this road tonight with this enigma of a man.
“Allow me the rest of the evening to review the contracts and numbers before I make you an offer,” he said, and I watched him pull back, hiding behind the hardened expression he naturally wore.
“Thank you for accepting my invitation to dinner and for taking time out of your evening to consider working as my event planner.”
Finally, this was a return to business and a more normal direction.
“I presume your financial team will be in contact with me,” I said, preparing to leave.
“From the moment I make you the offer, you will be dealing with me directly and continue to work with me. There will be no one between us,” he said, taking my hand and kissing the back of it.
A sudden jolt of electricity shot through me, only because I had let my guard down a bit. I didn’t expect the gesture, just as I hadn’t expected much else tonight, except for him flaunting his wealth, but I reacted just the same.
I needed to pull myself together. There was no man on earth who could disarm me, and I wasn’t about to let Titus Hawk be the first. I needed fresh air and to gather my senses and get myself under control.
There was no way I could work for this man if I was melting under his wry expressions and gentlemanly gestures.