Chapter 54 #2
The older man extended his hand, introducing himself. “Last I saw you, you were about to graduate from Oxford at the top of your class, I believe.”
Jim took his hand. “Oxford was a long time ago,” he softly laughed.
“Word is you have a family now?”
“Indeed, I do. A wife, Avery, and two daughters, Izzy and Addy.”
“And she manages you just fine while you run your company?”
I watched him eyeing Jim as if challenging him in some way. “Absolutely,” Jim said. “I fear, though, if I weren’t running the company and it was running me, she wouldn’t manage me at all.”
He laughed at Jim’s response, “Sounds like a lovely woman.” Then he turned his attention to me.
The change in his demeanor was subtle. It wasn’t less respectful; it was more curious than anything. I couldn’t believe he still worked for the family, but then again, he had been extremely dedicated to them when my mom was here.
“Catalina. It’s been a long time.”
“It has,” I smiled in response.
His expression softened. “I believe the last time I saw you, you were following your mother through the gardens, refusing to wear shoes.”
Heat immediately rose to my face while Jim looked amused.
He motioned toward the house. “Please. Follow me.”
The estate somehow seemed even more impressive once we entered. Generations stared down from oil portraits on the walls. The marble floors I remembered running across reflected afternoon sunlight.
The architecture of this place was never meant to impress visitors. It was designed by people who assumed their family would still be living here a hundred years later.
We were eventually led into a private library overlooking the western vineyards. Several family members were already waiting, and conversations halted when we entered.
The patriarch remained standing. His attention settled on Jim first, showing me that he knew exactly who Jim was.
Then his attention shifted to me, and I suddenly understood why we’d really been invited. Jim Mitchell might have opened the door, but with my mom’s help, I was the reason they agreed to unlock it.
“Please sit,” Senor Valdéz said in his thick Spanish accent, speaking English as a courtesy. His gaze never left mine. “I believe we have much to discuss about Titus Hawk.”
The moment we sat down, a woman entered carrying a silver tray of coffee, tea, and small pastries, but nobody touched any of it. Not even Jim, which told me everything I needed to know about the importance of this meeting.
Senor Valdéz settled into the chair across from us, while two other members of the family remained nearby, listening and observing.
The atmosphere felt less like a business meeting and more like a family council.
“James informed us that there was concern regarding our involvement in the investigation,” he said, folding his hands and looking at Jim, who nodded in agreement.
“There is,” I said.
The older man’s gaze shifted toward me. “And I suspect Catalina has questions, since you are in a relationship with Titus Hawk?”
I didn’t bother pretending otherwise. “Yes, I have several questions, actually.”
“Then ask them,” he responded directly.
I remained firm and unaffected by the man, who’d intimidated me as a child. “Why would you help put Titus Hawk in prison?”
The room fell very quiet as the patriarch, who was seemingly confused by my question, slowly leaned back in his chair. “Prison?”
I frowned. “Yes. It’s all over the news.”
His eyes flicked briefly toward the others before returning to me. “I believe there has been a misunderstanding.”
My heartbeat immediately accelerated. “What kind of misunderstanding?”
The old man exchanged a glance with a gray-haired woman seated near the windows, who I now recognized as his wife, then he looked back at me.
“We never asked for Titus Hawk to be imprisoned. And we have just returned from Tokyo and have yet to catch up on this global news.”
I glanced toward Jim, and he even seemed interested in that answer.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “You didn’t call for an investigation into Titus?”
“No,” the patriarch continued. “We were simply approached regarding information connected to Herbert Hawk. We were informed that certain entities created by Herbert Hawk remained active.”
Jim leaned forward slightly. “And?”
“And we were asked whether our family had knowledge of those entities,” he said.
“We answered truthfully.”
I frowned. “That’s it?”
“That is all,” he said.
“So you never asked for investigators to pursue him or to have charges brought against him, believing he knew about those companies his father created?” I pressed.
“Nothing of the sort.” His confident tone made me sit up straighter, and across from me, Jim’s focus intensified.
“May I ask exactly what you were told?” Jim questioned.
The patriarch was quiet for several moments, as though he were choosing his words carefully.
Finally, he spoke up, “We were informed that Mr. Hawk continued to benefit from structures his father created.”
The statement hung in the room. The way he said it wasn’t an accusation, though. Just something he’d been told. Some conclusion someone had handed them.
“And you believed it?”
His eyes settled on me. “We had no reason not to.”
That answer hurt more than I expected because it was reasonable. I knew that only weeks ago I would’ve reached the same conclusion. Hell, Jim had to correct those thoughts floating around in my head again just on the flight over here.
And for this family, and their track record with Herbert? If someone handed me documents linking a son to his father’s hidden companies, I couldn’t blame them for believing it.
His wife finally spoke. “None of us has ever met Titus Hawk.” I turned toward her, and she offered a polite smile. “We know of his reputation, his company, and his successes, but we do not know him.”
I relaxed a little, because for the first time since arriving, I realized these people weren’t Titus’s enemy. They were simply people who believed they had finally been given answers about Herbert Hawk.
The patriarch’s gaze settled on me again. “Your mother spoke highly of you and of the business you are running these days, Catalina.”
The comment caught me off guard. Out of all the things I expected to hear today, a compliment from my mother wasn’t one of them. He continued before I could respond.
“We always appreciated your mother’s dedication to our family.” A soft smile touched his face. “She was respected and deeply loved by everyone here.”
I nodded because I knew exactly what he was saying, and it was just a simple reminder of why my relationship with my mother was strained.
He brought his attention back to Jim. “Our dispute has only ever been with Herbert.”
Jim nodded. “I suspected as much.”
The patriarch’s expression darkened. “The sins of fathers belong to fathers.”
I felt Jim glance toward me. That sentence could change everything, if only the government believed it.
At the very least, it was reassuring to know the family wasn’t interested in punishing Titus and never had been.
But that meant someone else was.
“So, why now? Why is this all coming up for Titus now?” I asked.
The patriarch clenched his jaw. “That’s the question I find myself struggling with. I thought we were uncovering answers, but it looks like this may have ruined a man’s life instead.”
He stood from his chair and walked toward a cabinet built into the wall. The old man opened one of the doors and removed a weathered leather folder. Something about the folder immediately drew Jim’s attention.
The patriarch carried it back to the table and set it down carefully.
“What is it?” Jim asked.
“The problem,” he said, opening the folder.
Inside it were copies of correspondence, transaction summaries, and handwritten notes. Documents that looked older than I was.
The patriarch tapped a page. “There is something I have never understood.”
Jim leaned forward. “What’s that?”
The old man’s eyes narrowed. “Someone was aware of companies that even Herbert Hawk’s attorneys were unaware of.”
The room went completely still as I looked at Jim. Jim kept looking at the folder, and for the first time since I met with the man after Titus was arrested, I watched genuine surprise cross his face.
The patriarch closed the folder. “That,” he said quietly, pointing at the book, “is where I believe your answers begin.”
“May I take this?” Jim asked. “The legal departments from my company and Titus’s company are scouring everything they can to find at least some direction to prove Titus didn’t know about the companies. That they were buried long ago.”
“Please,” he said. “I have no need for them anymore.”
“Thank you,” Jim said. “I will have them returned when this is over.”
Senor Valdéz nodded, then looked at me. “I hope you find the answers you’re looking for.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Always.”
After leaving the estate, I stayed quiet as Jim silently studied the documents we’d been given. They looked older than sin. It was clear that whatever had happened dated back to Titus’s youth.
I truly hoped this would give the men and their legal teams a starting point for determining who had set all of this in motion and dragged the Valdéz family into the middle of it, never realizing that their search would ultimately lead to an innocent man sitting in a federal detention center.