I was flicking through some paperwork in my study when the door opened. I looked up and frowned. Nobody walked in here without knocking. But then I saw my father walking through the door and smiled. My father never sought permission to do anything.
‘Papa,’ I said as I walked towards him and he pulled me into a giant hug before kissing me on each cheek.
‘You look good, mi hijo,’ he said in his deep gravelly voice. ‘Marriage must suit you?’
‘I think it does, Papa,’ I said as I indicated a chair for him to sit on. ‘What brings you down here? I didn’t know you were coming to L.A?’
‘Business,’ he said with a shrug.
‘Anything I should know about?’ I frowned.
‘Nothing for you to be concerned about for now. Your uncles and I have it all in hand. However, I think it’s about time you had a meeting with your influential father in law. I’m having some trouble with some permits in New York and I need them handling.’
I nodded as I sat behind my desk. ‘I’ll arrange a meeting with him next week,’ I replied.
My father and my uncles handled the dirtier side of our business, while I handled the more legitimate branches of our operations. At least that was how it worked for now. In a few years, I would take over the whole corporation while my father eased into retirement. Not that you could ever truly retire from our family business.
‘Is that all you needed to see me about?’ I asked him.
‘No,’ he shook his head. ‘I couldn’t stop by without visiting my favorite son,’ he said with a flash of his eyebrows.
‘I’m your only son,’ I reminded him.
‘Semantics,’ he said with a wave of his hand. ‘So, how is that wife of yours working out? Have you managed to tame the spoiled little rich girl yet?’
I chewed on my lower lip. ‘Actually, I’m not sure she needs taming, Papa.’
‘What?’
‘She’s nothing like what her father described. She’s nothing like him at all. She’s … She reminds me of mama in some ways.’
My father stared at me, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. ‘Oh, Alejandro?’ he said with a shake of his head.
‘What?’
‘You have fallen in love with this girl? Idiota!’ he snapped.
‘I never said I’d fallen in love with her,’ I snapped back.
‘No. You don’t have to. I can see it all over your face. I warned you about this, hijo,’ he frowned at me. ‘I thought you were smarter than this!’
‘What? You can’t force me to marry someone, Papa, and then berate me if I start to care about her,’ I argued. I wasn’t prepared to admit to him that I was in love, I wasn’t even prepared to admit that to myself.
‘But you were supposed to be the clever one, Alejandro. You were supposed to be above all of this. Love is messy. Love complicates things. Love makes you weak!’
‘Weak? You really think that your love for mama makes you weak?’
He pushed back his chair and stood quickly, his hands planted on my desk and his face turning purple with rage. ‘We are not talking about me and your mama,’ he snarled.
I glared at him. All of my life he had taught me that me and my mother were his greatest weaknesses. I suspected it was why he kept me at a distance. He claimed that he wanted me to be the legitimate face of the Montoya Corporation, but I knew otherwise. It was because every time he looked at me he was reminded that he was only a man. And men could be hurt. Men could have the things they loved taken away from them.
‘You chose her for me, Papa. Perhaps, you should have chosen better?’ I said with a cock of my eyebrow.
‘You agreed to this one, Alejandro. I gave you a choice, and this was the woman you agreed to marry.’
I sighed and placed my hands behind my head. It was true that Alana was one of three women whom my father had presented me with. But Alana had been by far the most attractive prospect of them – if only because she was the only one who didn’t actually want to marry me, and was also supposed to be the one I would have least in common with.
‘I’m not in love with her,’ I insisted.
He cursed under his breath and then he walked around to my side of the desk and signaled me to stand up.
When I did, he took his face in my hands. ‘You are lying to yourself, mi hijo. And while love will your be your greatest weakness, it will also bring your greatest blessings,’ he said and then he kissed my forehead.
It was a rare show of emotion from him and I wasn’t sure how to respond.
‘You will understand when you have a child of your own, Alejandro,’ he said with a sigh. ‘Now, how about you introduce me to this woman who has stolen my son’s heart?’ he slapped me on the back then as he returned to his usual self.
I nodded. ‘She’s around here somewhere. Come on and we’ll find her.’
We walked out of the room and headed down the hallway.
