Page 11 of Legacy of His Revenge
‘Do you take this close an interest inallyour...er...clients?’ This more to divert the conversation than anything else. Sophie had no real idea how people in the business world operated.
‘I have slightly more elaborate plans for your father’s company,’ which wasn’t exactly a lie, then he shrugged.
‘Is that what you do?’
Matias frowned. ‘Explain.’
‘Well, do you...er...invest in companies? The truth is I honestly don’t know the ins and outs of how companies operate. I’ve never had much interest in that sort of thing.’
‘I see...so you don’t care about money...’
‘Not enough to have gone into a career where I might have made a fortune. Life would have been a lot easier if I had.’ For starters, she thought, she wouldn’t have had to endure the monthly humiliation of picking up where her mother had left off, and going to her father with cap in hand because Eric’s home was costly and there was no other choice. ‘I don’t suppose I’m ruthless enough.’
‘Is that a criticism of me?’ Matias asked wryly, amused because it was rare for anyone to venture any opinion in his presence that might have been interpreted as critical. But then, as she had pointed out, whatever better nature he had was seldom in evidence and things weren’t going to change on that front any time soon.
Sophie was caught between being truthful and toeing the diplomatic line. Talking about her father was out of bounds because sooner or later she would trip up and reveal exactly the sort of man he was. Telling Matias Rivero what she thought of him was also pretty questionable because he had thrown her a lifeline and he could whip it back whenever it suited him. If she succeeded in this task, a good proportion of her debt to him would be wiped out. As agreed, she had received a detailed financial breakdown of what she could expect from her weekend’s work.
Getting on the wrong side of him wasn’t a good idea. But hehadasked...
And something about the man seemed to get her firing on cylinders she didn’t know she possessed.
‘Well, Iamhere,’ she pointed out and Matias frowned.
‘Where are you going with that?’
‘You intend to get your pound of flesh from me by whatever means necessary and if that’s not ruthless, then I don’t know what is.’
‘It’s not ruthless,’ Matias informed her, without a hint of an apology. ‘It’s good, old-fashioned business sense.’ On more levels than she could ever begin to suspect, he thought, dispelling a fleeting twinge of guilt because all that mattered was getting her despicable father to pay for what he had done all those years ago.
Matias thought back to the slim stash of letters he had found shoved at the back of his mother’s chest of drawers. He would never have come across those letters if she hadn’t been rushed to hospital, because he had had to pack a bag without warning for her. Her housekeeper had had the day off and Matias had had no idea what sort of things his mother might need. He had opened drawers and scooped out what seemed to be appropriate clothing and in doing so had scooped out those unopened letters bound with an elastic band.
His mother’s writing. He had recognised that instantly just as he had noted the date on the stamps. They had all been sent over a period of a few weeks at a time when his father had been taking what were to be his last breaths before the cancer that had attacked him two years previously had resurfaced to finish what it had begun.
Curiosity had got the better of him because all those letters had been addressed to the same man. James Carney.
In actual fact, he need only have opened one of the letters because they had all contained the same message.
A plea for help. A request for money for an experimental treatment being carried out in America for precisely the sort of rare cancer his father had contracted. None of the letters had been opened—they had just been returned to sender. It was plain to see that the man who had defrauded Matias’s family and reaped the financial rewards that should have, at the very least, been shared with his father, had not had the slightest interest in what his mother had wanted to say to him.
Carney had been too busy living it up on his ill-gotten gains to give a damn about the fate of the family who had paid the price at his hands.
There and then, Matias had realised that retribution was no longer going to be on the back burner. It was going to happen hard and fast. The time for dragging his feet was over.
If Carney’s illegitimate daughter now found herself caught in the crossfire then so be it. He wasn’t going to lose his focus and the woman sitting opposite him was all part of his bigger plan. He could bring the man down the routine way, by bankrupting him, but he was getting a feeling...that there was more to the saga of his hidden daughter than met the eye. What could she tell him? Any whiff of a financial scandal, any hint that the health of his ailing company was tied up with fraud, would be the icing on the cake. Not only would such public revelations hit Carney where it hurt most, but a long prison sentence would loom on the horizon for him. All in all, a thoroughly satisfying outcome.
‘Julie, my partner, wouldn’t agree with you.’ Sophie stuck her chin out at a mutinous angle. ‘I’ve left her barely coping with one of the biggest contracts we’ve managed to secure since we started our catering company. We could really harm our business if she doesn’t succeed because one poor job has a knock-on effect in the catering world.’
‘You don’t have my sympathy on that score,’ Matias told her bluntly. He was unwillingly fascinated by the way she coloured up when she spoke and the way her aquamarine eyes, fringed by the lushest lashes possible, glittered and sparkled like precious gems.
Her skin was as smooth as satin and she didn’t appear to be wearing a speck of make-up. She oozednaturaland if he wasn’t the cynical guy that he was, he would be sorely tempted to take her at face value because that face appeared so very, very open and honest.
Step up the memory of the ex who had almost got his ring on her finger on the back of appearing open and honest! Good job he wasn’t the sort of idiot who ignored valuable learning curves.
‘Here’s a free piece of advice...never go into business with anyone. However, considering you’ve passed that point, you should have made sure that you weren’t going into business with dead wood. Have you got anything signed allowing you to disentangle yourself from a ruinous partnership without feeling the backlash?’
Two bright patches of colour stained her cheeks and she glared at Matias without bothering to conceal a temper that was rarely in evidence. She looked at him, furiously frowning, all the more irate because he returned her glare with a lazy, amused smile. Her skin tingled as he held her gaze and kept on holding it, sucking the breath out of her and making her agonisingly aware of her body in ways that were confusing and incomprehensible.
Her breasts felt heavy andfull, her nipples were suddenly sensitised, their tips pebble hard and scratchy against her bra, and there was a tingling between her legs that made her want to touch herself.
