Page 85 of One Year Ago in Spain
RE: Claire Walker
Mitch,
My sincerest apologies. Claire’s work ethic is not up to Windsor & Black standards, and she is not fit to helm a deal as important as yours. But please be assured that Intelligentsia is my number-one priority. I am personally stepping in to handle all day-to-day matters on your acquisition of Einstein, with Mia Kovac as my second-in-command. (I am cc-ing Mia on this email.)
Give me a call when you have a chance. I am at your immediate disposal.
—Bill
What?Why had Bill written her off after only seven days away? Seven days when she’d checked in whenever she could, despite the paralyzing terror of losing the love of her life and despite choosing toworkinstead of get a few hours of sleep? Claire had worked so hard for Bill over the years; she thought she would have merited more respect from him. Not only that, but he hadn’t even reached out to herfirstto let her know he was about to replace her.
“Fuck!” Claire slammed her laptop closed.
Matías jumped up from the bed and stepped toward her, arms outstretched to comfort her.
“Don’t touch me!” she yelled.
He raised both hands in the air and backed away. “I didn’t mean—”
“Sorry,” Claire said, clenching her fists and beating on either side of her head. “It’s not you. I just…”
“It’s okay.” Matías lowered himself to the carpet so he was sitting at her feet. “You’re in shock. But I’m here for you.”
She sagged in the chair. “I just got kicked off the deal I was leading. I’ve been working on it for the last eight months. It was supposed to be the feather in my cap, the one that would make me partner.”
Matías frowned. “But aren’t you here in Madrid for work? Why would they kick you off the deal?”
“I’m here for…a different client,” Claire said.
“Well, then, that’s not fair. If you have to work on something else, how can they blame you for not also working on the first deal?”
Claire laughed humorlessly. “Law firms are not exactly humane places to work, especially the top international ones like Windsor & Black. There are so many attorneys who would kill to be in a firm like mine—the prestige, the pay, the excitement of the power brokering we sometimes get to be involved with. And because supply outstrips demand, that means the firms get to abuse us however they want, because if I can’t do the job, then Mia-fucking-Kovac is salivating to step in the second I falter. Which, apparently, was yesterday.”
“So why don’t you quit?”
She tilted her head at him, brows furrowed. “Because I’m really good at my job, and I like it.”
“Even when they treat you like this?”
Claire bit her lip. “No. Not when they treat me like this. But they never have before. They’ve demanded everything short of me flying to the moon, but they always respected me until—”
“Until you dared to be human?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I like you, Claire. And I haven’t known you for very long, but it’s weird because I feel like I do already know you somehow…” He ran his hand through his hair in that familiar way of his when he was working out a thorny problem.
Claire froze. Was this what Professor Hong had meant, about Matías’s soul being ready for the truth? His edges were still blurry, but his color was more saturated now. Not entirely solid, but close.
“Maybe it’s just déjà vu,” he was saying, “or maybe I’m confusing it with things we’ve done together. But I already know that when you commit to doing something, you give two hundred percent. Like when I said I wanted to show you Madrid at night, you weren’t in for just a few hours, you were in for thewholenight. Or like the time before that when we ran into each other, and I said I was busy, but you insisted that we go out anyway.
“I get it. I’m the same way. My sister would tell you that I’m scatterbrained because there are so many things I’m interested in, but when I find something I want, I’m in all the way. That’s how I paint; I give myself entirely to the work. That’s how I love—my family, my friends, my…Well, anyway, my point is, I think I understand that about you.
“But I suspect it means you also give every single second of your life to your firm, if they ask it of you. You are the best kind of soldier, the kind who never shows weakness, who always says she can fight on no matter how depleted her resources or how impossible the situation. And yet, Claire…you’re human. You have limits. If your law firm really did respect you, they would understand that.”
Claire shook her head. “It’s not that simple. Plus, I don’t really have a choice. I love being in charge of high-profile mergers and acquisitions. I’m really good at it, too. Besides, it’ll get better once I’m promoted from associate to partner.”
“Will it?” Matías held her gaze, his golden eyes unwavering.
