Page 101 of Once Upon A Lie (Once Upon A Billionaire)

Maybe the silence will do us some good.

I walk out of the bathroom and Alexandra, the HR director is waiting in my office. Her glasses perched on the edge of her nose, her blue eyes squinting on the other end. I always wonder if she can see, because she’s always squinting at everything.

“Sorry Mr. Aranda de Hernandez. I did call out, but you didn’t hear me.”

I fold my arms and wait for her to say whatever she has to say.

She straightens her skirt, and then avoids my eyes as she speaks.

“It’s just that Belén Lopez Martin has a lawyer, she’s not taking the dismissal very well and I just wanted you to know.”

“Do your job!” I bark, and then walk past her. Did she expect me to give her a solution to the problem? She’s supposed to tell me the options and then I can weigh in on them.

“Alexandra,” I pause as I stand at the door. I don’t turn around to face her.

“If you need my help in figuring out what to do if a fired employee wants to sue the company, then maybe like Belén Lopez Martin, you need to find a lawyer too.”

“Understood, Mr. Aranda de Hernandez.”

Good!

I wait for her to walk past, and leave. I don’t have the time nor patience for such dealings today. I told her to fire Belén, not bug me if she didn’t do it properly. She can be used as a scapegoat, if this thing gets serious and cannot be sorted out properly. Technically it is not Belén she fired but Leticia.

Maybe this was an error on my part, but I will not admit it.

Before I can even think to get my contact on the case to find out the details, I see both Papá and Jorge standing at my secretary’s desk. Trust them to come in together. They’re both wearing dark purple suits, with a matching tie and black shirt. They could easily be mistaken for brothers not son and father. Part of me questions if they wear the matching suits on to get to me. I shouldn’t think about such things, but with them everything irritates me.

“Buenos, George y Jorge,” I greet them both. I stopped calling him Papá a long time ago, so we’re on a first-name basis. He doesn’t complain and he knows that he has no right to demand that I call him anything but that. Even at times I can think of worse things to call him.

“¿Diego. Listo?1” he asks, as he doesn’t bother to greet me, but just wants to get on with things. There’s a man with a bow tie and no taller than Leticia, and he adjusts his glasses after springing off the sofa. No doubt he’s their lawyer.

I knew they would bring one, it makes sense to. I nod to Rachel, my secretary, and as loyal as she has been over the years, even before I became CEO, she understands what I need and no doubt is buzzing the company lawyer to join us immediately.

I motion for them all to enter my office, and the little man clutching his briefcase follows behind them and smiles at me.

He extends his hand. “Ethan Daniels. I am here representing both Jorge and George Aranda de Hernandez.”

I nod and shake his hand. “Of course you are.”

“Is your lawyer not joining us?”

“He’s on his way.”

“Good.” He smiles and then enters my office. George traces his finger across the table, and then looks at his finger. He’s checking for dust. No doubt he’s looking for something to accuse me of. It seems to be his favorite pastime when it comes to humiliating people. He always does it, I’ve watched him to do it to my uncles and even my aunts when they worked for the company. They all left, because of his ways. The only ones that stayed were the ones that he appreciated, which meant he could control them.

My stepmom, Arancha, spends more time drinking to deal with his demands. She could leave him, but he made sure he married someone poor. He showered her with gifts, made her feel as if she was the number one woman in the world, then after he’d spun his web and caught her, he made sure she had her tubes tied so she can’t bear any children for him. Maybe in some way Arancha thinks that the man that showered her with gifts will return to her.

He never existed.

He lied to get what he wanted and now he has, he will never return to the man that she thinks loved her so dearly.

I should feel sorry for her, but like her I’m a victim to George’s web. I spent my childhood wishing he would love me like my brothers, but as much as I tried to please him, he never did. On their wedding day, he said to mi abuela that if she doesn’t take me, then he will put me in an orphanage, because he couldn’t bear the sight of me.

Mi abuela said that he was drunk on the day. As a young child him being drunk made no sense to me. All I knew were his words, as he gave me her hand and said to take care of me and the reason why. My mind flashes to the past, something I promised myself I wouldn’t do, and as my name is being called, it shifts to the present moment.

“Diego, are you all right? You don’t look well. Have you started drinking again?” George asks.

I scoff, as I know he likes to play games. I’ve never had an addiction in my life, but like his father, they made out that I did and I became paranoid about it.

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