Filthy Rich Revenge: A Filthy Rich Billionaires Book - Lynn Raye Harris Page 0,51
that nearly broke him.
It was time to start knocking the foundation out from under her. Time to make her feel the helpless rage he’d felt.
22
A team of waiters arrived to serve dinner in their suite. Rebecca had been surprised when Alejandro returned in time for the meal. Usually she ate alone, working on her computer since it was still only mid-afternoon in the States. She accomplished a lot in the hours Alejandro was away, even if part of her anticipated his return with growing excitement as the day waned.
She’d worked through the afternoon, but she’d been preoccupied with their conversation earlier. She couldn’t imagine losing a child so cruelly. It was senseless, surreal. No one would ever expect such a thing could happen to a toddler. The grief he must have experienced was unimaginable.
And yet he’d endured it. He’d changed because of it, but she understood why now. Looking at him across the table, her heart filled to bursting with everything she was feeling for him. She knew without doubt she was falling for him again.
Or perhaps she had already fallen, but she wasn’t quite prepared to admit it to herself just yet. No, far better to look at him in his cream silk shirt, his dark hair and skin such a startlingly beautiful contrast, and imagine that she had time to prevent the disaster she was hurtling herself into. He’d barely spoken since returning. She wondered what dinner would be like, how she could draw him out if he didn’t speak.
Maybe she should apologize for asking him about his daughter. But she wasn’t sorry he’d told her. It helped her understand. Helped her forgive him just a tiny bit for how he’d treated her since he’d ordered her to Madrid.
The sommelier uncorked a bottle of wine and poured a taste for Alejandro’s approval. After the wine was decanted and the food served, all but one of the waiters left. The man stationed himself near the buffet where they’d set the dishes and prepared to serve as needed.
“I have decided to move Layton International’s offices to Madrid,” Alejandro announced.
Rebecca nearly dropped her fork. The spicy rice and eggplant dish she’d just taken a bite of turned to paste in her mouth.
“You seem surprised,” he said, his dark gaze giving nothing away.
She reached for her wine glass, took a fortifying sip. Her heart was beginning to flutter at breakneck speed. “I am. You haven’t told me your plans for my company, and now this. What about my employees? There are over one hundred people in the office.”
He shrugged. “Upper management will be offered their jobs in Madrid. Others will be given generous severance packages and assistance in finding new employment.”
“Is this because I asked you about Anya?”
His eyes flashed. “No. It’s business.”
She set her fork down and leaned back against her chair, no longer hungry. “Oh really? Somehow I don’t think so. I know you’re angry with me, but it’s unfair to take it out on my people.”
He tapped long fingers on the tablecloth as he studied her. She would not think about what those fingers did to her each night. She kept her gaze firmly on his face.
“I do what’s best for Ramirez Enterprises. It has nothing to do with you. They are my people now, not yours.”
She didn’t believe he was doing it for the good of his company. Clearly, he was punishing her.
“I owe them, Alejandro. My family owes them. I can’t sit by and do nothing.”
“You don’t have a choice. When you chose to pledge your stock as collateral for your loans, you took the risk that someone would gain control of your company. You no longer have a say in what happens at Layton International.”
Rebecca’s heart throbbed. That was the bitter truth, wasn’t it? No matter how much it hurt, how much she disagreed, she had no legal ground to stand on. He owned Layton International. He could do anything he wanted.
“What about me? Am I fired now?”
He took a sip of wine, watched her over the top of his glass. Several seconds went by before he spoke. “Not yet.”
Her relief made her weak. And yet it was suddenly too much. Everything was too much. The way he manipulated her into doing what he wanted, his threats, the juxtaposition of cold businessman with white-hot lover. She couldn’t take it a moment longer.
“I’m not sure I can continue this way,” she said softly. Her appetite was gone so she set her napkin over the plate.