Fake-Married to My Billionaire Boss

Chapter 55 : Reckless

Raul

"Irresponsible. Reckless and irresponsible. Dios mio. Do you realize what you put us all through?"

I wince at my Tia Carmen's words. When I got the summons to come see her, I knew I was going to get a lecture. As with all conversations that involved an extraordinarily severe reprimand, it was entirely in Spanish. With my head down and my gaze focused on my clasped hands, I can't see if her eyes were blazing with anger as I was sure they were. "I know, Tia, I'm—"

"And your wife!" Tia Carmen paced across the balcony, the short heels of her white pumps clacking over the marble floors in agitation. "Think of the humiliation she had to endure standing right there while the police took you away in handcuffs like a ... like a criminal!"

"Look, Tia, I've apologized to Kate," I explain. "She was a little miffed, but she understands."

"Of course she understands."

There's a sound of a click and an odd smell. I look up in surprise to see her lighting up a cigarette.

"Kate is a sweet girl. And loyal," she continues in her grumbling tone. She inhales deeply on her cigarette and exhales in an aggressively strong puff of smoke. "Of course she'll say she understands. And stop looking at me like that. This is my house and I'll smoke if I want to."

I suck on the inside of my lower lip to keep from laughing.

"It was bad enough that our CEO gets arrested," she continues. "Now, two days later, the Chief of Operations. Thank god we hadn't gone public yet or our stock would have been buried by now."

"In my defense, I wasn't actually guilty..." I trail off, fully expecting her to interrupt me again. But her eyes have turned sad and my heart feels heavy with regret.

"And I suppose Bianca is."

We stare at each other for a very long time.

Finally, I say the only thing I could say. "I'm sorry, Tia."

She sighs, closing her eyes. "My own niece. I feel we should have seen this coming. Why didn't I?"

"None of us suspected she could do anything like this, Tia. Don't be too hard on yourself." I set my jaw, feeling a mix of both anger and sadness. "She's such a brilliant woman. We knew she was ambitious, but this is ridiculous." How badly have we treated her that she could set aside her loyalty to our family so callously and do something like this? As much as I wanted to assure Tia Carmen that this wasn't her or anyone else's fault but Bianca's, I can't help feeling partly responsible for her bad decisions. That perhaps I've failed my cousin in some way.

"I still think you took too much of a gamble, hijo." Her stern tone has softened a little. "There was a very small chance you could have gotten the evidence you needed from whatever phone calls exchanged between Bianca and her little minion that day."

"Maybe I know my cousin better than you think."

"Arrogant little shit."

I lower my head in acquiescence. "I promise to make more prudent choices in the future."

"I have half a mind to get the board to fire you, Raul."

Knowing my aunt, I expected that. "I wouldn't blame you."

"Stop agreeing with me, it's annoying. And you know a change of CEO at this time would only make the company look like it's in an even bigger muddle than it already is. You're staying right where you are." She takes one last enormous puff of her cigarette before bending over the table to put it out in a crystal ashtray. "It's going to be your job to clean up this mess."