Through You (The Hidalgo Brothers Book 2)

ARTEMIS

Three months later

Alex bursts in, looking smug as he dumps a small pile of folders on my desk. I wonder what he’s up to, so I open the first folder and stare at the résumé of a girl still in university.

“What is this? Do you expect me to be part of the hiring process? Seriously?”

Alex points his index finger at me. “Oh, trust me, my friend.

You’re going to want in on this.”

I scan the girl’s résumé, and I learn that she’s enrolled in her last year of school. I furrow my eyebrows.

“Are these the interns? You want me to help select the university interns?”

Alex plops himself on the chair across from my desk. “Yes.”

I close the folder and push the pile toward him.

“Alex, I don’t have time for this. Human resources can handle it.”

Alex snorts. “You are not getting the hint.” He sounds frustrated. “Open the next folder.”

Begrudgingly, I do as he asks, hoping that eventually this little exercise will lead somewhere. My fingers freeze when they reach the folder I least expect to find in this pile. It’s Claudia’s.

I gape like an idiot at the name at the top of her résumé. I stare at her qualifications and the rest of the information listed. She applied to do an internship with the company? I feel flattered, and extremely confused. Why didn’t she mention it?

“I’m waiting for a thank-you. If it wasn’t for me, you would have never known. It’s very likely she would have completed her internship here unbeknownst to you since you never venture down to that department.”

“Was her application accepted?”

Alex smiles. “But of course. Just take a look at her grades and the evaluation of her writing samples. She was the first to be accepted.”

And then it dawns on me. She never said a word because she wanted to get in based on her own merits. It’s also very likely she wanted to keep me from knowing that she was working here. Which is exactly what would have happened if Alex hadn’t told me.

“I am truly amazed at your ability to stick your nose into the affairs of every department in the company.”

He winks at me. “It’s a skill, I know.”

“Which department was she assigned to?”

“So you can spy on her like a fool?” Alex raises an eyebrow.

I give him a cold stare.

“First of all, I have yet to hear a ‘Thank you, Alex. You’re my best friend in the whole world. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Oh wait, I know. I’ll stay frozen like a damn ice cube, too hard to be melted by the summer sun.’”

Ice cube . . . iceberg . . .

A silly grin tugs at my lips, and Alex gasps in an overly dramatic way. “Oh, ladies and gentlemen, he smiles!”

“Alex.”

“I’m not going to tell you where she’ll be working.”

“As if I couldn’t figure it out on my own.”

Alex smiles playfully. “That’s where you’re wrong. I know you. Why would the chief executive officer go out of his way to inquire about this year’s interns when he’s never shown an interest before? You know damn well staff will be suspicious if you snoop around, which will in turn put a target on the poor girl’s back before she even starts.”

“You’re in the mood to play games today, aren’t you?”

“Always. Also, I bet she didn’t tell you because she doesn’t want special treatment while working here.”

“I don’t—”

“Artemis, please, admit that you’ve been contemplating the many ways you could make her experience easy and pleasant from the very instant you found out she’s going to work here.”

He’s right. I can’t help myself. I want to set up her first office, get it organized and decorated to her liking. And outfit it with the best equipment and most sophisticated technology so she can do her work with every tool and resource at her disposal. I want to look at her smile and the excitement in her eyes when she finally sits in her chair behind her desk. But I know that interns aren’t assigned offices, and they have to share desks with other interns.

I rub my face with my hand.

“Alex, I’m not going to deny that the thought crossed my mind. But I respect her too much. And I understand she wants to start from scratch and earn her place with hard work. It would be disrespectful to her intelligence and abilities if I were to meddle in any way.”

Alex’s mouth drops in an exaggerated and dramatic way.

“Shit. That girl has you whipped.”

“And you have too much time on your hands.”

“Ah, come on. It’s Friday.” He moves his eyebrows up and down. “How about a glass of whisky? How about we go to your bar? I’ve acquired an appreciation for its candlelight lounge.”

“Listen, Alex, bringing up the fact that you almost kissed Claudia is not the best move on your part.”

“Get over it. How was I supposed to know who she was? You should be thankful that I was able to put on the brakes before anything happened. Anyway, it was thanks to my call that you were able to come down to the club and seduce her. By the way, you never thanked me for that. I’m not feeling very appreciated as your friend.”

“Oh, what should I say? Thank you, Alex, for holding yourself back and not sticking your tongue down my girl’s throat?”

I purse my lips as soon as the words come out of my mouth, aware of the critical error I’ve made.

Alex smiles widely. “Your girl, huh?”

“You didn’t hear a thing.”

Of course, Alex won’t let it go.

“Everybody is afraid of you in this company. You bring that cold and serious exterior wherever you go. If they only knew you were all soft inside, just like a—”

“Don’t say it.”

“Avocado.”

“Get out of here, Alex. Go earn your salary.”

“It’s Friday and it’s about”—he looks at his watch—“five o’clock in the afternoon. Work finished at four, so please loosen your tie and come along with me to your club.”

“This might come as a surprise to you, but drowning myself in whisky is not my priority at this moment.” I hold the bridge of my nose between two fingers. “There’s a new project I need to oversee, and lots of papers to sign and decisions to make.”

Alex checks his cell.

“Wow. According to Instagram, your fiancé has been enjoying herself in . . . Barcelona? I thought she was in Rome.”

“She’s been traveling all over Europe this month.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. Two months ago?”

“You don’t sound like a very interested fiancé.”

“I’ve been busy.”

Alex brings his hand to his chin, pondering. “How do you survive this long without sex?”

“How do you survive asking questions like that?”

Alex winks at me again. “You can complain all you want, but deep down you know you can’t live without me.”

I feign a quick smile. “Oh, how I would like to put that to the test.”Belonging to NôvelDrama.Org.

Alex gives me the finger.

His gesture makes me flash back to that night three months ago in December when Claudia gave me the finger following our challenge at the pool. Her words drew a line I haven’t crossed. I’ve kept my distance, as it should be. She’s absolutely right. I don’t deserve to get close to her or seduce her—not until I figure out what will happen afterward.

Yes, it’s true that Cristina and I are playing roles in a farce.

Yet, to the world, we’re still together. And I need to keep Claudia away from all of this. I’d never put her in an impossible and uncomfortable situation.

“Doesn’t it seem to you that Cristina’s taken a lot of photos with this man?”

Alex shows me a picture from Instagram in which Cristina is standing next to a tall man with a beard and sunglasses. She’s in a lot of photos with him in different stops throughout Europe.

“I’m glad she’s having fun. She needed a break from work.”

Alex frowns. “Artemis.”

“Yes?”

“Your fiancé is obviously having a fine time gallivanting around the best cities of Europe with another man, and you’re not bothered one bit.”

I let out a sigh. “I’m not a jealous guy, you know that.”

“Sure.” Alex nods. “You’re not jealous. Except you punched your younger brother and you were on the verge of hitting me when you found out that I was this close to messing around with Claudia. My friend, this pattern begs to differ.”

“Claudia . . . our situation . . . it’s complicated.”

“Okay, I’m going to straighten you out,” Alex says tersely.

“You don’t seem to mind that your fiancé is very likely having an affair right as we speak. But you turn into a wild beast if anyone gets within an inch of Claudia. Ergo, you are in love with Claudia and feel absolutely nothing for your fiancé.”

I snort. “In love?! For god’s sake, Alex!

“What I don’t quite understand is why you’re with Cristina when it’s obvious that you’d rather be with Claudia. Shit, this is some prime-time soap opera stuff.”

“You need to find yourself a girlfriend so you can stop worrying this much about my life.”

“Nah.” His smile fades. “I’m not looking for anything serious for a while.”

“Alex.”

“Stop giving me that condescending look.”

“It’s been months. You need a fresh start.”

“Not yet, she . . .” He licks his lower lip, and his voice is barely a whisper. “She destroyed something inside me that I’m not exactly sure I’ll ever be able to get back.”

“She was the one who cheated. She has no right to break you.

Please don’t give her that much power.”

Alex stands up. “Well. If you wanted me to leave you alone, you’ve succeeded.”

“Alex, wait, I didn’t mean to . . .”

He gives me a half smile. “I’ll be at your club enjoying myself by drinking and getting frisky in the candlelight lounge. Which, by the way, was a fantastic idea.”

I roll my eyes. “It wasn’t my idea.”

“That’s right, it was mine. Oops!” He turns around and heads for the door.

“Don’t cause any trouble at my bar.”

Alex waves. “I’ll behave, old man.”

Once he’s gone, I read through Claudia’s entire résumé. My chest swells with pride. Despite all the daily chores on her plate, she’s managed to get high grades, and the quality of the work she put in her writing samples is impressive.

Hey, dummy? You can accomplish anything you set your mind to.

I admire her. She came from nothing, and her life hasn’t been filled with rainbows and happiness. Yet she’s never given up. She deserves more respect and recognition than someone like me, who never had to make an effort and had everything handed over on a silver platter. I didn’t even have to study that hard in university and I finished my degree with honors. I had an easy time learning, and made it through effortlessly. Right after I graduated my father put me at the head of his company, and in charge of its large workforce. I never had to start at the bottom and work my way up. I simply came in, and the job was mine. It’s possible that’s why I feel stuck in my professional life. The CEO title is the highest on the ladder, and there are no more steps left to climb, no more goals to achieve here. Perhaps if I had started from scratch, every promotion would have felt like a victory and a step up leading to this title. Maybe I sound ungrateful. However, I often wonder what it would have been like to have the chance to make it on my own, and spend more time with each department; grow along with everyone else by building a rapport with the staff as I worked my way up to becoming their leader.

I run my finger over Claudia’s résumé. “You have my respect, Claudia.”

Though her passion for singing never ceased, at twelve years old she discovered she wanted to study advertising and marketing, although her aptitude and abilities were apparent much earlier. I recall one summer afternoon when we were kids. Our school had organized a lemonade sale to raise funds for a good cause and our booth wasn’t selling very well.

“Let’s see.” Claudia grabbed our sign and crossed out the one dollar we were charging per glass and wrote “Now only 99¢ plus a complimentary sticker.”

I looked at her incredulously. “What are you doing?”

She smiled at me. “I have a bunch of sheets of stickers that I won. Everyone loves stickers, so I just improved our pitch.”

I rolled my eyes. “We aren’t going to sell anything.”

We sold out.

I suppose some people are born with inherent aptitudes that make them suited for specific careers. This memory makes me think of the night Ares begged our father to let him study medicine. I felt bad for my brother. To challenge and stand up to my father is completely out of the question. Sometimes I feel I can do it, but the urge dissipates when I come face-to-face with him.

I don’t want to be a nuisance, disappoint him, or cause him any pain. It’s hard to pinpoint the cause of my unwavering loyalty.

I’m not sure if it’s the promise I made to him or if maybe I don’t ever want to see him as broken as he was that night. The pain, the look of defeat, the tears rolling from his reddened eyes, they’re all seared into my mind. But I also want to support my brother.

It often feels like Fortune gets a kick out of placing me at a crossroads, forcing me to choose between who matters most to me.