Sixty Thre
— Damien Martinez —
"What the fuck..." I was still rooted to the spot, staring at the man in shock.
How the hell did he know that I would be coming here? Was it possible that he was tracking me all around the city, just like I used to do? Well, at least now I knew where that nasty habit came from.
Then, there was the other, scarier theory: somehow, Diego had developed psychic abilities overnight. Just thinking about it was really scary. And Thor standing near the fountain didn't help my imagination.
"Chill out, son," Diego said, still not looking at me. He jerked his head towards the side of the room, and I turned to see three laptops there.
Each of them displayed different parts of the estate, and one thing was common between all of them: they were showing pictures and moving images of what was happening outside.
I sighed with relief. As it turned out, Diego was not trailing after me, nor had he developed some out-of-this-world psychic abilities. He was simply being a creep, watching the CCTV cameras all day long.
"How are you doing, father?" I asked, finally making my way into the room and standing in front of him.
His hand hovered above the chessboard, holding a knight between his fingers. He lifted his eyes and looked at me, tilting his head slightly, a wry smile on his face.
"What are you doing here, Damien?" he asked. "You look like you'd rather be anywhere else, heck, even halfway across the city back at the formal ball. And now you've come looking for me. My, oh my... what's the world turning into?"
I gave him a wry smile. I knew that if I wanted to get anything out of this conversation we were about to have, I had to be smart about it. One of us had to swallow their pride, and this time it would be me.
I took a deep, calming breath. "Knowing you, Diego, I'm guessing you don't want me to apologize," I said.
He shrugged. "You're right, I don't really care."
Then his eyes narrowed as he continued to gaze at me. "It is a little perplexing though. I can't, for the life of me, figure out why you would come all the way here. We both know that you'd rather drive headfirst to hell than admit that you need my help for anything."
"True," I nodded.
I thought he was going to probe me with questions until I opened up to him, but once again, Diego shrugged as if it wasn't any of his concern.
There was this unspoken understanding between the both of us that he knew better than to invade my personal space without my permission.
"Since you're here, would you like to play black?" he asked with a hint of a smile, gesturing towards his chessboard and patting the space next to him with his other hand, inviting me to play with him.
My eyebrows twitched slightly, and I found myself realizing that Black was losing terribly. "Shut the hell up, mind," I said to myself.
"Could we perhaps leave the room?" I asked him, wanting to get my answers as soon as possible. "There's something I'd like to talk to you about."
Okay, so maybe I was a bit spooked out. What? There was a bunch of Norse statues staring at me all across the room and silently judging me.
Since when did he have an affinity for this kind of art anyway? He was usually quirky, but most of the time it wasn't this bad.
Granted, he was a sucker for antiques and generally anything that other normal people considered odd and strange, but this was really taking it over the top.
He must have spent quite a fortune to get all those Leonardo da Vinci level statues installed in the penthouse. It was a real masterpiece, but I would have preferred it in the museum any day.
"And he's too relaxed here. The chess was a distraction," I thought.
"For sure," Diego nodded and rose to his feet. He looked genuinely interested, and I was going to give him that.
The fact that I was willing to tell him something that was bothering me was probably enough to pique his interest.
I didn't usually tell him stuff anyway, and he knew that since I was here now, it meant that I couldn't handle it myself.
"Walk with me, Damien," he said, heading towards the door.
I fell into line beside him and took a deep breath, about to pour out my frustrations.
"It's terrible," I spat out at last. "I don't even know where to start from."
"Before you start," Diego said suddenly, raising his hand as if he remembered something now. "I hope you're not heartbroken, son?" he asked, his eyes wide. "You know how much guilt it brings to me when it comes to taking care of women. Because I can't exactly torture them or make them disappear. They're these big problems that you don't just know how to take care of, so please tell me that this is not about a woman," he asked.
I gave a painful smile. "It's way worse than that," I sighed.
"I've fallen in love, and now it's breaking me apart. What's the word for it... Heartbroken? That doesn't fit in well, is it?"
"Morgana, she's back. And she's back in full force," I revealed to him.
"Oh," Diego tapped his chin with a frown. "I see where we're going."
"She's back with her daddy wrapped around her fingers, isn't she? Did I mention that women are particularly difficult to shake off?" Diego sighed.
"She won't back down this time. It's not like the last time. Now, she's actually making moves," I exclaimed, trying to keep my voice level. I dreaded the part where it would get to Clarissa, and I would have to admit how much of a failure I was.
So much that I couldn't even protect one of the very few things that I had grown to cherish in just a couple of months.
We stopped in front of a garden. I could see the gardener from here as he tended to the flowers, trimming them into shape.
Oh, for a blissfully quiet life...
Diego leaned against the short wooden fence of the garden with his hands hanging on either side of the fence.
"So, what does she want now?" he asked quietly.
"She wants me," I closed my eyes in resignation as I spoke. There was no way to stop her now, and I knew that the more I avoided her, the more Clarissa and those close to me would be in trouble.
To bring her down, I would have to sacrifice myself, and I was ready to do that as long as Clarissa walked out alive and unharmed.
"Now... You don't know that for sure," Diego reasoned, his voice softening.
"She's the one behind Clarissa's kidnapping, I'm certain of it," I blurted out, feeling my hands clench at my sides.
"Clarissa? Isn't she supposed to be your wife?" he asked.
I gave a dejected nod.
"That would be bad for the company. It would be enough to throw the partners into a state of unrest, and soon, Martinez Corporation would start to appear weak in front of its rivals!" Diego's eyes widened, and he drew back in horror.
I winced. "They've already started to think that. And no doubt, she'll be there all the way to fuel the rumors."
"You have to call them all to order. Give some sort of speech to reassure them that nothing happened to Clarissa. Don't you always say it yourself? Protect the image," Diego continued urgently.
I shook my head repeatedly, my eyes trained on the ground.
"You don't get it, Diego. It's not about the company. I don't give a damn about what happens there. It's not about the damn image either. It's about my heart. I'm falling apart, Dad. It's eating me up alive!" My body trembled as I spoke, tears gathering behind my eyes. My voice shook, and for the first time, I called him "Dad" without sarcasm. I meant it.
For the first time, reality hit me hard in the face.
Clarissa was gone.
And I felt a part of me disappear every day she was away.
"It's terrible," I whispered, heartbroken.
"If it's so bad..." Diego began quietly.
I couldn't meet his eyes, scared that I would see disappointment etched in them. For showing weakness, for showing too much emotion.
I knew he didn't expect this outburst. I never wanted him to see me break apart like this.
I felt a light touch on my back as Diego patted me.
"Then why don't you make them all disappear?"
I shook my head, feeling another wave of dread. He made everything sound so easy. Don't like them? No problem, we can simply get rid of them.
Somehow, I found myself wishing that his theory would actually be feasible in real life.
"Headquarters has been hacked. It can't function for now. I'm completely on my own."