“Only the traitors do mercenary work,” he said.
She sighed. “You’re not a traitor, Matias. Angelo Baena was, but you are not him. Anyway, my father trades favors. In this case, it was an exceptionally large favor, and he wanted an equally significant favor in return. Rada had to become a permanent stop on their trade route, and our family would be guaranteed a cargo spot on any of their vessels stopping here, no questions asked, at a very steep discount. They agreed on condition that I marry Gabriel, conveniently taking him out of the picture before someone in their family decided to use him for a second coup.”
“What was your father shipping?”
Ramona gave him a side-eye. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“The tax on exporting relucyte relays is thirty percent,” Matias said. “It’s quite prohibitive. Of course, your father couldn’t possibly be shipping relucyte. That would make him a dirty tax evader. What were those shipments labeled? Oh, I remember now. Low-grade transistor modifiers.”
She picked up a pebble and tossed it at him.
“Was it worth it?” he asked.
“No. I didn’t want to marry Gabriel, but Father threatened to excise me, and he was stubborn enough to go through with it. Karion had just lost his arm, and Santiago kept getting into dumb fights and creating legal issues. I had to stay. A year later I forced my father out.”
He thought her father had peacefully retired. “How did you manage that?”
“I had help from my mother. She’d wanted to retire for a long time. And my father didn’t resist very much. He was in his late fifties when he had us. By the time I took over, he had worked on behalf of the family for seventy-two years. The day after he retired, we were out of the relucyte business.”
“How did he take it?”
“Surprisingly well. He believed in trial by fire. In ancient times, my father would have thrown me and my brothers in a pit with wolves to fight over scraps to toughen us up. He later told me that I had been too passive. Forcing me into a marriage I hated ‘galvanized’ me into action. When I had gotten the better of him, it just confirmed in his head that he had done everything right. The relucyte was no longer his problem. He settled into his forced retirement. Occasionally he calls me and nags me about producing some grandchildren.”
“Why didn’t you have any? You like children.”
“I didn’t want to have Gabriel’s children.”
The finality in her words struck at him.
“It’s not because he didn’t want to. Gabriel would have loved to have a little version of himself. It was a punishment.”
Inwardly, Matias recoiled. He’d never understood why he and Cassida were childless. They’d slept together often enough, at least in the first two years. Neither of them was infertile. Now he knew. Cassida didn’t want to have his children. She had written him off.
“What kind of man is Gabriel?” he asked.
Ramona sighed again. “Charming. He is easy to talk to. He’ll greet you with a welcoming and genuine smile. He makes you feel like he’s really glad to see you and very interested in whatever you have to say. You’ll talk to him for fifteen minutes, and half an hour later you can’t recall exactly what you’ve discussed, but you’ll be left with this vague pleasant feeling. And if somebody asks you about him, you’ll tell them Gabriel is the nicest guy.”
That explained volumes.
“At first I tried giving him a position with the family. Nothing too important, but enough to keep him busy. He had a nice office and his own team. He played businessman for about three months. He was openly distracted during meetings, he forced his subordinates to make decisions for him, and he gave his team no direction, but he charmed the four female employees into his bed. One of them was almost three times my age.”
“Why?” Why would a man married to Ramona be with anyone else?
“Because he could. Cheating is pathological with him. I quietly replaced him and told him to direct his attention away from the family’s employees. Having your husband screwing everybody who works for you tends to damage one’s standing.”
He knew kinsmen who would’ve killed for less. “Did he ever try to justify it?”
She shook her head. “He didn’t feel he had to. The first time, when I was angry and hurt, he waited until I vented enough, gave me that charming smile, and told me he’d made reservations for a special dinner the next day.”
“Did you go?” He would bet his life she hadn’t.
“No.”
A shadow flickered across her face. Gabriel had hurt her. She hid it quickly. She was a proud woman, but Matias had seen the knot of pain, outrage, and sadness that for a moment twisted her mouth and dulled her eyes. He would have to be careful in Adra. If he got his hands on Gabriel, the urge to wring his neck might prove too tempting. Ramona wouldn’t mind being a widow, but he couldn’t rob her of the satisfaction she would feel when she made her husband sign the annulment.