“That’s right, Forbes,” Frederik said. “Keep your woman in check. Or would you like me to control her? I can, you know. She thinks she knows what she’s doing, but she most certainly does not.”
Quint glared at Frederik. Amara bit back her own terse response.
Frederik’s smile was contemptuous. “When the information began going around about you being pregnant, Amara, I’ll admit I had some sorrow. It’s not that I wanted you to have my child. Oh, no, I never had any intention of starting a family with a peasant like you. The very idea makes me sick. No, I felt sorrow because I hadn’t realized what a loose commoner you were. Then people began talking about how you had cheated on me when we were together, and they said you left me for another man. Yes, Amara, they said such a thing. And I know it came from you. Lies from the liar.”
“I never said anything like that,” Amara said. “People gossip and make things up. You know how they can be.”
“Oh yes, blame everyone else. You are good at that. But even if what you say is true, you didn’t correct them, did you?”
“No.”
“Aha!” he exclaimed, waving his arm in triumph as if she’d just confessed to the crime of the century. “You wanted them to think the worst of me. You wanted to ruin me because I left you.”
Amara couldn’t think of a response to the outlandish statement.
Frederik shrugged. “You should have realized you are not fit to add to the Orlando legacy, Amara. You never were. I was only with you the way men are with loose women. This is why you have attacked me again and again.”
She let out a small, bitter laugh. “I’ve never attacked you. And I wouldn’t want to be any part of your family, Frederik. Coming here has only made that even more clear to me. We spoke with more than a few of your relatives in Montevideo, both at the estate and elsewhere. Snobbish and dismissive at the villa, destitute and eccentric in the city. Not my kind of people.”
Frederik’s hand slipped inside his jacket, and he pulled out the gun, holding it tight at his side. “You will not speak another ill word of my family, you fucking peasant. You’re lucky to have laid eyes on any of them! It’s only through your sugar daddy’s notoriety that you were even allowed on the grounds of my family’s estate. It must have been, because there’s no way they’d admit an unworthy American like you who was looking for me, of all people. I am the jewel of the Orlandos, and the Orlandos are not known for tossing the jewels before the swine.”
Quint squeezed her tightly, but she didn’t need it. She knew she’d gone too far.
She tried not to stare at Frederik’s gun and willed herself to be calm. “I’m sure you’re quite the jewel. Moved to America, became successful. I’m sure your family is very proud of you, and I shouldn’t have antagonized you. I don’t want any of this, Frederik. Can we get this over with? You have what you asked for, don’t you?”
“Of course, of course. The money is there, no doubt about it.” He idly tapped the gun at his side as he studied her. “You ruined my life, you know. It is hard to admit that someone as naive and backward as you could damage my credibility and social status. I had not realized how fickle and stupid the people around me were. I gave them far more credit than I should have. They saw me as heartless, as cruel, as a cuckold, all because you lied to them. I bet it felt good to drag my name through the dirt, didn’t it? Especially after humiliating me in front of the board who wanted to buy your inconsequential work. You should have been happy to sell to them, but your precious principles pushed you away from the deal of a lifetime. You deprived me of my share of the work then and again when you accepted the Carrington Award on your own.”
Amara’s brow came down, and though she’d tried to move away from antagonizing him, she couldn’t help but respond. “What do you mean, your share? What did you do to earn a share, Frederik?”
He took a quick step toward them with the gun drawn up to eye level, pointed squarely at Quint.
Chapter Thirty Three
“I MADE YOU,” FREDERIK SAID. “You are nothing without me, Amara. You would have nothing without me. I took you from the dirt you wallowed in before me and lifted you to a great height. Girlfriend to an Orlando. You used my name to garner funding. Then you lied. You killed my credibility.” He spat at her feet, his lip curled in disgust.
“What do you mean, I lied?” she asked, fear lending an unwanted tremor to her voice. “You told the sponsors that I falsified my work. You undid all the progress I was making. The only reason I was able to go on was Quint’s help. If you hadn’t done that, if you hadn’t lied, none of this would have happened.
“Shut up! I was justified in doing that. I saved those sponsors the trouble of dealing with your idealism and your stubbornness. Your selfishness, however, was baseless and cruel. You denied me the honor that was rightfully mine when you took all the credit and accepted the Carrington Award. No one was helped by that but you. You —”
Amara interjected, desperate to defuse the situation. “Please, Frederik, just …” She shrank back slightly, but put herself halfway between the two men. “Give us Hampton, and we can all go our separate ways.”
Frederik kept the gun leveled at Quint for a long moment before he lowered it to his side. “Mmm. All go our separate ways? All of us? You would never leave Forbes. No, you’ve found a benefactor, someone to finance your pointless work. You have no need of sponsors now, isn’t that right? You two are off to save the world together … what a joke.”
He gave a low growl before slipping the weapon into his jacket pocket. He began pacing in front of them, growing increasingly animated. “Everything was fine before I got involved with you. I had the respect of the people in my field. My name was known, independent of my family. I stood on my own merit, and no one could impugn my credibility or genius. You took that from me. You are heartless. An evil, manipulative succubus.”
Amara endured his accusations silently, certain that any further antagonism would have the pistol out in an instant, and it likely wouldn’t go back into its place without him following through on his threat.
“And you. You.” He pointed at Quint. He ground his teeth, his chest rising and falling more rapidly. “Rich man. Mister fucking mo
ney. I have money too, Forbes. Power. Influence. Your power comes from nowhere but your money. You have no family. No dynasty. My family has been here since the conquistadors came ashore. My blood, my name, is gold here. You are nothing. You think being rich alone will get you what you want, hmm? You think your money will help you to win this, as it has helped you to pursue me? Do you think all your problems can be solved with a bank transfer?”
His demeanor shifted suddenly, and he laughed almost warmly before turning his gaze to Amara. “You … aha, you want to know how this all came to be, Amara? How do I know what I know? For instance, how do I know Mr. Rich Man is the father of your bastard?”
Amara wanted to know the answer to this question, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of showing it. She didn’t respond.
“I’ve known a long time, Amara,” Frederik said. “Months. Perhaps you might remember having a chat in the hospital the day you gave birth.”
Her talk with Kari? How could he know about that?