Maximo’s jaw tightened and his face turned red. He glanced at his wife, who looked like she wanted to disappear.
“It was a one-time thing, Maximo,” she said. A lie, no doubt. Dolora hadn’t been hesitant about her actions when she’d flirted with me. Not to mention that she had a second phone, which most people used for their secret lovers. “I was hurt because you’d picked your intern to cheat on me and needed to feel validated.”
“This isn’t about me,” he growled, glancing at Dante warily. Of course, my Capo would be filing this information away for later use. “Who picks the bodyguard of their son’s fiancée?”
“And uses his bed,” Clifford muttered.
“That was our son’s bed?”
Of course, Maximo wouldn’t recognize it. I doubted he spent very much time in his kids’ rooms or with them. He seemed like someone who had kids because they looked better on his CV and made good extras on campaign photos.
She shrugged.
“On my birthday, Mom?” Clifford asked with a disgusted shake of his head.
“It was a difficult time for me.”
“What about discretion? You and Dad always told me extramarital activities needed to be handled with care.”
“They do. Your mother obviously forgot.”
Dante watched with a look of cold calculation. We had the Clarks. He knew it.
“I have no intention to make your extramarital activities public,” he drawled. “If we can come to an agreement.”
Maximo motioned at me. “It was probably you who set up that guy to fuck my wife.”
“I can assure you that I believe in the sanctity of marriage and won’t set up my men to encourage cheating.”
Maximo snorted. “Stop it. We both know you don’t have any morals.”
Dante’s expression became even colder. “I have more than you, it seems.”
“What do you want? It wasn’t my son who broke the deal. It was your daughter.”
“Indeed, but that doesn’t have to be the end of our cooperation. I’m sure we can find another option. We have many beautiful girls who’re of marriageable age,” Dante said diplomatically, but I could tell he was running out of patience. If I’d been in his stead, I would have thrown Maximo Clark from the closest bridge by now. Something about that man simply set my teeth on edge. He appeared far more relatable and pleasant in his campaigns. His campaign managers must be true magicians.
Maximo pushed to his feet, which was another act of disrespectfulness. “We don’t want you to throw Clifford a bone as if he’s a dog.”
I had a joke about the dog Clifford on my lips and had difficulties reining myself in. Instead I growled, “Sit down. The conversation isn’t over.”
Maximo flushed, but I didn’t miss the brief expression of satisfaction that flitted across Clifford’s face. Maximo sank back down.
“It’s a way to protect a bond we’d both benefit from,” Dante said.
“I’m not so sure we would benefit from this bond. My son doesn’t need another scandal.”
Dante looked at Leonas, who had listened in silence so far, but like his father, he’d filed everything away for later use. Anna definitely shared their cunning.
“I could marry one of your daughters,” Leonas suggested with a shrug. “I bet you can spare one of them.”
Maximo Clark’s skin turned an even darker shade of red, which I hadn’t thought possible, but in his eyes, I could see he was considering it.
I didn’t listen to rumors very often but I knew one of the Clark twins had been involved in an unpleasant incident that had made some smaller waves in the press.
Maximo exchanged a look with his wife then Clifford, but the latter seemed less than enthused about the suggestion. Maximo, on the other hand, seemed relieved to have found a way to dispose of his scandalous offspring. “When would you suggest a wedding?”
“You really want to throw yourself in front of the bus for me? You were always against a bond with the Clarks and now you want to marry the bad Clark twin?”
Leonas smirked. “I was against it, am still against it, but the situation is different now. You’d have to play the politician’s wife, leaving our life behind in parts, but if I marry a Clark twin, she will have to bow to our way of living.”
“Charlotte doesn’t look as if she likes to bow to someone.”
Leonas had a dark smile on his face. “Depends on the rumors you listen to.”
I rolled my eyes. “Nobody will be happy with this bond.”
“Maybe Bad Clark will be glad to be rid of her family.”
“Her name’s Charlotte.”
I’d only exchanged a few meaningless pleasantries with Clifford’s sisters in the past, so I didn’t know them—except for the occasional pieces of gossip.
“I can’t distinguish them. They look pretty much the same and their names are almost clones of each other.”
They used to look identical but since Charlotte changed her style it was easy to tell them apart. “You can be a dick.”