“You should have knownit would have consequences,” Gabriella sighed as they had dinner in the garden, the Mediterranean stretching out beyond them, too calm for the storm they were feeling. “You signed a contract, after all.”
“I hate fucking legalities,” Sofia muttered.
“FUCKING!” one of the twins shouted. Sofia didn’t even bother pretending to be apologetic. She exchanged a glance with her sister, who just rolled her eyes.
“What happens now that they’ve terminated it? Do you have to give the money back?” Carlos asked, sounding like he didn’t really want to know the answer.
“Yes,” Gabriella said, her eyes landing on Sofia.
“We didn’t breach the fucking contract,” Sofia repeated, voice low and sharp. “I’m here because Papà is not okay, and I need to be here.”
Antonio had gone to bed early, Maria helping him into their room.
“As much as I consider Jamie a heartless piece of shit,” Gabriella muttered, pushing her plate away. “I’m going to go through the contract myself. I will find something.” Her blue eyes locked on Sofia’s. “They are not going to get away with this.”
“PIECE OF SHIT!” the twins yelled again from the other side of the table.
“I’m taking them to bed,” Gabriella sighed. “Be back in half an hour.”
Ilias squeezed Sofia’s hand. “Everything will be alright.”
“I have the money to return it,” Sofia murmured, more to herself than anyone. “There’s 200k still in the Salacia account. I used some of it, sure, but we did the tours. We even added new ones. With the other partnerships, money is still coming in, and I learned from Papà how to save money. TerraVive definitely helped, yes, but maybe… maybe Salacia doesn’t need them anymore.”
Her voice was steady, but underneath it, there was fear. Dread. The kind that creeps into your chest late at night and whispers about failure. As much as TerraVive leaving him was hurtful, mostly because of the many years they had sponsored him and supported him, other brands had knocked at his door and with Amira heading for the win in Saquarema, they could handle Azul’s transformation with no problems. If a transformation was still happening with the new luxury resort that was going to–supposedly–destroy Imsouane.
“You could write a statement,” Alejandra suggested. “Put them to fucking shame. It’s completely unethical to act like this.”
“I don’t get it,” Ilias admitted. “Jamie was amazing with me when my dad died. Why is she different now?”
“Because she has a crush on you,” Alejandra said flatly.
“Didn’t you notice, dude?” Carlos asked, genuinely surprised.
“I mean… it’s pretty obvious,” José chimed in.
“That would explain a lot,” Sofia muttered, taking a long sip of wine.
Ilias blinked, clearly disturbed. “That’s stupid.”
“It’s not,” Sofia said quietly. “Everything she did, she did for you. I was collateral. And once the fake relationship stopped being fake, she probably didn’t take it well.” She paused, then added: “And if Thomas pushed TerraVive to pull their partnership with us, Jamie might’ve jumped at the chance. Especially if she felt burned.”
“That’s so childish,” Marina muttered.
Ilias was about to respond when his phone rang. A spike of hope hit him. It might have been Jamie, maybe to clear things up, explain, apologize. But when he saw the name, it was Ghita.
Still, his chest tightened.
He answered, stepping away to the edge of the garden, where the sea lay in a flat, silent shimmer. So unlike the wild Atlantic he had grown used to. But eerily similar to the Mediterranean near Málaga, where he grew up.
“I know who the business owner is,” Ghita said without preamble.
“Tell me.”
“It’s an enterprise registered under the name Whitmore LLC.”
Ilias froze. A deep, raw breath rattled out of him. “No fucking way.”
“You know them?” Ghita asked, suddenly nervous.
