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PROLOGUE

Middle of September, two months earlier

‘DO YOU REALLY expect me to go through with it?’ Raul Valdez’s voice thundered around the room, his Spanish words fluid and fast.

‘The debt needs to be repaid and, whether you like it or not, the contract your father made before his death with Henry Carter-Wilson still stands. As a member of the board I insist upon it.’ Carlos’s voice ripped through Raul, increasing his anger to an explosive level.

Raul swore savagely as he glared at the older man. ‘Come on, Carlos, we go back further than that.’

‘As a long-standing family friend, I urge you to stop looking for someone who doesn’t want to be found and marry the girl—as your father obviously intended.’

‘Marry her?’ Raul couldn’t believe he was hearing this, from Carlos of all people.

‘Repay the debt, then file for a divorce once the two years are up.’

Rage charged through Raul like a bull. How could his father have done this? But that wasn’t a question he needed to ask. He’d never been able to gain his father’s approval, had tried all his life to no avail. This was just one more stab at the son he’d never wanted.

‘You make it sound so easy.’ Raul drew in a deep breath and marched to the windows looking out over Madrid, basking in the late summer sunshine. On paper it did look easy, but marriage was the one thing he’d never wanted.

‘It is,’ Carlos replied, his tone neutral and matter-of-fact. ‘Two years living with a woman who, you’ve got to admit, is very beautiful, then you can file for a divorce.’

‘I have no intentions of marrying anyone. Ever.’ Raul strode across the office, the constraint of the walls making him feel more like a caged animal, trapped against its will. Anger at what his father had done mixed with the fear of being controlled by him still becoming a potent cocktail.

Raul stopped pacing and looked out over Madrid again, trying to control his temper. He stayed like that for several minutes, his back resolutely turned to Carlos Cardozo, the man who had been there for him more than his father ever had. His father. That was a joke.

He’d always known he’d been a disappointment to his father, but never had he expected such revelations after his sudden death. He’d never suspected his father had hated him, but then he’d never suspected his father had had another family—another son.

‘The only other option you have is to find your half-brother.’ Carlos’s calm voice brought him out of his dark thoughts and back to the present with a sharp jab of shock. ‘Which would mean sharing your inheritance—everything you have built this banking enterprise up to be.’

Raul whirled round. This had been a detail his father’s lawyer had revealed, one he’d kept secret since that day. How did Carlos know? ‘You know about him?’

‘Yes.’ Carlos looked him in the eye, challenging him to ask more.

‘How long?’ Raul took the challenge.

‘Long enough to know how this is affecting you now.’ Carlos’s voice softened a little as he walked over to him.

Raul had been in ignorance of his half-brother’s existence until his father’s will had been read out two months ago. It seemed Carlos had known the full facts of his father’s double life long ago.

‘And you didn’t think I should know?’ His anger rallied again as he glowered at Carlos, the taste of deception filling his mouth with its bitterness.

‘I never knew your father would make finding him a condition to you inheriting. Or that he would attach such a huge financial incentive to that task.’

Huge financial incentive.

That was an understatement.

‘That or marry a woman I barely know.’ Raul glowered at Carlos, suspicion rising at just how much this man knew.

‘Marriage would be the easier option.’

‘Is that so?’ Raul seriously doubted that. Besides, his brother was out there somewhere.

‘It is. You are your father’s son. Marriage will be easy for you. Far better than to share all you’ve worked for.’

Raul turned away again. His world had been tipped upside down and then inside out. In order to inherit the financial company he’d built into a world player, he had to clear one very large debt by either marrying the debtor’s daughter, or by acknowledging his half-brother and bringing him into the business as an equal, which would unlock funds that would clear the debt and keep the board of directors happy. If the debt wasn’t settled, the company would be sold to the highest bidder.

The fact that his father had even kept those funds hidden exposed the depths of calculation he had gone to, but that he was prepared to risk his company if the debt wasn’t settled, to risk the jobs of all the people who worked for Banco de Torrez, was a step too far. What the hell had he been doing loaning that kind of money and why was Carlos the only one privy to such information?

‘I could have told you my father would be so calculating, so manipulative—had I known about his other life.’ Raul found himself snarling those last two words, hating the anger that sliced through him with the sharpest of blades.

‘He’s your father—doesn’t that count for something?’ Carlos reached for him; the false show of sympathy and understanding in that gesture was too much. Raul moved away. This man was not the friend he’d always thought—not to him anyway.

‘I’m done with my father, so much so that I don’t give a damn about inheriting his company. I have built my own as well as expanded his. I don’t need this.’ Raul marched towards the door. As far as he was concerned the discussion was over; there was nothing more to say.

‘What about your mother?’ Carlos’s next words halted his steps, kept him from walking out for good.

Raul remained with his back to Carlos, breathing deep and slow, clenching his fingers into tight fists at his sides. His mother was the only reason he’d spent the last two months trying to find his half-brother, not wanting the press—or anyone else—to get to her first with the revelation of her husband’s secret life. It would finish her.

‘You can’t walk away, can you, Raul? You can’t risk her finding out by reading salacious gossip in the press?’ Carlos challenged. Again. Damn him. The man knew just how to twist the situation, how to manipulate him.

Raul whirled round to face Carlos again. ‘No, I damn well can’t. If not for my mother’s happiness, then for all the jobs which depend on me settling this debt by either finding my half-brother or marrying a spoilt little rich girl. Either way I despise my father for it.’

‘So why not take the easy option and marry this Lydia girl?’

‘That will never happen,’ Raul spat officiously at him. After the example he’d seen of marriage, he would rather welcome a stranger into his life, into his father’s company. Hell, as far as he was concerned, his brother could have it all if it kept people in work and his mother in ignorance of his father’s past actions. He didn’t need any of it.

‘The board are getting nervous, Raul. They think you’ve lost your influence, especially after the Lopez deal fell through.’ Carlos touched yet another raw nerve, ratcheting up the desire to prove him and every damn member of the board wrong. One lost deal didn’t spell the end.

‘I haven’t given up on that yet, just as I haven’t given up on the search for my half-brother.’ Raul glared angrily at Carlos, resenting the challenge the man was issuing, inadvertently or not.

‘Either way, the debt needs to be settled before the end of the year. Sooner if possible.’

‘That’s just over three months away. I’ll find my half-brother before then, settle the damn debt and keep the scandal from my mother.’

‘If you don’t, you will have to meet Lydia Carter-Wilson.’ Carlos spoke carefully. Quietly.

‘If she is anything like she was ten years ago, I would rather lose my father’s business.’ Raul baulked at the memory of the simpering sixteen-year-old girl on the verge of womanhood who’d looked at him like an adoring puppy. Was that when his father had started loaning funds to hers?

‘What about all those people who will lose jobs? Shutting down companies isn’t who you are, Raul. Saving them and building them up, giving the people who work within them, a secure life. That’s who you are and I’ve never known you to refuse a challenge yet.’ Carlos spoke the truth, but Raul was too angry to acknowledge it right now.

‘I need more time.’

‘If you haven’t found your half-brother by the end of November, I will expect you to announce your engagement to Lydia Carter-Wilson.’

‘What if the lady is unwilling?’

Carlos laughed, defusing the tension somewhat. ‘You will find a way, Raul. Your charm with the ladies has never failed you yet.’