Refracted Crystal: Diamonds and Desire (25 page)

She took a step back and nodded. “Yes, why?” It had been a very long time since she had thought of her former employers.

“They never recovered. I can’t say I was too disappointed: those old bastards running the show deserved what they got, but there would have been plenty others unemployed.” He shook his head, looking down towards the river once more.

“I just couldn’t do it with Chiado. It meant too much for you. Felix knew what we should do, told me as much the first time he looked over the figures. Sack a quarter of the workforce, raise additional capital on the stock and via loans, start shifting the client list out to cheaper Chinese suppliers. Before I met you, I would have done it—and I wouldn’t have lost a moment’s sleep.”

Kris had not returned to him, but let the distance between them remain. Her head was fixed, looking at him, but he still could not face her. Just as there had been a gauze between her and the priest when she had confessed as a young girl, so he couldn’t look at her now.

“I had to find another way. Chiado was going to be my attempt. We all repeat the bullshit about how we’re the job creators, how governments should keep their hands off us, but I didn’t create anything. If there was any justification for what I did, it was that sometimes I was a natural predator stripping out the old, the dying, the failing who were just too stupid to realise they had to go, had to make space for new ways of doing things. But it wasn’t enough. Fuck it, even before I met you, I knew it wasn’t enough.”

“Was that the reason for all your ‘charity cases’, as Felix called them?”

He nodded. “Some small attempt to make recompense. Felix endured them because he thought they were a good tax dodge at first, until he saw just how much money I was putting into them.” Daniel shrugged.

“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” His earlier words came back to her, and he finally turned his head towards her sharply, gazing on her face. She knew what the look in his eyes was seeking to know. Was he forgiven? She suddenly realised that she couldn’t answer that, not yet.

“Did it work?” she asked instead.

“Did what work?”

“The new way of doing things, with Chiado?”

He frowned. “I guess so. I made changes, worked alongside Guilherme Escada, made some suggestions as to how he could streamline operations—and I mean make things work more efficiently
without
firing people. Yes. For me, it worked. They could even begin to hire more after six months, but for Stone Enterprise, two or three percent growth is nothing when you’re used to twenty or even thirty percent being added to your bottom line.”

Now she came forward, placed her hand on his shoulder. This was the touch of benediction, the touch of grace that he needed. And although it was not her place to give it, she realised, he reached up and took hold of her hand gratefully, squeezing her fingers tightly.

“I guess I didn’t quite know all this,” she said softly, “but I realised more than you knew—more than both of us knew, I suppose. It’s all very well being the wife of a rich businessman and keeping my head buried in the sand. If I do that, then I’m as much to blame as you. Come on,” she lifted herself up on tiptoe so that she could kiss him on the cheek. “Let’s get breakfast and then you can get into some clean clothes. We have work to do. I suppose you'd better shave too,” she added, reaching up and fondling his stubble. “Daniel Logan might be just too much of a surprise for your colleagues.”

It was mid afternoon when they arrived in the centre of London, entering the clean, elegant atrium that marked the lobby of Stone Enterprises.

Daniel had indeed shaved, a fact that made Kris slightly sad, but in his dark suit and tie he looked every inch the founder of this company. He glanced at his watch and then leaned down to kiss her.

“The meeting should begin in half an hour. I’m pretty sure they still aren’t expecting me, but it won’t be very long before someone here recognises me and phones through. I better go. Wish me luck.”

He had pecked her on her cheek, but she snaked an arm around him and pulled him closer to her mouth, her tongue penetrating between his lips, savouring the taste of him for a moment. “Good luck,” she whispered.

As he went bounding towards the stairs, filled with a new vigour and sense of urgency, she turned her head looking for somewhere to buy a coffee. She was not sure how long the meeting would take place: Armstrong had told him that the board and shareholders were meeting to decide his fate today, and she had a strong suspicion that the sudden arrival of Daniel Stone, unannounced, would cause considerable distress for Felix Coltraine. That fact alone made her smile.

There was nowhere obvious to go, so she went to the reception desk where another woman was standing, filling in details in the ledger on the counter.

“Excuse me,” Kris asked the receptionist. “Could you tell me the nearest place to get a coffee?”

As the receptionist gave her directions, the other woman turned to stare at her so intently that Kris began to feel rather odd.

The woman was tall, considerably taller than Kris, and carried herself with a great air of elegance. Her hair was dark, cut a little above her neck, and her eyes were also dark brown. Her age was impossible to place accurately, but Kris had the sense that she was somewhat older than herself and even Daniel, perhaps in her late forties. She was beginning to feel a little disconcerted by the attention, and when she saw the woman’s hand outstretched on the ledger her heart froze for a second.

The woman wore a luxurious bracelet, gold intertwined about a series of rich, elegant emeralds that gleamed richly in the light.

“Emeralds,” she said.

The woman frowned at this but did not draw away. “Ms Stone, I presume,” she said at last, her voice a soft, east coast American lullaby, very soft and gentle.

“You’re Emeralds, aren’t you. You were... with Daniel, before.”

The woman raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I was. Is he here?” She lifted her eyes and scanned the room.

Suddenly Kris’s sense of protection rose up within her. “No, he isn’t,” she hissed angrily. “He’s gone into the meeting. Why are you here?”

Drawing back slightly, Kris’s hostility now overtly clear, the other woman paused for a moment and said: “I’m here to vote, of course. If I’d have realised Daniel was here, I wouldn’t have come. I still thought... I still thought he was in San Francisco.”

“Well he’s not!” Kris could feel her cheeks flushing with anger. “No doubt that’s put paid to your little plans. I daresay you were looking forward to him being thrown off the board.”

At this, the other woman looked pained and raised her hand to her face. “I was not, Ms Stone. Quite the opposite. I’m here to vote for him to stay.”

The nearest cafeteria was a ten minute walk away, and Kris accompanied the other woman, Miranda Karstans, there. As Kris had surmised, she was one of Daniel’s former lovers, the one that Maria had called Emerald after the gift he had given her, and she still worked in corporate finance. She was also, somewhat to Kris’s surprise, a minor shareholder in Stone Enterprises.

“I don’t have much time, I’m afraid,” Miranda told her. “There will be an interminable series of debates, of course, propositions and counter-propositions, and I’m glad Daniel will be there. I’m pretty sure that will put the proverbial cat among the pigeons although,” and here her face looked slightly pained once more, “I wouldn't have come if I knew he was to be here. But if I’m to vote, I better leave soon. I have a suspicion he’ll need all the help he can get.”

“Why were you at the pre-trial hearings?”

Miranda sighed and lowered her coffee. “I was working in Los Angeles when I saw Daniel—and you, actually, on television. That was a surprise, your wedding—not an unpleasant one. Whatever was between Daniel and myself... it was a very long time ago, and I wish him as much happiness as I’ve found.” Her eyes shone a little strangely as she spoke, and Kris held her tongue: she knew too much about Daniel’s former lovers.

“When I heard he had been arrested I was horrified. I still have the shares that Daniel gave me,” Miranda blushed slightly as she said this, “and when it became clear that the executive was going to try and vote him off the board, I decided I had to come here and try to do something, however small.”

Kris still had no sense of whether this woman was telling the truth. There was one small test that she could try. “Do you know Maria Gosselin,” she asked.

Miranda grimaced at the name. “Too well, I’m afraid. She... she had a relationship with Daniel. I’m sorry, I don’t want to speak about
that
woman, if you don’t mind.”

Kris nodded. “You know that she was willing to testify against me, against Daniel if necessary. Maximilian Roth hired her, apparently.”

“Even I’m surprised that she would stoop so low,” Miranda said, her mouth twisted in a look of disgust, and a flash of anger flaring deep in her eyes that, for a second, pierced Kris’s own defences. Here was another woman who, for whatever reason, had learned to hate Maria Gosselin. “It doesn’t surprise me about Roth, however. It was always a bad day when Daniel fell in with him. I’d warned him against it, but he refused to listen to me.”

“You don’t trust Maximilian Roth?”

“Max Roth is a man
no-one
trusts, not if they want to keep their head about them.” Miranda looked at her watch. “I’m very sorry,” she said, “but the vote will be soon.” Placing her coffee back on the table, she hesitated for a moment before drawing out an elegant pen from her jacket. Writing on a napkin, she passed a number across to Kris.

“I don’t really want to speak to Daniel. I owe him a great deal but... well, I’m glad he has the possibility of finding the same happiness that I’ve found, and I’m sure that you will be able to... cope with him better than I ever could. But it does strike me that if things don’t go well today, I have some information about Max Roth and Felix Coltraine that could be useful for him.”

She looked up at Kris, observed the terse expression on the younger woman’s face.

“I can see from the look in your eyes that you don’t trust me. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to convince you, Ms Stone—”

“It’s Avelar,” Kris mumbled. “Kris Avelar. I kept my own name.” She shook her head quickly. “I’m sorry, I interrupted you.”

Miranda paused for a moment then nodded, resuming her speech. “As I was saying, while I won’t ask you to trust me please do understand that I have no intention of coming between you and Daniel. If my own experience is anything to go by, you will have... encountered someone who will have done their utmost to break you and him apart.” As Kris flashed a look at her, thinking of Maria Gosselin, Miranda smiled somewhat sadly and nodded her head slightly.

“As I thought. Well, I’m not the same as
her
. And if you wonder why I should be so willing to intervene, I’ll be honest: it’s for Daniel’s sake, not yours.”

“Why not speak to him?”

Miranda shook her head at this, and Kris thought there was a slight look of panic on her face. “No! I won’t... I can’t do that. But if I can help him, I shall—through you, if I have to.” She paused and took hold of her glasses from the table. “No man is an island, Ms Avelar—nor any woman.”

With that, Miranda Karstans lifted up her coat and placed her sunglasses on her graceful face. Smiling slightly to Kris, she dropped a note upon the table and turned towards the door: within seconds she was in the street outside and had gone.

When Daniel emerged from the meeting, he was on his own and came striding down the stairs two at a time. The vigour and determination of his motions led her at first to believe that he had been victorious, but on his face was such a grim expression that she was almost scared when she saw him.

He continued to bear down on her at speed, spreading the bulk of his shoulders in such a way that they almost appeared to be wings cast out to prevent anyone else from seeing her. Kris’s heart leaped into her mouth for a moment, but at the last moment he checked his step, slowing and taking hold of her arm firmly but gently.

“How did it go?” she just managed to gasp as he turned her and began to propel her to the door.

“We need to leave, now.” His eyes were fixed on the doorway and he did not allow her to navigate away from him, maintaining complete control over her in a way that was somewhat frightening. Without even glancing at her, he frogmarched her around the corner away from the entrance to Stone Enterprises and, looking both ways up and down the street, hailed a taxi.

“I’m so sorry about that,” he said, his eyes creasing as he looked at her vulnerable figure after they had climbed into the vehicle. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Shaking her head, she replied: “What’s going on, Daniel?”

“It’s worse than I thought. I’m sorry, we need to get out of London. I need some space to think.”

“What’s worse? Why?”

For a few seconds he paused, looking at her sternly, then his face softened.

“I have no intention lying to you—and if I hold anything back, it’s because I still feel the need to protect you, even though you have demonstrated yourself more than capable of protecting
me
over the past few days.” He sighed and shook his head, looking out of the cab window as it drove along. “As of half an hour ago, I am no longer chair of Stone Enterprises.”