34: Madrid Skyline

Manuel saw no reason to be coy about taking things as given.
"I think it's a good idea — at least it stays in the family."
"I don't want preferential treatment for being the boss's nephew. I've only suggested the best option."
"Hugo, what are you implying?" his mother asked.
"I think he's saying we need someone — not necessarily that he wants it to be him." His aunt read him at a glance. "Am I wrong?"
"I'm very comfortable with my current clients — that's why I work independently." Hugo tilted his head. "You're not entirely wrong."
"Well, son, then you shouldn't have offered!" Felisa rolled her eyes. "You're terrible at selling yourself."
Manuel touched him on the shoulder, glanced at the mother and, with a smile, turned back to Hugo.
"If a trial period would make you more comfortable, just say so, lad."
The young man gave a shy smile of approval, and that was enough for the businessman.
"Felisa — that thing you mentioned about international clients. Would you mind explaining it to me?" Manuel offered Felisa a seat at the boardroom table and sat beside her.
"Auntie — show me the views?" Hugo steered Marta away and guided her towards the window.
In a room full of people, there were few ways to ask for a private word with any formality, and Hugo chose what seemed most appropriate.
Once they were by the glass, Marta broke the silence.
"It's beautiful — the Madrid skyline with the sun cutting through the four towers."
"Yes — the Madrid skyline is stunning at dusk, Auntie Marta."
The view wasn't quite as clear as the conversation implied.
"Did you pull me aside for a reason?"
"I'm not great with people — but it seemed to me you're more comfortable with Mario than with Manuel."
Marta flushed. She thought she had everything under control. If someone as introspective as her nephew had noticed, she must be more obvious than she realised. Still, she decided not to make too much of it for now.
"Is that so? I hadn't noticed." She tried to sound as innocent as a small child. "I thought I was treating them the same — I had no idea."
"Why did you marry Manuel if you like Mario more?"
"He was introduced to me on the wedding day." At least that wasn't a lie — though she left out the part about knowing him before.
"That's quite the stroke of bad luck, Auntie — because I don't pick up on much, but Manuel admires you. He doesn't like you in that way."
Marta looked across at Manuel, chatting easily with Felisa, more comfortable than he would probably admit.
"It's true that whenever he's made some kind of move, it's been in those moments where the situation invited it — and he stepped back quite contentedly." Her gaze shifted to Mario. "Except just now."
"What I don't understand is the way his son reacted — like some kind of old-fashioned protector."
Marta looked back at Hugo's face with a touch of concern.
"And how do you think he did it?" She tested the ground carefully.
"Like a vigilante."
Marta smiled calmly — Hugo hadn't gone beyond reading Mario's intentions, and she knew her nephew was a giant, innocent teddy bear at heart. Though she was surprised by how carefully he had approached it.
"You know what, Hugo? I'll try to be more careful about how I behave — that way there won't be any problems."
"What problem is there?" For a man of thirty-eight, this big gentle soul was pure innocence. "Just get divorced."
"If only we hadn't used the marriage as a formality to merge the companies — but we did!"
"And what would happen to GODANE if you divorced?"
"I think the tax authorities would open a fraud investigation against us — but your cousin Julián knows far more about that than I do."
Hugo, with the empathy of a friend and the warmth of family, wrapped Marta in a pitying hug.
"I'll think about staying on. That way you can tell me your troubles — I may not always understand them fully, but I know how to listen, and that always helps."
"Thank you, Hugo. I mean it."
Her nephew drifted back to join his mother's conversation with Manuel.
Marta stood alone at the window, before a sky of violet pink and clouds like the last strokes of a brush.
"Are we going to open those bottles or not?" Mario's voice carried over everyone in the room — he was looking directly at Marta, who smiled at him almost without realising.
"Right then — time to pull those corks and make a toast!" Marta replied, moving towards the table with a couple of claps.
Everyone stood up or gathered round. They each took one of the empty plastic cups that had been placed in the centre — put there by someone while the clandestine pair had gone to fetch the bottles.
"To GODANE and outstanding success!" Manuel was the first to call.
"To GODANE's success!" Lucas, Mateo, Marcos, Ana and Eva echoed.
"Sorry — one small clarification." Julián cut in. "To GODANE S.L.!"
"To GODANE S.L.!" the others replied.
The toast dissolved into separate conversations on various topics.
Julián sought out his mother and came over.
"It's not the same thing to create a company from scratch as it is to bring two existing companies together under a shared name — don't you think, Mum?"
Marta frowned slightly. She knew her son well enough to recognise when there was a hidden intention behind a phrase.
"Why do you say that, Julián?"
"Since I suspected the speed of the wedding was an excuse to merge the companies, I've registered the arrangement as a limited liability structure — the most equitable option, with no complications. A joint company was the way to protect you both from each other."
Marta began to feel an unfamiliar hope pumping through her chest.
"A joint company from two pre-existing ones?"
"It was either a limited company or a sole trader arrangement — and since I didn't know what real assets ADAN was bringing to the table, I went with the more modest option."
"You're a lifesaver, son — you have no idea."
Julián was surprised, but answered with a smile.
"Thank you?"
"I'm going to the spa again this weekend—" she lied with her now well-worn excuse "—I want to celebrate in the best jacuzzi I know."
"I'd like to go one day, Mum — just to see."
"Maybe one day, son. Don't rule it out."