The Love We Lost

twenty four

"Don Marcos," Your father greeted the man standing in front of him, extending his arm out for him to shake.

"Sergio," The other man nodded, greeting him as he returned the firm shake.

"Ella es mi esposa, Marlene," Your mother extended her hand out, greeting both the man and the woman.

"Ella es Paz, mi esposa,"

The business world, although it seemed big, was fairly small. At least when it came to those that made it big.

And when the circle is small, well, one hears everything... Good and bad.

Marcos had heard talks about the Villanueva business crumbling. At first, he thought they were just rumors.

But then, he saw Sergio begin to sell more of his stocks and those actions just seemed to prove the rumors true.

He thought those news came at a perfect time. He wanted to expand his business and get richer, and what better way to do that than to merge his business with one that needed money, that needed saving. His, saving.

He could just buy as many stocks as possible, get him off the board, take his position, and boom, the business was all his.

But, where was the fun in that?

The plan he had, might sound stupid to others, but to him, it made perfect sense. He could use his money to "save" that company, but he truly was just slithering his way into completely owning it. He would make sure that they wouldn't be able to survive without him and his money.

But he also had to deal with his rebellious son who seemed to get himself in scandal after scandal, tainting the González's reputation. He needed his son to settle down. He needed something to chain him down and make him calm down.

The amount of fame he had gotten seemed to make him spiral out of control and it ruined the family business.

It was enough to be known as the family whose oldest son decided to be a chef instead of running the family business.

Now, they were beginning to be known as the family with a chef son and a man whore football player son.

"What is going so wrong in their business that not even their sons want to take over?" "They can't even control their own sons, what makes you think they can control their company?" "Their sons alone are doing better than their company." Is what people would whisper.

And those whispers, made Marcos look weak and he wasn't going to tolerate it.

"A que se deve la visita, se que vienen de lejos," Sergio said as he motioned toward the living room.

"Podemos ir a otro lugar a hablar?" Marcos asked, turning to look at Marlene and his wife.

Sergio noticed the confused look on his wife's face, but he still nodded his head, and then he led Marcos in the direction of his office.

Marcos was a very successful businessman, who contrary to Sergio, was doing very well in the alcohol industry. Marcos held power, he had a very good and respectable reputation, and he was respected and very well-known. He was the perfect bridge to popularity in Spain.

Well, until, all the talk about his sons began, because even those "whispers" had made their way to Mexico.

If the Villanueva tequila became popular abroad, that meant more money, more power, and more influence.