They worked in silence for a good half hour. She’d scurry off every now and then to bring back buckets of water or seashells to decorate their masterpiece. To his surprise, they not only worked very well together, but he enjoyed it. Maybe he needed a hobby. Sitting in the sand, sculpting it into some semblance of a castle, was cathartic in a way. Calming. A nice escape from his life. Best yet was when Elena looked up at him when they were finished and smiled. The sweet expression pulled at heartstrings he didn’t know he had. Then she climbed onto his lap and he froze. She curled up with a little sigh.
“Hey now, what are you doing?” he asked. He couldn’t just shove her off his lap. But he wasn’t remotely comfortable with her being there. He’d never held a child before. Not even a baby. Well, except after Elena had fallen in the pool.
She shivered and he automatically reached for the towel that lay just behind them and covered her with it. She cuddled into his chest and closed her eyes. Within minutes she was asleep. Luca looked around, helpless.
“Luca, look over here!” someone called.
He turned toward the voice, already shielding Elena from the camera he knew was snapping away. He would have yelled at the jackass, but he didn’t want to wake the child. Luckily, Joe hovered nearby as always.
“Get them out of here, Joe,” he said.
“But sir, isn’t this what we wanted? It’s a great photo opportunity. Shows your softer side.”
Anger flashed through Luca strong enough that Joe blanched and stepped back. He was irritated a lot, but seldom truly angry, and Joe knew the difference.
“This isn’t a photo op, Joe. I told you. No pictures of the children. Get him out of here. Now.”
“Yes, sir,” Joe said, turning to mobilize security.
Luca scooted around as best he could without jostling Elena. If there were any more lurking photographers, all they’d get were pictures of his back.
He looked up to see Constance watching him, a soft smile on her lips. She came and settled down beside him, leaning over to kiss his cheek. Such tenderness filled his heart to the point he had to look away. What was going on? This was all supposed to be a sham. Sure, he’d hoped he could talk her into his bed for real, but these…emotions weren’t supposed to be part of the deal. Emotions made things complicated. He didn’t do complicated.
“Here,” he said, passing Elena over to Constance before she could protest.
“She likes you,” she said, nodding down at the sleeping child.
He snorted. “I don’t know why.”
“Oh come on, give yourself some credit. You aren’t that bad,” she said, her mouth twitching up.
“What a rousing stamp of approval.”
She ducked her head. “I meant it as a compliment.”
“You might want to work on those.”
Her smile grew bigger. “You aren’t as bad as I’d feared, let’s put it that way. Still, you could be better.”
His eyebrow rose. “Oh really? Better how?”
She shrugged. “Spend less of your time partying, more time doing some good in the world. With great power comes great responsibility.”
Both eyebrows rose at that one. “Did you just quote Spiderman to me?”
Constance ducked her head again with an embarrassed little chuckle. “Maybe, but the premise stands. You have all this power that you could be doing so much good with, but you do nothing with it.”
“I don’t have power, I have money. There’s a huge difference.”
She shrugged. “Not really. With money you have the power to change things, make people’s lives better.”
“So, I should give all my family’s money to charity.”
“No, of course not, but instead of buying another car you won’t drive or more clothes you won’t wear, you could be putting some of it toward something worthwhile. You wouldn’t even miss it, yet it could change someone else’s life.”
Luca frowned, but he couldn’t really argue with her. There were six cars in his garage at the house on a small island where it was easier to walk or ride a motorcycle than drive. And he had more at the other houses he owned in other countries. Someone could easily sell half of what he owned and he probably wouldn’t even notice.
“I wasn’t talking about your money though,” she continued.
He frowned. “Then what were you talking about?”
She nodded at the retreating photographers still fighting to get through security on the other side of the beach. “You say you have no power, but you do.”
“The vultures?”
She gave him a faint smile. “You say you hate them, but you’re willing to use them when it suits your purpose. You use them to change people’s opinions, to manipulate the way they think.”