Montecristo

The afternoon in Germany could not have been grayer. As if the dark and heavy horizon were not enough, raindrops were beginning to fall, announcing a likely stormy day. In a way, everything suited the occasion, as the sky seemed to respectfully guard the cemetery and those who were there. A tribute, perhaps, from nature itself to those who had departed.

Numerous flashes, firing tirelessly, made those drops curiously bright, like tiny shards of diamonds surrounding Audrey Von Hohenberg. She remained at a distance, protected from the press by a strict cordon, full of attentive security guards. Only the long-range lenses violated the privacy of that special and melancholic moment.

Kelley watched her. Audrey’s gaze, fixed on her husband’s coffin, seemed lost. Perhaps something else that he could not detect at the moment. However, the expression on her face suggested resignation. She had long ago accepted the inevitability of Hans Peter’s death.

Strange as it was, he found himself thinking how beautiful she looked in the sophisticated black tailleur, which was accompanied by a beautiful long coat in the same color. He felt the urge to approach her, but something stopped him. Something made him imagine that this silent farewell should not be sullied, not even by a close friend like him.

Kelley mapped out the scene around him, wishing, for a moment, that there were fewer reporters there. It would be very difficult to get Audrey past hundreds of guests and that crowd of journalists, freeing her from the disturbances that should not affect her.

But how could such a fantastic gathering be avoided? Hans Peter’s funeral was an event. He had not been an ordinary person in life and his death would have to be as extraordinary as the wealth he had accumulated and the power he represented. After all, the Von Hohenberg Group was considered the business phenomenon of the last two centuries. There was nothing in the history of modern civilization that could compare with the strength of the presence of the hundreds of companies that comprised it, spread across all continents of the planet.

When Audrey finally made her first movements, signaling that she would move away from the coffin so that they could lower it and end the ceremony, Kelley came forward to meet her. He wrapped his arms around her in an illogical but true instinct to try to protect her from the photographers, but the cameras continued to flash like crazy, from all sides and even from the tops of the trees. The lights were joined by the hysterical calls of the reporters.

“Mrs. Von Hohenberg, what is it like to be the richest and most powerful woman in the world?”

“Mrs. Von Hohenberg, how do you plan to run the Von Hohenberg Group without your husband?”

Kelley was astonished at the tone of such stupid questions at such a delicate time. What did those imbeciles expect to hear in response? His furious eyes managed to make some of them retreat. They reached the car, with a good deal of effort, escorted by security guards and surrounded by the crowd. Amidst the confusion, an elderly man, dressed simply but distinctly, managed to surprise them by approaching.

“Milady, he was really a very good man”, the little old man stood with a cap between his fingers, clutching it tightly. He was visibly shaken.

“I’ve worked for the Group since I was young, long before the Group became what it is today, when only the factory existed here and Lord Von Hohenberg wasn’t even born. I’m really sorry.”

Audrey smiled emotionally.

“Thank you”, her sweet voice murmured.

One of the security guards tried to push the man away, but Kelley didn’t allow it. Instead, he reached out his hand and placed it on his shoulder in a gentle and affectionate gesture. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. His eyes were full of gratitude. The gesture was natural and, at the time, reminded him of Hans Peter. That’s exactly how he would do it, he reflected. Hans Peter always had a welcoming touch and smile for anyone he approached. His friend wasn’t just the richest man in the world, he was generous, empathetic and, above all, fair in a world full of arbitrary actions.

“Sir”, Sergei said, struggling to keep the door of the Rolls-Royce Phantom open in the madness that surrounded him, and Kelley focused on getting Audrey into the car unharmed. The driver was nervous and wondering how he would manage to maneuver it out of the cemetery. Kelley then gently pushed Audrey into the car and climbed in as well. The tinted windows barely managed to hide the lights from the cameras. The windows did nothing to block out the voices shouting outside.

“To Schloss Hohenstein, please, Sergei”, he said.

The driver simply nodded and slowly pulled the car away. When the Rolls-Royce was clear of people on either side of it, motorcycles lined up to escort it through the endless vehicles in the cemetery.

Audrey leaned her head wearily against the glass. Kelley allowed himself to stare at her for a moment. She was now alone, leading the Von Hohenberg Group. He had never doubted for a single minute that she would be able to lead it without Hans Peter. In fact, if the Group had grown so much, it was largely due to Audrey’s intelligence and vision. She was the soul that made everything vibrate. For Audrey, there was right and wrong, left and right, light and darkness. Nothing about her was lukewarm and everything about her was cause and effect. A unique energy ran through that woman’s veins like water runs in a river. Hans Peter embodied the calm that transformed that energy into purpose. They were simply perfect together and for each other.

The road to Schloss Hohenstein Castle was long and Audrey’s saddened spirit remained immersed in memories as they made their way to their destination. Suddenly, Kelley felt compelled, though regretfully, to interrupt the quiet.

“Forgive me”, he choked out slightly. “We need to do something first. I had forgotten.”

Audrey showed no reaction. He wanted to touch the small hand on the car seat to get her attention, but he was not sure if he should.

“Sergei, please take us to the old Group Headquarters.”

The driver responded with another simple nod and steered the car away from its route.

In the building that now housed nothing more than a branch of the great Von Hohenberg Business Empire, there had been, centuries before, a toy factory that had been the seed of the enormous fortune of the Von Hohenberg House. The stop there would be brief, but Kelley understood it as necessary, especially given the nature of what he knew that awaited her and, mainly, as a way of demonstrating Audrey’s strength in leading the Group.

The employees were all gathered in the main hall to welcome them. With deep appreciation, some of them approached to deliver a tribute to the widow consisting of a faithful replica of Schloss Hohenstein Castle. The delicate tribute, made with impressive details, exemplified the adoration they felt for the Von Hohenberg couple.

As much as Audrey wanted to hold back her tears at that moment, as she had been doing since the burial, when she touched the beautiful piece that rested illuminated on a pedestal, she could not resist and the tears ran down her face without her realizing it. The pain of losing Hans Peter finally took hold of her body and it was so extreme that she bent over a little, putting one of her hands to her mouth in endless sobs.

If doubt had plagued Kelley until that moment, seeing her broken like that, in tears, was enough to make him surrender to the absolute need to feel her physically. He hugged her with the strength he wanted to hug her. Why hadn’t he held her hand in the car? He wondered regretfully. All he wanted was to take care of Audrey, now more than ever.

“Let’s go now”, he whispered, stroking her hair.

Back in the Rolls-Royce Phantom, Sergei resumed his task of driving them to the Castle.

“It’s not cold in here.”

Kelley noticed that Audrey was shivering abnormally for a heated car and the coat she was wearing.

“I know...”

“Are you okay?”

He shook his head, then scolded himself for the foolish question. It had been automatic and meaningless, just like the journalists’ questions that had repulsed him so much in the cemetery.

“That’s not what I meant. Of course you’re not.”

Audrey allowed a smile, which mixed understanding with tenderness, to form on her lips.

“The cold I feel does not come from the weather, my dear. I imagine it comes from my soul.”

She removed one of her gloves and placed her hand over his. It was completely freezing.

Kelley smiled back, heartbroken, and took his cell phone out of the inside pocket of his suit.

“Hello, Trent. We should be about 20 minutes from the castle. Please make sure all the heating is on and working properly. All rooms should be at or above 25 degrees. Thank you.”

He hung up the phone and took Audrey’s hand, squeezing it gently. He would not let go of those little fingers for anything and would keep them immersed, beneath his own hand, trying to fulfill, with the warmth of his skin, the role that the glove had failed to do.

A short time later, the vehicle approached the gigantic gate of the Schloss Hohenstein estate. The escorts dispersed along the road in strategic positions and some remained at the entrance, while security guards, with audio points in their ears and communication points on their wrists, ensured that the car passed calmly and slowly.

The Rolls-Royce crossed the road surrounded by well-kept gardens, which only exist in dreams or fairy tales, until it reached the roundabout that guarded the entrance to the castle. Sergei parked the car and promptly jumped out with an umbrella in hand, hoping to protect Audrey from the rain that had increased, but Kelley intervened, taking it from his hands with a smile.

“Thank you, I’ll take her inside.”

In the castle, the atmosphere was pleasant and curiously warm, just as he had requested. The butler, along with the entire staff, were waiting for them in the hall to express their condolences.

“Milady, we are all shaken by your loss”, Trent held Audrey’s hands in his with an expression of extreme affection on his face, especially when he noticed how his mistress’s eyes were swollen.

“Thank you. It’s very kind of you all”, she replied sweetly.

“We’ve prepared a light meal for you and Mr. Kelley. May we serve you?”

“I really need to eat something, but I’d prefer a nice bath first.”

“As you wish, Milady. If anything is not to your satisfaction, please tell me.”

Audrey caressed the butler’s face with a delicate smile on her lips.

“The chances of anything not being to my satisfaction, my dear friend, are slim”, she replied softly. “If you don’t mind, Scott…” She looked away to Kelley.

“Of course I don’t mind.”

Audrey gave that fragile smile again and left them behind, heading up the castle’s imposing central staircase, towards the second floor. When she reached her room, she opened the door and gazed at the immense and luxurious room, where a few weeks ago, Hans Peter had still slept beside her. The place, without him, seemed so incredibly larger now.

With slow steps, she entered and took off her coat, hanging it on a nearby coat rack. She sighed exhaustedly and allowed herself to remain still for a few seconds in the armchair to the right of the bed. She remembered how much her husband liked to read in that armchair, especially in the late afternoon, when the lighting, he argued, became simply perfect. Audrey could not keep her eyes from fixed on the bed. Hans Peter was a strong man, always willing and good-humored, but in the end, cancer had taken away the charming glow of his blue eyes. He had fought bravely as much as he could and perhaps even more, but the disease had won the war and the memory of the pain, which her husband had tried in vain to disguise, insisted on remaining as a powerfully cruel image.

“Why you?” she stammered.

There were so many despicable people in the world who deserved that burden far more than Hans Peter. Her husband’s gentle smile mercifully took over Audrey’s memories and she closed her eyes to better visualize, in her thoughts, his kind face.

“Why you?” she repeated softly.

Exhaustion turned her arms and legs into weights in that chair, but even so, she knew she needed a bath. She gathered the last of her soul’s strength and stood up. She turned on the taps of the magnificent bathtub and waited for the liquid soap to turn into foam and take over everything. The delicate scent of lavender filled the air with the light steam.

Audrey tied up her long black hair and undressed. She dove into the hot water and rested her neck on a towel folded on the marble. A solitary tear ran down the corner of her left eye, as another memory asked permission to comfort her. They rarely went to Germany, but when they were at Schloss Hohenstein, they used to spend a good deal of time in the evenings, in that bathtub, talking by candlelight and wine-filled conversations that alternated between business matters and typical Hans Peter romanticism. When was the last time? Oh, yes, a few months ago, before her husband took a noticeable turn for the worse.

She closed her eyes again and another tear rolled down her face. She could hear his laugh, frank and adorable, when the question of investing in a country whose domestic and foreign policies Audrey did not approve of, came up in one of these conversations.

“Only you, my dear, would have moral and historical reservations about prospecting for business. Any other businessman would not care where the money came from, as long as it came. You have invented a new kind of corporation.”

Audrey smiled, and with her eyes still closed, focused on the memory, she repeated the question she knew she had asked at the time.

“What kind?”

She sighed deeply and the next sentence, Hans Peter’s answer, came out of her trembling lips almost as a noise.

“The morally correct corporation.”

The tears then turned into voracious crying, much more intense than the one she had been unable to contain at the old Von Hohenberg Group Headquarters, and like a helpless child, Audrey gathered her legs between her arms.

She placed one hand on her belly. Hans Peter had given her the world and she had not been able to give him a son. The Von Hohenberg line ended with him, she thought, pressing her fist tightly against her belly. He deserved an heir, but he had never asked for one, because Hans Peter had loved her above all things and would never force her to get pregnant.

“I didn’t even do that for you…”, she whispered between sobs.

It took a while for the scented water to overcome her tears and her body relaxed again on the bottom of the bathtub, her head returning to the towel. She felt that she could sleep there, immersed in that warm embrace, as welcoming as the touch of her beloved husband. She didn’t realize how long she had been there. But a distant, muffled sound insisted on bothering her.

“Audrey”, Kelley’s voice sounded worried on the other side.

The knocks on the bathroom door continued until they woke her from her momentary trance.

“Audrey”, he repeated.

“Scott”, she finally answered. “Forgive me, I’ll be right down.”

“No problem, I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

She felt the anxious tone in her friend’s voice and stood up with her body wrapped in the voluminous and perfumed foam. She stepped into the shower where a strong hot water would finish relieving her tension for a few more minutes. She reached for the soap and saw that, by a strangely funny coincidence, it was the same one Hans Peter had given her as her first gift. A beautiful wooden box full of them.

She finished her shower and, thinking about how she managed to stay upright, put on a black nightgown, covering it with a robe. She also put on her delicate, soft slippers and went downstairs to join Kelley and Trent in the castle’s dining room.

“Better a little?” Kelley asked, placing her at the head of the table.

“Maybe enough to breathe, I think”, she replied, reaching for the wine glass that Trent had filled.

Despite the butler’s care for the meal, Audrey could not eat. There was a permanent lump in her throat. Only the wine, by anesthetizing the bad sensations she was experiencing, reached her mouth.

“Milady, I can provide something more palatable, if you wish”, the butler said, watching her move pieces, which she cut with her fork, across her plate.

“Everything is perfect, Trent. The soup, the meat, the sauce. And your choice of wine was the best of all”, she smiled gently. “But I am not the best person to appreciate our chef’s wonderful culinary talents today, my dear.”

“Perhaps another bottle of that excellent wine you chose for us, Trent”, Kelley suggested. “Let’s have it in the next room. Is there a fire going?”

Trent smiled, wondering how warm the place would be with the heating system amplified by a log fire.

“Yes, sir. It must be the warmest part of the castle.”

“Excellent!” he said, standing up and extending his hand toward Audrey.

She smiled, accepting his invitation.