Konrad didn't like the idea not a single bit. The van Bredas were new money and parvenus who had built their fortune on transport and discount supermarkets. Obviously, that woman wanted to use Guntram to come near him. “Guntram, you're not an illustrator; you're an artist. Focus on what is important like the babies, your art and your studies. As you have finished the second year, perhaps it would be good that you consider to change University, and finish your studies in Zurich for example. Think about it and tell me your decision in a few days.”
“But I want to make that book!”
“Guntram, do it and we will look for a better publisher. I have no objections to the project, only to the people involved. I will speak with Ostermann about this.”
February 16th Munich
The writing of this particular article had been exhausting for Dudu, but after almost a month of hard work, she felt great about the results. “Stars and Stories” was going to sell many issues with this one. Her own editor was very excited with all the interviews and photos. 'Pity he's gay! He has such a nice face and big blue eyes!' Dudu thought for the hundredth time while looking Guntram's picture, taken from the Robertson's catalogue. The only picture she had gotten from Konrad von Lintorff was from an old charity party. 'He looks like a real executioner. Lord!
Can this man smile at all?' About the other lover, the Russian, it had been impossible to get his name or picture. The boy had a scholarship in a foundation, but the owner was nowhere to be found. Stefania had refused to tell her the name because “poor man, he has enough with all this!” and Gertrud von Lintorff only told her that “he's very rich, almost like my cousin Konrad. Billionaire, he's into transport and oil. Lost his wife very recently. Look up in Fortune Magazine lists! At least she had confirmed the whole story and spoken very lengthy of this Guntram de Lisle, Vicomte de Marignac, a truly despicable little slug.
She had tried to speak with other people in her circles, but no one had said a word beyond, “Guntram? I believe he's Lintorff's ward. He paints fine. Tita bought several things from him and the Vatican too.” Or a: “If I were you, I would leave him alone. He's very shy and Konrad never appears in this kind of magazines. He's very discreet with his private life and business. You will not even find him in a specialized magazine. He never gives interviews.”
Once more she took a look at the text before submitting it to the editor.
February 27th Munich
Since Marcel Theriault had troubles with his main financier, Alexander Weber checked personally all his magazines before they were distributed. It was the talk among the publishing industry. The man had loses for over seven millions euros and only because he had annoyed said banker with a stupid critic made by two old queens fighting with so much luck that they had dragged the banker's sweetheart's name to the mud. Poor Marcel was trying to get new financing, but most European banks had rejected his applications and those who accepted him demanded impossible to afford rates: twelve percent He had to close the magazine in an attempt to reduce his costs and sell the offices to pay the workers. If he was not able to refinance his debts with this banker, he was bankrupt. The name Konrad von Lintorff was one he would never forget and he had told all his editors that he didn't want a single line written about the man.
He took the copy of “Stars and Stories, Special Edition. New Baby at Brangelina's?” and looked distractedly the pages focused on Paris Hilton, the 'What Happened to?' section; several marriages; two divorces; recipes; diets for the upcoming summer, and his heart froze when he saw the two pages article about the same Konrad von Lintorff's boyfriend “Scandalous Past in Russia”.
“Shit!” he cursed, and yelled his secretary to call “the idiot in charge of Stars and Stories. Get his fucking ass in here, right now! Stop the distribution of this shit too!”
'If this Lintorff has almost destroyed a forty-seven years company in less than a week for a stupid line, he will make sausages of me with only five years in business and four tabloids for the supermarket!'
The Chief Editor of “Stars and Stories” burst into his office totally upset that the printing and distribution had been stopped by the owner's direct orders. “Where's the integrity of this publishing house?” he yelled.
“Integrity? This is a business, idiot! Did you authorise this?”
“Of course, it will sell like crazy. Rich gays and clever little sluts. Old aristocracy on top. Everything is confirmed with interviews. Their lawyers can't touch us.”
“I don't care if they fuck in the middle of the street. This is a well known banker. He invites presidents for dinner at his house.”
“So? Our compromise is to the truth and to our public.”
“Not if I'm broke in the process! This is not the fucking Washington Post or the Watergate! Eat by yourself all the fucking magazines if you have to, but stop it!”
“They have to go to the distribution channels in four hours!”
“No! Remove those fucking pages!”
“It's a 700.000 issues circulation! It goes to all Germany and Austria!”
“Stop it!”
“It will cost us a lot of money and our market share. If we are not in the stands tomorrow, we are good as dead!”
“Get the idiots from the design team to put extra hours and redesign anew without this article if you want to keep your job!”
“We can't do that! I don't think we have enough paper to make another edition!”
“Print what you can!”
“What about the advertisers?”
“We'll worry about them later! Now, go to work and fix this!”
“Who's on the phone, Friederich?” “His name is Alexander Weber and Marcel Theriault gave him your private number. He says it's most urgent that he speaks with you.”
Konrad sighed and left the cognac on top of the side table while Guntram continued to draw, oblivious to the butler's presence, with a frown in his face as he focused on the details. 'I could organize a meeting with the whole FED and he wouldn't notice,' Konrad thought briefly.
“Friederich, tell him to make an appointment with Monika!”
“He says it's related to Russia, sire. It's about a publication; Stars and Stories.”
Very upset, Konrad rose from his comfortable sofa and went to take the call to his own private studio.
“Lintorff,” he growled already upset with whoever was on the other side.
“Good evening, sir. My name is Alexander Weber and I'm the CEO of Weber Publishing Inc. Perhaps you know our magazine “Stars and Stories”. We have published a story about your relationship with a young man, Guntram de Lisle and his previous lover, a Russian industrial,” a young voice said on the other side of the line.
“If you print one single word about this, my lawyers will take care of your company,” Konrad said with barely contained fury.
“I'm holding the distribution of the magazine till we can reach a settlement that could satisfy us both.
The article is well documented.”
“Very well, we'll see each other in Courts.”
“There's no need to become upset with us. Imagine the scandal. You and a twenty-three year old, who happens to be the former little slut of another rich man? Don't bankers rely on their good names? Let's speak and I'm sure we can reach a solution.”
“I have nothing to hide and this is privacy invasion. I'm not a public figure.”
“We even have pictures,” Weber taunted Konrad, convinced that the man was playing hard.
“Very well, how much do you want?” Konrad asked, thinking that the man couldn't be so idiotic as to give a number.
“Look, I know you had already troubles with Theriault and I don't want the same mess here. I only want that you help me to cover the costs of withdrawing this edition.”
“No.”
“Mine is a very small company. We sell our products in Supermarkets. I can't afford the luxury of losing the entire run of a journal. We printed 700,000 copies and by sheer luck I found this rubb
ish before it was distributed.
I don't want troubles with you, but I can't carry on my shoulders the whole weight of fixing this inconvenience.
Publishing is not a flourishing business as finance, sir.”
“I'm listening Mr. Weber.”
“I sell each one of the copies for sixty-nine cents and we live mostly from our advertisers. If I stop the circulation, I'll get them on my neck for breaking the contract.”
“If your business can't survive a small inconvenience, then your business plan is very wrong.”
“I need a minimum of €600,000 to cover costs and keep the advertisers happy, sir.”
'At least he's honest with the numbers.' “What do you suggest, Mr. Weber?”
“If you could lend me the money so I can cover the costs and print another issue. I could pay you back in let's say, three years.”
“How old are you Mr. Weber?” 'Hopeless idiot or very inexperienced'.
“What? I'm twenty-six.”
“I understand. All right,” Konrad chuckled. “Obviously you have no idea with whom you're speaking and it's refreshing in some way. Most people would have asked much more from me.”
“I'm not blackmailing you! I'm only looking for a way out of this mess!”
“You have the manners of a rascal,” Lintorff laughed. “I will buy all the copies you have at forty cents.
You can tell your advertisers that you sold them all and I'll give you a credit for €350,000 at one percent for a year.
You have to destroy all the copies tonight and tomorrow someone will contact you on my name. I want all the material you might have on me. Is this satisfactory for you?”
“Very much, sir. Thank you.”
“Good-bye, we will in contact with you. One more thing.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Fire all the people who misled you so blatantly. I also started with twenty-two and my first lesson was keeping all my underlings in line with an iron fist. People mistakes young age with softness.”
“Yes, sir,” Alexander answered, feeling like a dunce in front of the school teacher.
“Good-bye, if we are pleased with your work, we might consider you for further deals in the future.”
Konrad hung the phone before the other could say anything. 'Ferdinand has to solve this tomorrow. He's back from Frankfurt and behaving very well since he was almost expelled by the board. Perhaps the separation from Gertrud might have been beneficial for him. And the Colombian girl was too much to have around. He was distracted all the time, like a teenager.'
“Hello, Ferdinand.”
“Hello, Konrad. Something wrong?” Ferdinand asked.
“It's contained. A sleazy tabloid wanted to publish some lies about me and Guntram. I have reached an agreement with the owner. We buy all the magazines for €280,000 and give him a loan for €350,000 more at one percent for a year. I want that you send someone to arrange the details and check the company thoroughly. The name is Alexander Weber and the magazine is “Stars and Stories”.
“Which magazine and he only wants that??”
“Give all the material he gives you to Goran. I'm sick of these attacks on Guntram. Sooner or later, one of them will affect him and this I will not consent this.”
“Twice in a month? This looks very suspicious.”
“Someone is behind and we have to find out who was it. I will not let that anyone hurts Guntram to attack me. He's out of all this.”
“Konrad, since he became your Consort, he's in, whether you like it or not.”
Guntram lifted his gaze from the drawing and noticed his love entering in the room looking very worried. “Is everything all right, Konrad?” The Duke preferred to ignore the question and focus on the sketch pad and the images of a group of bears dressed like humans. “That's quite a change in your style. Is this for this book?”
“Not really, I dropped the idea as you're so against it. Ostermann gave me a lecture too on not dealing without his presence and much less taking commissions that he has not approved before. These are sketches for watercolours for Klaus and Karl's bedroom. I still think they should have something on their walls and if you don't like Mickey Mouse, I thought perhaps traditional stories would be fine. We are not going to hang a Monet or a Degas!”
“That would be very nice of you. Who are those bears?”
“Goldilocks. The official trespasser.”
“Well, there's a moral in the original version; the bears cast her out because they couldn't eat her as she was an ugly, bony old woman, worthy of being sent to a working house,” Konrad intoned very seriously.
“That's not possible! They returned the little girl to her house and became friends!”
“Read the original English story. Those are three male bears living together, but in different sizes.”
“I'm not so sure if this is a good idea.”
“Do you know that the original Red Riding Hood was the wolf's dinner, according to Perrault? Good advise for women; don't trust strangers and wolves with a silver tongue are the most dangerous of them all.”
“Are you really all right, Konrad?” Guntram asked when he heard the sullen tones in his voice.
“Yes, now I am. Everything is fine, my love. Should we make a list of stories?” Konrad said, recovering once more his inner peace while he held his kitten closer and heard his soft voice speaking about the unborn babies.
'He's more excited about their coming than I. I only hope those little rascals agree to share him with me.'
Chapter 28
March 2nd, 2006
“You're very early today,” Guntram was very surprised that Konrad was at 5 p.m. at home, standing in his own studio, kissing him on the neck and checking what he was doing. “Playing the ant or inspection visit?”
“Both, of course,” he answered and continued his kissing for a few moments more. “Besides, I couldn't get those two in the bank without losing all my credentials there.”
“What have you been doing?” the boy asked with a mixture of puzzlement and fun. Konrad certainly looked as if he had been naughty.
“I saw them in Frankfurt this noon when I was leaving the meeting, and thought that maybe they could fit in here. I'm glad I have a jet of my own. Any airline would have forced me to buy a ticket for them.”
“What did you bring home this time? We said nothing more till the rooms are finished. The furniture should arrive in three weeks and they're painting it. That woman has still to choose the fabrics. Wait, there are no toys stores in front of the European Central Bank.”
“Around the corner then. I'm not a GPS,” Konrad protested.
“You went for it, you mean.”
“I might have taken a detour on my way to the Airport. I need a bigger car, coming to think,” Konrad pondered, hoping that this new topic would distract Guntram.
“How big is it?”
“Natural size.”
“And it is a…”
“Comes from an old German company. Everything manufactured in Germany in the old tradition. I was surprised by their quality. We have the whole family now; the mama, the papa and two children. I think if we buy animals they should be in the form of families.”
“What?”
“Wildschwein mit Frischlingen. I don't know the words in English. I think the men had finally got them in one of the rooms near the nursery.”
“So that was the noise I been hearing for the past hour?”
“You can't get them without a fight. It's a well known fact of life.”
Guntram sighed, trying to do his best to look serious, but it was impossible with Konrad. “You're going to spoil the children!” he whined before cleaning his hands with a rug, decided to see what was there. He left his studio, next to the nursery and walked toward the babies’ playroom that was interconnected with the bedroom, bathroom and studio for when they were much older. There was also a small room for the night nurse.
Friederich was in the corridor and caught him by the ar
m. “Not in the rooms, they're just painted and wet. The hunting pavilion is in the nanny's bedroom,” he said very sarcastically, opening the door to the medium size room.
Inside was a big wild boar, one big sow and three small piglets, in natural size and very sturdy. “You can ride those things!” Guntram said very shocked.
“It was designed and built to hold a thirty kilos child. If they're heavier, they don't care so much about plush animals,” Konrad explained gently.
“As his Excellency can testify,” Friederich said from the entrance. “If I remember correctly we had one of them.”
“Now that you mention, I remember so. What happened to it?”
“The Duke and Dr. von Kleist used it as target for your arrows when you were ten years old.”
“I don't remember that part. Perhaps Ferdinand knows something about it.” Konrad kept his sternest face and poise, while Guntram looked at him astonished. “Tea in the winter garden, it's warm enough today.” Friederich smirked and left the room, leaving a still shocked Guntram behind.
“Where are we going to put those two? Should they not be exactly the same animal?”
“No, Klaus and Karl should learn to share their things. It will be good if they do.”
“How big is this? Do I want to know how much they costed?”
“About 125 cm and you don't want to know because I don't want to tell.”
“And the shop just had a family standing there?”
“Not really, they had it for me,” Konrad confessed finally.
“I see. How long?”
“One month to manufacture it. It's a painstakingly long process. Quality has always a good price. Don't you like them?”
“They're fantastic, but this is too much. They're babies. They will sleep the whole day when they come!”
“Not forever. Sooner than you think, you'll get two young Lintorffs jumping on top of you or using your dog as horse. Better they have these ones. They should play with the pigs and leave you for me.”
“You're impossible! Worst than children!” Guntram smiled and kissed Konrad. “You can't be jealous of your own babies!”
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