Page 107 of Girl in the Water
Like there was anything he wouldn’t give her. He nodded.
“Please don’t go back to Brazil. I don’t want you killed or to end up in a Brazilian jail if you kill Marcos. There has to be a way to put him away now that we have proof.”
That she worried about him made his heart ache. “Finch was my friend. I didn’t rush right down there when he first called that he was in trouble. If I had, he wouldn’t be dead now. I want the bastards who killed him.”
He wanted the bastardsdead. Anything else felt like the betrayal of a friendship, a betrayal of Finch.
Daniela’s gaze softened. “You couldn’t save Linda, so you wanted to save Finch, but you got there too late. He’s the one who stole the diamonds. Finch was responsible for his actions and the consequences. Just like Linda was responsible for what she did. Not you. You’re not responsible for what other people do.”
“Who told you that?”
“You did. And that hippy shrink you forced me to see when you brought me to DC.”
“I’m definitely regretting that. I sent you there so you could deal with what happened to you, not so you can psychoanalyze me.”
Her lips twisted into a half smile. “Unintended consequences.”
He grumbled.
She turned somber. “You need to let go of revenge.”
“I want it.”
“You deserve better. You deserve more. You don’t need to punish yourself by getting into dangerous situations.”
“I’m seriously regretting that shrink. You should have talked me out of it.”
“Nossa Senhora Aparecida!How much did I beg? I despised her! She was so damn cheerful about everything, I wanted to drown her.” An outraged peal of laughter escaped her.
The laughter was good. At least she didn’t hate his guts.
He knew he’d messed up. Big-time. But wasn’t sure where. He’d never had anything but good intentions where Daniela was concerned.
This wasn’t that bad, was it? It was good that she was starting her own separate life.
But all he could think of was how much he didn’t want her to finish packing and leave him.
“You don’t really want revenge,” she said as she walked to her suitcase and zipped it up.
“I don’t?”
“You want your family back. And you want your friend back. The thing is, if you’d been brave enough to accept what I offered you in Manaus, you could have had both in me,” she said with a heartbreaking smile as she grabbed the suitcase, passed by him, and walked out of his life.
* * *
Ian
Ian woke to an empty apartment in the morning. The place was depressing. Maybe he’d start looking for something smaller. An apartment where he wouldn’t have to look at Daniela’s bedroom door and expect her to walk out any second. A kitchen she hadn’t cooked in. A living room she hadn’t decorated.
She’d been wrong yesterday about him wanting a family again.
He had to let Daniela go. He was determined to see this through. He wanted only the best for her, and he wasn’t it.
He turned on the TV just so the place wouldn’t be so quiet. Some announcer was overhyping a solar storm and its effects on satellites, what would happen if all the satellites were knocked out all at once. Ian clicked the TV off. He missed the days when news was news. When journalists reported on the things that happened, instead of endlessly hyping things that “might” happen and what celebrities wore to the gym.
His mother popped in as he was having breakfast. She’d colored her hair back to blond. And, apparently, she’d developed some serious skills with the eyeliner that would make a drag queen proud.
“Where is Daniela?” was her first question.
