Page 39 of Brazilian Revenge

“I’ll give you a couple days to think things over. I’m invested in these relationships, and I’m not going to lose them both to you. Satyanna knows she’s in the wrong. She betrayed me and abandoned me—twice—but because I am a good man, I’m willing to forgive her. As long as she understands if she sides with me, we’re moving away from Brazil, for good, with new identities somewhere else. I’m thinking Southeast Asia.”

Never. Leonardo groaned, unable to suppress the sound. He had always used his mind, his power, his skills to argue and persuade in court and in life. The world had too much violence as it was. But now his fingers curled into a ball with white-knuckled intensity. If Clemonte were within eyesight, he would have punched him. And he wouldn’t have stopped. “I don’t negotiate with rats.”

“Well, that’s where you are wrong. See, I am an intelligent, skillful rat. And I’m willing to go through great lengths to get things I want. Your threats are empty. You are a good guy at heart. You know the problem with good guys? They don’t get things done. I do.”

“I’m not giving you either of them, and a phone call isn’t enough to scare me.” He delivered his message in a firm, commanding tone.

“Well, I’m just going to have to work harder. We’ll reconnect sooner rather than later.”

He hung up the phone.

Leonardo stared at the phone before setting it down. A lot could happen sooner rather than later, and he’d make sure none of it did. Was Clemonte distracting him with a bluff just so he’d stay put and not go look into things further in the state of Maranhão? Just so he wouldn’t leave Satyanna and the baby unprotected? No.

He walked to the console and poured himself some scotch. Could he do it? Give Satyanna back to that man? No. Certainly not. His heart tightened in his chest, and frustration clogged his throat. He downed a shot of alcohol, hoping at least some of it would help him gain insight.

Are you going to tell her? Are you afraid she will go with him?Filling the tumbler again, he carried the glass as he headed to his bedroom. He’d find his cell phone and tell Ulisses about the threat. Hell, he’d have to tell someone. Until this problem was solved, he wouldn’t involve the Brazilian police. That would only set him backward.

He didn’t have to answer to anyone, and he hated even more to depend on someone else to find Clemonte—someone who didn’t want or need to get him as he did.

He called Ulisses, but it went straight to voicemail.

“Get in touch. Clemonte just called me,” he said, and then set it on the nightstand. Removing his shirt and belt, he decided at least his body would get some solace. There was no way his racing mind would come to a stop. He swallowed. Tumbling on the bed, he closed his eyes.

A beat later, someone knocked on his door. Probably Bruno. He took a deep breath. Was he ready to talk about the fear of losing them with his brother? It was too soon. And he wasn’t even sure what losing them meant. Losing his daughter would be devastating, but that would never happen. How about Satyanna? that annoying part of him asked. How would he really feel if she disappeared from his life? From their lives? “Come in.”

“I just put her to sleep,” said a voice much softer than Bruno’s.

He opened his eyes and sat upright. Satyanna walked into the room, her fingers tapping the baby monitor on her hand. An ecstatic sound chimed, and she lowered the volume and placed it on a heavy oak dresser. “What do you want?”

“Can I ask you something?” she asked, twisting her hands together.

A pulse throbbed in his throat. Should he tell her about Clemonte’s call? Maybe not yet. He’d think things through, first. Getting her worried over something she had no control over wasn’t fair. He’d seen the look of terror on her face when he’d told her about Jacinta’s death. “Sure.”

She sat on the edge of the bed. Folding her arms, Satyanna glanced around her, maybe second-guessing what she was about to say. He angled his head toward her, interested. “You must know about Linda Anderson, the lady Harry married when I was young.”

Leonardo popped his knuckles. Of course he knew. Ulisses had informed him when he’d started searching for her almost a year ago. After she left the youth house, Harry married some vulnerable millionaire, who suspiciously died shortly after the wedding.

A single tear rolled down her cheek, but she wiped it quickly. Nevertheless, her eyes were red, and the expression on her face hinted at despair for control, like a ship trying to divert from slamming into an iceberg. “I agreed to help him, to pose as the daughter of a sweet widower while he fooled her into marrying him. That’s my biggest regret.” She lifted her hand to her mouth and covered it for a moment. “He told me he’d help me find out more about my birth parents. I hadn’t seen my mother since I was four.”

“Continue,” he said, reaching for the facial tissue on the nightstand and stretching it out to her.

She glanced at it before she accepted it.

“Turns out Linda had a heart condition…one I didn’t know about. And, a couple weeks after the honeymoon, she died. Do you think Harry could have provoked it?”

“Killed her? Yes. Ulisses went to the States and interviewed one of her few distant relatives, who believes so. But he couldn’t prove it. Without evidence, the truth is useless in a court of law.”

She closed her eyes. “God.”

That ship was definitely sinking…was he going to watch it drown? Erasing the distance between them, he pulled her into his arms in an embrace she had no escape from. She fidgeted at first, maybe embarrassed she was crying. But he tightened his grip around her. “I believe you, Satyanna.”

“That I didn’t know she was sick?”

“And that you didn’t know he wanted to steal my sculpture a year ago,” he said, unable to keep it from her any longer. Warmth threaded down his spine, and he didn’t know why. Running his fingers through her massive curls was as relaxing and entrancing as listening to a violinist. Moments like this, when his hand was covered by the texture of her wild hair, felt real. Dangerous, but real.

She disengaged from him just so she could speak. He watched those glossy eyes.

“Thanks, this means a lot. I’ve also been thinking about what you said at lunch. You were so adamant about protecting Lyanna and me. That was nice. I like that.”

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