Page 27 of Marriage Bargain With Her Brazilian Boss (Billion-Dollar Fairy Tales)

Maybe there was a future ahead of him outside of the revenge he’d planned for so long. Or maybe he was buying into the romantic nonsense of today’s ceremony. There was no way he could build ridiculous, far-fetched dreams around a woman who deserved better than him. All he knew, all he planned for his future was destroying someone else.

“Will you tell Nush I said goodbye?” Mira said into the comfortable silence. “I’m leaving first thing in the morning. I don’t want her to think I abandoned her.”

Caio nodded. “I hope you know that you’re not alone, Mira, even if Rao’s gone. If you need anything—”

“Ahh...but you and I both know that in some aspects of life, we are alone, Caio. It’s written into our DNA.”

“What’s the point then?” he asked, feeling an intense vulnerability he hadn’t known still lingered.

“The point is that there’s always choices, Caio. I’m making a choice to return to Aristos, even though...” She sighed. With a familiarity that made him smile, she tapped his cheek with her fingers and smiled. “Let’s hope we don’t mess this up.”

Caio pressed a kiss to her head and left to find Nush.

CHAPTER SEVEN

ITTOOKHIMtwo and a half hours to find Nush.

She hadn’t been at Peter Jr.’s nightclub. Or rather it had been a short stop in apparently a long night of chasing entertainment like some college kid off on a night’s rampage.

She’s no older than a college kid, a voice whispered and he cursed. Neither had she been exaggerating when she’d argued that she’d buried herself in that lab for more than a decade. Just as he’d buried himself in acquisitions and mergers that would bring him closer to his goal. Their innate nature as loners had become the foundation of their relationship.

He’d had to track down Yana and threaten her—which wasn’t an easy feat since nothing and no one could really control the volatile middle Reddy sister—and get Nush’s location out of her. Even that was only after she’d received a text from Nush that she’d needed help.

So here he was, outside of a luxury hotel, still chasing her. Solar lights placed along the huge courtyard punctured the bitter darkness of predawn. He’d taken no more than two steps when he saw her and stilled.

Patchy moonlight glinted along her neck and her chest as she walked through the double doors, her gait slow. She came to a halt below the entrance archway. Her hair was still in that complicated knot, but she’d changed out of the wedding dress into a black leather skirt that skimmed her knees and a ribbed white skintight top that hugged every inch of her small breasts. A white dress shirt—her signature item—flapped over her shoulders. He followed the line of her long, long legs to find her feet encased in glittery pink high-top sneakers that brought an unexpected smile to his lips.

His chest loosened, relief spreading through him. This was the Nush he knew, the girl who’d always made him laugh, the girl who’d been a bright spot in his dark, revenge-obsessed thoughts.

And yet, she wasn’t just that girl anymore either.

This was a woman who’d boldly told him how much she wanted him, who’d marched into his office with a solution. This was a Nush he wanted to know more of, a woman he could see himself... With a sigh, he cut off the direction his thoughts were going in too often.

Drawing closer, Caio noted that she held her bent arm close to her chest. Then the sling wound around her neck. “What happened, Princesa?”

She stiffened, her eyes huge and wide behind the thick glasses. “Caio...” She looked at her watch and then around herself. “What are you doing here?”

He touched his fingers to hers, and nodded at the cast around her wrist. “You’re hurt. How?”

“Oh, there was a scuffle at the club. I slipped and broke my fall with my wrist. The X-ray showed a hairline fracture.” She sighed. “It’s been quite the eventful night.”

“And day,” he added.

“Hmm?”

“It was our wedding day,querida.” He’d no idea why he felt the need to remind her of that. He was beginning to wonder if he knew right or wrong when it came to her.

She plucked her hand from his looking like a deer caught in headlights. “Did Yana send you? I’m sorry that you had to drive here at this time—”

“Yana didn’t send me anywhere. I spent most of the night already looking for you. I don’t like not knowing where you are.”

She raised a brow, all outrage and bite. “Since when did I have to report to you?”

“Since always, Nush,” he said, her temper egging his on. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“I lost my phone.”

“And yet, you called Yana.”

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