by Rachel Lyndhurst; Carmen Falcone; Ros Clarke; Annie Seaton; Christine Bell
She was usually good at catching lies, especially after that nice intensive course her mother put her through. But, somehow, whenever Bruno was concerned, her emotions got the best of her.
“Leonardo just told me a couple of days ago, and I’ve been working since to find a solution. I’ve talked to my lawyers, and I’ll fight them in court if I have to.”
In court. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, begging for release, but she fought them.
“Are you that detached from your country? This kind of lawsuit can take forever, and who’s to say Lancaster will be unable to appeal and start building anyway.”
“I’m not an idiot, Addie. I have the best lawyers on this case. I have the resources to make this go through.”
“Do you have any idea how much you’ve hurt me? By keeping it from me?” Her voice wavered, and a couple of tears rolled down her hot cheeks.
His eye twitched. But she would not back down. This was the third time he turned the tables on her. Compromising the Kwanis’s welfare was beyond wrong. Her happiness had been swept under the rug. Again.
What guarantee did she have he would help them? She thought she’d seen a new Bruno at Toca do Tigre, yes. But she’d been wrong.
And now he probably had to tell her before someone else did. Or worse, before she found out on her own. He didn’t need a wife anymore. Worst thing was, she could not even retaliate and go to the media to tell them what an ass he was. She’d signed that stupid confidentiality agreement, and he could surely take her to the cleaners if she broke the clause. Damn him. Damn men.
“I know how much this means to you.”
“That’s not good enough, Bruno. I can’t look at you right now. I don’t even want to be in the same house with you,” she said and swallowed the resentment that lodged in her throat. Against her common sense, after saying such harsh words, she held his gaze anyway. At that point, she was a dead woman walking. Trapped and captured by the enemy, and with no chance of escaping what was to come.
“Then don’t.” He pronounced every word carefully between his teeth. “I’ll spare you from looking at me. We need some time apart—at least until you cool down and can discuss this with me rationally. I’ll have your belongings sent to a hotel, where you can stay until we figure out the Kwanis’s situation.”
Now he was sending her to a hotel? And he’s supposed to love me? “Now you want my input?”
But he had already left her alone in their room.
She pulled her duffel bag from under the bed and shoved some clothes inside, only what she needed to get by. She left all the glamorous nightgowns behind. She wouldn’t need them anytime soon. She rushed into the bathroom and grabbed the necklace from the vanity, sliding it into the side pocket of the duffel.
She flew down the stairs and met him in the living room. “I’m ready for your driver to take me.”
“That was fast,” he mocked.
She thought of Camila and wished she could say good-bye to his sweet sister. But then again, perhaps it was best Camila was not home. She would call or email her soon. Heck, she didn’t even know what to say. But she’d find a way to keep in touch, without giving too much away. I’m the wrong person to sign a confidentiality agreement.
“Senhora Duarte.” The driver opened the door for her, and she almost laughed at the irony.
Bruno instructed the driver to drop her at a beachfront five-star hotel.
But after the car drove off, she told the driver, “To the airport.”
Chapter Fifteen
“She what?” Bruno asked the driver, incredulous.
“She asked me to take her to the airport, senhor,” the man repeated, his hands gesturing that he had no idea why.
Acid spread in his stomach. “Domestic or international departure?” He had a hunch she had fled to Pernambuco, the state where Toca do Tigre was located. But if she had returned to the US, it would be harder to find her again. And then he’d have lost her, forever.
“I dropped her at the domestic terminal.”
“Thank you, Felipe. You may go now.” Bruno glanced around, and the living room seemed bigger than ever. With Camila at her friend’s for the day and his brothers at work, he was left alone. Alone had never bothered him before. And now, his sought-after freedom from his father’s death sounded more like a sentence.
He headed to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of beer from the refrigerator. The world shouldn’t collapse because of a woman. Yet he felt the weight of a big rock dragging his anxious heart all the way to his feet.
She hadn’t even wanted to listen to him—she shut him down. And then he remembered that her father still didn’t let her mother manage the finances, even though she had been clean for several years. Was Addie just like her father?
He drank a big gulp, too fast. Beer dribbled down his chin, and he reached for a napkin from the countertop and wiped his mouth. He expected news from his lawyers on the bad-faith lawsuit he’d begun against his brother, demanding an annulment of the transaction.
A few days ago, he’d thought the death of his father had brought him closer to his family. His country. He’d been wrong.
He took another gulp. Not the best thing, suing his brother after they’d both lost their father, but it was the only way to get the land back. He’d also tried talking to Lancaster—hell, even threatening him—but the man was too happy with the outcome to even listen to him. He wanted to build, and build now. He had a board to answer to.
For the next couple of days, Bruno pretty much lived in his office. He’d leave to shower and eat, but he avoided sleeping in his room at all costs. The familiar strawberry shampoo scent lingered on the bed sheets, and he had ordered the maids not to touch them. The rumpled sheets reminded him of the woman he’d lost.
He’d also been talking to Myro on the phone. The cacique had been surprised and disappointed at first, but he sounded hopeful when Bruno offered to move them to a different site at his expense if it came to it. He promised that if the legal battle dragged and jeopardized the Kwanis in any way, he’d personally look for land not too far for them. But there was a lot to consider. Though money was no object, it had to be land that would give them self-sufficiency and enough space for all of them.
He clicked his pen, gaze fixed on the information his real-estate broker had just emailed him. One piece of land was way too far from their current site, and the other had no fertile soil, it seemed.
The sound of footsteps made him look up. Leonardo strode into the office and closed the heavy door behind him. Bruno immediately squared his shoulders and stopped clicking the pen.
Since Addie had left, he’d only exchanged a couple words with his brother for Camila’s sake, who kept asking where Addie had gone. But for once he didn’t coddle her and told her everything, including his fake marriage fiasco. To Bruno’s misery, she had taken Addie’s side all the way.
“What do you want?”
His brother threw his hands up in a gesture of peace. “Camila is worried about you. She called me and said you’ve been in here day and night.”
Bruno shook his head. “She’s always worried about something.”
“Worrying is what we do.” Leonardo nodded, stepped closer, and sat down before Bruno argued.
If he weren’t so damn mad at his brother, he’d pity him. Being the next oldest one, all responsibilities had been thrown his way, and it seemed they continued to be, even after their father’s death.
“You weren’t that worried when you sold the property away.”
Leonardo sighed. “That’s where you are wrong. I did it when I thought Addie was using you—I thought I was protecting you.”
Bruno pushed back his chair until it hit the wall. Did he really expect Leonardo to be loyal to him, the distant brother he saw every now and then on a business trip to New York? Usually for a quick lunch or dinner, where they discussed sports and politics, current news and the like. But never their personal lives.
“Why are
you adamant about protecting me?” He folded his arms.
Leonardo leaned forward, and his green eyes darkened with remorse. “Because I wasn’t there for you, Bruno. When you needed it. I heard rumors, and I have to confess, I was ashamed, too. Which doesn’t mean I should have avoided the subject altogether.”
Bruno sagged on the chair, his shoulders melting without his consent. “You were just a kid.”
“I was seventeen. Your leaving…for a while, I thought you had abandoned us. You were my brother, my hero.” Leonardo shifted on his seat and ran his fingers through his hair.
“I thought it’d be best if I stayed away. I broke your trust and, instead of fixing it, I decided not to earn it again.” Bruno’s throat burned with regret. At first, he decided he’d betrayed them all by dragging the family name through the mud. Then, as he’d matured, he’d taken the easy way out from trying to rebuild a relationship with his siblings. A real relationship. “Don’t you blame me for mother dying? Or for you guys having to move to Rio?”
The contours of Leonardo’s face hardened, lips clamped together. Then he glanced at Bruno, and the hint of a smile formed on his lips. “I blamed you for leaving, but not anymore. I’ve grown up and learned about life. I’ve graduated from Law school. I know right from wrong. If anything, we should be ashamed for not giving you support. I can’t imagine all you had to do to help our family.”
A gleam of affection hit Leonardo’s eyes, and he smiled wider.
Bruno sucked in a breath. His brother offered him a second chance, and he wasn’t going to take it for granted. “Thank you.”
Leonardo assessed him in silence. “Since we’re having a brother bonding moment… I didn’t know you loved her.”
Bruno rubbed his eyes. Avoiding thoughts of Addie was exhausting. “The moment is gone.”
“Not a chance, brother. You always avoid talking about things. But, this time, you will. You were going to not sell because of her.” Leonardo splayed both hands on the glass desk and leaned toward him. “Do you still want Addie? If you do, you should go get her.”
Bruno laughed. “Don’t you think I’ve tried?” He told her he loved her—twice. Then she’d glared at him, disgusted…the look he couldn’t bear to see. He drummed his fingers on the armchair.
“Have you? Why did she leave like that?”
“All she cared about was the land. She got pissed off when I told her it had been sold, and, besides insulting me, she had no more to say. She could have said she loved me. If she loved me.”
“She felt betrayed.”
“How about me?” Bruno swallowed hard. “She rejected me,” he added, unwilling to tell his brother about his non-reciprocated “I love you”. This was the first conversation they’d had in forever, but he refused to give his brother more fuel to annoy him. She rejected me. The words echoed in his ears.
Deep down, besides his best efforts not to care, her not admitting to her feelings like he had put her in a position of control over him. Control to hurt him. Did he do the same thing he’d done with his siblings? By demanding she spend the night in a hotel, was that his way of pushing her away to avoid dealing with rejection? “I drove her away,” he thought out loud.
Leonardo’s lips twitched, his eyes bright. Why was his brother so happy? Why did he act like he knew what went on in Bruno’s mind?
“Have you…met someone recently?” A rhetorical question. Of course, his brother met women all the time. Why wouldn’t he? He was good-looking, successful, and in his early thirties.
Leonardo’s smile faded. “No.” His short answer explained more than it concealed.
Time for payback for the daytime talk-show questions Bruno had received. “What happened?”
“It didn’t work out.”
It was Bruno’s turn to smile. How evasive could those words be? “I’m not Camila. You can be honest with me. What happened?” he asked.
Leonardo sighed, and his hands smoothed over his suit. “She was a con artist.”
Bruno chuckled. “Really? You?” The thought of his stickler brother with a con artist. He would have laughed harder had he not spotted the throbbing pulse on Leonardo’s neck. Jeez. Just the mention of her got his pulse going.
“It’s over.”
Leonardo was so in denial it wasn’t even funny. Bruno stopped in his tracks. Was he in denial, as well? After all, his heart thudded for what felt like hours, until he’d gotten hold of Myro and learned Addie was safe and sound with the tribe. She was still in Brazil. Still within his reach.
But for how long? And how could he go after her, when she had told him his efforts weren’t good enough. He had heard that from his boss, when she humiliated him to keep him from dating Serena. He’d heard he wasn’t good enough from his father, in the heat of the moment when he’d found out about his prostitution. But from Addie…the words out of her sweet mouth had reached new depths in his wounded heart. “Since you are so bitter with your own love life, you are hardly the one to give me advice.”
“I talked to Lancaster and told him I’ll be on your side if you pursue a lawsuit alleging bad faith. I know I dropped the ball. And if he wants to go against the two of us, it’ll be a long, drawn-out process, thanks to the reliability of our appeal system. He isn’t going to pursue Toca do Tigre anymore. The land is yours, or theirs, again. And if I were you, I’d tell them in person.”
…
Addie expanded the small hole she’d dug with her dirt-covered hands. The lonely silver necklace gleamed against the wood chips and black dirt.
She looked around the river, then back to the necklace. One last time, she leaned forward and toyed with it.
“Michael, I met someone,” she said, her voice weak. Stubborn tears welled in her eyes, and she made no effort to stop them from falling and warming her cheeks. “He told me he could talk to his father after death, so I thought I’d give this a go.
“I’ll always be grateful for all you taught me.” She filled both her hands with dirt and started to shove it inside the hole. “To stand by what you believe, no matter the consequences. To help those in need.” She topped off the hole quickly and continued to add a mix of wet dirt and wood chips until it looked like a miniature sand castle.
Then she folded her arms and scooted back on the grass. Leaning against a rock, she surveyed the area around the river. Even the water seemed thinner, the streaming almost nonexistent, announcing an impending drought in the region.
She shifted carefully when she remembered the million dollar check she’d been carrying inside her pocket for a few days. Right, their arrangement had also included his donation to a charity of her choice. It had arrived via courier in her name, with a note inside that read: You left Rio before I could give you this. I trust you’ll make the right decision. Bruno.
She removed the note from her pocket, and her fingers outlined the edges. Again. But reading it and touching the paper wouldn’t bring Bruno closer.
“I’ve visited a couple of nonprofit organizations, and I’m thinking about donating to the one you liked,” she continued out loud. She’d chosen a small but promising organization that benefited Indian women and children. “As far as Toca do Tigre is concerned, Myro told me Bruno was adamant about taking care of the situation himself.” She rolled her eyes. “Of course he had to rise to the occasion. To impress me by seeing things through.”
She leaned down and reached for a stick to toy with, and out of nowhere a big gray frog jumped.
With a sharp intake of breath, she waited for her heart to pound or her temples to throb. Nothing. The frog jumped again, a few times in a row, away from her.
“He also ruined my frog phobia,” she said, and the truth she’d been avoiding revealed itself, clear like the water flowing down the creek.
“I love him.”
The fear she didn’t know she harbored dissipated around her, and in its place was the courage to face the facts. During all that time, she’d avoided falling for Bruno because he wasn’t safe
. And when he offered safety, what had she done? She’d fled. Her fear of getting involved with him was a mask for the fear of loving again.
What a coward she was, keeping herself protected by not loving someone. Bruno wasn’t like her mother. During her disease, her mother had hurt the people she loved because she was too blind to see. But Bruno had tried to accommodate his father’s wishes, and hers, many times barely thinking of what he wanted. Or at least acting that way.
She rose to her feet and looked up at the now clear sky. Sun rays hit the creek, brighter than ever before.
“I love him, Michael, and I’m not sorry for it. Or scared.” She put on her flip-flops and started to run toward the tribe.
She needed a ride to the airport, pronto.
A couple hours later, Addie sat in the back of a crowded bus. Bus travel was very common in Brazil, but just her luck, she’d missed the big bus with air conditioning, on-board service, and even a TV showing the latest news or popular soap opera.
She’d been able to get a seat, but when it got full and a pregnant woman holding a toddler appeared, she’d immediately offered up her spot. With all the other seats taken, Addie ended up standing, sandwiched by two men. One of them was large and his beer belly, bursting out of his too-tight jeans, poked her whenever the bus made wide turns.
Well, she couldn’t complain. It was last minute, and her only way to get to Recife, where she’d get off and head to the airport. She had asked Endi to tell Myro she’d be gone for a few days, since Myro was nowhere to be found and wasting more time wasn’t an option.
Zings of anticipation, excitement, and fear multiplied in her body. What if there was no way back for them, after the way she’d treated him? What if he wouldn’t even listen to her? I’ll make him listen.
She looked out the window at the green mountains on either side. The smaller roads had turned into wider lanes, and trucks and cars crowded the highway, flying by the small bus.
