Page 10 of Rio (Knight Empire #3)

RAQUEL

After an awful day in the office with that scumbag who passes for my boss, I’m looking forward to seeing Dani tonight.

Dex, too, I suppose. Though I’m still a little uneasy about them being back together again. I’m hoping this weekend sheds some light on what’s going on with them.

They’re staying at one of the top hotels in Miami—of course they would. I’m surprised the Knights don’t have a holiday home here. They’re going to take me to a fancy new restaurant for dinner.

We’ve arranged to meet at the restaurant , and I go there straight after work. As soon as I walk in, I see them. Dani is hard to miss. She always looks like a movie star in a crowd of people, and the best thing? She’s so modest.

They’ve got one of the best tables, by the window.

Dani gets up as soon as she sees me, and waves me over.

I rush towards her and we throw our arms around one another and hug.

I hold her for longer than normal, because I’ve been worried about her.

Because I’m so happy to see her. Because a weekend with my bestie drowns out all the work and Pierce headaches.

Last night we met a client over dinner, and even after the client left, Pierce wouldn’t let me go. Said he wanted to talk about my career goals. I hated every moment of sitting across a table from him, counting the minutes and the seconds, wondering how I could escape from him.

“You look good, hon,” I whisper.

“I’m so happy to see you!”

We’re still hugging. “Tell me you’re happy, Like really happy?” I whisper. “Wink, if you’re here under duress.”

She roars with laughter. We pull away, hands on each other’s arms, examining one another.

“Duress? Hon, you have the most vivid imagination. You think Dex is holding a knife to my back?”

I have to say, she looks magnificent. She always does, but there’s an inner glow this time. She’s bubbling with happiness. She hugs me again, arms going around my neck as she clings to me. Then I see Dex standing behind her.

“Anything is possible with these Knights,” I murmur, before flashing a false smile at Dex.

He stands there. Hands in his pockets, looking nonchalant and relaxed.

Giving me and my girl our own space. But I can’t forget what his family did to Dani.

I can’t forgive what his father put Uncle Arminio through.

And now I’m supposed to forget all of that and accept this happy-ever-after?

Not so quickly this time.

“You’re hilarious, hon, but I know you mean it.” Dani dismisses my concerns easily. “That’s why I needed to come and see you, to make you understand that we’re good.”

“I’m so happy that you’re here.” I move shake hands with Dex. It’s cold and clinical. Like I’m meeting a new client. This man has to win back my trust and respect.

“Sit,” Dani insists. She’s super excited. Effervescent. I wonder if she’s had too many cocktails.

“Let’s get some champagne,” Dex suggests. “And, dinner tonight is on me.”

“Thank you.” I smile sweetly as I peruse the drinks menu, then select the most expensive bottle of champagne. “Are we celebrating something?” It feels like it.

“Dex wants to make amends,” Dani enthuses. She’s fizzing with excitement. I start to worry and I wonder if he’s drugged her and brought her here to allay any suspicions he thinks I might have.

You can never trust the Knights. Dex might have duped Dani, but he can’t dupe me. None of them can.

Dex chortles. “You’ve only seen the bad side of the Knights, Raquel, and I want to put things right. My father’s actions don’t reflect how the rest of us feel, or operate.”

I cock my head, my gaze ping-ponging between them. Something hangs in the air, with the way these two are looking at each other, and the way they’re looking at me. Expectantly.

“What is it?” I ask slowly, because honestly, I’m expecting more drama. Dani’s with a Knight. It’s expected.

Dani smiles at Dex. He smiles back. I feel like a third wheel. Then she holds out her hand.

“We’re engaged!” she squeals. My gaze falls to sparkling emerald ring, and I slump back in my chair, the weight of her words a punch to my gut.

“You were engaged before,” I say, trying to sound more enthusiastic than I feel. That is a nice ring. So much better than the other one.

“We were, but this time it’s for real.” Dani’s eyes shine like diamonds. She’s insanely excited and deliriously happy. Almost as if she’s lost her mind.

“For real real?” I’m watching their faces, trying to look for clues, for what this is. For why this is. She divorced him recently, and they hadn’t even been married that long. I fear that my best friend has lost her mind.

“For real, this time,” Dex says. They both hold hands on the table.

“But you divorced him. You went to the Dominican—”

“I know, I know! This is why I wanted to come and tell you in person. It’s been a crazy few months, and I’ve got so much to tell you.”

“I can imagine,” I murmur under my breath, because Dani looks so happy. So ridiculously, over-the-moon happy. But my in-built warning system alerts me, and never lets me forget what’s happened. Or the family Dex comes from.

She starts telling me, both of them talking and finishing each other’s sentences.

I find it so aggravating. They tell me the entire story.

I’ve heard bits of it before. How Dex followed Dani to Brazil.

How he discovered she had plans to marry Oscar Ramos, and how he was so thankful he got there just in time to stop her from going through with her crazy idea.

“Then I went and got my girl back,” Dex says, looking at Dani lovingly.

“We’ve been inseparable since. Dexter loves me, and I love him.”

“She’s the only one for me,” says Dex.

I don’t know how I’m going to survive this evening. It’s not like the girlie dinners Dani and I have. With Dex in the mix, it’s something else entirely. “A marriage born from a fake marriage of convenience,” I say flatly.

They gaze at one another, and I seriously consider getting up and leaving them to enjoy their intimate dinner for two.

“Don’t be like that, hon.” Dani seems desperate for me to like Dex, and she’s probably wondering why I’m not more excited about her news.

“I get it,” Dex says carefully. “Raquel has every right to be cautious.”

I wonder if he knows about me and Rio. I wonder if Rio has told him.

“No, no,” I say quickly, putting a hand to my chest, trying to push through the tangled mess of feelings. “I am happy, it’s just, so unexpected .” Dani’s earlier exuberance fades. She’s not silly. She knows me, and her excitement fizzles out at my reaction.

Now I feel bad.

“Dani.” I get up from my seat and move to her. She stands up and I give her a great big hug. “Congratulations. “I’m so thrilled for you. I want you to be truly happy.” I read her eyes, trying to extract clues from them, like I need proof of her happiness. “You’re happy, aren’t you?”

“Raquel!” She hugs me again, laughing as though I’ve delivered the funniest one liner. “I’m so hopelessly, ridiculously, madly in love and so so so happy. This time it’s for real.”

Okay. I believe her, but I’m still going to watch her like a hawk.

Then I move over to Dex and shake his hand again.

The burn of Dani’s gaze guilt trips me. I should be more excited.

Be more receptive, hug him or something, but I can’t.

“If you hurt my best friend at all, in any capacity, I’ll make your life a living hell,” I say, with a forced smile, trying to pass my words off as a joke.

Dex nods, his gaze locked on mine. “Understood. Also, if I hurt her, I’d already be in hell.”

Caraca. Those words and the way Dex looks at Dani, the depth of emotion in his eyes, tells me he would die for her.

My heart flutters inside my chest. He really means it.

I clasp a hand to my sternum, so utterly moved, and wondering if I will ever experience that kind of love.

I move in for a hug, brushing off my emotions.

Maybe it is possible that Dexter Knight is not the type of Knight I’d run a mile from.

As I pull away, he places his hand on my arm. “I don’t blame you for hating my family, but we’re not all that bad. We’re not. I hope my actions, once we get to know each other, will make you see that there’s good in some of us. Most of us. Us brothers, we’re not all like our father.”

Where have I heard that before? This might have thawed my feelings towards Dex a little, but my distrust of the Knights isn’t going anywhere.

I quickly sit down again, feeling a pinch of sadness. I’m suddenly overcome by emotion. I’m happy for Dani, or, trying to be, and I make a mental note to keep an eye on her closer than ever now, but Dex’s words, “ I’m not like my father” , remind me of Rio.

I’ve barely heard from him but every now and then, he slides back into my thoughts again, and that night in S?o Paulo looms vibrantly in my imagination, feeling so real sometimes, it hurts.

I try to focus on the present. That it’s the weekend, there’s no work and that my best friend is here.

Tomorrow we have a girlie day to ourselves. There’s so much cause for celebration.

“I’m sure that’s what you all say.” I soften my words with a smile.

Dex’s brow furrows. “I get that you need time, that we have to prove ourselves.”

“We?” Dani looks at me. “I don’t have to prove anything to Raquel.”

“He doesn’t mean you,” I say to Dani. I know who he’s referring to. Something in my gut tells me he and Rio have talked. I feel it in my bones. Just like I sometimes remember the weight of Rio’s gaze on me, his lips on mine, the fast and flirty banter that we shared that night.

“You’ll have to earn it, all over again,” I say, opening the food menu. “Shall we order?”

I’m hungry, and I need to process everything. Not just this, Dani and Dex engaged, but the ghost of Rio that has now come back to haunt me.

***