Page 105 of Rio

A warning bell goes off in my head.Before I can say another word, he beats me to it.“You have him running around after you, like some whipped billionaire lapdog, you …” He screws his face up, like he’s revolted by me.“Having his hands and mouth all over you, turning up at that meeting late, looking like a …”

He saw.

He saw us together.

That night in the SUV, when Rio surprised me, when I climbed into his backseat and let him do what he wanted to with me.

He saw it, and the way he’s looking at me?He’s going to destroy me.I open my mouth but my throat closes.Something icy twists in my gut.

“This was before … before anything happened between us,” I say.Anythingmajor, is what I mean to say, because up until then, I’d still crossed a line, albeit blurry.

Who am I kidding?

I can’t defend myself.Everything points to me.Unethical, reckless, shameful behavior.I lost my head.That’s what.Pierce laughs, and I wince.Because I know that prickly laugh well.It’s a warning that something bad is coming my way.

“You know what the board’s saying right now?That we’ve been compromised.That your relationship, personal or not, with a Knight has tainted this entire operation.”

“Pierce—”

“You handed the court falsified evidence.You violated legal protocol.And you buried this organization’s credibility in the process.”

“I didn’t know—”

“No,” he snaps, “but you should have.Were you thinking, at all, while you were in Belize, or did one look at that Knight turn your brain to mush?You submitted evidence without verifying the source.That is negligence and that, is career-ending.”He steps closer, drops his voice to a dangerous level.“The executive director is already calling for a full review.And if they ask me to make a recommendation?”

I already know what’s coming.

“I’ll say you breached protocol.That you compromised the mission.That your bias, your involvement, cost us one of the most important environmental cases we’ve ever brought to court.”

That’s what he’s calling it now?He didn’t think it was so important when it first dropped on his desk.I know what he’s doing.He’s going to paint me as the worst, humiliate me, and ruin me.

“You wanted to play the hero, but you’ve caused your own downfall.This is what happens when you mix business with bedtime.”

“Please don’t do this,” I whisper.

But he’s already walking away.

“Oh, I didn’t do this.You did this to yourself,” he says.“You handed them everything they needed to tear us apart.”

The door slams shut behind him.

And I fall apart.

Chapter 34

RAQUEL

I go home soon after the confrontation with Pierce.

I’m in pieces, barely treading water in the bad news swimming around me.It’s too much to process; too many memories and conversations to sift through, to make sense of.I can’t wrap my head around it all, and a part of me wishes this were just a big, bad dream I’m soon going to wake up from.

Here in my apartment, sitting on the couch, clutching a cushion, staring absently at the coffee table, nothing has changed.Time still marches on, and I still feel as lost and as hopeless as ever.I pinch the space between my eyes, hoping to relieve the tension, but restlessness takes a hold of me, leaving me feeling uneasy all over.

A montage flashes before my eyes, of my career, and everything I’ve worked so hard for.The sacrifices I’ve made.Unlike Dani, I don’t come from wealth or power.I’ve had to earn my place and build my reputation.I built it inch by inch.One brick at a time.

And now it’s gone.All because of a folder.Because I trusted.Because I was blindsided by a man I should have stayed away from.

Remembering Rio makes my stomach twist so hard, I brace myself as the nausea claws through me.Tears slide down my cheeks, hot, fast, and bitter.He said he believed in me.Said he respected the work I was doing.Said he cared.He made me feel like we belonged together.