Page 114 of Rio

I’ve lost my job.My reputation is at risk of being maligned.I don’t expect Pierce to go easy on me.Now I’m powerless.I feel foolish for letting myself believe that me and Rio could ever work, and Dani being here is a salve on the entire, bloody wound.

Rio talking about the meeting he’d had with the old man.He was angry and seething with hatred, and while it sounded so farfetched that at first I couldn’t wrap my head around it, by the time he left, I started to believe everything he told me.But today, I don’t know what to believe.

I’m shocked by the lengths that man will go to ruin his family.It makes no sense.But Paul Knight did this to his wife.He already had a wife, and a family, and he went and created another one.He’s the type of man who takes, takes, takes.

Dani’s sitting on the couch, which is now tissue-free.

“Want me to make you something to eat?”she asks.

I shake my head and instead tell her about the Rio’s visit yesterday, only to discover that he went over to Dex’s place late last night.

“He was a mess.He really was,” she tells me.“I’m not telling you this to feel sorry for him, but he looked broken.”

I saw it myself.Iheardit in his voice.But my head is all over the place again and nothing seems solid.I feel fractured, and unsteady, like I’m unravelling at the seams and I don’t know how to hold myself together.This state of weakness isn’t something I’m familiar with.

Before Rio and I got close, and I abhored the Knights, I was of the opinion that a man like Rio would learn his ways from the master of deception.

Paul Knight has inflicted so much damage to other people.I already knew that he was the worst.He's despicable, evil, and greedy.But Rio always told me it wasn’t true.That he wasn’t a monster.That it was all Paul.That he’s nothing like his father.

He offered me the data file, but he didn’t force it on me.

I was the one who took it.The decision was mine.But it was planted.Fed to me through him, and then it blew up and I got discredited because of it.I remember what Rio said.He said if his father hadn’t done it this way, he would’ve found another way.

“I don’t hate him,” I say, “but I’ve questioned every conversation, every interaction we’ve had and I'm as confused as ever now because while I want to believe him, I’m too scared to trust him again.Do you ever worry that they have a part of their father in them?”

Dani looks at me.“I worried about it once, but I’ve come to know that Dex isn’t like that at all.It’s a valid concern, and I totally get why you’re thinking it, but if you can find it in your heart to give Rio a chance, you’ll see that he’s not like that either.”

I have a feeling she’s right, but I’m too bruised by all that’s happened.It’s not only my personal life, but my professional life that has taken such a hit.Everything I lived for is gone.Alma, Vilma and Edwin—all the people at EcoGuardians—they must think I’m a fake and a phony and a cop-out and a sell-out.

My credibility is gone.And the man I trusted with my body, my career, my heart—somehow was the weapon that his father used to ruin me.I might’ve been manipulated.And Rio might’ve been a part of it.But he was an innocent bystander.He didn’t know.If I was played, so was he.

What am I going to do?It doesn’t matter.Because my bestie is here, and together we’ll figure it out.

I haven’t told my mom yet.I don’t want her to worry about me.She worries as it is because she thinks I’m overworked.I haven’t told her about Rio.We do have our regular weekly calls.She could tell something was wrong, but I didn’t tell her.But she knows something is up.

“I gave Dex a chance,” Dani says.“I was about to marry Oscar, and Dex came and saved me.”

“Rio saved me.”

“From what?”

I don’t need to tell her all the details, but I think back to the night of the storm when he came looking for me.

I don’t think I could have survived out there by myself.I would have survived somehow, sitting in that hut by myself, all alone and scared, but having Rio there was a lifeline.

He was my lifeline.

He put his life at risk to come looking for me.

He proved to me that night that he isn’t his father, and while I want so much to think we could salvage what he had, my life is such a mess right now.Everything I worked for has fallen apart, and I need time to recover from this.

“Tell me what you need me to do,” Dani says, resting her hand on my arm.

“I just need to be here, and I love that you came here for me.”

“Like, you didn’t come running for me,” she says.“I remember how you’ve always been there for me, turning up out of the blue when I said to you I was marrying a stranger.”

I sigh, remembering.““That was the night I met Rio.Sitting at the bar, keeping an eye on you and Dex.”