Page 38 of Rio

When I’ve seen enough, I tell her I need to see the eco resort, so we head there.As soon as we get to the site, I’m ready to interview the workers, observe the conditions, and get a sense of the project firsthand.

Two men approach us, with apprehension.Alma points out that one is the new foreman, and the other a logistics coordinator.She introduces them both.The foreman, a man called Orlando, seems busy, and distracted, but the other man, Tomas, starts chatting away to Alma.They seem to know one another, and he offers to take us around the site.From the outside, the resort looks nice enough, but it’s clearly not finished.There’s machinery and equipment lying around and the whole place needs cleaning and polish before it could ever pass for the luxury paradise in the brochures.

But we’re here to throw a wrench in that dream.

“See that?”Alma says, her voice full of disapproval.She points toward the shoreline where the afternoon light catches on a cloud of silt bleeding into the turquoise water, stirred up by dredging equipment that shouldn’t be running this close to the reef.

A flash of anger shoots through me.I know that plume.I’ve seen it too many times in places that don’t make the travel magazines.It’s the beginning of the end for the life under that water.My hands fist, my nails slicing into my palms, and for a second, I’m taken back to the favela, to the smell of the oil-slicked river near us, and I hear my neighbors shouting at the men who came to take what little we had left.

After I landed here, as Alma drove me to HQ, I saw the sea and greenery from a distance.This place was paradise, but now that I’ve been up close and inspected the damage, anger wells inside me.

“We’re going to halt this soon enough,” I whisper to Alama, indignation seething out of my pores.

The deep growl of an engine interrupts us, causing us all to turn.A black, shiny Jeep, a monster of an automobile, pulls up right outside the entrance to the eco resort.The door swings open and out steps a man looking like trouble.He’s wearing Aviators and a grin that is all arrogance and mischief, like he just won something.Tall and broad-shouldered, he’s in a crisp white linen shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbow, with the sun catching the dark tan of his forearms.He’s wearing charcoal trousers that fit like they were made for him, and boots that send dust curling in late-afternoon light.

“Caraca,” I groan.Because … what are the chances?

I know that man.

At the same time, Tomas informs us, “He’s from the parent company and he’s overseeing launch logistics.”

I stop breathing.

Rio Knight.Overseeinglaunchlogistics.

My mind whirs furiously, because I don’t recall seeing the name of Knight Enterprises anywhere.

The man I was hoping to never run into again now stares in our direction.I can’t move.Then he starts walking towards me, with that cocky swagger, looking straight at me, even though I can’t see his eyes.

“Meu Deus,” I hiss, louder than I intend.My God.

“Do you know him?”Alma’s voice is suddenly cautious.

He takes off his dark shades, and our eyes lock.

He smiles.

That cheesy, annoying, sexy smile of his, the one where just the corners of his lips turn up.His beard is newly trimmed.He looks fresh and clean and my body begins to sweat more profusely than ever whereas he looks like he stepped out of a cologne ad.

“I don’t believe this,” I murmur, a knot of indignation choking my throat.

Rio walks up to me.His lips upturned at the corners, looking too smug for words.

He hangs his shades on the neck of his white T.“Don’t tell me they let you in here legally.”That voice, smooth as satin, reverberates deep in my core.

I can’t help myself.“Don’t tell me Daddy called and had you running off to do his bidding again?”

“You two know each other?”Tomas asks.

“Who is this?”Alma asks quietly.

Rio’s fury comes off him like heat from a wildfire.We don’t answer, and our eyes are fixed on each other, untrusting and cold.

“Well, well.”This time Rio flashes me a full smile that reveals his perfect white teeth.“The climate crusader is on a crusade.Are you behind the noise?”

My nostrils flare.“If I’d known you were the one behind this mess, I wouldn’t have wasted sunscreen.”

Our eyes are on fire.Our voices stay cool.