Page 68 of Rio

“That I was going to serve you with an injunction?Why?”I throw back.

“Because then I wouldn’t have kissed you.”

“I tried to keep away from you.”

A line forms on his brow.For a few seconds he’s speechless.Then he scrubs a hand across his beard.“This, after everything.I didn’t even see this coming.”

I round on him.“Did you even pay attention at the community meeting?Did you hear the man who needs to buy bottled water now because of your site runoff?You said you’d make it right.Have you even been back to check?”

“I haven’t had time,” he murmurs, a vein throbbing across his temple.“The old man keeps me so busy, I haven’t managed to even get out.”

“That should tell you something.”

His expression is undecipherable.I don’t know what he’s thinking.He’s silent, examining me like I’m an oddball.Someone he’ll never understand.

“Must you completely halt construction?”

“We’re stopping construction because you’re illegally operating without proper environmental clearance.Because your machinery is already causing damage,” I continue, seething with a rage that builds the more I talk, and the more that contemptuous look on his face grows.“You tried to fast-track permits through people who don’t speak English and you hoped no one would notice!”

“We did no such thing.”

“Do you even know what was done when your back was turned?”I’m shaking with anger at his ignorance.

Around us, locals watch from shaded stalls.I hear whispers in a language I don’t understand.Glancing at the table, Tomas flips through the folder.The foreman’s already on the phone.

Rio drags a hand through his hair, furious.“You didn’t have to do it like this.”

“I did,” I say quietly.“Because doing itany other waywould’ve meant backing down.You always worry about the optics.That’s not what’s important here.Doing the right thing is all that matters, and the sad thing is, you don’t even know that the right thing is.”

He stares at me for a long moment.Then he lets out a sharp, humorless breath.

I’ve seen and heard enough.

Chapter 20

RIO

I glare at Raquel as she gets into the car with that old woman, and they drive away.

I don’t fucking believe it.After everything between us, she hits me with a fucking injunction.My insides burn with fury because I didn’t see it coming.I always knew she had balls bigger than a bull, and I let myself fall under her charm again.

Now this.

But when I calm down, and sit back, thinking it over, I realize I’m mad at myself.For being blind to something that’s going on.Raquel wouldn’t file an injunction if there wasn’t a good reason for it.The old man has kept me mired in meetings.I shouldn’t be sitting here having lunch.I should be out there, examining the mangroves, and the reef, and talking to villagers.I should be out there talking to the elder who said he had to buy bottled water.I should be checking the claims made by the people at the community hall instead of blindly accepting everything I’ve been told.

“What are we supposed to do?”the foreman asks.

“We have to stop construction,” Tomas says.

The old man’s going to freak out.He’ll think I’ve failed and he’ll accuse me of screwing this up like he always does.I was sent here to smooth things over, make everything look clean again.But he has no idea that I’m up against one of the smartest damn lawyers I’ve ever encountered.Someone who knows exactly where to hit us where it hurts.

I rake a hand through my hair, feeling panicked.The injunction isn’t only a legal move, it’s a statement, and I was caught flat-footed.That pisses me off more than anything.

I have a lot to do.Also, I need to let the old man know we’ve been served.That construction is frozen.Halted.Nothing happens until this is resolved.He’s going to be pissed so badly that we can’t open on time.

“What are you thinking?”Tomas asks, his eyes wise, knowing.Like he’s giving me a chance to do the decent thing.

He’s said just enough over the last few days to get under my skin.A few offhand comments about corrosion on the water tanks.He hesitated when I asked about the foreman before Orlando.No one seems to have a real answer for that, but it’s what Tomashasn’tsaid that’s starting to eat at me.