She turned away from him, unable to have him look at her. She couldn’t look at herself. “That’s my inheritance, Rio. It’s what got my father and my mother killed.” Rachael felt behind her for the chair. Her leg throbbed and burned from overuse, but that wasn’t what made her legs shaky.
“My brother told me that our father fell in love with our mother and he wanted out of the business. Once she found out, she would have left him, so he wanted to go legitimate. I have no idea why we moved from South America, but we have estates there as well as in Florida.” She sank into the chair, grateful to be off of her leg. “I think he thought it would be different in Florida, but they were still in the business there. No matter what he did, he couldn’t change anything.”
272
Christine Feehan
Rio fixed her a cool drink. He could see pain eating her from the inside out. Two small children thrown into the middle of a world of violence. He knew the strict rules of the society their mother had grown up in. She must have tried to pass her morality, her honor and integrity to her children. He handed her the drink and sat on the floor, taking her injured leg into his hands. :
Rachael looked down at his face. She couldn’t find evidence of a judgment. There was nothing but acceptance in his expression. There was compassion in his eyes and she had to look away from that. Tears burned too close. She didn’t dare begin to cry. She was afraid if the floodgates opened, she’d never be able to close them.
She sipped at the cooling nectar, trying to think how to tell him. What to tell him. She’d never told anyone. People died over the kinds of information she carried with her. Rio’s fingers were gentle on her skin as he bathed her leg, elevating it while he examined the puncture wounds. His hands were sure and steady and her heart did a funny little flip. She touched the top of his head, the thick shaggy hair. “You’re a good man, Rio. Don’t let your elders or anyone else tell you different.”
Her heart was in her voice. Rio leaned down to press a kiss against the largest scar. “What happened to you, Rachael? What happened to your brother?”
“My uncle Armando ran the business with our father. They were twins, you know. Very close we thought. We spent so much time with him. He came to dinner all the time. He treated Elijah as his own son. He even took Elijah to ball games and into the Everglades. We thought he loved us. He certainly acted like he did. I never heard Armando and Antonio fight. Not once. They always hugged one another, and it seemed genuine.”
Rio looked up when she fell silent again, frowning into her drink. He waited. Whatever trauma she’d experienced, he had the patience to wait for the telling. She was trusting him with things he was certain no other knew.
WILD RAIN
273
Rachael took a deep breath, glanced toward the door. The windows. “Are you certain no one is around? Could Kim be within hearing distance?” Her tone was low, a ghostlike whisper, and there was a childish quality to her voice. “In our home they sweep for electronic devices every day. Sometimes a couple of times a day. And Elijah has them sweep every car for bombs before we ever get into them.”
He circled her ankle with his fingers, wanting to touch her. Wanting to be an anchor for her. “It must be a terrible way to live, always thinking someone might want you dead.”
“I was nine years old when I walked into a room and saw my parents murdered. Armando was stabbing his brother over and over. Mom was already dead. He cut her throat. There wasn’t a spot in the room free of blood.”
Rio could see she was far away from him, was still that little girl, walking innocently into a room, perhaps coming home from school and wanting to show her parents something special. His fingers tightened, holding her to him.