Authors: Delaney Diamond
Sabrina shrugged. “It’s important to both of
us. There’s a lot of money at stake.” The moment she said the words, he could
tell she regretted them. “I-I mean—”
“I know what you mean.”
“Do you? Do you know what I mean?”
“Of course. Money is very important to you. You
didn’t have much growing up.”
“It’s important to you, too.”
“But it’s a priority for you.”
After the stilted exchange, she didn’t respond
and chose instead to clasp her hands on her lap. She looked a little sad and he
couldn’t stand it. It ate at him. Turning away from her, he hardened his heart,
which he was doing a lot lately.
He couldn’t allow his desire for her to cloud
his judgment again. He refused to fall for her vulnerable act. There was a time
when he’d wanted to protect her, take care of her, but no longer. What she’d
done was too much to overlook.
If only he didn’t want her so much. Didn’t
notice the way she brushed the loose curls from her eyes as the wind blew them
across her face while they were on site. Didn’t enjoy the way the curve of her
back felt as they stood together taking photos.
A prickling sensation remained in the spot
where she had touched his leg. It was difficult not to think about it because
it became the focus of his attention.
Fortunately, his phone rang and saved him from
his thoughts. He answered it in a clipped tone.
From the corner of her eye, Sabrina watched
Renaldo as he talked on the phone.
There’s a lot of money at stake.
She
mentally kicked herself. Wrong thing to say.
What she should have said was, “I’ll always
have your back.” Instead, she’d mentioned the money, and the change in him had
been immediate.
She’d missed the opportunity to show him how
much she cared and how she was as vested in the company as he was. From the day
they’d said their vows, she’d promised to support him in everything. She
couldn’t take back what she did that night, but she hoped eventually he could
see past what she’d done.
Listening on her end, Sabrina heard him
mention a fire at an apartment complex he’d purchased with the intention of
turning it into condominiums.
“Problem
over at Avenida de Jabaquara again?” she asked when he hung up.
“Isn’t there always?”
“Was anyone hurt?”
“Luckily, no. The last tenants moved out
a couple of weeks ago.”
Progress on the conversion to condominiums
had been slow because of all the problems over there.
The property seemed to be cursed. Even
with a
despachante
, it had taken longer than usual to get the building
permits needed to make the renovations. Then one day, lightning had struck a
large tree on the property, splitting it in two. One-half fell on a truck
parked nearby, and the resultant lawn fire had sent everyone into a panic
before the fire department arrived to put it out. Next, a car had crashed into
the front door and destroyed the leasing office, but luckily no one had been
hurt. Now another fire had consumed an entire building before it had been
contained.
“What could possibly happen next?”
“I’m waiting for the plague of locusts
to descend.”
It was such an odd thing to say, that she
lifted her head to look at him. Despite the sarcastic comment, he looked
extremely upset, as if he truly thought that could be the next catastrophe to hit.
He had a dry sense of humor, and she
hadn’t witnessed it in so long. It was one of the things she loved about him.
He’d often made her laugh, telling her she took life too seriously. He was
right, but she’d seen so much sadness and desolation growing up, she’d grown
used to being cautious. Orphaned as teenagers, she and Jewel had struggled to
make ends meet, afraid of going into foster care and being separated.
While he’d been growing up in a loving,
nuclear family, she and her cousin had begged for food and depended on the
kindness of others for a place to lay their heads at night. It’d been a
horrible time, even more horrible than when their mothers had been alive. At
least then they’d had two adults, even if the women seemed more concerned about
feeding their drug habits than feeding their daughters.
So many of their family members were in
jail or dead. That’s why she and Jewel were so close. They’d seen the worst the
world had to offer and survived when so many others didn’t.
“A plague of locusts is a bit much,
isn’t it?”
“Is it?”
She smiled, and it turned into a short
laugh, which she stopped short before it rolled into a full-blown chortle.
Renaldo raised an eyebrow. “You find
this funny?”
“Not really, but you’re right, you’ve
had the worst luck with that place ever since you bought it. I wouldn’t be
surprised if a swarm of locusts really did descend on it.”
“Nor would I.” His hair-sprinkled wrist
peeked out from beneath his shirtsleeves as he ran his hand over his dark hair.
She jealously eyed the movement, wishing it was her hand touching the silky
strands instead. “That will probably happen right before they discover the
entire place was built on a volcano, and then the volcano erupts, destroying
only that property and nothing else around it.”
“A volcano? In the middle of Sao Paulo?”
She giggled, letting loose the tension from earlier.
He shrugged, keeping a straight face,
which was what made his comments even more comical. “Why not? It’s obvious we
should expect the unexpected when it comes to that place.”
We
.
It may have been a slip of the tongue
and meant absolutely nothing, but it warmed her heart nonetheless.
And then she saw it…a smile. She latched
onto it, smiling back, her heart soaring. The smile, the conversation, and the
sudden softness in his eyes were a peek back into their old life, stirring
memories of how they used to talk and joke and laugh.
She missed their old life so much.
The phone rang again, stealing that
moment, but she’d never forget it.
Maybe all isn’t lost yet.
They were a few miles from SDG when he
ended the phone call.
“Will you have to go there?”
Renaldo shook his head. “They can handle
it without me. I—”
All of a sudden, the car swerved. Horns
blared.
He looked out the window to see a truck barreling
toward them.
He didn’t have much time to think. He
moved fast—faster than he could ever remember moving before in his life. There
wasn’t enough time to warn Sabrina—only time to act. He dragged her into his
arms, the action instinctive. With barely a second to spare, he pushed her face
down to the floor and blanketed her body like armor, stifling the cry of alarm
on her lips.
The vicious force of thousands of pounds
ramming into them crunched the metal casing of the limo and bowed the interior.
Broken glass rained on Renaldo and the leather seat. Sabrina screamed under him
as the car skidded down the street before it abruptly stopped when it slammed into
something else.
They froze on the floor, their breaths
coming short and fast. He could feel her shaking beneath him.
Finally, he eased his hold. She twisted
her head to look back at him. “Are you all right?” he asked. His heart was
beating so fast and loud he could barely hear himself speak.
She nodded, her fear-filled eyes locking
with his.
They rose from the floor and stumbled
out of the damaged vehicle. Renaldo carefully removed remnants of glass from
his suit and surveyed the wreckage. They’d hit another car.
Once he knew Sabrina was safe, he
checked on his driver. He seemed rattled after he climbed from the car, but,
thankfully, unhurt.
“I didn’t see it in time,” his driver said
in a dazed voice. “I didn’t have time to—”
“It wasn’t your fault.” Renaldo checked
on the owner of the vehicle they had hit. He was also unhurt.
Their accident had caused other cars to
collide, too. The intersection was a mess. He stared at the wreckage of the
limo.
Deus
. The truck had smashed in the side of it where Sabrina had
been sitting. She could’ve been seriously injured, maybe even...
He couldn’t finish the thought. It was
one thing to lose her from his marriage, quite another to lose her from this
world.
Spectators rushed over to them, but he
kept his eye on the truck driver, who was apologizing profusely to anyone who
would listen.
Renaldo didn’t know when he started
moving, but the next thing he knew, he’d walked around the limo and had the
other man by the collar. He shoved him into the door of his truck.
“You damn fool! You could have killed
her!”
He cursed at the other man and gripped
his lapels in a tight grasp. The man trembled, his eyes wide as Renaldo continued
to verbally ream him.
“Renaldo!” Sabrina’s voice pierced the
cloud of his anger. Her fingers clutched his thick bicep as she tried to pry
him off the man. “Stop!”
He was so worked up it took a moment for
her words to completely penetrate. Breathing heavily, Renaldo finally released the
driver. He cupped her face in his hands. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He’d asked
her already, could see she was fine, yet he needed the reassurance.
“Yes,” she said. “You saved me.”
Graças a Deus
!
He pulled her to him, holding on tight,
probably tighter than he should. He rubbed her back, needing to touch her,
needing to be sure she truly was fine.
They stood in the midst of the chaos
with the other victims, traffic backing up all around the intersection, holding
each other until the first police car pulled up. An ambulance followed, then a fire
truck.
They spoke to a paramedic who suggested
that they go to the hospital to get checked.
“I’ll have our personal physician check
us,” Renaldo replied.
The paramedic walked away and Renaldo
spotted their driver talking to a police officer, and he didn’t want him to
have to answer questions on his own. He took Sabrina by the arm, just below the
elbow, and walked her over to the side of the road. “Stay here while I talk to
the police. Then I’ll take you home.”
She nodded, and he squeezed her arms
before walking back into the fray.
Home.
He’d said the word as if nothing had
changed.
He rejoined his driver to answer
questions. But every few minutes while he spoke with one of the police
officers, he’d glance over to the side where she stood waiting for him, as if
subconsciously he expected her to disappear at any minute.
He couldn’t wait to get her
home
.
Chapter Ten
Sabrina let down her hair and
absent-mindedly finger-combed it into order, her thoughts still on the
accident.
Their personal doctor had met her and
Renaldo at the penthouse and given them a thorough examination. He advised
there might be some soreness the next day, but neither of them had any
injuries.
It scared her to think how fortunate she
was that she wasn’t on her way to the hospital, like one of the people who’d
left the scene in an ambulance.
Was she overreacting? Her nerves still
felt fragile and a stark look of fear hovered in the eyes staring back at her
in the full-length mirror. Surely it was understandable since her life had
flashed in front of her. If Renaldo hadn’t moved so quickly, she’d be…
She tried to get rid of the sobering
thought, but the image of the crushed limo wouldn’t allow her to. If he hadn’t
dragged her into his arms, it was quite possible she’d be dead now.
Had she even thanked him? She couldn’t
remember.
He’d been so gentle afterward, keeping
an arm around her almost constantly, as if prepared to rescue her again if
another out of control vehicle should suddenly appear. The scent of him adhered
to her clothes, and the soothing touch of his hands clung to her skin.
Sabrina slipped out of her shoes and
left her room, going to the door of the master suite. After she knocked,
Renaldo’s voice called her in.
He
sat at the foot of the bed, hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees. She
felt like an intruder disturbing his sanctuary.
Everything looked exactly the way it had
before she’d left. All but the bed. Like the last one, it appeared to be
hand-carved from
ipe
, Brazilian walnut, but it was different. He’d
bought a new bed, and the realization cut through her like a knife. He hadn’t
wanted to sleep where they’d slept.
Where she’d slept with Mateo.
A fresh round of regret threatened to
choke her. How could she have cheated on him? It didn’t make sense. She loved
Renaldo.
Her eyes skirted the door to the
bathroom, where they had made love so many times in the shower or the massive
sunken tub custom made to accommodate his height.