Page 104 of Rio
I hear a loud exhale at the end of the phone.“You will have received an email from the Belizean court.Cross check the data specifically and get back to me.”
My gut twists, and I’m wondering what it could be as I sink back into my chair.My heart slides further down my ribcage, like it’s given up.Hands trembling, I pull up the file on my computer.Itcouldbe the data Rio gave me.I didn’t intend to use any of it, but I did, because I was struggling to get the report together.I didn’t use a lot of it.At least—I didn’t think I did.But I think back to that night.It was late and I’d arrived at Rio’s hotel room, where I’d gone only because the generator at my hotel failed.
That was my first mistake, goingthere.
And then one thing led to another, and another and we got carried away.I hadn’t slept enough as it was, and with me and him making out, it’s no wonder my mind was frazzled.
When I got back to my hotel, it was late.I was panicking, and rushing.I got sloppy, and I think I added more of the data than I intended to.I open my own records and pull up the same file I submitted last month.My fingers shake as I compare it line by line to what the court flagged.
I read through Section D.The part that refers to coral reef damage in the southern coast—it’s not even consistent with the field notes I took on site.I never noticed.There are other consistencies throughout, all highlighted.A horrible thought creeps into my brain, sour and slow.
Rio did this to me.Deliberately.I was too trusting.Too reckless.And now the court’s thrown it all out.It’s rejected the injunction which means Delport Realty have won.Knight Enterprises have indirectly won.And the people of Belize have lost.
I feel wretched.Like someone’s fisted me in my gut and winded me.I think back to the way he handed me that file.Confident and casual, like it wasn’t a big deal.Like he expected me to trust him.
He even said I didn’t need to take it.Made it sound so innocent.
I fell for it.
Was this to do with Rio Knight?Did he play you?
I can’t get Alma’s words out of my head.Because I think he did.He played me like a sad and sorry tune on a violin.I close the laptop slowly, like the truth might stop screaming at me if I just shut the lid.
Now I wonder, did he do this on purpose?I still can’t believe it.He wouldn’t.He couldn’t.But then I think back to everything—his visits here, mine to New York.All those soft moments.All those silences.All those nights thick with heat and want.Wickedly wild and etched into my skin.
I sink further back into my chair, desk, hollow and stunned.I trusted him, emotionally and professionally.In doing so I forgot who he was.A Knight.Through and through.And this is what those people do.Rio has helped me to sabotage the case.
I call Alma back, my voice shaky, as I tell her it was the data from the file Rio gave me.I start to say I’m sorry, but she cuts me short.Tells me that the NGO has paused my work.They’ve launched an internal review.
“This was a betrayal.You let us down.You let me down, and you let yourself down.I trusted you to help us, but you’ve ruined everything.”
I’m broken.My reputation is in tatters with the NGO, with the wonderful team at EcoGuardians, with Alma.She meant so much to me.Now she tells me that the case is damaged beyond repair.She doesn’t have to tell me how betrayed she feels.I feel it in my bones.
My credibility is on the line and my future is hanging by a thread.I don’t even want to know how Pierce will react.But I don’t have to wait for long.As soon as I get off the phone from Alma, my office door slams wide open and Pierce storms in, his face twisted with fury, cheeks red, glaring at me in such a way I’m scared his eyeballs will pop out of his sockets.
“I got a call,” he snaps.“Your documents were discredited.Your case has been officially thrown out.”
I stare at him, cowering like a child, unable to formulate a word.
“What data did you use?”he cries.I look at him, cold and cornered.I tell him it was from a file passed to me by someone.“Who?”he barks.I know just how bad this looks.
“It came from a file.Passed to me by someone I trusted.”
“Who?”he barks again.
I hesitate.
“I told you I didn’t want you to file the injunction, but you went against my wishes.You submitted this mess.Don’t make me ask you again.Where did the data come from?”
I pull open my drawer and hand him the folder.“I have it right here.”
“Where the fuck is it from?”he bellows.
“Rio Knight gave it to me.”
Silence.
“Rio.Knight?” His cutting tone slices through me, and I feel it shredding my gut into pieces.“You’re fucking him,” he states calmly, glaring at me.“I thought as much.”
