Page 111 of Rio
Hours later, I’m outside her apartment, my heartbeat a steady, punishing drumbeat.I need to see her.Tell her I’m going to fix it.I’m going to fight the old man, and play it dirty, like he does.
I knock.No answer.
“Raquel.”I knock again.Still nothing.
She’s not a coward.She’ll face me.She has to.And if she doesn’t…
“Raquel, it’s me.I need to speak to you.I heard about the job.”I knock again, and now I’m ready to break the damn door down.“
The door opens.The sight of her like this, something I’ve never seen, Raquel, broken, hits me like a punch to the chest.Her eyes are red-rimmed, her cheeks blotchy from crying.She looks like she’s been through hell.I step in.She steps back, but she doesn’t shut me out.
That’s something.I close the door behind me, the click loud in the silence.
It’s late.Sweat clings to me, my shirt sticks to my back.She looks so gaunt, it scares me.
She stares at me blankly.“Pierce fired me.”
“I’m sorry.I heard.He’s a fucking asshole.”My gut twists.For someone like Raquel, who loves her job so fiercely, it must feel like she’s lost some of her identity.All because of the old man, and me.
She’s about to walk away, when I grab her wrist.“Don’t walk away.”
She wrenches her wrist free.“What is there to say?I can’t even bring myself to look at you.”She spits the words with such venom, I shirk back I shock.She hates me because she blames me for this.
“Don’t do this.I came here so we could talk.Because it was important we see you, face to face.I need you to believe me.”
“Well, Idon’t.” She yells so loudly, I startle, not recognizing the woman before me.I let in a shaky breath, because I won’t give up.“I should never have believed you.I should never have trusted you.”
“It’s important.Please.”The pleading in my voice must have had some effect, because she folds her arms and glares at me defiantly.At least I have her attention.“I was ten years old when I learned the man I trusted was a liar and a cheat.That same man is the one who’s trying to break me now, by getting to you.By destroying you.”
Her eyes widen, fear lancing through them.“What do you mean?”
“That’s why I’m here, now.I’m begging you to listen, and I don’t beg, Raquel.I’ve never begged in my life.”
She takes a step back.“Then don’t start now.”
I step forward, because I’m not letting her get away.“I will.For you, I will.”There’s a desperation in my voice that is unfamiliar.“That monster who calls himself my father wants to break me, and he thinks he can by ruining you, by breaking us up.”
“How does he even know we’re together?”
“He has ways and means.Paparazzi photos.That’s not important, what’s important is that you listen to me.I had a meeting with him this morning.I wish I could’ve recorded it, but I didn’t.I was too shocked.I didn’t realize what I was walking into when he called me into his office..”
I pace around her living room.She doesn’t sit down, just stands there, arms folded, watching me.
“He’s such a Machiavellian bastard.He set you up.Belize was a real situation that he manipulated to set you up.Then he sat back and watched you fall.”
She shakes her head in disbelief.I move towards her, almost reach out and touch her, and fight the need to do so.“It sounds incredulous, I know, but he manipulated the entire situation.He worked it so that you’d get this case.He said Pierce didn’t want you to have it.That he doesn’t like you working pro bono.He also knew about Tovey’s sexual harassment of his employees—something else you mentioned to me.Turns out, William Roth knew, too, and he buried it.The old man and Roth know each other.They’ve played golf together, and the old man knew exactly what to threaten Roth with.”
Her arms fall to her sides, her brow creasing.“Surely that’s not … not possible?”
“It is, and it was, and it happened.He lined up all the dominoes, just for this to happen.”
“For me to lose my job?”
“For all of it.It was to teachmea lesson, to teach us.Me and the other Knights, He didn’t like that we were starting to band together, and that his divide and conquer strategy was waning.So he fought back hard, worked on way to get us back in line.”
“It sounds too farfetched.”
“I know.”I reach out to cup her face, then slide my hand back into my pockets.This is so damn hard.She’s hurting, and all I want is to hold her and make everything be right again for her.Not even being able to touch her, it’s slicing a blade against my own skin.The restraint cuts sharp and deep, because every instinct in me screams to take her pain.“He got Roth to pressure Tovey to make sure you took the case.He manipulated us.It’s no surprise to me, because I know what he’s capable of, but he knew you’d be in Belize, and that’s why he sent me there.He wanted this to happen, but he didn’t expect Alma to file an injunction.That threw him.Another thing you need to know is if I hadn’t offered you the data file, he would have found something else.He would have found another way to bring you down and he’d have pinned it on me anyway.That man is relentless.As for the data, I’m not a scientist.I didn’t compile that report myself.I’m not detail-oriented like that, but more than that, I would never do this to you.This was never about the file.It was about taking us both down, because I care about you.”
