Page 23 of Rio
“I’ve missed you.”
We sit a while in an appreciative silence.The mood is light and easy, but my mind drifts.There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask.Something that’s been sticking in the back of my throat while I digest everything she told me.
“So…” I take another sip and lower my voice, “what does your future father-in-law think about your engagement?”
Dani opens one eye, turns and gives me a look.“Dex said that when he told him, his father just nodded and said he wasn’t surprised.”
Typical.
“He’s pissed, Dexter says.After everything that happened, him tricking my father, and Rio and his brothers helping Dexter get the company back ...”
Paul Knight sounds dangerous and vile.I shudder with dread to think of Dani having him for a father-in-law one day.When I think of the family secret, the affair Paul had, of his wife’s suicide, and the two sets of brothers, it’s the stuff of soap operas.It doesn’t seem real.But it is, and that’s the sad thing.Two families were affected.Two women, who both loved a man.And six little boys.
Now that I know, I see the similarity between them, though it still surprises me that Rio and Dex are only half-brothers, because they seem so much like real brothers so strong is their resemblance, save for the hair, and Rio’s olive complexion.
“Dexter told his father at work.He just walked into his office, told him we were engaged, for real, and that was it.”
It doesn’t surprise me, but it’s so messed up.“Did his father congratulate you?”
Dani scoffs.“I haven’t seen him since the Knight family dinner, at his penthouse, when Dexter told him that he’d been outplayed.Jett threw us a dinner last week, and it was such a wonderful evening.”
“Wonderful?”She makes it sound like he did something amazing.
“It was informal, and Paul wasn’t invited, and we all got on.It felt so relaxed, compared to the Knight family dinner.It was like being at home, when we have our cousins and aunts and uncles over.Usually there’s no warmth with the Knights, but this was different.It’s hard to explain.They don’t know how to be a family.”She looks at me, apologetically.
“They’re dysfunctional.”
“Yes, but that night, at Jett and Cari’s dinner, it felt like we were all part of one family.”
“Youareall part of one family,” I quip.
“But they don’t act like it.If you saw them together, you’d see the divide.Rio, Matteo and Enzo versus Jett, Dex and Zach.Dexter said it used to be so obvious.But then he and Rio started hanging out, and discovered that they have a lot in common, and then they had to keep their friendship a secret from the others.That’s crazy, don’t you think?”
“They’re a crazy family,” I mutter.“You don’t have to marry into it.”I quirk a smile, but a part of me is being serious.
The technician starts on her other foot, around the same time that mine does.“You’re wary, and you have the sense of a bloodhound and I love you for it, but you’ll see, the more you get to know Dexter, that he’s nothing like his father.None of them are.”
“None of them?”My heart flips, and I anticipate hearing about the others.
“It was so sweet.Jett apologized to me for being so cold towards me, and I appreciate it.It means a lot coming from him.”
“Why?Does he have a God-complex or something?”I roll my eyes.They think they’re more important than they are.They think having all that wealth elevates them.I have so much disdain for these people.
She laughs.“No.He’s just … more intense, more … brooding.”
I glance sideways at her, trying to play it cool.“And the others?”
“They’re interesting characters.Each of them are so different.”
“How?”
“Zach is like the youngest.It’s Jett, Dex and then him, and he seems to care more for their father.He doesn’t dislike him as much as they all do.Rio and Dex are close.Matteo is cool, a bit indifferent.Keeps himself to himself.Enzo is a dark horse.”
“Is he?”
“I think so.He’s the quietest one, and the youngest of that set of brothers, but I think he’s smarter and more savvy than he lets on.”
We fall silent, and the soft music fills the air.I take a sip of my champagne, letting the bubbles fizz over my tongue.As casually as I can, I ask, “What about Rio?”She didn’t say much about him.
