Revenge in Rio Read online

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  Luca leaned against the kitchen counter and watched Daniella fidget in front of him.

  “I don’t have to report my movements to anybody now.” The words, laced with venom, flew from her lips.

  Why she was so defensive? Yes, she had the right to be upset, to cry, to scream even, to mourn her late husband, but this was different. She had a pained, tormented look in her eyes; the youthful, glowing personality he’d fallen in love with years ago had gone. Had living with his brother been so awful?

  Daniella’s words were cut short as she doubled over and cried out in pain. Clutching her stomach, she stumbled, trying to grab on to the kitchen bench, but missed. He moved across the room and held her.

  “What is it, what’s wrong?” he asked, holding on to her tightly.

  Tears spilled over and ran down her gaunt cheeks. She turned her head into his chest and the tears wet his shirt further. She tried to speak, but her words were swallowed by another agonized cry. Her nails dug into the material, reaching his skin. She was holding on to him as if her life depended on it.

  “We need to get you to a hospital,” he insisted.

  “No,” she cried. “I’ll be–”

  “That’s enough. I’m taking you to a hospital,” he ordered.

  He scooped her up and held her tightly against him as he quickly made his way back to the car.

  Whispers surrounded them and the peering eyes as the voyeurs scooted around the street to get a closer look. Gently, he laid Daniella across the back seat of the Bentley and climbed in next to her as he barked their destination at the chauffeur.

  Was she sick? Did she have an illness? A condition? Was she starving herself because of Miguel’s sudden death? His head reeled with possibilities as to why she was doubled over in agony next to him.

  “Tell me what’s wrong, Daniella. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me,” he begged her, taking hold of her free hand and squeezing it.

  His throat tightened as he looked upon her and the pain that appeared to be taking hold of her. As much as he had taught himself to hate her over the years, he now felt the deep primitive connection with her. It had always been there. The hurt she’d caused him to carry for the last five years instantly vanished. She bit down hard on her quivering lip and ignored his question.

  The car’s wheels screeched through the gravel as they sped away. Within seconds they were racing away from the favela streets.

  Chapter 3

  “You’re pregnant?” Luca shouted. “You knew? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He raked one hand though his hair and the other remained positioned on his hip. He paced the length of the hospital suite and back, his intense stare not leaving the ultrasound screen, which now revealed a small black-and-white flickering image of a tiny baby.

  A baby. A baby. A baby. He repeated the two words over in his head, trying to make sense.

  Shit. What had he gotten himself into? Planning to take revenge on Daniella proposed to be a piece of cake, but not with an innocent child in the equation. Damn it!

  “Why would I? It isn’t your concern,” she snapped.

  She kept her gaze firmly on the female doctor who was dressed in a typical starchy, white coat.

  “How? How is this even possible, there is nothing of you! You are skin and bones. If you were pregnant I would have seen…”

  Of course he knew how it had happened.

  “Mr. Venancio, if you insist on staying, you really do need to calm down.” The doctor’s soothing voice silenced him. She looked back at Daniella and smiled. “Yes, you look approximately twenty-seven weeks, just coming up to the seventh month,” said the doctor as she rolled the ultrasound probe over Daniella’s visible, but petite, bump.

  “Is my baby okay?” she asked.

  Daniella tilted her head to watch the tiny baby almost waving from the screen. Luca searched her face. It was as if the screen’s presentation had spellbound her. The hostility had melted away and revealed a glimmer of hope, adoration for the tiny baby.

  She didn’t even look pregnant! His gaze shifted from her face to her exposed midriff. With the baggy sack of a dress removed and the loose hospital gown exposing her tummy, he could now see she really was pregnant, but he would never have guessed seven months in a million years.

  The news of her pregnancy had shocked him. He’d made no allowances for children in his plan of revenge. No allowance at all. He’d planned to entice her to fall back in love with him and then leave her vulnerable and alone, as she’d so easily done to him five years ago. He’d calculated to seduce her, bed her, and get out within a matter of days, not be standing around caring for a newborn several months later. Damn it!

  “Yes, everything is fine, Mrs. Venancio. I can see ten fingers and ten toes. It sounds as if you were experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions. Try not to worry, these are very common and actually a good sign, believe it or not. Some women can experience mild contractions and others more uncomfortable.” The doctor put a reassuring hand on Daniella’s arm. “However, you must start looking after yourself. A good diet, some relaxation, and a little TLC from dad also.” The doctor winked at Luca.

  Daniella’s body instantly stiffened and she pulled herself into a sitting position with her back perfectly straight. “No…no…he’s not the father.” She stumbled over her words and shook her head furiously at the doctor.

  “She will be well looked after, Doctor, I will ensure that,” he interrupted and took a step closer to the examination couch.

  “I would like to check both mother and baby again in a few days if that’s okay? Just to be sure,” said the doctor as she placed the monitor back in its cradle.

  “Of course.” His voice echoed off the sterile walls.

  “Before I leave, I would also like to take a quick check on this bruising.” The doctor leaned in close and concentrated on Daniella’s jaw.

  “No, it’s okay, Doctor. Thank you, but I’ll be fine. I was just clumsy.”

  “I’d really like to check that—”

  “Please. It’s fine. Look…” Daniella touched her face and Luca was sure he could see her biting back a flicker of pain as she traced the bluish-colored skin to prove a point to the doctor.

  “Okay. Well, we will see how things look in a few days.” She wearily contended with her stubborn patient.

  “I will be sure to make an appointment before we leave,” said Luca, his gaze not leaving Daniella for a second.

  “I’ve said no.” She glared at him.

  Doctor Menezes crossed the room and looked from Luca to Daniella. “I will leave you both to discuss the details. I’ll be just down the hall if you need me.” She gave them a warm smile before leaving and clicking the door shut behind her.

  “Do you mind?” Daniella held the hospital blanket over her lower half, signaling for him to turn away.

  “Jesus Cristo, Daniella. Caramba! Seven months, why didn’t you just tell me earlier instead of running away?”

  Luca bit his tongue and turned to face the en-suite. He could hear her rustling about as she removed the gown and stepped into her own damp clothes. Part of him wanted to look over his shoulder and see her slender body in the flesh and not just from recalled memories. He licked his dry lips and forced himself to focus on the terracotta-colored curtains draped in front of him. She’d begged for him to take her to the public hospital in Rocinha, but he’d ignored her plea and insisted on taking her to a private clinic. Offering her the best possible care had not been part of his plan, but it was what had come naturally to him when he’d collected her up into his arms.

  “I don’t need your help, Luca. I can look after myself.”

  He turned to face her and saw she was fully dressed. She was still wearing the damp funeral attire…they both were.

  “It’s not just you that needs looking after now though, is it? You will stay with me. You won’t be able to cope with a newborn baby alone. Let me help you. You heard what the doctor said. You ne
ed to take things easy.”

  “I’ll be fine. Besides, you wouldn’t help. I bet you don’t know the first thing about babies.”

  “I have house staff and I’ll interview for a suitable au pair to assist you. You’d have nothing to worry about. Everything would be taken care of. You’re carrying a Venancio, Daniella, and my family. I will be a part of this child’s life. It’s more important than ever now that the father isn’t around.” He had to say anything to get her on his side.

  She shut her eyes and drew a quick breath before opening them to meet Luca’s stare. “It’s my baby.” She challenged him, resting a protective hand on her tummy. “I do not need a stranger looking after my flesh and blood, and I do not need your endless supplies of money flashed around just to make yourself feel better.”

  “The child needs a father figure, and I can provide that. You know that I’m right.” His words were tinged with matter-of-fact arrogance that he knew would irritate her.

  It was true he would look after her, but for his benefit. He would have her gone long before the child arrived. He’d keep tabs on her and when the child was born, he’d gain access and take custody of his niece or nephew, fulfilling his clear family obligation to his late brother. She wasn’t fit to be a mother.

  Luca traced his index finger along his bottom lip as his brain raced. This pregnancy, this baby, could be perfect for more leverage with his revenge against her. He’d break her heart and watch her pine for what she couldn’t have. Both him and the child. Just as he had been made to feel. He didn’t care for a family, it was the last thing on his agenda now, but if it meant matching the pain he’d been made to suffer by her hand, then so be it.

  It hadn’t always been this way. He’d once envisioned a two-point-five-child family with a cat or dog, but she’d shattered that vision when she’d left him for his baby brother.

  He recognized he was overconfident and egotistical, but he didn’t care what people thought. Being those things had earned him the position he was in now, owner of Venancio Mining Company, and amongst the richest people in the world. So what if he was egotistical, he told himself. He remained standing calmly beside the bed with his hands deep in his trouser pockets.

  “No,” she whispered. “I can’t have you in my life. I just can’t.”

  He took a couple of slow paces toward her. “You can’t, or you won’t?”

  A raw, uncomfortable silence lingered between them as he waited for her to answer.

  “Well?”

  She sucked in a shaky breath and rolled her bottom lip between her teeth. “Luca, I won’t let myself go through any more hurt.”

  He could hear the fragility in her words, the raw croakiness of her voice. What had happened? Could he really go through with his plan? He swallowed hard. Of course he could.

  Remember what she did to you. She left you. For your own brother.

  The child wasn’t born yet and it wouldn’t be affected by his plans. The child would have the best upbringing once he or she was living with him. This was between just him and Daniella for now. He needed to forget about the added extras.

  “I’m going home. I’m collecting my things and then I’m leaving Rio. For good.”

  “And where will you go? With what money?”

  “It’s none of your business.”

  “I think you’ll find it is my business. I’m the only family this child will have.” His eyes flashed to her stomach and then back to her gaze.

  “All of your family has passed. You are alone. It’s important this child knows about his or her remaining relatives, their history. I have an obligation now.” He spoke with sarcasm in his voice as if he was gaining enjoyment out of her loneliness. “Or do you consider Miguel’s gang brothers to be the child’s family and support structure? I’m sure they’ll be outstanding role models.”

  Her wild, cat-like eyes locked with his and he could see he’d touched a nerve as her body tensed, ready for battle.

  “Well, it’s true,” he growled. “You’ll probably have the child signed up and into a gang by the age of five. You can barely look after yourself, let alone a child. Just look at yourself.”

  Her pupils dilated as her eyes widened, and her green irises darkened with burning intensity.

  “How dare you!” She slapped him hard across the jaw and left a fiery sting. Luca opened his mouth and moved his jaw from side to side a couple of times. She glared at him whilst he massaged his cheek and pride.

  “Don’t you patronize me about role models and gang allegiance.” Tears formed at the corners of her eyes. “And don’t you dare think you are better than me just because you’ve had your tattoos removed and run a fancy business. You can’t change who you are inside. This—” She waved her hands up and down in his direction. “—is all a show. A cover up. You haven’t changed one bit.”

  Her gaze settled on his scarred skin where his gang affiliated tattoo had once been bared for all to see with….what, pride? It had been a symbol of branding, ownership over him, and a pledged allegiance to a violence-fuelled gang. A gang that he’d led for a period of time in the latter years before he’d fled Rio. As he’d approached his teens, he’d received scant attention from his parents and had been desperate for any sense of belonging, so he considered the local mob as a family. A support network. He couldn’t have been further from the truth.

  There was nothing supportive about sending a twelve-year-old boy out on to perilous streets armed with a loaded AK-47 and a pocketful of heroin to sell. Once you were in a gang, it was rare you got out…alive.

  He pulled his shirt collar tighter around his neck, creating a sense of protection.

  “You may not have told me about your dark past, but your dear, dear brother did. How you used to lead a gang, street fight, sell drugs…you were no better than Miguel.”

  He stared directly into her eyes. The emerald green pools glowed with a type of energy he didn’t remember seeing in her before. It was toxic. Livid.

  “Oh yes, Miguel told me about everything. So don’t pretend you’re high and mighty standing before me now.” She didn’t blink as she held his stare.

  He sucked in a deep breath, but kept his gaze firmly on hers. She was right. He had done all of those things, and he wasn’t proud in the slightest. When he’d met her over five years ago, he’d well and truly cleaned himself up and had left his young, wayward life behind him, focusing all of his energy into his given opportunity and now flourishing business. Yes, she’d known where he’d grown up and lived, deep within the Rocinha favela, but she didn’t know the sordid details of his antics. He’d wanted to keep that tainted part of his life hidden. Forgotten.

  That was until Miguel had decided to indulge her.

  “You…you have no idea the hell I have been through, Luca, the things I’ve had to do and been put through. So don’t you dare…” She closed her eyes and swallowed. “I will do anything to protect my baby. Anything.”

  “I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer. Everything has changed in the last thirty minutes. There is a new life to consider. You’re staying with me. I will carry you out of here if I have to.”

  He’d come to Rio to pay his respects, but to ultimately have his revenge. He needed to remember she wasn’t the naive, innocent little girl who needed protecting. She was a heartbreaker, a family wrecker who needed teaching he reminded himself.

  He believed in the old saying ‘an eye for an eye’.

  “You can’t simply turn up in my life and after two minutes start giving out your orders, Luca. Your staff may be happy to come running whenever you snap your fingers but I’m not,” she said with her hands on her hips. “I’m not your property.”

  You were once mine.

  He needed to cool things down if he wanted to see his plan through. He wasn’t in the boardroom now. Ruthless and authoritarian wasn’t going to get him anywhere with her. He turned on his heel and found himself facing the terracotta-colored drapes once again. However much it pained him to be
pleasant to her, he had to do it.

  He slowly turned back to face her, loosening his tie and top button.

  “Okay, I’m sorry. I’ve gone about this all the wrong way.” He opened his palms to her in an apologetic gesture. “Can we start again?”

  She fidgeted in front of him, her confident stance softening.

  “Listen, you live in a house which needs to be condemned. Hell, it needed condemning when I lived there. You look as if you have not eaten in weeks. You’re physically not well. You need stability and caring for. You’re pregnant and going to give birth in two months. Let me help you.” He reeled off his points one by one using his fingers. He kept his gaze locked with hers as he spoke.

  “It’s not safe for you to be here. Especially near to the favela. I can’t believe you’re standing here right now. You really need to go.”

  He saw a flicker of genuine fear in her eyes. Why was she worried?

  “You need to leave and just go back to your life.”

  “I have no idea why you keep saying it’s not safe for me here. Is it something to do with Miguel’s gang? So what, I left the gang and broke my allegiance. I am a big boy now, Daniella. I can look after myself.”

  She shook her head from side to side, mahogany curls danced about her shoulders as she moved.

  “Just believe me, please. Go home, Luca.” Her words sounded like a plea.

  “No.” He took hold of her hand and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles soothingly. “Whatever the reason is you fear for me, I don’t care. I’m not leaving you and this child. My home here is totally off-the-grid anyway. Nobody would find it even if they had a ton of maps and the latest GPS. The directions are all up here.” He lightly tapped his temple with two fingers.

  He was nearly there. He could see yes on the very tip of her tongue. She just needed one small wave of persuasion and then she would be putty in his hands. Once he had her in his home it would be simple. They would be back on his turf. His territory. His rules.

  “I promise I won’t let any harm come to either of you.”