Read Online Brazilian Revenge (The Brazilians) by Carmen Falcone - Free Book Online

bookshelves. Her citrusy scent swirled around him, adding a notch of lightness to the ambience of polished dark mahogany furniture, and many first edition, leather-bound books. “After he stole from you, the next day he wanted to. When he showed me the sculpture, I didn’t want to go with him. He disowned me and went by himself, maybe to teach me a lesson. I stayed, because I had some money set aside and wanted to lay low for a while. Away from him.”
    “Then?”
    “Then three weeks later I learned I was pregnant. He had taken my passport with him, and I knew you were looking for me. Once the detective you hired almost found me. My then next-door neighbor tipped me off, and I was able to flee.”
    He scratched his chin. “Why didn’t you look for me? If you were telling me the truth?”
    “The theft of the sculpture made it to the news. Things escalated in such a way I knew you wouldn’t forgive me. Would you? If I had showed up at your doorstep, not pregnant for instance?” she said, looking at him straight in the eye.
    “No.”
    “What would you have done?”
    He took one last swig of the whisky and sat it on a shelf. This time, the alcohol didn’t burn his throat as much. “I believe in doing the right thing. This country has enough problems because a lot of people always choose the easy way out.” Life had taught him since an early age that the worst happened otherwise.
    “You never make mistakes,” she said.
    “You were one of them.”
    “Of course. And I always will be, right?”
    “Right.” There was no denying it. Growing up, he had to step up to the plate of taking care of a sick mother after his brother left to the States. Although now things were squared away between him and Bruno, Leonardo learned the hard way the price he had to pay for believing his brother’s lies. But that wasn’t the issue right now.
    “What if …” she started, her voice trailing off. He stepped toward her. “What do you think could have happened to our girl?”
    Leonardo cleared his throat. He couldn’t even imagine what could have happened to their daughter. Sexual tourism was a reality in Brazil and so was human trafficking. What if Harry sold their baby to a couple desperate to become parents? No. He wouldn’t entertain those ideas until he had concrete evidence. And most of all, he couldn’t share them with Satyanna.

Chapter Six
    “What if something bad happened to her? What if he sold her on the black market to folks who would do anything to adopt a baby?” she asked, all the doubts racing through her head. Hot tears burned against her eyelids, and she didn’t even try to blink them away. Ever since discovering their baby was still alive, Leonardo had been strong, ruthless, and focused. Never once did he consider what she had experienced.
    “I will get her back. Once we find Harry, we will find her.”
    She nodded. “She was inside me for eight months and I never even got to hold her. Not even once,” she said, a powerful lump knotting her throat. She let her head loll back, resting it against the books. For a moment she closed her eyes. “Ever since the moment I did the pregnancy test, I knew it was a girl.”
    The sound from his intake of breath sliced the air, but she didn’t move. She felt him walking toward her, erasing the distance between them. Or was it her impression? No. The strong footfalls on the polished dark wood floor weren’t just her imagination. “I loved her.”
    Gathering whatever strength she had left, she let out a long sigh and opened her eyes to find him watching her.
    “Leonardo…” she whispered, unsure of what to say next. There was a dangerous intensity in his eyes. Whenever he was that close to her, every bit of rationality deserted her.
    “You need to go to sleep.”
    “I don’t know that I can,” she said. Wasn’t that the truth? Her body begged her for some release, and staying up proved difficult after the emotionally draining day. But she had tried to go