The next thing I knew, we were in a high-speed chase with cars on either side of us. They were Elijah’s men, not Armando’s. I knew them all. They forced the car to the side of the road. Elijah opened the door and yanked me out. There was shouting back and forth and then suddenly Elijah emptied a gun into Tony.” She covered her face with her hands.

Her sobs were heart-wrenching, dragged from a woman with tremendous courage and control and all the more terrible because of it. Rio rested his head over hers as he rocked her, his mind racing, trying to figure out why her brother would want her dead after trading his honor to keep her alive.

“I couldn’t believe what he’d done. It was too many deaths on my hands.” She held them up. “I felt cover ed in blood. Everyone I touched. Everything Elijah had done was because of me. He was so angry. He shook me over and over and said he should have put the gun to my head.”

So many emotions ate at him that Rio didn’t know what he was feeling. Part of him wanted to weep for her. Part of him was so angry he wanted to hunt her brother and uncle down. “Rachael,sestrilla. It’s good you came here, to me, to your home where you belong.” He caught her wrists and brought the scars to his mouth. “Here, with me. Every morning the birds will sing to you. The rain has beautiful songs and it will play them for us. This is our world.” He felt a damn fool for uttering the words to her, yet so humbled that she’d accepted his own violent past. That she could look on what he did and not judge him harshly after all she’d been through. He would have quoted her a poem had he known one, just to ease her suffering.

“Elijah will never stop looking for me.” She caught his face in her hands. “You should have known him all those years ago. He struggled so hard to work behind Armando’s back to get us free. It was such a terrible life, always poised on the brink of death. He walked that fine line every day. We whispered together, passed notes we burned so no one would know what we were planning. He stood between me and our uncle all the time.”

“It must have been difficult.”

“We had no life. We were still in school but we couldn’t bring home friends. We couldn’t have any friends. We couldn’t trust anyone, only each other. There were no dates, no dances. We lived in constant fear. Sometimes, if Armando didn’t think Elijah was taking care of business, he and his men would break into our rooms in the middle of the night. They’d drag me into Elijah’s room and put a knife to my throat or a gun to my head. Elijah was so calm. He never wept. He never panicked. He looked at them and he looked at me and he would say to Armando, ‘What do you want me to do?’ That was all. And he did whatever it took to save my life.”

“Why do you feel ashamed?”

“He sold drugs. I’m certain he killed people. He was so beautiful, so full of laughter. He never smiles.

He has nothing in his lif e. All for me. All in payment for my life. He would have been better off if they had killed me too. He would have been free. He could have broken away. He has skills like a chameleon. They never would have found him if he was alone.”

“He must have been extraordinar y, even as a teenager. I would like to meet him. It may be that we can work something out.”

“But don’t you see why I don’t want you near him? He’s not my Elijah anymore. He’s turned into someone I don’t know. Someone dark and dangerous and twisted inside. I can’t say he’s evil. I know he was trying to get out from under the drug business and sell off the companies that weren’t legitimate.

He promised me he would. Both of our names are on those companies. We own everything together.”

“So if you die, ever ything goes to him.”

Rachael nodded. “He wouldn’t kill me for the money, Rio, if that’s what you’re thinking. I know he wouldn’t. I don’t ever look at the books. I don’t even own a car. I don’t care about the money, and he knows I don’t.”

“Is it possible Elijah is the one putting out the reward money to keep you alive and your uncle is the one who has hired assassins to kill you? That would make more sense. You had a fight with Elijah and he said some harsh things to you, but why would your uncle suddenly want to keep you alive? You aren’t worth anything to him if he can’t hold you over Elijah’s head.”

She was silent for a long time, but he felt her relax a little. “I didn’t think of that. I couldn’t believe it when Elijah just shot Tony right in front of me. He was so angry. I’d never seen him like that before.

He’s always in control, always very cool under fire.”

“So he wasn’t acting in character?”

“He feels dangerous now. He really does. I can’t describe it, but he never did to me before. We were so close, and then somehow he began to push me away. He didn’t want to talk about the business. He wouldn’t answer my questions about Armando. He insisted I stay home, indoors, away from the windows.”

“Maybe he was afraid for your life.”

She sighed and reached over to take the drink from the small table where she’d set it. The juice felt cool and refreshing on her sore throat. “We were always afraid for my life. We lived in fear, it was our ever yday existence.”

“You thought by telling me who you are, who your family is, that I’d not want to be with you?

Rachael, how could you think that?” His hand cupped her face, his thumb sliding over her high cheekbone.