“Diogo—”
Sweeping her up in his arms, he showed her his heart with a powerful kiss. It was a deep kiss, fierce and true, and tangy with the salt of her tears. Her large belly was between them, creating a perfect circle of family.
When he pulled away, he searched her face, desperate for a sign of everything he'd come to love and trust.
But her eyes remained closed, as if she were trying to savor this kiss forever.
“And me?” he whispered. “What do you have to say to me?”
She finally opened her eyes, shining with tears. “All I have to say to you is—goodbye.”
With an audible growl, he opened his mouth to tell her that he had no intention of letting her go. She was his wife. The mother of his children. He would force her to stay. She belonged to him.
Then he realized: Ellie didn't belong to him.
They belonged together.
If she wanted to be free, he couldn't force her to stay. He couldn't chain her to the bed. He couldn't ignore her feelings for the sake of his own. Not anymore.
He loved her.
Diogo took a deep breath, struggling to get his old power back. To pick her up and toss her into the Bentley. To drive her home and kiss her senseless. To lock her up and force her to stay until she saw sense.
But he couldn't.
A hard Brazilian curse fell silently from his lips. Love had made him weak, just as he'd always feared.
Without Ellie, they would not be a family. Without her, he lost everything he'd come to love.
But because he loved her, he had no choice but to let her go.
His hands clenched. “Until the babies are born, Pedro will constantly be at your side,” he said coldly. “After that, you can do whatever the hell you want. I'll give you your divorce.”
She shook her head. “Pedro is already waiting for me.”
“Good,” he choked out. He turned away as tears pricked the back of his eyes. “Sai fora, Ellie. I'm sick of the sight of you. Don't leave Rio. My lawyer will be in touch.”
Her whole body went tense at the word lawyer. She turned to go, then stopped at the door. Without meeting his eyes, she spoke her final words.
“Goodbye, Diogo,” she whispered. “I will always love you.”
He sat heavily down at the desk after the door closed. He sank his head in his hands. He'd been stupid to give his heart. It had all been a trap. All the warmth and comfort and trust and love had been nothing but an illusion to make him weak. To make him believe…
He'd trusted her. Loved her. And he'd been so sure she loved him in return.
I love you. He still remembered the way Ellie's face had glowed that morning when she spoke the words, as if alight with the brilliant fire of the Brazilian sun. I thought that if I showed my love for you in a thousand small ways, giving you a loving home, you would know.
He pressed his knuckles hard against his closed eyes. He'd been a fool. She'd never loved him, really. It had just been…
It just…
It just…didn't make sense.
He slowly opened his eyes.
Just tell her I love her, Ellie had whispered. And that all I wanted to do was to keep her safe.
Catia.
He snatched up his phone from his desk. Pacing back and forth across his office, he called first Ellie's cell phone, then Pedro's. No answer. He called security downstairs and was informed that Mrs. Serrador and the bodyguard were long gone.
Diogo's hands shook as he called his men at the hotel. None of them answered, even though he let it ring. Finally, he called his chief of security and got an answer.
“I just reached the Carlton Palace, Mr. Serrador,” the Australian said grimly. “It looks like someone knocked out all the bodyguards by putting something in the coffee. No one died, but I just found Guilherme stuffed into a utility closet on the back staircase. He's barely breathing—looks like he was chloroformed from behind. Ambulance is on the way.”
“And Catia?” Diogo demanded, barely able to breathe.
“Haven't seen her, Mr. Serrador,” MacCandless replied. “We're searching the building. But Pedro Carneiro was with her when she left the general's compound this morning.”
Diogo took a hoarse breath, closing his eyes. Pedro.
The trusted bodyguard who protected his wife and child. The brother of his old rival in the favela—the man who'd never forgiven him for leaving to succeed in a better world.
Diogo knew how he'd been betrayed. How the threatening notes had gotten into his home, his office, his car.
Pedro.
A roar rose from deep in his throat as he told his security chief, “Pedro Carneiro has betrayed us. He's working for Wright. Find him and we'll find Catia—and Ellie.”
But even as his body broke out into a cold sweat, he gloried in one small realization. Ellie still loved him. She'd been trying to protect them—trying to protect them all.