Returning to Claim His Heir

ra he knew would never beg. Not unless she was desperate. She’d been a prisoner in her own home and he’d left her there. He’d used her just as badly as her own father had done.

The memory of it made him tense with guilt.

No, not guilt.

He stood up, fisting his hands through his hair. She’d made a fool of him. She’d had the evidence that could prove her father’s guilt all this time. She’d been a guest in his home, eaten meals with him, made love to him, and never once thought to reveal all this. She’d said she’d had that thumb drive for months, that it had been her insurance. Surely that meant she had read it? Had seen his parents’ names on that hit list?

He closed his eyes against the thought, the pain in his temples almost unbearable. The resurgence of his buried memories was like being hit in the head with that bullet all over again. He felt unbalanced and nauseated.

‘I understand that this is a lot to take in,’ said Angelus, sighing and shaking his head solemnly. ‘What do you plan to do with her?’

‘What do you mean?’ Duarte frowned.

‘Well, I came here to talk to you first. To warn you that the police want to move to arrest both Cabo and his daughter immediately.’

‘No.’ The word emerged as little more than a growl from his lips.

Angelus pursed his lips, eyeing him speculatively. ‘She was part of Cabo’s mobster family, Duarte. Possibly she knew that your parents were murdered and kept it to herself.’

‘She gave me that evidence willingly. Surely that is in her favour?’

‘Are you involved with her?’

When Duarte merely scowled, the old man let out a harsh frustrated sigh.

‘This could be another part of Cabo’s plan. Slithering her in here unnoticed and getting her under your skin. As the saying goes, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”’

‘Don’t talk about her like that.’ Duarte bared his teeth, shocking himself.

‘She has been lying to you this whole time!’

‘When I found her she was just about to give birth, and she is being hunted by men she fears,’ Duarte gritted. ‘I quickly figured out that she was part of the organisation. Her personal relationship to Cabo is her own business. She’s done nothing to me.’

Except lie to me. Such convincing lies.

‘She has a child?’ Fiero frowned. ‘There’s nothing about that in there.’

‘He was born the day I arrived in Rio.’ Duarte stood, running a hand over his scar as his mind processed the information he’d recovered with his memory. ‘That’s why I’ve had her under my protection.’

He didn’t mention the fact that he’d also kept her here longer because he’d been enjoying her company, slowly courting her. He felt the older man’s eyes on him, could practically hear him silently screaming at him not to be such a fool.

‘I’m going to need time to process this.’

Angelus nodded and left just as stealthily as he’d arrived, his cane clicking as he departed from the house.

Even when the sound of his car’s wheels had long disappeared up the driveway Duarte stood frozen at his desk, his mind going over and over all the information and wondering what it was about it that felt so wrong.

Nora had just finished settling Liam for his morning nap and now stood frozen on the staircase as she watched Angelus Fiero emerge into the entrance hall at the front of the house. She froze, anxiety stealing her voice.

She’d already been on tenterhooks since slipping back into her own bed in the early hours of that morning. She’d wanted to wake Duarte before she left and just get it over with. Tell him everything. But he’d been sleeping so peacefully, and she’d known her son would wake for his usual feed at dawn, so she’d left.

No matter how hard she’d tried to hold on to the afterglow of their night together, she’d spent the morning with a steadily increasing sense of dread in her gut. And when Inés had told her that Angelus Fiero had arrived, and he and Duarte had disappeared to speak in private, she’d prayed she wasn’t too late.

The older man paused for a split second when he saw her, and then looked back towards the open door of Duarte’s study down the hall. When he spoke, his voice was low.

‘Finally I get to meet our selfless informant.’ He narrowed his eyes at her, not with cruelty but not entirely kindly either. ‘Surely you must have known that giving us that information would reveal your identity... Eleanora?’

She heard her birth name and something within her shattered. He knew. That meant Duarte knew. She’d waited too long to tell him and now...