Approaching his study—“their place”—she heard him talking. Slowing down, she debated whether to walk in or wait until he finished his call. Then she heard another voice. Then another. His brothers were already here.

Dammit. What were they doing here so early?

As she stood undecided about what to do, one of them said something. It was Numair. She’d recognize his arctic voice anywhere. And what he’d said hit her between the eyes like an icicle.

He’d said, “We put our bigger plans on hold so you could come to Brazil and get close to Ferreira. We did only because you wanted the satisfaction of looking him in the eye as you destroyed him.”

Before she could muster an explanation for those words, Rafael spoke and ended her fumbling efforts.

“Destroying him anonymously will do, as well.”

“Stick with your original plan, Numbers.” That was Raiden. Deceptively suave and even more deadly for it. “Once that guy is rotting in prison, you can walk up to him and tell him it was you who put him there. He wouldn’t be able to do anything about it or say anything to anyone.”

“Actually, your original plan is nothing compared to your new one,” Numair said. “Landing his daughter, making her spill his secrets, is your best weapon yet. Right after the wedding, you can use it to strike him down and be done with it.”

“Then you can tell him,” Raiden added. “With his daughter in your bed and at your mercy, he’d keep silent forever.”

Graves cracked a harsh laugh. “You, my boys, have no idea what kind of land mine you’ve just tripped over here.”

Their voices kept coming closer. It was only when she found herself on the threshold of the room where her life had once changed forever that she realized she’d walked in on them.

They all rose as one. Dismay was the one thing she saw in their eyes. Something made her seek Rafael’s last. Dread that she’d find confirmation in them. And that was exactly what she found.

“You want to destroy my father?” The voice that croaked out of her didn’t sound like hers anymore. “You ‘landed’ me to bring down my father? That’s why you’ve been milking me for information? Why you’re marrying me?”

“Eliana, no...” He stopped, swung toward the others. “What are you waiting for? Get the hell out.”

Raiden and Numair looked at him as if he’d gone mad. Then, with no trace of their earlier dismay, they regarded her stonily as they passed her on their way out. It was only Graves who looked almost as apologetic as he did.

Once alone, Rafael neared with the caution he’d use to approach a frightened gazelle. “I’m sorry you heard that.”

Numbness spread. “That’s all you have to say?”

His lips thinned, his jaw hardened more. “I would have given anything for you to never know that. Especially now.”

“Now? That’s your only problem? That I heard it before your plans come to fruition? That’s the only reason you’re upset? Because now that I’ve heard them, they won’t?”

“I didn’t want to upset you.”

“You want to send my father to prison, but you don’t want to upset me?”

His eyes, the eyes of the man she’d loved with every fiber of her being till minutes ago, sparked with danger. “Your father deserves whatever I will do to him. But I wanted to spare you as much as I could.”

And it registered at last. The blow of realization. What rewrote the past ten weeks, explained them far better than what had seemed too good to be true. Because it was.

This was the truth.

The ice that encased her started cracking. “Everything we’ve had...from the first moment...it was all a plot. A lie.”

“No.” He hauled her to him. “That first night was all true. I didn’t realize who you were until I saw you with him.”

She tore out of his embrace. Unable to go far, she slumped to the ground by the couch where they’d shared their first intimacy.

Swearing harshly, Rafael swooped over her, swept her up into his arms and sat down on the couch with her on his lap. Unable to push away again, she lay limply against him, tremors racking her body.

“That’s why you walked away,” she choked. “Then you realized you could use me...and came back as soon as you had another plan in place. Everything ever since...a lie. Everything.”

His arms convulsed around her. “No, Eliana. Everything between us was real. Is real.”

Tags: Olivia Gates The Billionaires of Blackcastle Billionaire Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net