Second Chances (22 page)

“Haven’t I done enough for you? How could you?”
They were both crying. “Why?”

Jewel caught her wrists and squeezed. “I’m
sorry. When Renaldo found out, I wanted to die. He wasn’t supposed to ever see
those photos. I told Mateo to stop, and he did for a while, but then—then he
got desperate. He needed the money, and that’s why he called you the other day.”
Her face crumbled. “I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t let you find out I had
fallen back into my addiction. Brina, it’s really, really hard to-to stop. And
I tried. I
did
. You’ve always been there, and I didn’t want
you to be disappointed in me.”

“So you almost destroyed my
life
?”
Sabrina wrenched her hands away from her cousin and stared in disbelief. But
why was she so surprised? Hadn’t she seen worse growing up? Women offering to
do anything for drugs—some even doing the unthinkable by offering their
children in exchange for a hit.
“I
tried to help you, you
bitch
. I almost lost
everything
because of
you. I doubted myself and my own morals.”

“I know. But the truth is,
I’ve never had to be independent or face
the consequences of my actions because you’ve always fixed everything. You’ve
always taken care of me.”

“You’re
blaming
me?”

“No, I just…I’m not like you. I’m like
them—everybody we left behind.”

“We were supposed to be different. We
are
different.”

“
You’re
different. You’re smart,
and you never got caught up in that world. This is who I am, and you can’t save
me. Just like you couldn’t save Momma or your mother.” Her voice broke.

Sabrina turned her back on her, and
that’s when she saw Renaldo was home. He walked out onto the terrace with two
police officers behind him.

 “What are they doing here?” Sabrina
looked from one to the other.

“The officers came to speak to us about
Jewel.”

After that, everything moved fast. The
police spoke in rapid Portuguese, using unfamiliar terms while they arrested
Jewel. Sabrina barely caught what they were saying, but she did understand three
words that needed no translation.

Mateo Sousa. Murder.

“What’s going on?” Sabrina asked.

“They’re arresting her for Mateo’s
murder.”

“Murder? Is this some kind of mistake?” The
policemen locked Jewel in handcuffs.

 “There’s no mistake, Brina.” Jewel’s
sad eyes met hers. “I told Mateo not to bother you anymore, but he wouldn’t
listen. He became very upset because Renaldo hit him, and he threatened to hurt
you guys. I couldn’t let him do it. You were finally happy again. He and I
argued and struggled for the phone that had the pictures in it. He fell and hit
his head. It was an accident.”

Surely this was a nightmare. Not only
had her cousin conspired to extort money from her, she was now being arrested
for the murder of her co-conspirator. This couldn’t really be happening. She’d
run from this kind of drama, yet it had found her. No, it hadn’t found her.
She’d brought it with her.

Sabrina reached for Renaldo, and when he
put a supportive arm around her, she slumped against him.

Jewel didn’t fight when the officers led
her to the door. “I’m sorry, Brina. I messed up big time, but it’s fixed now.
No one will ever see those pictures again.”

They hauled Jewel out the door, and
Sabrina stood frozen, numb.

“Are you okay,
meu
coração
?”

She looked up at Renaldo, unsure if the
last few minutes really happened. “She admitted everything. She was involved
with Mateo, drugged me, and helped him set me up to blackmail me.”

Renaldo nodded, his expression grim. “I
suspected as much after I spoke to Paulo about Jewel’s relationship with Mateo.
Once the police found his body, she became the prime suspect. I wish I’d had
time to warn you, but the police arrived downstairs at the same time I did. Are
you all right?” He looked into her eyes, his face etched with concern.

“I’m sorry I brought this kind of—”

“Shh. It’s not your fault. Your cousin
made a lot of bad decisions, and you tried to help her. You did the best you
could, but she is not your responsibility.”

“But she’s the only family I have.”

“No. You’re a Silva now. Whether you
like it or not, you’re one of us.”

“I am, aren’t I? How could I forget?”
Sabrina still felt stunned. “Could you just hold me?”

Renaldo pulled her into his arms.

She was angry and hurt by what Jewel had
done, and she hated that by bringing her here she’d hurt her husband, too. But
the ordeal was finally over, and now she knew the whole truth about that night.

Sabrina clung to Renaldo and closed her
eyes. It seemed like her world was falling apart, but in his arms, nothing else
mattered. She was so lucky to have him.

Renaldo brushed his hands soothingly up
and down her back.

She felt safe and protected. She stayed
in his warm embrace for a long, long time.

Epilogue

Sabrina had been attracted to Renaldo’s
strength when they first met, and for a short period she’d learned to lean on him.
But at some point, she’d gone back to her old ways. It was hard to reverse
years of behavior, but that’s exactly what she planned to do. It was time to
free herself from guilt.

So much had happened in the months since
Jewel’s arrest. During this period, Sabrina had only visited her once while she
was in prison. She couldn’t bring herself to see her any more than that. It was
still too hard. She couldn’t believe all that her cousin had put them through,
but she’d decided to extend one last kind gesture to her. At her request, Renaldo
hired a team of lawyers to work on Jewel’s defense.

The attorneys explained that according
to the law, if they could prove Mateo’s death was an accident, Jewel may only
be in prison for a few years. No matter how long her sentence, once she was
released, she’d have to leave the country. There was a time when being
separated from Jewel would have broken Sabrina’s heart, but not anymore. Jewel
was in capable hands, and whatever the outcome, she’d have to live with the
consequences of her actions. She was no longer Sabrina’s responsibility.

Renaldo had officially made her a
partner at SDG. He held controlling interest, but the title and added
responsibilities demonstrated his confidence in her abilities.

Leonardo and Alexa had welcomed their
third child, another girl, into their family. They had already moved back to
Atlanta, where Leonardo’s business was headquartered.

The relationship between Renaldo and his
mother blossomed, and so did the relationships Sabrina had with his sisters and
her mother-in-law. She put forth more of an effort to make friends and spend
time with her in-laws.

Last Saturday, for instance, his mother,
his sisters, and Beatrisa’s children had come to the house for dinner. Sabrina suffered
through Beatrisa’s stifling meddling when Beatrisa was being…well, Beatrisa.
Carolina surprised everyone by showing up with a male friend, which caused
Renaldo to give the man a cold reception.

When they were alone later, Sabrina
pointed out Carolina had sprung it on them in that manner because he’d probably
want to have the man investigated. He didn’t deny the charge and vowed to get
Paulo on it first thing Monday morning.

It seemed she’d exchanged one set of
family problems for another, but she welcomed these kinds of problems. They
made her smile instead of cry.

Today, she and Renaldo sat at a small
table on the beach in front of their bungalow in Corumbau, the same one where they’d
spent their honeymoon. They’d both gotten darker from being out in the sun the
past few days, and Renaldo had barely managed to keep his hands off of her when
he saw her in the gold bikini. He, as usual, looked devastatingly handsome in
his dark blue trunks.

Under the table, her feet rested on his
thighs. As she ate
moqueca
and sipped a blend of fruit juices, she
watched the blue-green waves roll up and retreat back into the ocean. This was
the life.

“You’re never allowed to sell this
place,” she said before she put a spoonful of stew in her mouth. 

“Never?”

“Never.”

Renaldo’s dark eyes smiled into hers. He
caressed her calf under the table, sending darts of pleasure up her legs. “Then
I will never sell it.”

Sabrina pointed at the bowl with her
spoon. “I never thought I’d say this, but I think this is better than Vera’s.”

Renaldo shook his head. “Impossible.”

“You’re biased because you’ve known her
so long.”

“Hmm…maybe I’ll tell her what you said
and see what she thinks about it.”

“Don’t you dare.” Sabrina picked up a
chunk of papaya and tossed it at his bare chest.

“Behave yourself. If you do that again,
I’ll spank you.”

Sabrina lifted an eyebrow, but she
didn’t throw another piece. “I’ve been thinking…I know we talked about waiting
a few years to start a family, but what do you think about starting right
away?”

He sat back. The smile on his face
broadened. “I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

“So you’re ready?”

“I am if you are.”

“Well, we don’t have much choice but to
be ready.” She watched him below a veil of lashes with a soft smile playing
around her lips. “The doctor’s office called right before lunch and confirmed
we’re pregnant.”

“Pregnant!” The spoon he held dropped to
the bowl. “And you didn’t tell me?”

“I wanted to be sure.”

“Come here.”

Sabrina jumped up and went to sit on his
lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “You’re excited.”

“Of course.” The smile on his face
threatened to outshine the sun. “I can’t believe it. We’re going to be parents.
How far along are you?”

“Six weeks.”

“So in a little over seven months we’re
about to meet the first of our three children.” He spread his fingers over her
flat belly and gave her a kiss.

“Hey, wait a minute, just because we’re
starting earlier doesn’t mean we’re having more. We agreed to have two.”

“Two, three.” He shrugged.

“Um, I’m the numbers person, and I can
tell you they’re not the same thing.”

“We’ll talk about it later.”

“You’re not getting your way in this,
Renaldo da Silva.”

“We’ll see.”

Sabrina punched him in the chest.

“Now I have to spank you,” he said.

“No, you said if I threw another piece
of papaya at you. Besides, you can’t spank me. I’m pregnant and fragile.”

“Nice try. Turn over and let me get that
bottom.”

She hopped out of his lap and twisted
away. “Stay away from me.”

“That’s not what you said last night,
meu
coração
. Or this morning. Come here.”

Sabrina took off down the beach with
Renaldo right behind her. The wind blew through her loose curls, and she
laughed when he caught her and swung her up into his arms. She clasped her arms
around his neck and welcomed his loving kiss.

He spun around with her in his arms and
growled low in his throat, smiling at her with half-closed eyes. “A baby.”

“
Our
baby. We’re starting our own
little family.”

“You’re going to be a wonderful mother. I
love you,” he said.

She ran her fingers through the silky
black strands of his hair. “I love you, too, honey.”

The End

More
Stories by Delaney Diamond

Hot Latin
Men series

The Arrangement

Fight for Love

Private Acts

Second Chances

Hot
Latin Men: Vol. I (print anthology)

Hawthorne
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The Temptation
of a Good Man

A Hard Man to
Love

Here Comes
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For Better or
Worse (winter 2013)

Bailar
series (sweet/clean romance)

Worth Waiting
For

Short Story

Subordinate
Position

The Ultimate
Merger

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www.delaneydiamond.com

About the Author

Delaney Diamond is
the bestselling author of sweet and sensual romance novels. Originally from the
U.S. Virgin Islands, she now lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She has been an
avid reader for as long as she can remember and in her spare time reads romance
novels, mysteries, thrillers, and a fair amount of non-fiction.