Page 2 of Brazilian Surrender
“That’s great.” She drummed her fingers on the desk. “But you’re taking me as a client, right?” she asked, unable to hide the note of impatience in her voice.
“I told Aunt Gesa I’d talk to you and see if I could help.”
“Listen, I need you to take my case. Money isn’t a problem.” She’d saved the funds she’d brought with her and lived modestly rather than draw attention to her wealth, even politely declining Bruno’s offer to use his exclusive penthouse to maintain her independence. Her rental—a much smaller apartment closer to her work—was perfect, though she had a roommate. Still, it felt great to pay her own way. Now the money she’d put aside for a rainy day would have to stem the dark storm caused by the threatening letters. “I just want to find out who wants to hurt me and stop the bastard.”
If she could judge this man by the accents in his surroundings, she knew money wasn’t a problem for him, either. She recognized expensive furniture when she saw it, no matter how minimalist. Glancing around, she counted the abstract paintings hanging on the wall. A couple of shelves displayed small statues of bronze that must have cost a fortune, too. One of them reminded her of a piece she saw in a magazine. No frames though, or any personal items that gave away a hint about the man sitting across from her.
“I understand, but I’m a busy man. I’ll refer you to one of my associates,” he said.
“I don’t want one of your associates. I want you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re the best.” And because she didn’t have that many friends in the city, and hell, someone recommended him, so she wanted the real thing. “And because this happened to me once before,” she said in a shaky voice.
…
Jaeger’s fingers itched to open his top drawer and retrieve a red stress ball to have at it. He managed to keep still, like he was in a military drill, and listen to her. The woman was gorgeous. Layers of sultry, long brown hair framed her exotic face. The beige silk blouse complemented her dark olive skin, which he bet was soft to the touch. And she’d piqued his curiosity with her admission.
Don’t take this job.If he didn’t, Aunt Gesa wouldn’t let him hear the end of it. She’d been demanding when she told him on the phone he should take Camila on as a client. He knew better than flat-out denying an old German lady with a temper.
Jaeger scratched his chin. When she’d given him the envelopes, her finger brushed his accidentally. He normally wouldn’t have made anything of it—living in NYC, bumping into people in the streets or subway was common. But his reaction to the quick touch hadn’t been ordinary—his finger had tingled in response, the unexpected effect shooting up his arm and setting a stupid race in his heart. When had been the last time a bare skin brush had provoked such a primeval response in him?
“Tell me about it,” he said. Usually he wasn’t so robotic with potential clients. He was straightforward and focused—using his manners to avoid sounding like a total dick. But Camila Duarte brought it out of him after only a few minutes in her presence. Something inside him sent clear messages to his brain to be extra careful with her and refuse her case.
If only his hardening cock had received the same memo.
“When I was thirteen a boy had a crush on me, and he followed me home every day from school. Let me tell you, I walked a long way from school. I didn’t want anything besides friendship, but he wouldn’t get the message. Once, he left a note for me under my pillow,” she said, and she tucked her hair behind one ear, then immediately did the same with the other ear—making it clear for him talking about it still made her nervous. “He went to my house and left a note while I was away.”
“What did the note say?”
She shrugged. “Something about me being his girl. That I couldn’t fight fate.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. I kept telling myself it was just a silly crush. I didn’t want my brothers involved. I have three hot-blooded older brothers, and growing up we didn’t have much money, but they always had my back. I didn’t want them to get in trouble.” She shrugged. “Then one day, he cornered me against a tree and held a knife to my throat.”
Jaeger swallowed. The idea of any girl in danger abhorred him, but as he imagined a younger version of the lovely woman in front of him, his heart shrunk to the size of an olive. Why? He’d seen some bad shit when he worked at the homicide department of NYPD. Damn it. He’d lost his wife, Ellen, and his son Trevor while on duty, failing to protect them. The memory of that loss had haunted him for five years; his collar felt tight around his neck. He tugged it and cleared his throat. “What did you do after you discovered the note? Before it escalated to the knifepoint incident?”
“I kept the note. The next day, he cornered me again, and upped his game with the knife. I distracted him for a moment, kneed him, and ran. That day I knew I couldn’t deal with it alone, so I went home and told my brothers and they gave him a good beating. He never bothered me again.”
“That’s all? You didn’t press charges against the bastard?”
She shook his head. “My brothers broke both his arms.”
Message received. “What happened to the guy?” he asked, though the chances of the same man harassing her now were nonexistent. The pattern didn’t match, and that would mean the stalker would have learned English, moved to the United States, and found her—quite a stretch, especially if he hailed from a poor background.
“I don’t know. He moved to another town with his family. He’s not behind my current situation. All I want to tell you is I’ve experienced the tension before, then I got over it. But now it’s happening again, and I really don’t want to relive having a knife at my throat, if not worse.”
“I understand.”
She leaned closer, her eyes gleaming with hope. “Please help me. I moved to the States so I could live on my own. If I mention this to my brothers, they’ll be on my butt to return to Brazil, or one of them will come. They have their own lives. One of them is getting married soon.”
Why would her brothers’ opinions matter so much? He shook his head. Being an only child, he didn’t have a lot of in-depth experience on sibling love. “You’re an adult. You can do whatever you please.”
“Yes, I can and I will, which is why I want to take care of this on my own. If I knew how to find whoever is sending me these letters, trust me, I would. But I don’t have your training.”
He touched his collar. “Why didn’t you go to the police for help?”
“Because if I do, I doubt the story won’t leak, and soon Brazilian paparazzi will be taking pictures of me. My family is very well known back home, and the fact we’ve tried to keep our privacy only enticed the media. Bruno, one of my brothers, is a software developer whose work has received a lot of attention. Leonardo and Emanuel have accomplished a lot and also had their share of media attention. Each time my brothers reached a new milestone in their respective careers, our family name made it to the newspapers.”
Nodding, he remembered the stories he’d read, the latest about how Emanuel Duarte helped prove Silas Lancaster, a real estate giant, was part of an embezzlement operation and even murder. Because Silas’s daughter had helped Emanuel and they got engaged, more attention has been drawn to the Duartes. “Why do you care?”
She lifted her chin. “One of the reasons I moved here was to be away from all that. I don’t want the spotlight or a glamorous job. I want to learn how to help people—people like my mother who had depression and no one understood. But all that is pointless if my life turns into a circus,” she said.
He should say no. That strange reaction to her should be enough of a red flag for him to back off and never see her again. Sure, Aunt Gesa would be a pain in the ass, but he’d deal with her—or ignore her like he had done two years ago when she’d tried to set him up on a date with a “nice girl” from her church. He owed nobody a thing.
Take this woman in front of him. He could say no to her and go back to his work. Thankfully, his financial situation was more than comfortable, and he didn’t have to accept every job that crossed his path.
She chewed on her lower lip and tilted her head to the side, anticipating his response. Yes. He could say no and let someone else deal with her. But before he could list them, he found himself saying, “Okay. I’ll take you on.” Blood thrummed in his veins, and that was when he knew he had just made a big fucking mistake.
