“All you require is my resignation?” he asked.
“And for you to move back to the east coast.”
“But—”
“I want two thousand miles between you and Charly. Move to Europe for all I care, but you will not be anywhere remotely near Charly again. I will know. Got me?”
Bennett glared at him. “I don’t take threats well.”
Antonio walked to the door and gripped the handle before he followed through with his instinct to kill Bennett, but he turned slightly to the doctor. “Next time it won’t be a threat. And, by the way? You’re not invited to the wedding.”
He opened the door and walked out of the office, nodding briefly to the worried-looking secretary before heading to the elevators.
Minutes away from home, he received a text from Simone.
“William Bennett accepted the offer.”
Four weeks later
Rio de Janeiro
They got married on the beach where they first made love. The ceremony was attended by a few close friends. Martinez stood as Antonio’s best man. More than anything, it made Charly’s heart full to see the two childhood friends standing side by side, so symbolic on this important day. Working together to take down Jacaré had scabbed over festering wounds that finally healed. As for Renata, there was less tension between her, Martinez, and Ida. What happened to her, plus the death of Luis, left a poignant reminder that life was too short.
Charly was at peace with having none of her family around for her wedding. She was starting a life with Antonio and did not need the negativity from her snobby relatives. It didn’t matter if Antonio’s wealth eclipsed their own, they would always find a problem with his questionable past and bloodline. And when it came to her father, Charly wanted nothing to do with him either. William Bennett was never going to seek help for his issues and he would continue to remain toxic to her well-being unless she cut him off completely.
Family was more than blood. Antonio had proven this, and he was sharing his own with her.
Jolene designed her beach wedding dress and it was perfect for the ceremony. The reception was a more formal affair and Charly finally got to wear that beautiful dress that Antonio picked for her. With a guest list of five hundred, it was a small number by a billionaire’s standard. But with the lack of family on both sides, the guests were mostly business associates—both the legitimate and shady kind. Antonio would always keep a pulse on the criminal underworld and Charly accepted that. After what she had gone through in the past year—staring evil in the eyes, she slept better at night knowing she had her own rogue protector who bypassed bureaucracy to keep her safe.
Because evil doesn’t play by the rules.
Antonio and Charly finally escaped their wedding reception and headed straight to the beach. The moon was in its waxing crescent at two in the morning. The stars above on this clear night and tiki torches planted along the shoreline lit their path. It was surreal and heartwarmingly romantic. Antonio wrapped his arms around her as they retraced their steps from that day she encouraged him to share a fond memory of his mother. Still wearing his tuxedo trousers, with his dress shirt untucked and partly unbuttoned, the lighting played on the strong angles of his features—shadows and jagged light. Her fallen angel. There was exhilaration in knowing this dangerous man was her husband.
“I’m impressed with this illuminated path,” Charly gushed. “So romantic.”
“I confess to having help.” There was dry amusement in his tone. “You have Oscar and his crew to thank for lighting our way.”
“Not outsourced to an event company?”
“Oscar wanted to do something for you,” Antonio said. He stopped them in their tracks and turned their bodies to face the ocean. He tilted his gaze to the heavens. “I can feel our mães’ approval.” There was a catch in his voice.
At the mention of their mothers, Charly’s words backed up her throat as she, too, stared up at the skies. “I agree,” she whispered.
Antonio faced her, holding her eyes captive with his. “You brought peace to my heart, Charlotte Andrade. You made me believe in love.”
She’d been on the verge of tears all day, brought about by happiness and a freedom she couldn’t contain under her skin. This time she let them fall. “Oh, Antonio. You made me more than believe in love.” She cupped his cheek with her scarred hand, her hand which was almost completely healed from its tremors. He caught it and turned to kiss her palm. “You put my broken pieces back together,” she continued, her voice cracking from the weight of her emotions. “Patched it with your strength.” Her lips twitched. “With your sheer arrogance which, amazingly enough, didn’t crush my spirit but did the opposite, made me stronger in every way.”
A growl vibrated in his chest and he captured her mouth in a searing kiss. Under the stars as the tide started to creep back in, he continued to plunder her lips. It was a kiss full of tenderness and yet an underlying carnal heat flared between them. He broke off. “I have something to show you.”
Charly had an idea, because up ahead, there was a light flickering in their cave.
“Can’t wait.” The heat between them flared into a baser instinct. It was always this way with Antonio—starting off with easy bantering and tenderness before burning up in a desire to tear each other’s clothes off. If this was how foreplay was always going to be with her husband,
