“The point is, I would want you in my life, in my bed. I want your laughter and your temper. It’s you, not your past, not even your body, amazing as that is.” His hand skimmed over the swell of her breast. “Not that I want that to change.”

“My brother and I inherited a drug empire.”

Her gaze was fastened to his face. He felt the hit somewhere in the region of his gut, but he didn’t flinch. Didn’t change expressions. She was waiting for that. Waiting for rejection. For betrayal. He didn’t even blink.

She waited in silence for his reaction. For his disgust. Her mouth was dry with fear of losing him but she went on. He had to know. He deserved the truth. Rachael spread her hands out in front of her. “It’s actually worse than it’s portrayed in the movies, Rio. There are the fields and the workers and the laboratories. There are endless supplies of cocaine. There are guns and murder and treachery. We live in a house that has everything money can buy. We wear the best clothes and have the finest jewelry. The cars are fast and powerful and the lifestyle is decadent. We can have anything we want. Especially if you overlook the bodyguards and the guards at the gates. If you can overlook the corruption of officials and police departments and the murders when some poor man tries to steal to feed his family. When you can overlook the addicts and women selling their bodies and their children, then I suppose, it would be a great life.”

She turned away from him, unable to have him look at her. She couldn’t look at herself. “That’s my inheritance, Rio. It’s what got my father and my mother killed.” Rachael felt behind her for the chair. Her leg throbbed and burned from overuse, but that wasn’t what made her legs shaky.

“My brother told me that our father fell in love with our mother and he wanted out of the business. Once she found out, she would have left him, so he wanted to go legitimate. I have no idea why we moved from South America, but we have estates there as well as in Florida.” She sank into the chair, grateful to be off of her leg. “I think he thought it would be different in Florida, but they were still in the business there. No matter what he did, he couldn’t change anything.”

Rio fixed her a cool drink. He could see pain eating her from the inside out. Two small children thrown into the middle of a world of violence. He knew the strict rules of the society their mother had grown up in. She must have tried to pass her morality, her honor and integrity to her children. He handed her the drink and sat on the floor, taking her injured leg into his hands.