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‘Was she always so maddening?’ he asked.
‘You’d better believe it.’ Maria laughed. ‘The scrapes I had to get her out of when we were kids. She was so intolerant of others, saying exactly what she thought with no filter. Papai told me that it was my role to be her protector and so I did. She never thanked me for it.’
‘I bet.’
He was soaking up the information with a thirst that shouldn’t quite fit, but he couldn’t stop himself. He wanted to know more about Flávia. As if it could somehow sate that ache inside him.
The...yearning he hadn’t been able to quench ever since that night in his suite.
‘Brady gets into fights in school,’ he made himself say, as if reminding himself why he was supposed to be at Flávia’s family’s house in the first place. ‘I thought it was a result of the trauma he has gone through with his mother’s death, and having to move schools, and be in London with me. But it turns out he always had some problems, even at his old school. Nothing serious, you understand. And it isn’t as though he can’t make any friends.’
‘He’s just intolerant of so-called idiots in his class?’ Maria guessed. ‘Those who don’t want to learn and so disrupt the class?’
‘To the extent where he stands up and tries to give them punishments, as though he’s the teacher.’
Maria threw her head back and emitted a happy, infectious laugh.
‘Yeah, that’s just like Livvy.’
‘She offered to take Brady into the rainforest, you know.’ The words were out before Jake could second-guess himself. ‘With me, of course.’
‘I think Brady would really like that.’
‘I know.’
‘But...?’ Maria prompted lightly when he didn’t elaborate. ‘You clearly have reservations.’
Jake stared across the garden. This was arguably dangerous ground; he risked offending Maria, and ultimately Flávia. But he had to ask. This was potentially his nephew’s safety at stake.
‘I’ve heard the stories—’ he pulled a face ‘—that Flávia can be reckless.’
‘I see.’
‘I don’t like rumours. But if it’s true that she spent a year handling vipers even when she knew there wasn’t enough antivenom on hand in the event that she got bitten, how can it be responsible of me to let her take us into that kind of environment?’
He didn’t realise how badly he’d wanted to hear Maria laugh and declare it to be absolute rubbish until she stayed silent, the air thickening around them with every passing moment.
Suddenly, his shoulder felt like a block of ice, frozen tightly to the cold, concrete pillar. He, who was rarely wrong about anything in his life, had never wished he could be more wrong than he did in this instant.
‘So it’s also true that she ended up getting bitten?’
The silence seemed to grow heavier somehow. And louder. Or perhaps that was just his own blood, thundering through his veins.
And then, at last, Maria spoke.
‘You really should speak to Livvy about that.’
Silence weaved around him for a moment. Then he offered a tight nod.
‘I’m the closest thing Brady has to a father right now. And you have two kids of your own. So I’m asking you.’
Another beat. Then Maria scrunched up her face.
‘I can tell you this,’ she told him firmly. ‘My sister is passionate, and focused, and driven. And maybe she does take occasional risks when it comes to her own life out there. But she has never, ever taken a risk with someone else’s life.’
‘I don’t know that it helps,’ Jake began, finding he had to fight to try to get his head around Maria’s words.
‘Then maybe this will. I know what Livvy does can be dangerous. A matter of life and death, even. And sometimes I do look out at the jungle when I know she’s in there, wondering if she’s going to come back safely. But I’ve never once felt that way when she’s been out there with one of my girls.’
