Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 73462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
I press my palms against my eyes, willing away the burn of tears. “What if he doesn’t forgive me?”
Sienna sighs. “Then at least you’ll know where you stand. But if you don’t tell him and he finds out some other way?” She lets that thought hang between us, the weight of it suffocating.
I take a steadying breath. “I’ll tell him. Right away.”
The wind shifts through the palm trees. The island has always had a hum to it, the rustling of leaves, the rhythmic pull of the tide, the distant murmur of voices from the mansion or the beach.
But now, it feels…empty.
Too empty.
Sienna glances toward the beach.
The sun glares off the water, turning it into a blinding sheet of gold. Nothing. No sign of River, Brett, or Jake. No distant figures walking the beach. No low voices carrying on the breeze.
Something isn’t right.
“Where are they?” I ask.
Sienna shrugs. “Maybe they just went somewhere private to talk.”
I nod, but unease coils in my stomach. The last time River disappeared, it was after I told him how I felt. And now, after Jake’s sudden return, after the upheaval of everything they thought they knew—he’s gone again.
I walk toward the ocean. “I need to find him.”
Sienna hesitates. “Emily—”
“I need to.”
She doesn’t argue. “I want to find Brett, too. Something about this whole thing just feels off.”
A cold chill slides down my spine despite the heat of the noonday sun.
Somewhere on this island, beneath the relentless sun and the endless stretch of empty beach, something is already breaking…and I’m terrified it’s my heart.
EPISODE 199
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
River
We walk along the beach, none of us speaking, until we’re far enough from the mansion that no one will hear us.
After Seb found Alex and brought him to us, Alex and Jake embraced like Seb and he had.
Until Brett broke them up and gritted out, “River, your time’s up.”
“Not here,” I said. “Somewhere private.”
“Fine.” Brett started walking. “We walk.”
Now we’re standing, barefoot, the water lapping at our feet.
Brett glares at me. “Well, Riv?”
It’s interesting that they’re all focused on me. What about Jake? He’s the one who left, who let them all think he was dead.
But they’re all so happy to see him. Who can blame them?
Where do I begin? How do I tell this story that began twenty years ago?
I’ve only seen Jake once since he took off. About ten years ago. I was in Miami on business, and I went to see him. We’ve been in contact since he left, and I sent him money a few times, but for the most part, he’s made it on his own.
It never seemed right.
The four of us are fucking billionaires. He should have reaped the benefit of that night.
Then again…he did kill a man.
It hasn’t slipped my mind that there’s no statute of limitations on murder.
But the police didn’t find any evidence of Marnie’s or Old Man Larson’s disappearance. They both just vanished into thin air. No fingerprints, no gunshot residue.
Nothing.
A cold case.
Marnie’s parents, of course, sent out an Amber alert and searched for their daughter for years.
She was never found.
The case got colder and colder until everyone accepted that she must be dead.
Only Jake and I know where she is.
And we’ll never talk.
So I ask myself now… How much can Jake and I divulge? I trust Brett, Alex, and Seb with my life, but…
The fewer people who know what happened all those years ago, the safer Jake is.
Which is why I’m rethinking bringing him here.
No one mourned Old Man Larson. He paid for what he did to Marnie—with his life.
“Enough, Riv,” Brett snaps, pulling me from my musing. His eyes are ice-cold, his jaw set. “We want answers.”
Jake shifts beside me, a silent plea in his gaze. I nod subtly. He agreed to come with me. He knew the risks.
“Jake did what he had to do,” I begin, my voice almost drowned by the ocean’s relentless waves.
Brett’s cheeks are red. “You owe us a lot more than that, Riv.”
I open my mouth but Jake gestures to me.
“This isn’t on Riv, Brett,” he says. “It’s on me.”
“Jake, how could you?” Alex asks. “We mourned you. We buried you. We found that damned hat you loved but never wore at the mouth of the river. How could you let us suffer like that?”
I take a step toward Alex. “Wait a minute, you don’t know what he’s been through. What happened. Why he had to leave.”
“Then why didn’t you just fucking leave?” Brett demands. “We would have at least known you were alive. We wouldn’t have—” He stops abruptly, choking up.
Jake doesn’t know how Brett felt about him. Neither do Alex and Seb. Hell, I only just found out. We had no idea. But that’s classic Brett. No one can compartmentalize quite like he can.
But all of us being together for this event—especially after Brett told me about his true feelings for Jake—made me realize that Jake deserves better. We all deserve better.