Chapter 19
I’m furious asI go through my phone, replaying my conversations with Jordan.
He also set up a website where he offered money for people to upload pictures they took of me. No wonder there were so many.
Worst of all, he sold me out. Took money from Stephen and now he’s gone.
The vile treachery.
The evil heartbreak.
The unforgiveable sin of betrayal.
I shut off the light in my cabin, curl up under the covers of my bunk, and call Jade. It’s late at night, and the charges would be horrendous, but I don’t care. I need bestie therapy, and I need to warn her about her cousin.
“Jordan? What’s going on?” Jade sounds like she’s almost purring, relaxed and very heavily satisfied.
“Jordan?” I exclaim. “It’s me, Dani.”
“Oh, Dani. Is everything okay? How’s Jordan?”
“I’m not disturbing anything, am I?” I’m momentarily peeved that she’d care more about her cousin than her best girlfriend.
“Oh, no, everything’s great over here. Ahhh…” She moans. Ick.
I hope she’s not in the middle of anything.
“Are you okay to talk?” I ask.
“Just chilling. Say ‘hi’ to Jordan.”
“Actually, he’s not with me.” I scratch my head, wondering why in the world Jade would automatically assume the two of us are together. “He jumped ship at Maui.”
“He did? I thought it was you who stayed behind,” Jade says. “Weird. I got a text message saying you were going to drop out for a year, travel, and go incognito.”
“That’s what Jordan and I were planning on doing,” I say, my voice cracking. “Until he dumped me. Not only that, he betrayed me. Did you know he was working with my ex? Stephen? Spying on me the entire cruise?”
“No way,” Jade exclaims. “He’s never said anything to me about any of this.”
“That’s because he was his fixer behind the scenes, getting Stephen out of trouble and saving his image.”
“That’s horrible. I don’t believe it.”
“Heard it from the horse’s mouth. Stephen told me. Not only that, Jordan recorded all of our conversations on my phone.”
“Wait, wait, your phone? How?”
“I lost it at the beginning of the trip and it turned out Stephen swiped it and he gave it to Jordan to spy on me. Jordan was supposed to test me to see if I’d remain loyal to Stephen.”
“Wait, this doesn’t make sense. The text message I got says it’s from you,” Jade says, and I can hear a muffled man’s voice in the background asking if she’s okay.
“It wasn’t me. I didn’t have my phone until Stephen gave it back to me. I’m disturbing you and Aiden, aren’t I?” I can picture them tangled up between the sheets. Beyond that, I dare not imagine what position they’re exploring.
“No, I’m concerned,” Jade says. “If you say Jordan’s missing from the ship, then something bad might have happened to him.”
“Track his phone,” Aiden says, this time closer to the mouthpiece.
I hear keys clicking and Jade says, “His phone shows he’s on the ship. You guys just passed The Big Island, right?”
