Dani glanced at him, and he mouthed,I’m sorry. The boatwas too loud for them to have any sort of real conversation, not without the goons hearing them.
Who are they?she mouthed back.
Bad.
A sinking feeling settled in her stomach. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t already tell these guys were bad news, but confirmation wasn’t helping.
Theo looked away and then tipped his head to the side as if something caught his eye. The goons were standing at the controls, steering the boat, not paying them any attention. Slowly, Theo let go of her hand and stood up, though still crouching low as he inched his way toward the men. But Dani snatched his arm back. He glanced at her, and she shook her head, telling him no. Whatever he was planning to do, she wasn’t in support. But he squeezed her hand again and pumped his hand downward, motioning for her to relax. How a simple hand squeeze could reassure her that everything would be okay was a mystery, but it worked. She settled back into the bench, watching as he crept closer to the goons, then he reached for the letter sticking out of the tall guy’s back pocket and snatched it right as the other man noticed Theo.
The stocky guy lunged toward Theo, but Theo ducked away and quickly tore the envelope in half, tossing it over the side of the boat right as the man tackled him. The tall guy slowed down the boat, but it was too late. The letter was gone.
Stocky held Theo down by the collar as the other approached and pointed his finger in Theo’s face. “Try something like that again, and I’ll toss you overboard.”
“Go ahead,” Theo spat back. “You’d be doing me a favor. At leastIcan swim.”
The man glowered at him. “You think tearing that piece ofpaper up is going to save you?” the man asked. “Just because we can’t see what you wrote doesn’t mean we don’t already know that you were going to rat us out.”
He pushed hard at Theo’s chest then returned to the ship controls.
“Think we should go back for it?” the other man asked. “What if he put our names in there?”
The driver glanced over his shoulder at Theo, then looked at the water. “So what? He doesn’t know who we really are,” he said.
The stocky man scrunched his face. “Well, what if he snitches on Pierre?”
Theo’s body tensed, and he sucked in a breath. Theo clearly recognized the name Pierre. And it didn’t seem like he was too excited to meet him.
The boat sped through the waters of the Mediterranean, weaving through the dozens of islands dotting the way. Some large. Some small. Some inhabited. Others looked to be no larger than a football field. Theo stared out to the sea, looking away almost as if avoiding her. He’d left home without a single word, though, so what difference did it make? So instead of getting those answers she so desperately wanted, she gazed out at the blue waters in the opposite direction. Nervous. Scared of what was awaiting them at their destination.
Finally, after traveling for what seemed like an hour, Tall Guy eased up on the throttle as they approached a luscious island of greens and blues. The terrain varied with rocks and gardens leading up from the beach to a glass-walled building sitting atop a hill. It looked like something straight out of aJames Bondmovie—the evil villain’s lair.
Stocky hopped out of the boat, taking a rope to tie the vessel up to a pylon driven into the beach. Dani looked over at Theo,who was taking off his boots and rolling up the hems of his pants. Realizing they were docked in a solid two feet of water, Dani took off her shoes as well. No words were spoken between them and the men, but none were needed. The four of them had an understanding. And really, what were Dani and Theo going to do? Run off down the beach on this remote island in the middle of the sea? Dani highly doubted there’d be an emergency phone or spare boat to save them. So one by one, they jumped out of the boat and into the clear water, wading through the warm shallows before heading toward the house along a stone trail lined with all sorts of exotic plants.
They came to the modern white building with straight lines, walls of windows, and minimal furniture. Once over the threshold, they made their way through the structure toward the outside yet again, out to an infinity pool that rivaled a five-star resort.
Hmm…maybe this was a resort?
Dani scoffed at herself.Yes, because that’s what happens when you get kidnapped. You get taken to a resort for an all-inclusive vacation.
She froze at the thought.Kidnapped. Oh God. That’s what was happening, wasn’t it? Acknowledging it made it feel more real.
And more terrifying.
“Wait here,” Tall Guy said, walking away and leaving them with Stocky.
Now was her chance to ask some questions.
“Theo, what is going on?”
He glanced over at Stocky standing roughly ten feet away, and then turned to her. “Not now.”
She looked at Theo. Seriously? He wasn’t going to tell her why they’d been kidnapped because this pendejo was here?
“Do you know these people? Are you working with them?” she asked, ignoring his desire not to talk.
“Not exactly,” another voice said from behind them.
Both Theo and Dani spun around to face a man in all-white linen sporting a matching white beard. His accent was French, but based on the tan he was sporting, he’d clearly been spending a significant amount of time out in the Grecian sun.
