“Deal’s off.” I grabbed William’s arm and turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” Andrew asked.
I swirled around. “Back to the resort.”
“We have an agreement. You promised to go.”
“And you promised a plane. This piece of junk is an impostor. Are you honestly expecting me or my brother to get in that thing? It should be sold for scrap.”
“Yes. I agree it’s not the nicest, but it works. Besides, we had a deal. I paid you.” Andrew’s large eyes seemed to double. “You can’t back out now.”
Who the hell did he think he was? Anger oozed out of my pores, mixing with my sweat.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Do you think you can just buy me?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not buying you,” Andrew said, his ever-present, infuriating smirk tugging at his lips, but his eyes swirled with fury.
“You did offer money for her company,” William chimed in. “It’s likeIndecent Proposal.”
I glared at William. “It isnotat all like that movie.”
William bit his bottom lip and nodded. “True. Robert Redford paid a million dollars.”
I rolled my eyes, then returned my focus to Andrew. I wasn’t angry with him. I was pissed at myself for harboring a small hope of saving my store.
“Dr. Jones.” I took a calming breath. “I’ll wire your money back to you, but we aren’t going unless you provide something not piloted by Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private.”
“Who?” William would look confused, but his eyebrows didn’t move due to Botox.
“Penguins,” I said.
“Adriana, you’re making a bigger deal of this than it is,” Andrew said.
“What penguins?” William still didn’t understand.
“Madagascar,” Andrew and I parroted.
At that, I smiled. I was impressed he knew right off the bat which cartoon I meant. I adoredMadagascarand had seen it a hundred times. Andrew had probably watched it with his daughter, whereas I’d enjoyed it alone, with a glass—fine, a bottle—of wine.
“Look.” Andrew wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. “I wouldn’t have to deal with you if you hadn’t put on a bloody bracelet that wasn’t meant for you.”
“It was sent to my room with my name on it.”
“For the tenth time, it was my name, not yours,” Andrew said in a controlled voice, but his face seethed.
“Yours. Mine. Whatever. It was delivered to me!” I spun and pulled on William’s shirt sleeve.
William and I marched several yards toward parked taxis outside the fenced-in area before Andrew ran around us and raised his palms.
“Don’t make me beg. If you think something is wrong with that…”—Andrew waved his hands toward the scrap of metal behind him and pushed a word out of his mouth with difficulty—“plane, then we won’t take William. For his safety. And ours.” He exhaled. “God only knows, the weight of his luggage might plunge us from the sky.”
A smile tugged at my lips again, but I pressed them together.
“I’m sorry, but my answer is no. That thing…” I turned for another look at the aluminum death trap. Nope. “That thing shouldn’t be allowed to fly.”
Andrew’s head sagged, and so did his broad shoulders as we made our way around his tall figure. I understood the project was important to him, just like my store was to me, and he was enthusiastic about the possibility of discovering some great treasure, but I couldn’t risk my life or William’s. The best thing to do was to wire back the money I’d received this morning, return to the resort, enjoy our vacation, and then go back to my messed-up world so I could get my life together. To my?—
“Fifty thousand dollars.” Andrew stopped my thoughts in their tracks.
