“Not going to happen,” he said with hostility.
“We’ll split our share with you. Seventy/thirty. It will be many times more than what you would get from the Octavian Global group.”
“The gun,” Andrew demanded.
“We can solve this puzzle in no time if we combine your knowledge with Richard’s. Sixty/forty?”
Andrew’s jaw tensed, as he clenched his teeth. William stepped to me, his backpack already on his shoulders. We exchanged glances.
Brie sighed. “Fine. Fifty-fifty.”
“Brie. My gun.”
She wrinkled her nose and crossed her arms. “No. If you want to leave without negotiating a deal. Then leave without it as well.”
What the actual fuck? Had that cold-hearted bitch lost her mind? I was turning into a ball of pure anger.
“Seriously?” I muttered. “You want us to trek through the jungle without protection?”
She rolled her eyes and barked, “Igor,otdai emu rujee.”
Definitely not Spanish. Russian, maybe? The ogre released the gun, and Andrew picked it up. He slid open the lever and checked the rifle.
“And rounds.” Andrew stuck his hand out, palm up.
The guy’s hand went to his chest pocket, and he withdrew five bullets and dropped them into Andrew’s hand. Andrew loaded the rifle and slung it over his shoulder.
“William, say goodbye to your pretty boy.” I hoisted my backpack on my shoulders. “This is the last time you’re going to see him.”
Andrew pushed past us into the dark jungle, and we followed him.
“Text me later,” William told Brandon and tailed after me.
For real, William? Even right now?
If the walk to the waterfalls was long, the walk back felt twice as long. The tension among us had gone wire taut. With no sun the jungle was blanketed in semidarkness. Strong gusts of wind harassed the rainforest canopy, making tree trunks groan and vines sway in an eerie dance.
“You are such an idiot,” I said to William as I stepped over a log. “Why would you tell him what we’ve found?” I pushed a large waxy green leaf out of my way.
“I didn’t,” William yelled. “I didn’t tell him anything. This morning we exchanged digits, and I left his room. He had no idea who I was. And then they just showed up here. And if someone is a fucking idiot, it’s you. You’re the one who texted me.”
Touché.
“What exactly did your text last night say?” Andrew asked.
God, how could this day turn into such total shit? Guilt and fear punched me in my gut. Technically it was my fault I’d shared information with my brother. “Um, that we’d found a second bracelet.” The words scraped my throat.
“For the love of god. I didn’t show it to him,” William cried out. “Why is it so hard to believe me?”
I stared ahead. Last night William was probably drunk and told Brandon everything.
“Brandon could have broken into your phone and read it,” Andrew said, defending him for unexplained reasons.
“I’m telling you: he didn’t know who I was until a few minutes ago.”
“He was pretending.” I shot him a mean glance. “Have you thought about it?”
“Well, he doesn’t know my passcode to my phone. How would he read my stuff?”
