Josh’s sardonic laugh echoes throughout the room. “You’re just as sad and pathetic as her.”
The double doors behind Josh swing open. My heart drops when I realize it’s Lochlan. That means the entire security team must be coming in behind him. But to my surprise, it’s Lee and Capri.
Lexi laughs and cries next to me when Lochlan flashes her a grin. “Hi, lassie. Miss me?” She sprints into his arms. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so happy or relieved to see a man before.
For Lexi’s sake, I really hope that his being with Lee and Capri means he’s actually not one of the bad guys. I might have to stab him, too, if he is.
Capri’s gaze is locked on Josh. Her body is quivering with what I think is fear and barely restrained anger. Her hands grip the gun in her hand so hard that her knuckles are bone white. Her jaw clenches and unclenchesin waves as she stares him down with eyes that threaten nothing but danger.
Somehow, she didn’t know.
Something in me breathes a sigh of relief. I don’t know how I could have lived with myself if Capri had been knowingly keeping that from me while I was sharing a bed with him.
We all fell for the mask that hid that monstrous side underneath.
Lee is looking at us all in confusion, but he’s primarily focused on his wife’s livid expression at Josh. He steps between them, whether it’s to protect Josh from Capri’s fury or to protect his wife from doing something that might destroy her, I’m not sure.
Josh refuses to break eye contact with Capri. “Hello, again.” His lips turn into a devilish grin.
Capri chokes out a gasp. “I should kill you for what you did to me,” she finally says, her voice shaking with every word.
Josh pulls a napkin from the table and presses it to his injured hand. “You don’t have it in you to commit cold-blooded murder, Capri. If you did, you wouldn’t have let me take you so easily all those years ago. You didn’t even try to fight back.” He starts to pace the length of the dining table as we all watch him. “And my, how I enjoyed myself with you.” He winks at her and puckers his lips, blowing a kiss her way.
My stomach turns as acid creeps up my throat. How can Josh be so callous about what he’s done to her? To us?
Lee looks back at Capri, his eyes full of shock and pain. “It was him?” Tears slip down her cheeks, and she silently nods.
With a confused look, Lexi asks, “What is he talking about?”
My own insecurity has me momentarily glad when I realize Capri didn’t confide in Lexi about this massive secret either. But it breaks my heart to know she’s carried this alone for all this time.
Josh chuckles darkly. “Oh, Capri, you wound me. You really didn’t tell your friends about our little rendezvous together?”
“You raped me!” Capri screams.
“Call it what you want. We both know you enjoyed our time together.” Josh grins. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have kept our daughter a secret all these years.”
Lee lets out a strangled groan as he looks at his wife.
“Does it hurt to know that she wanted a child after all, just not yours?” Josh mocks, tilting his head in Lee’s direction.
Everyone holds their breath when Lee walks over to Capri, and we all exhale when he places a gentle kiss against her forehead.
In that same breath, he tugs the gun from Capri’s hands before turning and shooting Josh in the chest.
Josh gasps as his body hits the floor. He coughs out one last, rasping breath. “You’re all dead now.” Then his body goes slack, blood pooling around him in a tidal wave of scarlet on the ancient tan rug.
The room erupts in chaos. Lochlan is laughing. Capri has fallen to the ground and is sobbing as Lexi runs to her side to console her. Lee is standing over Josh’s body.
He’s dead. He’s really dead. It can’t be that easy. We need to find a way out of here before Pierce finds us. The only thing I want to do is grab my friends and run.
Lexi and Capri are both screaming and pointing at me, but I can’t make out anything over the loud, piercing ringing in my skull.
“We need to get off this island,” I shout to the group. Someone taps on my shoulder from behind. When I turn, I’m met with a person in a mask. They pull the pin in the metal object they’re holding and throw it past me.
The room fills with gas, and I hit the floor the same way Josh’s body did moments ago, before everything goes black.
When I regain consciousness again, I find myself tied to a chair. Lexi and Capri are across from me, tied to their own chairs. Their eyes bore into my soul, and I feel nothing but undiluted terror for their safety.
