“We need to find the others,” I whispered, the flash drive clutched tightly in my hand. “Before Grey?—”
“Too late,” Nina muttered.
We rounded a corner, and I could hear voices—lots of them. We approached cautiously to find everyone gathered smack dab in our way, still next to the Jeeps.
Obviously, the men had returned from the airstrip, and standing among them were Grey and…
Uncle Marcus.
My stomach dropped, and a violent shiver ran over my back as memories flooded back—his hands on my thigh, his breath against my neck, the terror I’d felt as a child next to him on that sofa, or locked in a bathroom to avoid him whenever I knew in advance he was coming to visit. But nothing could erase the memory of the way he’dstolen glances at me at family gatherings for years. Thinking about it still made me want to scrub my skin raw.
Grey and he were standing with their backs to us. I hadn’t seen him in over a decade, had purposely avoided any event where he might’ve been present, but I would recognize him anywhere.
And now he was here, on this island—with Grey.
Coincidence—probably not.
There was a lump in my throat that hindered me from taking a full breath. A tidal wave of panic threatened to drown me, and my surroundings seemed to close in as black spots danced in my vision.
Nina closed her hand around mine and squeezed tightly.
I pulled my eyes away from his back and side-eyed her.
She raised one eyebrow. She could tell something was wrong, even if she didn’t understand what.
“Focus,” she mouthed silently.
I fought for control, using every technique I’d learned over years of therapy. Slow breath in. Hold. Slow breath out. Focus on something concrete—I squeezed my hand around the flash drive in my hand. This was what was important. My family. Her family.
Nina looked at me, questions in her eyes, but I shook my head. Not that I could tell her what was wrong. Not now. Maybe not ever.
But there was no way to avoid them now.
Nina and I exchanged glances. She didn’t let go of myhand, which somehow gave me the strength to at least act normal.
Grey was speaking—something about the storm making evacuation impossible now, but I could barely focus on his words. I slipped my hand with the small hard drive into my pocket.
Then I steeled myself but struggled to pull myself together. The panic still clawed at my throat, but I pushed it down, compartmentalized, pretending as if nothing was wrong. And nothing was. I was safe; I wasn’t a child anymore. And I wasn’t alone.
But no matter how much I told myself that, no matter how much I logically knew, every nerve in my body still screamed danger.
How was Uncle Marcus even here? How were Grey and Marcus working together? And what about our plans?
As if the weather was underlining my thoughts, there was lightning, directly followed by thunder.
There would be no getting off the island now.
“Vince, Matt, nice to see you again,” Uncle Marcus said smoothly, interrupting Grey. “Alfredo’s boys, all grown up. What a coincidence.”
Coincidence, my ass. I must’ve scoffed.
Because Marcus whipped around, and his gaze landed on us—on me. Recognition flashed in his eyes, followed by a half smile that made my skin crawl.
My brothers stiffened almost imperceptibly. Nobody but Mira knew what Marcus had tried to do to me—had done, even if we’d never spoken of it directly.
I pulled my eyes away from Uncle Marcus and looked at Ivan. The moment our eyes connected, something shifted in his expression. There was no coldness, no professional distance now—just a question in his eyes.
Where were you?
