Jayden stood in the hallway, watching the chaos unfold. Gerald was hovering near the Brennans’ door, offering to call for ice. Mags had appeared in a bathrobe, her sharp eyes taking in every detail. The Novaks—Josef and Anna—poked their heads out, looked terrified, and retreated.
No sign of Riley Stewart.
Jayden slipped into her room and closed the door. Leaned against it. Dakota had told her to stay. To lock the door. To wait.
But everyone was distracted. Most of the tour group was clustered around the Brennans’ room, focused on the break-in, the injury, the drama.
Jayden checked her watch. Dakota would be downstairs for at least ten minutes, dealing with Bonnie and hotel security. That was enough time. Enough time to search the newcomer’s rooms. Enough time to finally get some answers.
She pulled out her lock-pick set—standard Black Swan issue, disguised as a manicure kit—and eased open the door.
And nearly collided with Vic Simons.
He stood in the hallway directly outside her door, wringing his hands in that nervous way of his. His face was pale in the fluorescent light.
“Oh!” He startled back. “I’m so sorry—I didn’t mean to—I heard the commotion and I was just—” He gestured vaguely toward the Brennans’ end of the hall. “Is everyone all right? Poor Mr. Brennan. I hope he’s not badly hurt.”
Jayden stared at him.
Harmless Vic. Anxious Vic. The nervous IT consultant who’d been on this tour since the beginning.
Vic, who was standing in the hallway outside her room.
“Fine,” she said slowly. “Everything’s fine.”
“Oh good. Good.” He bobbed his head, still wringing his hands. “Well, I’ll just—I should probably—” He gestured vaguely and shuffled away down the hall, his shoulders hunched.
Jayden watched him go.
She’d been looking at the new arrivals. Blake with his sharp eyes. Riley with her gender-neutral name.
But what if the threat had been here all along?
What if it was someone she’d dismissed from the very beginning?
Vic disappeared around the corner, and Jayden stood frozen in her doorway.
And right then, of course, the elevator opened, and Dakota came out, his face a storm, as if truly furious, again, that someone might hurt her.
She slipped back inside the room. Maybe she’d been looking in the wrong direction this whole time.
ELEVEN
Something didn’t add up, and Dakota couldn’t put his finger on it.
He stood at the window of their Melbourne hotel room, staring at the city lights without seeing them. Behind him, Jayden was curled on the bed with her phone, scrolling through something—news, maybe, or social media. Trying to decompress after the chaos of the evening.
She’d built the Wall of Fiji, but he didn’t need it. He wouldn’t sleep anyway.
The penguin parade had been perfect right up until it wasn’t. The little penguins waddling up the beach at sunset, the tour group charmed and delighted, everyone’s guard down.
And he’d nearly blown it—nearly told Jayden about the gun in the bag. Which suddenly made him feel deceptive. And sneaky and soiled.
He needed to tell her the truth.
But not until he figured out who Ellis and Devin Hart really were. Gender-neutral names—both of them. Delayed by the storm, possibly with luggage that got routed ahead of them.
Exactly the kind of movement he’d been watching for.
