Page 24 of Deadly Sins

She snatched my phone, didn’t say a word, and tapped in her number. “Call me anytime. Nice to meet you, Ksenya.”

She shut the door behind her.

Holy shit. This was huge. I bet some of the other strippers who were at the party that night worked at Diamond. Maybe even Emma? I was getting closer to the truth, to Tiffany’s real killer.

I scrubbed Mitch’s touch off me and met Grant back downstairs.

“Babe, come to the rooftop deck with me. I want to show you something.”

I kissed Grant on the cheek, grateful to him for inviting me to this party. His sharp stubble burned my lips. A warm flush ran through my body, imagining that stubble grazing my thighs.

I followed him upstairs—a light giggle, a deep moan, and a passionate scream pierced my ears. Was he taking me up to one of these rooms? My palms were sweaty, my hands trembled.

We passed the bedrooms, and he led me out to a small deck.

My heart stopped. I knew what he wanted to show me.

“Sit, babe. Make a wish.”

A wish. Grant had brought me up here to watch the sunset. To see the Green Flash.

The Green Flash wasn’t a myth or even an optical illusion. If you ever sat on a San Diego beach at sunset and noticed a group of people staring silently in the same direction, they were looking for the Green Flash. That moment when the sun set and emitted that last glimpse of light, a flash of color of the Emerald City in Oz.

Grant pulled me to him, and I sat on his lap. His arms wrapped around me. “Babe, study the sky. Legend has it if you see a flash of green light, your wish will come true.”

Was he feeling a real connection with me, or did he share this with all of his dates? It took every ounce of training I had not to question him. I wanted to know how many other women he’d taken to see the flash. He’d taken me to a restaurant on this same beach on our first date, but I’d been unable to spot the flash. My eyes had been clouded by my love for him, the sadness over my parents’ deaths still fresh in my heart. We’d planned to go back and see it together for our second anniversary, but we broke up a week before. Tonight, I vowed I would finally see it.

I made my unspoken wish. My throat felt thick, my pulse quickened. I wished for Joaquín to be free, as a good sister should. But another brief wish passed through my head—for Grant to forgive me, and for us to fall in love again.

His arms tightened around me, and I studied the fogless sky, determined to experience this phenomenon with my true love. The hues from the sunset hung over the horizon; the sun dipped toward the water. Every nerve ending tingled and stirred inside me. My eyes focused—and the final ray of light beamed right at me.

My heart beat strongly in my chest. This glorious green spark filled my soul.

Grant whispered into my ear. “That was it, babe. This writer Jules Verne described it as ‘the true green of hope.’”

Oh my God. He was quoting Jules Verne now? “You are so romantic to me.”

His shoulders fell. “You just seem to have so much on your mind. I’ve gone through some rough shit, too. When I’m really down, I look at the sunset, and the flash pulls me through.”

A chill pulsed through my body. Grant had told me that during BUD/S, looking for the flash had kept his determination not to quit strong. I remembered nursing him back to health afterward, so proud of him and my brother for finishing. Surviving five and a half days of extreme training on less than four hours of sleep was still unfathomable to me, though I had gone through my own version of Hell Week to get here.

After taking care of him then, I’m sure he was baffled as to why I’d left him when he had been injured. But I could never tell him the truth.

My resistance to Grant was weakening, despite my disgust for this new version of him. I loved the real Grant, knew now I always would. He was the only man I ever wanted to be with—if I couldn’t find my way back to him, I’d rather be alone.

I relaxed into his embrace. Having his warm mouth claim mine would be even better than finally seeing the flash. We’d kissed at the hotel, but I’d pulled away, worried a deep, longing kiss would be too intimate, too risky. But now…

He held my hand. “You want to get out of here?”

“Yes. I want to go together with you.”

I texted the girls I had brought, and they all told me they could find rides home. Grant and I would be alone tonight.