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“What you want me to say?”

I wanted him to argue with me more. To give me something to push back against so I could feel justified for stealing from him instead of guilty. But he wasn’t giving me that satisfaction. Every time I pushed, Dez reached for me anyway. One of these days he was gonna stop.

“I’ll let you know when I land,” I said.

“Cool. And whatever the fuck you been on these last few weeks, we’re talking about it when you get back. Make sure you figure it out because that work bullshit not gonna cut it this time.”

“Okay.”

“Aight.”

The line went dead. No goodbye. No “be safe.” Nothing.

“You good?” Siani asked, pulling out one of her earbuds.

“Fine,” I said, putting the phone away.

“Mhm.” Her eyes roamed over my face and she decided not to push it.

Our flight boarded ten minutes later. Siani started scrolling through the seatback screen for a movie. I put my headphones on and leaned against the window. I didn’t even realize I’d fallen asleep until the wheels hit the ground.

The charter from Fort Lauderdale was on a small eight seater that made me nauseous from all the turbulence. But the short flight was worth it when Catalina Cove came into view below us. From up here it looked like something straight out of Conde Nast Traveler—a small island surrounded by water so clear I swore I could see the fish from the plane.

An SUV was waiting to take us to Tariq’s place, and the ocean breeze made the Florida heat bearable on the ride over. I still don’t know how Siani pulled this all together in such a short amount of time, but I was too grateful to get away from the city that I wasn’t asking questions.

The house sat on a block of oceanfront properties spaced far enough apart that you weren’t sitting on top of your neighbors. Inside, we found a bottle of wine sitting on the counter next to a bouquet of flowers and a note.

Siani picked up the note and smiled. “I think I love this man.”

I set my bags down and walked straight through the house and out onto the back porch. The water was right there, close enough that I could hear it and smell it in the evening air. Something in my chest loosened. Not all the way, but enough where I could almost breathe again.

“Let’s go find something to eat,” Siani said from behind me.

We went to a spot in town that our driver recommended. It was small, the kind of place with a handwritten chalkboard menu and fresh caught fish. We kept the conversation light, talking shit about the girls at work. But the more wine I had, the harder it was to keep everything from surfacing.

By the time we got back to the house, the night sky was clear and full of stars. The last time I saw it like this, I was in Nassau with Dez.

We showered and changed, then settled back onto the porch chairs with our wine.

“Something’s going on with you, Lala,” Siani said after a moment. “You’ve been calling out of work, the girls are saying that you’ve been more bitchy than usual?”

I looked at my wine and turned the glass in my hand.

“I fucked up, Si.”

“Okay.”

“Gideon knows.” It came out easier than I thought it would. “After the gala he found my real name on the guest list, figured out that I stole from him, and now he wants seven hundred thousand dollars.”

“Did you take more money from Cardez?”

I looked at her.

She sucked in a breath. “Belle. He’s going to find out. Why didn’t you just tell him about Gideon?”

“So, he can know I’m a fucking scammer?” I shook my head furiously. “I know he’s into illegal shit, but I’m not dumb enough to think he’d forgive me for being a thief.”

“How much did you take from him this last time?”