The man I loved wouldn’t exist.

“Look,” I said. “Let me help you. If you want to get out, I’ll help you get out.” I was lying through my teeth, but I had to try.

“You were a cop. An officer of the law. You won’t help me. I’m in too deep to get out anyway.”

“No, you’re not. There are ways. Are we being monitored?” I looked around the room cautiously.

“No. I’m the boss here. No one monitors me.”

“Good. You can turn state’s evidence. I can get you out. I’ll do what I can.”

“It’s too late. And I don’t believe you anyway.”

I couldn’t fault his observation.

Time to change tactics. “Where’s Brad Steel?”

“He’s here.”

I widened my eyes. No song and dance? I’d expected a little side step. “Where?”

“He’s here. Close, anyway. On an adjacent island.”

“Is he being kept in captivity?”

“What would ever give you that idea?”

“Wendy Madigan.”

My father chuckled. Actually chuckled! “And you believed her?”

“Who am I supposed to believe, Theo? All of you have lied to me. Wendy, Larry Wade. Everyone. Now where’s Brad Steel?”

“I wasn’t lying. He’s here. And he’s not in captivity.”

“Why would Wendy say he was?”

“I don’t have the vaguest clue,” my father said. “But if she did, she had a reason. That woman has a reason for everything she does. She goes crazy when it’s convenient.”

“I’ve already figured that out. That doesn’t explain why she abducted Jonah Steel, though.”

“She’s obsessed with Brad. Jonah’s a dead ringer for him.”

“If she’s so obsessed with him, why take his son? Why not just come here and be with him?”

“Because,” my father said, “Brad doesn’t want her here. He’s gone to great effort to keep certain things from her.”

I jolted in my chair. “But Wendy said—”

“Ruby, it doesn’t matter what Wendy said. She’s been running Brad Steel’s life since we were kids. She’s been running all our lives, actually, but Brad’s most of all.”

“What does she have on you?” I asked.

“What doesn’t she have on me?”

Good point. “Hey, I know you’re no paragon of society—no one knows that better than I do—but you’ve eluded capture this far. You’ve never even been arrested. Surely Wendy can’t hurt you.”

He sighed and pushed his chair back from the desk and leaned backward, his head hitting the wall. “Wendy Madigan can hurt everyone. And I’m going to make sure she doesn’t hurt you.”

Chapter Eleven

Ryan

“Either of you guys done any scuba diving before?” Raj had joined us on the deck once the sun rose.

“No,” I said.

“Well, it’s time to learn a thing or two.”

“What?” Talon said. “That was never part of this deal.”

“You’re both in good shape. You’ll be fine. You can swim, can’t you?”

“Of course,” Talon and I said together.

“Good. Lesson number one—”

“Hold on right there,” I said. “Why do we need to learn scuba? We’re not stopping the boat for anything.”

“Well, when we get to those coordinates you gave me, you don’t really think it’s a good idea to just sail up and dock this floating luxury home, do you?”

I hadn’t thought of that. From the look on Talon’s face, neither had he. We had no idea who or what we would encounter once we got there. We couldn’t just waltz right in and announce our presence.

“I’ll take your silence as your agreement. We’ll anchor far enough away that anyone who sees the yacht won’t see a threat. The rich and famous cruise the Caribbean frequently.”

“Got it,” I said.

“Once I give you the basics, we’ll stop the boat for—”

“Wait,” Talon interjected. “Why can’t we use one of those underwater dive propulsion things, like in the movies?”

“Uh…because you’re not James Bond, mon. And this isn’t a movie.”

I couldn’t help a chuckle.

“The yacht has top-notch equipment, but they don’t stock dive scooters,” Raj said. He added a sarcastic, “Sorry.”

“Fine,” Talon said. “Sorry I asked.”

“As I was saying…we’ll stop and I’ll give you the quick open-water dive lesson. Then, when we reach the coordinates, we’ll anchor somewhere out of sight and swim underwater to the island. It’s daylight now, and we’ll reach the coordinates after dark. That gives us the day to learn the basics, and we’ll have Faucett stop for an hour for open-water practice. Follow me.”

He led us to the stern of the ship and opened a cabinet. He pulled out masks, tanks, fins, and a bunch of other stuff I didn’t recognize.

“First rule,” Raj said. “Breathing out of a tank feels different. You need to stay calm, or you’ll use up your oxygen. But you don’t need to worry too much about that. We won’t be underwater for very long.”

“Wait a minute,” I said, interrupting. “What is all this shit?”

He pulled out each item and named it—a regulator, an extra alternate regulator that Raj called an octopus, a snorkel, a buoyancy control device, a dive computer. I felt like I was back in school.

“Don’t we need wet suits?” I asked.

“The water is warm here. That’s just something else to hold you back. We’ll be wearing dive shorts.”

“What are dive shorts?” Talon asked.

Raj pulled out a garment made of black Lycra. A Speedo with legs.

No fucking way. “Uh-uh.” I shook my head.

“You guys are in good shape. I’m the one who should be embarrassed,” Raj said.

Actually, Raj looked like he was in fine shape.

“How about we just wear our regular trunks?” Talon said.

“Because regular trunks bunch up and impede your movement.”

“We can move just fine,” I said.

“Give me much more of this shit, and I’ll be making you shave your legs and head for ultimate movement. This is what you’ll be wearing, mon. Best get used to it.”

Talon and I both sighed. No way was I shaving my legs. Or my head. Ruby loved my hair.

Ruby.

Fuck. Where the hell was she?

If I had to wear tight Lycra shorts and haul my ass through water to find her, I’d do it.

I’d do anything.

* * *

“Land ho,” Raj said sarcastically. “You two knew there’d be an island here all along, didn’t you?”

“We had our suspicions,” I said. “Didn’t Faucett tell you there was land there? I assume he charted the course.”

“I haven’t talked to him. Where’d you get those coordinates, anyway?”

“We told you,” Talon said. “They were a clue. They were kind of dropped in our lap.”

“Whatever, mon. I don’t ask questions unless I’m paid to.” He looked up. “The sun’s almost down. Once it’s dark, we head out. Let’s get something to eat in the meantime.”

I didn’t think I could eat. I’d done okay during our practice runs during the day, but I’d had to talk Talon down. He’d freaked at first about breathing underwater. Said it reminded him of being in that dark basement.

That had been hard for him to admit, but I’d talked to him gently and he’d been okay. The second trial run had gone smoothly.

Still, as I looked at my brother, I could see something dark in his eyes. This bothered him.

“It’ll be okay, Tal,” I said. “Come on. Let’s eat something.”

“Not hungry.”

“Neither am I, but you know as well as I do we can’t do this without sustenance.” I nudged his arm. “Come on.”

“I need to call Jade.”

“Okay. There’s time for that. Give her a call.”

I wanted desperately to call Ruby, but I couldn’t. I didn’t need to remind Talon of that though. Right now, just as the yacht was anchored, Talon was looking for his anchor. His anchor was Jade.

I didn’t have my anchor, but that wouldn’t stop me.

I would go forward and find her.

If it was the last thing I did.

Chapter Twelve

Ruby

“Since when do you care who hurts me?” I asked. “You tried to rape me. Or have you conveniently forgotten that?”

“Believe it or not, Ruby, I haven’t raped anyone in the last decade.”

I didn’t believe it. “Maybe you have and maybe you haven’t. That still doesn’t excuse the damage you inflicted before then. On Gina. On Talon Steel. Even on me. And on myriad others.”

He sighed. “I understand that. All I can say is that I have my regrets.”

“What about murder? Are you going to try to tell me you had nothing to do with the murder of Jordan Hayes? The receptionist at your old high school?”

“I did not. Tom did that.”

“And the business card that was planted in her apartment? Joe’s business card?”

“Again, Tom. After Joe was beginning to prove that Tom wasn’t the upstanding mayor everyone thought he was, Tom went insane.”

“Because he wasn’t insane before that?” I said sarcastically.

“He wanted to pin Jordan’s murder on Joe.”

“What about the business card left at Talon’s house by the housekeeper? The same MO. Are you telling me that was Tom as well? Because Felicia told the Steels that the masked man who threatened her into doing it had strange icy-blue eyes. And Melanie said the same thing about the man who abducted her from her loft and pushed her into that garage and left her to die.”