38. Elena
38
ELENA
“ B rooks is lecturing Nash about me, isn’t he?” I ask Sophie.
“Yeah, he probably is.” She smirks as we walk inside.
“You want a drink? Water? Soda?” I ask her.
She nods. “Water is fine thanks. This place is nice. You’d have no idea from the outside, this is what is hidden behind it. No wonder you’ve been having fun,” she teases.
I grab her a bottle of water from the fridge and one for myself, too. “Go on, say it.”
“I’m surprised.” She smiles, taking the bottle of water from me.
“Me too,” I chuckle, “it kind of just happened.”
“He’s a good guy, I get it,” she says before taking a sip of water. “Do you have feelings for him?” I can see the grimace on her face.
“Are we becoming sisters with all this boy talk?” I tease her. Sophie flips me off which makes me laugh. “Yes, I like him. I wasn’t expecting it, but I do. Never expected a man would want me for me not for what they can get from me.”
“You deserve a normal life. And if you think Nash can give you that then I’m all for it,” she says.
Wow, wasn’t expecting that. “Thanks.”
“Don’t be so skeptical. Look, I know we had a rough start because you broke Grace’s heart by making her believe Max was dead, but I get why you did it. Because the alternative was, he could have really been dead. I was being a protective sister. We were so close to losing her to her grief.” I can see Sophie struggling to hide her emotions. She truly was worried about her sister.
“I know what it’s like to lose a sister, the pain never leaves you. I’m sorry,” I tell her.
Sophie looks at me in surprise. “Grace is happy now, the happiest I’ve ever seen her. So, we’re good.”
“Is this a truce?” I smirk at her.
“Not a truce,” she states, “we’re now sisters.”
I’m stunned. “Sisters?”
“You’re Ellie Clark, aren’t you?” She grins.
“On paper.”
“Everyone else in the family already thinks you’re a part of it. Was just my stubborn ass that was holding out. I trust you now, please don’t make me regret it,” she warns.
“I’d never do that to Max,” I reassure her.
“Good.” She nods. Wow. Wait till I tell Mackenzie about this, she is going to lose her mind. “Will you and Nash continue seeing each other when we get back home? Just need to work out your living arrangements?” She smirks.
“Yes. We agreed we wanted to see where this would go. No pressure,” I explain to her.
“Smart.”
“What about you and Brooks?”
Sophie chokes on her sip of water. “Me and Brooks?”
“Don’t deny it, something’s going on between the two of you.”
“No there isn’t?” she argues.
“The chemistry is there.”
“We’re friends, colleagues …” she continues to argue.
“Lovers,” I tease. Sophie glares at me. “Come on, we’re sisters now.”
“You’re as bad as Mackenzie,” Sophie grumbles.
“She has taught me her ways.” I smirk.
Sophie rolls her eyes. “Yes, in the past we have hooked up on occasions.”
“The man is hot,” I add, which makes her bristle a little. Oh, Sophie has a jealous streak. “And what about recently?”
“Since he’s come back into my life …” Sophie’s cheeks turn pink, is she blushing? “We’ve hooked up.” I can’t believe she’s told me this. “It’s not like there is anyone else we can fuck, we are kind of stuck in the compound.”
“There’s Damon.”
Sophie crinkles up her nose at that suggestion. “Mackenzie has a thing for him, so no.”
“Are you saying you two are only hooking up out of convenience?”
She nods. “We both agreed that’s what it is.”
“And you don’t want more?” I ask.
“I don’t have time for more, we are searching for the jewels. I trust him with my life. That should be enough, don’t you think?”
I nod. Who am I to judge if it works for them? “Trust is the most important thing, especially in our world. So yeah, that’s enough,” I reassure her.
Sophie nods. “And yeah, he is hot.” She giggles which has us bursting out in laughter.
“Have we walked into the twilight zone?” Brooks says, staring at the two of us giggling.
“Sophie and I are sisters now,” I declare to him.
Brooks turns and looks over at Sophie, wondering if it’s the truth. “Yeah, I think she’s earned her spot in the family.” He seems shocked.
“Right, well, we’ve had an exhausting morning, I think it calls from beer and margaritas by the pool,” Nash says.
“Sounds good,” Sophie says.
“You guys are going to have to share a room unless someone wants to sleep on the sofa,” Nash adds.
“I can.” Brooks grunts.
“Don’t be silly, you’ve got a bad back. We’ve shared before, it’s no biggie,” Sophie says. Nash eyes Brooks, who chooses to ignore him. He looks over at me, and I grin.
“Your room is the last door on the right,” Nash tells them.
Brooks grabs their bags and they both head down to the room to settle in.
“There’s a spare room, my old room, one of them could have had that,” I tell him.
“Shh, I’m trying to play cupid.” He grins.
“Did Brooks say something?”
He shakes his head. “No, he’s tight-lipped, but my friend needs a little push when it comes to Sophie. He’s always had a thing for her, but he can’t get over the age gap.”
“Well, Sophie told me they have been sleeping together ever since moving to Ibiza,” I confess to him.
“What, no way.” He gasps.
I nod. “She said that she thinks he’s hot and she likes him, but with everything that is going on with the jewels she doesn’t have time for more.”
“There will always be something,” he says, shaking his head.
“True, but maybe we need to let them figure it out.”
We’re relaxing by the pool when there’s a knock at Nash’s front door. Everyone stills. He quickly picks up his phone and checks the security camera.
“It’s Anna,” he says.
“What does she want?” Brooks asks.
I shake my head. “I have no idea. I didn’t know she was coming over.”
“You should go answer it and see what she wants,” Nash tells me.
He helps me out of the pool and hands me a towel which I wrap around myself as I make my way to the door, schooling my features. I open it and greet Anna warmly.
“Anna, hi, this is a surprise,” I say.
“Sorry to just pop in like this, but it was the only chance I had. Can I come in?” she asks.
“Sure,” I say, opening the door for her to enter. She stills when she notices the people by the pool.
“I thought you were alone,” she hisses angrily.
“This is my backup, they arrived today. They are here to help with the plan,” I explain to her.
“Do you trust them?”
“Yes. Sophie is my sister-in-law. Brooks and Nash are ex-military, and I trust them all with my life,” I explain to her.
“You might be putting that to the test in a couple of days, hope you’re right,” she says snarkily.
“Come, let me introduce them, you can see for yourself.”
It is a frosty introduction, but after a while, we finally move past our suspicions. We have now moved inside to listen to Anna’s plan.
“I’ve been able to secure a seat at my table for you, Elena. Nash, you will be at the next table,” Anna explains. Nash stiffens and he’s about to argue with that plan, but Anna continues, “The reason for that is I need you to disappear after the appetizer, and if you are at our table, my husband will become suspicious. He looks dumb, but he’s not,” Anna explains. “You will need to wait in the parking lot with your car ready to go. Because we will only have minutes to get as far away from the event as possible before people notice we are missing.”
“What about Pearl?” I ask.
“That’s where your two friends come in. I’ve secured your friends positions on the bar staff to be used for the cocktail hour before. Pearl and some girls I have been able to find who were stolen will be waiting in the accessible bathrooms, which are right next door to a fire exit,” she explains.
“Does that exit have an alarm?” Sophie asks.
“I had a walk through the event space earlier and tested it, there was no alarm when I accidentally went through it this morning. And when I asked in case others do the same, they assured me there was no alarm,” Anna states.
“How many girls?” Brooks asks.
“Ten plus Pearl,” Anna answers.
“I’ll have to arrange a bigger helicopter.”
“I would go for two, one for you and the girls and then one for us. You will take the girls when everyone is seated for dinner right after the cocktail hour. We only need a couple of bar staff to stay on and man the bar inside the event, so you will be dismissed.”
“And how are we supposed to get the girls if we aren’t working anymore?” Brooks asks.
“You will need to work that out, I can’t think of everything,” she states, dismissing him with an eye roll.
“Then what about us?” I ask, changing the subject.
“Between the first course and the second course a band will be playing. That is when you will need to disappear,” she says to Nash, “and you and I will excuse ourselves to use the restrooms. None of the men will bat an eyelid at us going to the bathroom together. We then slip out of the same fire exit where the car should be waiting for us and then we high tail it to the helicopter.”
“You don’t think he’s going to send a search party out for you when you don’t return?” Nash states.
Anna smirks coldly. “Not when he’s dead.”
Silence falls between us all.
“How?” Nash adds.
“That is something that you don’t need to worry about,” Anna tells him.
“Don’t you think they are going to think you’re involved if your husband is dead and you’re missing?” Nash asks.
Anna glares at him. “Like I said, that part doesn’t involve you.”
“It does if we have the cartel after us because we are accomplices to his murder,” Nash states.
“No one is going to know you are involved,” she says through gritted teeth, getting angry over Nash’s questions.
It’s time for me to deescalate the situation. “We aren’t looking to start a war, we just want to save these girls.”
Anna turns to me, her face softening. “I know. I want to save them, too. They deserve a better life. All I’m going to say is your friends don’t have high enough clearance to know that part of the plan.”
Right. Okay. That makes sense.
“Are you saying the agency is involved?” Brooks asks.
Anna rolls her eyes again. “Like I said, it’s on a need-to-know basis. Surely you understand that.” Brooks bristles at her tone.
“You’re saying there’s no way they can trace it back to us?” I ask, turning her attention back to me. “That is all my friends are worried about. We cannot protect ourselves against the cartel.”
“I would never put you or my family in danger,” Anna reassures us. I nod in understanding. “As fun as this has been, I have a tennis lesson I need to attend,” Anna states, standing up and brushing her hands down her designer outfit as if getting rid of imaginary crumbs. “I hope you all understand the plan as I will not be repeating it nor changing it,” she says, and with that she walks out of the living room. I follow her. “You seriously trust those people in there?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t, but I guess I have no choice now, the wheels are in motion, this is the plan. They better not fuck it up,” she warns me.
“They won’t, they are professionals.”
“And if they do, I will put a bullet between their eyes,” she says coldly, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder and storming out of the house. My stomach turns over her threat. I don’t do well with threats, especially not against the people I love.
I return to the living room. “I’m sorry, Elena, I don’t trust that woman,” Brooks states.
“Neither do I,” Sophie adds. Nash gives me a small smile.
“Look, this is a complicated mission and we are all going to have to trust each other, even if you don’t want to. We need to save Pearl and those ten girls. Anna is probably under a lot of strain. She’s about to blow her carefully constructed cover, and I’m sure her bosses are putting an almighty amount of pressure on her to pull this off. For years, they have been waiting for this moment, so I think maybe we need to give her some grace and let her lead. She knows this world more than we do, she knows the players and their personalities. We just need to follow her instructions and pray that we all make it out alive for the sake of those stolen women,” I tell them.
“Look, I’m not a fan of Anna, but Elena’s right, we’re going to have to trust her. She is our in,” Nash says, supporting me. I give him a welcome smile.
“Fine. But if I sniff an ounce of this mission going south, I’m pulling the pin on it,” Brooks states.
“What about Pearl and those girls?” I ask him.
“You can’t save them if you’re dead,” he bites back. “I need some fresh air,” he states, getting up and storming out of the living room, with Sophie following him.
“That didn’t go well, did it?” I turn to Nash. He walks over, wraps his arms around me, and kisses my temple.
“Anna is used to being in charge. Brooks is used to being in charge. It’s the clash of the giants. He’ll come around,” he reassures me.
“Hope so, we all need to be on board to make this plan work.”
“I’ll talk to him. Don’t worry about it, everything is going to work out, I promise.”