Chapter Thirty-Two
Isla
About to jab the elevator button for the ground floor, refusing to look up to see if Helios was watching me, I noticed something I hadn’t when we’d come up to the penthouse.
We weren’t on the top floor.
I saw the stairs going up to a second story inside the penthouse, and the elevator had that floor listed.
But there was another floor.
One above that.
Well, this was one way to handle the situation. Stay and fight. Get my backpack.
The idiotic reasons for not leaving started rattling through my brain like a laundry list of pros independent of cons.
Staying and fighting meant answers. Getting my backpack showed I wasn’t weak.
Getting the money Wolf gave me was a nonnegotiable.
And the biggest pro-staying-and-fighting bullet point?
Nix was coming back.
Making my decision, I hit the call button for the very top floor, then I looked up.
Helios was staring at me, but he wasn’t glaring.
His lethally calm expression that was all predator disappeared as the elevator doors shut.
I exhaled, and a moment later, I was two floors up, and I couldn’t believe what I was looking at.
A private rooftop pool.
It was small, nothing like the oceanside pool downstairs, but it was lit up like a shimmering oasis of turquoise just the same, and the terrace around it was full of loungers. There was also an outdoor kitchen, a basket with towels, and a wide, all-weather couch was tucked under a pergola.
Then there was the view.
The night sky was an explosive cacophony of bright stars and neon lights, and the ocean was a rippling reflection of beauty that stretched to a horizon line so seamlessly connected, it all became one.
Staring at the endless expanse of the world in front of me, for a single moment, I let everything else go and just breathed in the salty air and lazy ocean breeze.
Then I was stepping out of my heels and shoving off the straps of my dress when a deep voice bit out an angry warning behind me.
“If you fucking strip, I will shoot you.”
Startled, I turned to see Helios, sans my backpack and clutch, palming a 9mm. “Then shoot me, because I’m going for a midnight swim.”
“No, you’re fucking not.”
“Yes, I fucking am.”
His finger moved from the slide to the trigger. “You got a death wish, woman?”
“Apparently.” Fuck him. And fuck Nix, and fuck not using this pool. “Nothing better than a midnight swim. You should try it sometime. It might make you more human.”
“It’s not fucking midnight.”
“It is somewhere.” Well, solar midnight. Turing back toward the pool, I reached for one of the spaghetti straps holding my dress up.
“Don’t fucking do it,” Helios warned, his tone lethal.
I glanced over my shoulder. “Then give me my backpack, and I’ll get a swimsuit.”
He didn’t move.
I scoffed. “That’s what I thought.” Asshole.
I faced the pool again. “Then I guess you’re going to have to shoot me.
” I slid the straps off. “But be forewarned.” I shoved the silky material down past my hips and let go.
My dress fell to the ground, and I played with fire.
“The sniper won’t be happy about it.” If he was going to show up at all, because by now, I had to admit, I had my doubts.
Not that I wanted my brother to show this very minute, though.
Because I was fully naked.
Not daring to look behind me, I inhaled.
No crack of a fired shot, no bullets flying past, no rounds ripping into my flesh.
I exhaled.
Then I stepped into the aqua oasis and sank under the blissful water.
Warm, perfect, and silent.
Weightless, holding my breath, I kicked to the other end, then tipped my head back before I broke through the surface and looked behind me.
Helios was gone.
No idea if he heard my comment, not sure if my text had gone through, no longer caring about either, I slid back under the water.
Pushing off from the wall, I took one stroke, then glided.
The tips of my fingers grazed the other end of the pool, and I surfaced.
Turing to my back, spreading my arms out as my hair floated around me in a halo, I looked up at the stars trying to shine through the ambient neon nightlife of Miami Beach.
Some twinkled, some were dimmed, and some faded in and out.
Taking a deep breath, I sank back under the surface and faded with them.