21. Vani
21
VANI
I ’m doing my best not to worry about Phoenix and Zoo.
I don’t want to keep looking behind Jarl and give anything away, but they should be onboard by now.
They slipped into the water before we reached the yacht, but I have no idea if they’ve made it onto the boat. What if something happened to them when they tried to climb onboard? They might have slipped and hit their heads and both drowned.
Okay, I need to get a grip. I’m spiraling. I know it would be almost impossible for that to happen to both of them, and if one of them had gotten into trouble, the other would have helped, but it still worries me. Without them, we are truly fucked, and now we don’t know what’s happened to Lex either. Is Jarl telling the truth? Did he really escape? If he did, why the hell didn’t he contact us and tell us he was safe?
The problem we have is that now we’re at a standoff. We can't even run because we’re on a small boat in the middle of the lake. Yes, we might be armed, but so are Jarl and his crew. And they have the high ground, literally.
It feels like this is all slipping out of our control. Jarl could shoot us now and be done with it.
But something is stopping him. Something is keeping us alive, and I don’t think it’s just that he doesn’t want to get blood on his teak floors. I glance over at Saint. No, he wants what we promised him—that we’d find out who really hurt Reagan.
But, despite what Saint said, we don’t have that information to give him…do we? I glance at Saint, and his face is a blank. A far too careful blank. What gives?
I haven’t had time to ask Saint what he was doing while we were away. What reason did he have for not answering his cell phone when I kept calling him? It’s not as though I expect him to be at my beck and call, but considering everything that’s going on, I had thought he’d be sitting by his phone, waiting to hear from us. I most definitely thought he’d call me back.
I shoot him another look, hoping he’ll make eye contact with me and I’ll be able to read his thoughts in his aqua gaze, but he stares resolutely ahead.
“Fine.” Jarl jerks his chin at his men then lifts his hand and lowers it back down to demonstrate what do to with their guns. “But you fellows need to leave your own weapons in the tender.”
Jarl is only addressing Saint and Zane. It hasn’t occurred to him that I, as a woman, could possibly be carrying, or that I pose any danger to him whatsoever.
I do my best not to let my feelings show.
I can tell by Zane and Saint’s body language that they’ve also realized I’m now the only one who’s going to be armed. They close in around me, as though they’re trying to shield me with their bodies. If I’m the one who pulls a gun, I’m also the one Jarl’s men will be aiming at.
“We have to find out what’s happened to Lex,” I say under my breath. “We don’t have any choice.”
It’s not like Jarl is going to let us turn around and beat it out of here. Plus, we have Zoo and Phoenix, hopefully, about to show themselves, and we need to be onboard when they do.
“If we put our guns down,” Saint throws back at him, “then you have to do the same.”
Jarl hesitates then says, “Deal.”
Zane and Saint exchange a look and a nod, and then they remove their guns from the holsters. They hold them into the air so Jarl and his men can see, and place them down on the seats of the tender.
Jarl and his men also place their weapons on the decks and hold their hands up to show they’re also unarmed. There’s a strong possibility they have other guns hidden about their person, but there’s nothing we can do about that. After all, they’re not the only ones being sneaky. We have Zoo and Phoenix—wherever the fuck they are.
I’m sure my old friends won’t let me down. They’re some of the toughest motherfuckers out there. They’re not the kind who would run from a fight—they’re the ones who’d be starting it.
“Okay, we’re coming aboard,” I call back to Jarl. “But if anyone starts shooting, I’m throwing the cross overboard.”
“No one is going to shoot,” Jarl reassures us, but hopefully he’s wrong about that, and it will be our side who makes that move.
We climb the ladder, one by one. Zane insists on going first—mainly by muscling me and Saint out of the way, and then Saint gestures for me to go next. They’re protecting me. As I reach the top, Zane reaches down and gives me his hand, helping me up. My other hand is still tightly curled around the cross.
Jarl puts his hand out for the necklace immediately, his eyes focused sharply on the item, but I shake my head. “Why should we keep our side of the deal, but you haven’t kept yours? You said you’d keep Lex safe.”
He snickers at that. “You’d have preferred it if your boyfriend hadn’t escaped?”
“I’d prefer to know exactly what happened to him.”
I glance up at one of the men on the sundeck. Did I just catch a shadow coming up behind him? But no, I can’t see anyone now. Is this all the men Jarl has? There’s a huge one at Jarl’s shoulder with… I pause and frown. What the fuck is that around his neck? My stomach does an uncomfortable flip.
I’m pretty sure I haven’t been able to hide my thoughts from my face this time. Are those dried dicks? I pray Lex’s gorgeous cock hasn’t made it into this freak’s collection.
Jarl has a third man just behind his other shoulder, and there’s a fourth on the bow. The million-dollar question is whether there are any more. If Jarl is lying and Lex is still onboard, is there someone guarding him?
Jarl must have noticed my line of sight.
“Have you met my right-hand man, Apo?” Jarl says.
I’m not going to shake that monster’s hand, and I stay silent. Was he the one who was watching over Lex? Imagine having to look up at the damn necklace all the time and deal with the inherent threat in it while being held captive.
I’m painfully aware of the weight of the gun hidden beneath my leather jacket. Will Jarl notice the shape of it?
Jarl lets out a frustrated breath. “How about this? You hand over the cross, and then we can talk.”
“If you don’t have Lex, I don’t see what there is to talk about.”
Jarl arches his brow. “Are you sure about that, young lady? I thought you cared about your sister.”
“Reagan’s dead,” I say bitterly.
“And you promised me that you’d find out who was responsible. We shouldn’t be enemies, Ivani. You and I are on the same side, and now that you’ve brought me my cross, you’ve proven yourself to me.”
“I never wanted to prove myself to you. All I wanted was to get Lex back and learn the truth about what happened to my sister.” I don’t add ‘and learn the truth about my mom,’ though I want to.
Saint takes a step forward. “I have information for you.”
He’s talking to Jarl, and I snap my head in Saint’s direction. This is what he alluded to earlier.
Just what has he been doing?
Saint lifts his chin. “I believe I know who was responsible for pushing Reagan off the tower.”
Jarl narrows his eyes at Saint. “Are you sure you’re not just trying to cover your own back?”
“One hundred percent, but I’m not sharing it until I know where my fucking brother is.”
The shadow behind the man on the sundeck lengthens and darkens.
The sudden crack of a gunshot ricochets out across the stillness of the lake. Waterfowl take off from the surface with a flapping of wings and startled cries.
There’s a brief moment of confusion, no one sure where the shot has come from, and then the man who’d been standing on the edge of the sundeck falls as though in slow motion and lands right behind where Jarl is standing.
Phoenix appears in the place where the man had been, and he turns his weapon and takes down the guy at Jarl’s left shoulder. There’s another crack of a gunshot, and the man who’d been on the bow sinks to his knees with a shocked groan. Zoo appears behind him.
“Motherfuckers!” Jarl shouts.
Jarl lunges for the weapon he’s put on the floor, and the big guy with the cocks around his neck drops to a crouch to unclip a piece from an ankle holster hidden beneath his pants.
My dad taught me to shoot at the range, but I’m not an amazing shot. I know my way around a gun, but that’s all. Still, this is close
Zane kicks the gun Jarl is going for out of the way. It skitters across the deck and stops right beside one of the chrome poles that make up the barrier around the edge of the deck. Both men lunge for it.
I pull the weapon and aim it at Jarl’s head. “Don’t move!” I shout.
“How about you don’t move?” the freak called Apo snaps. He has his gun in his hand and is pointing it at me. Shit.
Suddenly, I spot Saint behind the huge guy. I blink and almost rub my eyes comically but instead I hold steadfast with the gun trained on Jarl before glancing fast back at Saint in confusion. How did he get there? Then it dawns on me that it isn’t Saint I’m looking at.
“Lex!” I cry. My hand holding the gun wobbles with the emotion I’m feeling so I force myself to keep it aimed at Jarl.
I have no idea where Lex has come from, but I’m overjoyed to see him. All his focus is on the guy with the freaky necklace. I’ve never seen that look in his eyes before— murderous . It’s as though they’ve darkened to match the surface of the lake.
Lex has a gun in one hand, and his other is held protectively against his body. I can see why. It’s swollen, and his thumb is at a strange angle. So that’s how he managed to slip his handcuffs. He did something to his hand. It must be incredibly painful, but he isn’t showing any of that pain on his face. All I can see is anger.
The big man spins around, surprisingly agile. He sees Lex and lets out a roar. He lunges for Lex, and I scream. A gunshot sounds, and I have no idea which man has managed to shoot.
But then the big man slumps to the floor, and the gun drops from Lex’s hand.
“Lex!” I cry again.
Phoenix and Zoo have both joined us now and are covering Jarl with their weapons so I can lower mine. Jarl isn’t going anywhere fast.
I race over to Lex. “Oh, my God, are you all right? We thought you might be dead.”
He offers me a smile. “Takes a lot to kill me, ma cherie .”
I fling my arms around his neck and hug him, careful of his damaged hand.
“It’s good to see you, brother,” Saint says. “But you took your fucking time making an appearance.”
Jarl is on his knees, his hands behind his head. “You assholes are going to pay for this,” he snarls.