Chapter 21
“Doc, I think you need to check our boy out,” Adonis Willliams said, rising from the lounge chair to press a hand against Lachlan’s forehead.
The comedic lilt of his words held a hint of concern as his voice carried across the veranda.
Ike glanced at his friend, who wasn’t technically a part of Stingray Security, but had agreed to make the team a top client, erasing evidence of their actions with his “cleaning” services.
Adonis continued, “He’s suffering from delusions or something.”
“I wouldn’t joke about something like this.
” Lachlan pushed Adonis’s hand away. He dragged his thumb through the condensation on his bottle of Felipe beer, flicking droplets onto the weathered coral stone tiles, where they evaporated almost instantly in the late afternoon heat. “I’m not delusional. Britt is alive.”
Ike stared at Lachlan for a long moment as the hum of the ceiling fan, cutting lazy arcs through stagnant air thick with salt and the scent of wild tropical flowers, filled the silence.
Could his friend’s declaration be true? Was it possible for the dead daughter of Titus Freeman to be alive after all this time?
Hell, some folks out there thought Ike was dead.
They’d be stunned and scratching their heads when he finally re-emerged in the land of the living.
His sisters were at the top of that list.
Still, Britt Freeman being alive did seem far-fetched.
Ike asked, “What makes you think she’s alive?”
Rocco chimed in, “She’s the woman with amnesia I told you about. The one chased by the Quattro henchman through the streets of Conrad.”
“That’s the chick you think is Britt Freeman?” Adonis asked, rubbing his beer bottle along his face. “That story has been plastered all over the news for days. Cops and island feds are still looking for her.”
“They’re not going to find her,” Lachlan said. “She’s under Stingray protection at the compound.”
“I can vouch that she looks identical to Brittany Freeman. A lot skinnier, but not surprising given what she’s been through,” Rocco added, then filled Adonis and Ike in on the mysterious Britt, who surfaced over the past week, and the theory on who had kidnapped her and was trying to kill her.
The whole story seemed too absurd not to be true.
He remembered when the air-tight case against Titus Freeman had dissipated into thin air.
The princess had conveniently recanted her accusations.
They all knew her abrupt change was driven by fear.
She truly believed she was wrong in her recollection because that’s what Alejandro and Dr. Rakestraw brainwashed her into believing.
Lachlan leaned back on the settee. His fingers traced the weathered teak arm, worn smooth by salt air and time. “It’s not just about her looks. I’ve talked to her. Been around her. I know in my soul that she’s Britt. She lost her memory, but her personality, behavior, and actions are all Britt.”
“If Britt is alive, what the fuck are you doing here drinking beers with us?” Adonis asked. “I’d have thought you’d be glued to that woman’s side from the moment she came back into your life.”
“Trust me, I tried,” Lachlan said glumly. “Dr. Abrams and her team came to evaluate her. I was given strict instructions to keep my distance until they’re done.”
“He’s banned from the compound,” Rocco chuckled. “But they should be done in the next day or so.”
“That can’t be easy for you,” Ike said, then thought about Paloma. “What are you doing about Dove?”
“She saw Britt during the chase in Conrad. Thought she was her Mommy Angel swooping down from heaven to protect her from the bad guys,” Lachlan explained, his gaze unfocused as he stared beyond the mountains.
From this elevation, three neighboring islands could be seen in the distance, surrounded by glimmering waters that shifted from turquoise to cobalt as afternoon shadows lengthened across the sea.
“But I don’t want to say anything more to her until Britt stops resisting the idea that she’s Brittany Freeman.
I can’t put my daughter through that confusion. ”
“No, you definitely can’t,” Adonis said, shaking his head. “So, you think Alejandro is back to his old tricks? Kidnapping Britt and manipulating her memories?”
“He didn’t just want to be the next lieutenant to run the cartel. He wanted Britt, too,” Lachlan explained. “But Britt wanted out. She made the fucked up deal with the island feds to protect us if she gave them evidence to take down her father’s cartel.”
“Another reason for Alejandro to kidnap her and protect the gang from her plan,” Ike said.
“Problem was, she forgot about the moles that Quattro had all up inside the PIIB. Word of what she was doing spread like wildfire through the gang,” Adonis said.
They’d all thought it was the wrong move. But Britt had always been headstrong and determined. She made the deal despite Lachlan’s concerns.
Lachlan took a long pull on the bottle, tipping his head back.
“But Britt couldn’t go through with it. She reneged on the deal.
The cartel was no longer at risk. But that didn’t matter to Alejandro because he still wanted …
her. I don’t know why I didn’t put the pieces together years ago that he staged the car bomb to trick the world into believing Britt was dead. ”
The pain and regret Lachlan suffered hit Ike like it had all those years ago.
He still blamed himself for letting his friend down.
Allowing the PIIB to botch a job that Ike and his friends could’ve done better.
If he’d stepped up, Alejandro never would’ve found Britt.
It was a mistake Ike swore he would never let happen again.
“Maybe because you were only focused on protecting your little girl. That’s why we got you back home and made sure Quattro didn’t know you or Paloma existed,” Ike said, then glanced at Adonis.
“We all learned a valuable lesson and new skillsets from getting Lachlan out of that situation,” Adonis said, tipping his bottle of Felipe beer toward Ike. “And we’ll use all of them to make sure Alejandro doesn’t get close enough to hurt Britt again.”
Lachlan nodded his head. “I don’t know what I’d do without you guys. It means more than you know.”
"Enough serious talk for now," Adonis said, clapping his hands together. “Lachlan, you need a distraction. There’s a bottle of Bishops Reserve rum at Sugarcanes that is the perfect remedy for your ailment."
Lachlan nodded reluctantly. "I could use something stronger than this beer. Maybe some food, too.”
He turned to Rocco. "You in? Nothing like some aged Caribbean spirit to help this guy ease the nerves."
Rocco shook his head. “I’m actually here to do my regular check-up with Ike, so raincheck?”
The two men tossed the empty bottles into the trash receptacle next to the cooler before leaving the veranda.
Ike gazed at Rocco. “You checked me out yesterday, so why are you really sticking around?”
“To follow through on a promise I made you,” Rocco said.
Ike frowned as a spike of adrenaline flooded through him. Rocco could only be referencing his request to get a message to Yana Brazhensky. “Did Yana know what her brother’s goons did to me in Miami? Was she behind it?”
“She was not behind it and was livid that it happened,” Rocco said. “She was pretty broken up about your disappearance.”
“Interesting. And the payment of my debt? What does she think about that?”
“The Brazhenskys think your sister, Serena, paid it to stop them from sabotaging Hullabaloo Coffee to get what was owed to them,” Rocco explained.
“They’re convinced the King Family hired the mystery woman as an intermediary to settle the matter.
Yana was disinterested in the woman and couldn’t provide any information about her identity. ”
Ike wasn’t sure if he was pleased or disappointed that the Brazhenskys knew nothing about Ava.
If the Brazhenskys had no information on who she was, it made it even less likely that Ike could figure out more than her first name.
Harder for him to find her and contact her.
Ike would be forced to wait until she was ready to visit him again.
It had already been too fucking long for his taste.
“Well, I’m a thousand percent certain that Serena had nothing to do with paying off my debt.
Figuring out who did and why is going to be harder than I thought,” Ike said.
He’d kept his interactions with Ava a tightly held secret from everyone.
None of them knew about her rescuing him from the balcony of the Miami high-rise, holding him hostage until she could pay off his debt, then orchestrating his return to St. Felipe.
Her actions bewildered him—her motives unclear.
But he knew deep down that she wasn’t done with him. Not by a long shot.
“There’s one last tidbit I thought you’d find interesting,” Rocco said. “Yana was frustrated and repulsed that Alexei has been going rogue and getting into activities that neither she nor her father approve of—‘dirty work’ in Africa.”
“Africa?” Ike raised an eyebrow. “He’s hiring out Brazhensky bodyguards as mercenaries in Africa?”
“That’s what she said,” Rocco said. “Not sure who the clients are. The location could be a coincidence—”
Ike cut him off, “Or it could tie them even closer to my parents’ disappearance.”