Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Bloody Evan had to get cocky. Violet was fuming, and when she caught Rodrigo's eye, she knew he felt the same way.
Damien Poole was bearing down on them, and talking their way out of this would be nigh impossible.
If she'd been the hotel owner, she wouldn't have listened to their excuses.
She would have considered her suspicions as evidence enough and had them kicked out of the resort.
Damien came to a halt in front of Max. He tossed the mangled drone onto the table beside their empty plates. At least she'd had dinner before they turfed them out. She wasn't sure she could have controlled her anger if her stomach was empty.
"Your friend was trying to film my estate," Damien said. "Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
Max sat up a little straighter. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Poole. But I suggest you get some counseling for your delusions."
She had to give him credit—when push came to shove, Max could lie with the best of them.
Poole smirked and gestured for Evan to be brought forward.
Violet tensed. Evan was young and inexperienced, which meant he was the weakest link.
Sadly, there was nothing they could do to help him.
He was on his own and all they could do was hope he stuck to his cover story, and pretended he didn't know any of them.
"I assume he's working for you," Poole gestured to Evan.
Evan ignored him and reached for the drone. "Thanks, man. That cost a bundle and I think my mate's photos are still on there." He beamed at Poole. "You're a legend."
Before he could touch the drone, a bodyguard, dressed in formal pants and a shirt, grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"What the hell?" Evan said. "That's my drone. My property. Get your hands off me and give me back my drone."
"I don't know what you're trying to do here," Max said to Damien.
"I've no idea who this kid is. I'm just trying to have a nice dinner with my fiancée and friends before our wedding.
To be honest, I've been working damn hard to put the fact you own the hotel out of my mind, but you keep popping up to remind me that our destination isn't all golden sands and blue skies. "
Around them, in the now packed dining room, the other diners were watching the drama unfold with rapt attention. One or two even had their phones out filming the situation, which might work to their favor. Damien wasn't likely to go into full paranoia mode while cameras were rolling.
"This isn't a wedding," Damien said, keeping his voice low. "It's a cover. You're here hunting another story and it's pathetic, Maximillian. Haven't you learned already that there's no point digging into my business. There's nothing to find. You're wasting your time. And mine."
"If there's nothing to find," Max said with a sharp smile. "Why are you so concerned with some kid's drone."
"Who are you calling a kid?" Evan said belligerently. "I'm a full-grown man, dude. Come on over here and I'll show you how grown. I'll pound the information into your pretty face." He looked up at the guard holding him. "Americans, am I right?"
Violet cleared her throat. "Actually, he's Canadian."
"Yeah," Max drawled. "That's the pertinent part, honey."
He took her hand, threading their fingers together and she forced herself to smile at him. Weirdly, the more she did it, the more natural it became. Violet wondered if this was what brainwashing felt like.
Evan managed to look surprised when Violet spoke.
Although, there was a touch of panic around his eyes.
"Hey, what's a nice Scottish girl doing with a Canadian?
Don't you know the rule? Go Scottish or go home.
" His grin was amusingly lecherous. He even waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Come with me, darling, I'll show you a proper Scottish time. "
"Mr. Poole," Rodrigo said, sounding relaxed and reasonable. "This young man is obviously drunk. Why are you bothering us with this?"
As if on cue, Evan hiccupped. "Sorry," he said. "Sorry." His eyes fell on his drone again. "Hey, you found my drone. Thanks, man." Again, he reached for it and was hauled back. "Hoi," he snapped at the security guard. "Manners!"
"Damien, this is beginning to worry me," Max said. "Are you going to drag every security concern in front of us while we're here? Don't you think that's a little paranoid, even for you?"
"What I think is that this wedding is fake." Damien grabbed the drone and threw it at another guard. "Get rid of that."
"Hey! That's my property," Evan shouted. "You can't confiscate it. I have rights."
"Not on my island," Damien said in a threatening tone.
Thankfully Evan had the good sense to shut up.
"As for you," Damien turned to Max. "Pack up your fake wedding and get—"
"Violet!" a voice called out, cutting Damien off mid threat. "Violet Lee!"
Violet turned and froze. Because walking toward them, was her family. Her whole family. Led by her very annoyed mother.
She stared at them as they made their way around the tables. Then she looked at Rodrigo. He seemed just as shocked. She glanced at Max, who was equally confused, then at Damien who was frowning at her family.
"Violet?" Max said.
She dropped his hand, forced a smile, and shot to her feet. "It's my family. They're here at last. For a minute there, I thought they were going to miss the ceremony."
The world had shifted, and she was now in an alternate universe.
One where her family took part in her undercover ops.
As Damien and his security team watched intently, Violet made her way toward her mother. Behind her, Evan did the best thing he could have done and provided a distraction.
"I want to talk to the police," he said loudly.
"I have rights and you can't keep me or my drone on this island.
So, we came here to have a little fun. All we wanted to do was play golf and sing our anthem.
Do you guys have something against fun? Isn't that what we're supposed to do here on holiday island? I want to have fun!"
"Get him out of here," Damien ordered.
Violet let out a tense breath, because the last thing they needed was her mother saying hello to the triplet. As Evan was led away, making as much noise as possible, Violet wrapped her mother in a hug.
Her mum stiffened. "What's going on? Was that one of the triplets? And why are you hugging me of your own free will? Are you ill?" She leaned back and placed a hand on Violet's forehead, genuinely worried. "I don't feel a fever."
"I'm not ill, I'm stunned. What are you doing here?" Violet said.
"I'm here for your wedding," her mother snapped. "Not that you wanted any of us to attend. I'm so upset with you, Violet. How could you exclude us like this? What did I ever do to deserve such treatment?"
"Mum," Violet said through a tight smile. "How did you find out about the wedding?"
"I couldn't get you on your mobile phone, so I called your office and spoke to Logan. He told me you were on Wedding Island."
"Logan told you I was getting married?" She was going to strangle him.
"No, I called the office to remind you about your grandmother's eighty-fifth birthday party," her mum said, "and Logan told me you were in the Caribbean, at a wedding, and you’d left your cell phone in Houston.
I asked him to pass on a message for you to call me, but, well, you know the triplets.
" She shook her head in disgust. "So, I called the resort to talk to you and they asked me if I was part of the Durant-Lee wedding party.
" Her voice went up a notch. "This is how I find out you're getting married?
From strangers? I thought I raised you better. "
"Mum," Violet said as forcefully as she could without raising her voice. "I can't get into this right now. Please don't make a scene in front of my friends, and my…fiancé. I'll explain everything when we're in private. I promise."
"You'd better," her mother said. "Otherwise, you can kiss goodbye to me not making a scene, because I’ll make a scene that this island will never forget. Am I clear?"
"Yes, mum." She looked over her mother's shoulder to her father. "Hey dad, I promise I'll explain everything later, but can you make sure no one brings up the fact I didn't invite you? My, uh, friends don’t know that you turning up is a surprise."
She glanced at her two teenage nieces. At only thirteen and fourteen, they had a tendency to blurt their every thought. All Violet could do was pray they’d be quiet.
"It seems you're keeping a lot of people in the dark about a lot of different things." Her father's brow furrowed. "You hurt your mother over this. What were you thinking?"
Violet winced. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I was just…" Yeah, she didn't have an explanation. She cast a desperate glance back at Max. Maybe he had something they could use as an excuse. He was good with making stuff up, right? "Dad, please, can we leave this until we're alone? Just the family?"
"Fine," he said, but he wasn't pleased.
Her sister, Jasmine, shoved her way from the back of the group and flew into Violet's arms. "You're getting married!" she hollered. "I'm so excited. I don't even care about us not being invited because we're here anyway! This is going to be awesome."
Violet wished the ground would open up and swallow her. "Yeah, awesome," she muttered. "Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone."
Jasmine hooked her arm through Violet's. "Which one is yours? Tall, dark and Latin, or short, smiley and…I wanna say Australian. He has that look about him."
"First, he isn't short. He's a respectable height.
He only looks shorter standing next to Rodrigo.
And he's Canadian. His name is Max." She flashed the table what she hoped was an excited smile but suspected it might have looked slightly panicked.
Everyone was standing now, smiling back at her in expectation.