Each of the villa villages had their own resort with restaurants and spas and pools.
But we drove right past them.
Past the safety that could be found in numbers.
And right toward an over-water villa standing out in the ocean all by its goddamn lonesome. Sure, it had one of those nice decks that wrapped around the oversized structure that was the size of the resorts in the other villages, but it led nowhere. It was just a circle to walk around.
And, again, I wanted to hate the guy who’d drugged and abducted me.
But there was no denying the man knew how to choose a vacation spot.
I mean, the place was stunning.
It was two floors of floor-to-ceiling glass windows with an incredible thatched roof, what looked like at least three decks, a pool, a hot tub, and—I shit you not—a slide that dropped off right into the ocean.
It was a dream.
And I was annoyed that I had to be pissy and bitter about being there because the chances of seeing it again were close to zero.
You know, if this guy let me leave, that is.
Or live.
It was a great place to murder someone, if you think about it.
No one could see. No one would know. And he could just take his little motor boat out somewhere and toss the body.
“How can you be angry when looking at this?” Bellamy asked as the boat stopped and Adnan hopped out to anchor it for us.
“You really underestimate my ability to be pissed off if you think your fancy little vacation rental can wash away my mood.”
“It’s not a rental,” Bellamy said, reaching for the ladder, and climbing up toward the deck.
“I don’t suppose you’d leave him stranded here, and take me back to the mainland somewhere?” I asked, looking at Adnan who shook his head and busied himself to avoid looking at me. “Didn’t think so.”
With a sigh, I left my coffee cup on the boat, and hauled myself up the ladder and onto the wrap-around dock.
“How about a tour?”
“How about I toss you off the pier, pull up the ladder, and let you drown in a truly tragic international incident?” I asked, getting a smirk out of him. “Fine,” I sighed. “A tour. So I can know where all the sharp and heavy objects are.”
It was lovely. I mean, of course it was. There was no way it wouldn’t be. It was full of light ash wood on the floors, walls, and ceiling with breezy white and light aquamarine accents. The understated decor and the walls of windows made you feel almost like you weren’t inside at all.
“The kitchen is fully stocked,” Bellamy told me, waving off to it as we passed. “As is the bar,” he added when we moved through the dining room that spilled right into the living room. “There are three bedrooms upstairs, but first,” he said, sliding open the door onto the back deck.
With its built-in, sunken pool directly forward, a round padded seating area, and then some netted thing that was either a hammock bed of some sort of a makeshift trampoline. To the far left was the hot tub. And to the right was that slide I’d mentioned. The one I kind of actually did want to try out. Maybe I would. If Bellamy was asleep and wouldn’t see me enjoying myself.
“What’s with the random wooden wall?” I asked, waving behind the hot tub. “This place couldn’t be any more private,” I added.
“There’s a projector,” he told me, waving in the direction where it must have been hidden. “At night, you can swim in the pool or sit in the hot tub and watch movies.”
“What? You haven’t figured out how to get it on some sort of retractable wall so you don’t ruin your view when you’re not watching a movie? Oh, my God. It wasn’t a suggestion,” I said when he looked over at said wall and pursed his lips like he was considering the option.
“It’s a good suggestion, though. I honestly haven’t been here enough to consider that.”
“You said you own this, right?”
“I do.”
“You own a place like this that must have cost several millions of dollars, and you don’t come here often?”
“The world is a big place. I like to see all different parts of it.”
“So this just sits here, beautiful and empty, ninety-nine percent of the time?”
“You know, I do believe you see me as a snob, Shawn.”
“Yeah, no shit,” I said, snorting.
“You have a problem with wealth?”
“I have a problem with avarice. It’s fine to be wealthy and to have a nice, big house and to go on fancy vacations and wear fancy suits. But when you have multi-million dollar properties that sit empty all the time, I’m sorry, but that is problematic. I bet this isn’t even the only property you own that you rarely visit.”