Would Izzy and Dante get here in time? Would they know how to find me?
The cruise ship was larger than life. I’d seen them out on the water from the beach and knew they were grand, magnificent in the way they seemed to glide over the waves.
This ship was no less magnificent inside. Chandeliers hung from the lobby ceiling, sparkling and greeting us like we were on vacation.
The two men I was with nodded to the captain and concierge. No greetings were exchanged, no questioning of our identities or tickets. This was a planned operation.
“I want to get down to see that everything’s there.”
The driver shook his head and kept walking toward an elevator. “We go to Iago’s room. We stick to the plan.”
“Fuck the plan,” he grumbled but followed us.
One foot in front of the other. I didn’t scream out to the other passengers, didn’t even look at them. I walked to what would be my death or my sister’s salvation.
I’d find a way to make that man pay, and then I’d drag her out of this profession kicking and screaming.
She’d done this to prove a point, and maybe I’d done the same. Maybe I’d flown to Puerto Rico and made a stupid list to prove the point to myself that I could be happy, that I could live outside the frame everybody had set for me.
Izzy was doing that too in her own way. We wanted out of the box everyone put us in.
But we’d climb out of it together and we’d move on together.
And it wouldn’t be by dangling drugs in her face. Hard times would no longer push her to her limits. I wouldn’t avoid everything I loved in the hopes of never experiencing loss again.
The door to Iago’s room was oak with a gold door knocker and beautiful carvings swirling toward the handle.
“Do the honors, Izzy.” The man next to me smiled, and his yellow teeth glowed. It was like he knew this was the end. He didn’t realize it wasn’t the end he’d hoped for, though.
The man who swung open the door met us with a smile. He had blue eyes and dark, dark wavy hair. His face was soft, no real hard lines, but he was big enough to throw someone around, even if his muscles looked as soft as his face. He towered over us, and the smile on his face dropped off as he stared at me. “What the fuck is going on? Why would you bring Izzy’s sister here?”
“I brought…” The man stuttered before his head whipped around to stare at me.
All of their eyes widened as I stood there without denying that I was Izzy’s sister. They were hoping for a correction, one I was sure I no longer needed to give them. My phone was still in my back pocket, and I could only hope Dante and my sister were coming in hot with a fucking cavalry.
“Well, should I say surprise?” I quirked a brow as I said it, feeling the fear leave my body and the anger washing in as Iago advanced on me.
Good, I thought to myself.Let him come. Better me than my sister.
His large, meaty hands grabbed my hair and my neck, and he threw me into the wall. He wanted to cause pain as he said, “I was so excited to tell your sister that we finally had all night for me to fuck her. That she wouldn’t be able to fight me off. That we’d finally done it together. And we would be together forever. You know, I think I’ll do all that to you instead. Will you fight as well as she does?”
I clawed at his face. I went for his eyes, and I screamed as much as I could before he squeezed my windpipe shut, all while holding a ball of my hair at the top of my scalp. Over and over again, I hit that wall.
I didn’t shut my eyes, though. I stared at him long enough to spit right in his face.
That got him to let my neck go so he could rear back and punch me square in the cheek.
I really wished I’d taken Dante up on those self-defense classes, because my world went black so fast.
The last thing I remember thinking was we were going to have one hell of a story to tell if I got out of this alive.
25
Take a Cruise
Dante
“Cade, how did you miss the fucker coming to her room? And how did we have the wrong ship?” I tried to control the rage. I tried to bottle what I knew had been in me all these years but had never let out.