“He doesn’t know that,” Hunter said. “He has no idea this cavern is here. We’re safe as long as we stay here.”
“We can’t stay here,” Snow said. “We have to find the pilot. If nothing else but to stop Virgil from hurting him, but if we don’t find him, we’re not leaving. That helicopter isn’t moving without a pilot.”
As if the words were a queue, the sound of a helicopter swirled through the air. We looked at each other and ran out of the cavern. I looked up and saw another copter coming toward the island. It didn’t take long to realize that it wasn’t the same one that we had left sitting on the beach.
What the hell is happening right now?
****
Hunter
The second helicopter was coming ominously low and I grabbed onto Eleanor to pull her back into the cavern. The others followed us and we were just inside, Eleanor curled against my chest so I could hold her protectively, when the sound of the blades became deafening and I saw pieces of trees and plants flying through the air in front of the entrance.
The damn thing had landed in the jungle.
We ran out of the cavern again and saw the aircraft a few hundred yards away, the once beautiful jungle tattered and broken around it. Eleanor stayed close to my side, her body trembling. The door to the helicopter opened and a familiar, lithe formed stepped out. I felt my stomach turn and I looked at Snow. Her eyes were locked on the door and she, too, had noticed who was stalking toward us.
“What the hell is she doing here?” she growled.
“Who is that?” Eleanor asked.
“Lucille Verne,” Snow said.
“Lucille Royal. We might have gotten divorced, but he’s not taking the power that name holds away from me. Hello, Snow,” Lucille said as she approached. “You know, they say that things always balance out. I didn’t really believe that, but now I’m starting to see it. I set out just to find precious Eleanor over there. Imagine my surprise to find out that you were already here waiting for me. And your darling husband, too.” She turned and sneered at Noah. “How are you Noah?”
“What are you doing here, Lucille?” he asked. “You know that you aren’t allowed anywhere near either of us.”
Lucille scoffed.
“What? The protective order? Do you really think that a piece of paper and a glaring old judge is going to affect me at all? I’m disappointed in you, Snow. You really underestimate me. I thought that you knew well enough by now that I will do what I want, when I want, and I won’t stop until I get what I want, no matter what it takes.”
“Like burning down my house?” Snow asked.
“It was barely singed,” Lucille spat. “Sweet, beloved little Snow got rescued by the fire department before any real damage was done.”
“So, what now? What are you doing here?”
Lucille reached into her pocket and withdrew a gun.
I didn’t even have a second to think. I tightened my hold on Eleanor and dragged her back toward the cavern. The sound of a bullet cut through the air and I pulled her so hard she nearly lost her footing. I could hear footsteps behind me and I hoped that the rest of the group had gotten out of the way.
“Shitballs! Bitch is packing! NRA! NRA! Gun control! Gun control!”
Robin was fine.
Eleanor and I pressed against the wall waiting for Noah’s flashlight and then we ran the rest of the way through the cavern and back up to the rocks.
“Get down,” I shouted. “Get down off the rocks. She’s going to be chasing us and we don’t want to be up here when she stumbles her way through there.”
We ran down toward the shelter that Eleanor and I had built. She glared at me when we got there and ducked under the branches.
“Do you want to explain to me what’s happening?” she demanded. “Who is that woman?”
“Remember when I told you about Mr. Royal’s wife?” Noah said. Eleanor nodded. “That’s her.”
“So, what does she want with me?”
“Me,” Snow said. “She wants me.”
Before I could ask what that had to do with Eleanor, I saw Lucille coming down the beach toward us and from behind me I heard what could only be Virgil and the men crashing through the trees and undergrowth onto the sand.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Eleanor
I’m done. I’m so fucking done.
I climbed out of Hunter’s arms and scrambled out of the shelter. I could feel his fingers grasping at me and hear the rest of the group protest, but I didn’t care. Everyone has their breaking point, and I had reached mine.
Lucille seemed shocked when she saw me walking down the sand toward her, not hesitating, not cowering from her. She lifted her gun, but I didn’t flinch.
“Get Snow out here,” she demanded.
I shook my head.
“No,” I said.
“Get her out here, now.”
“No,” I said again. “You said that you came here for me. I’m here. What are you going to do now?”
“I know what I’m going to do,” Virgil’s voice growled from behind me.
I turned and saw him coming toward me, his eyes the familiar fiery embers, but now I wasn’t afraid. There wasn’t any more than he could do to me. I had found the person that I had been before he destroyed me and she wasn’t going to let him hurt her again. He lunged toward me, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Hunter run past me and jump onto Virgil, tackling him to the ground. They grappled in the sand, sending up grains that stung on my skin. I backed up and felt myself hit a person behind me and something hard and cold digging into my back.
“You should have cooperated with me,” Lucille hissed into my ear. “I was just going to hold on to you for a little while so that Noah and Snow could worry about you, then send a simple ransom note.”
“For what?” I asked. “Money? All of this is worth a little bit of money to you?”
“Oh, it wouldn’t have been a little bit, but that’s not the point. I want Snow to feel the same desperation that I have always felt. I’ve always been a step behind. No matter what I did. No matter how hard I worked, I was always behind her. She could make anyone do anything, even when she didn’t deserve it, and I wanted, for the rest of her life, to have that feeling in the back of her mind.”
“You’re sick.”
“You have no idea,” Lucille said.
She started to drag me backwards, but I wasn’t having any of it. I clenched my fist and rammed my elbow backwards into her gut. Lucille let out a grunt and doubled over enough that I was able to get out of her arms. She was straightening and lifting her arm to point the gun at me again when I heard the sound of another engine coming toward us. Lucille and I both looked up just as Snow and Noah rushed up beside me. We watched as a small seaplane approached and came down to skid across the waves toward the shore.
“We’re going to have to start a fucking airport,” I muttered.
Who now? Who else wanted to line up to try to kill me?”
The plane stopped and the doors flung open. I saw a man jump out of one and start running toward me, and then another man climb slowly out and start up the sand at a slightly creaking pace. Behind me I heard a grunt and turned to see Noah now caught in a rabid fight with one of the men that Virgil had brought with him. The other was holding the pilot from the helicopter, while Hunter and Virgil continued to throttle each other in the sand.
This was going spectacularly.
I turned back and saw the face of the first man running up the sand.
“Gavin!” I gasped.
Lucille’s eyes lifted in response to the name and I saw her turn to face him.
****
Gavin