With those fateful words, she opened her palm and blew a mist of fine dust into his face.
Ike knew he had ten seconds, fifteen tops, before he blacked out. As he sank into the abyss, the last thought lingering in his mind gave him peace.
She will save me.
Chapter4
The chirps from her cell phone resounded in the air, one after the other, almost nonstop. Gabrielle scrolled quickly through the missed call log. Tension constricted her neck. Hannah Ellerby, her publicist and close friend, had made nearly half the calls. She didn’t bother to check the texts or the social media feeds.
Tapping Hannah’s name in her contacts, she pressed the phone against her ear as she glanced out the window of the Falcon private jet. Swaying palm trees dotted the runway as the plane parked at the gate. In the distance, a crowd was gathered at the St. Killian Airport in the Palmchat Islands, waving welcome home signs and cheering loudly.
For the first time, she realized how much she’d missed being home. A longing to caress the thick lawns that blanketed King Estate, wade through the mist-covered foliage of the Cabrito mountains, and run her fingers along the tiny buds of coffee beans growing on the stalks welled within her.
But basking in her homecoming would have to wait.
She knew something was terribly wrong.
“What took you so long to call me back? Don’t you have Wi-Fi on that private plane?” Hannah barked on the line.
“What happened?”
“Did you check your email or your social media accounts?” Hannah asked.
“No,” Gabrielle said, then took a deep breath. She didn’t like surprises and didn’t want to be blindsided by what awaited her. She’d much rather Hannah tell her what was going on so she could prepare for what she might see and have to do next.
“It’s bad,” Hannah said, then exhaled loudly.
Gabrielle’s heart dropped. Had something happened with Damian’s parole hearing? Did they move up the date? Had she missed the chance to testify? Was he already a free man?
The thought seized her chest. She could barely breathe.
“Tell me, Hannah. Stop stalling,” Gabrielle forced the words out.
“Some photos of you have surfaced online,” Hannah said, then paused with dramatic flair. “Sexy photos. Not nudes, but definitely clickbait for the fellas. They’re kind of going viral right now. I’ve never seen them before. I know it’s not the kind of thing you’d release on your own, so maybe someone hacked your cell phone or stole them from your computer.”
“Sexy photos? Of me? I don’t have anything like that,” Gabrielle shrieked. “Could they be photoshopped?”
“Doesn’t look like it to me. You’re younger in them. Maybe nineteen or twenty—”
“No, this can’t be happening.” Gabrielle put the cell phone on speaker, then accessed her emails to view the pictures. She scrolled through them one by one as the memories slammed into her head. Images of her bikini-clad body frolicking on beaches in St. Felipe. Others of her swimming in short shorts and a tank top. In nearly every picture, she was barely wearing clothes. The angles and aesthetic of each shot were purposely taken to present her in the most provocative way.
She hadn’t seen these pictures in years.
Ten years to be exact when she’d found them on Damian Hester’s computer. That was when she realized he’d been watching her for years, violating her privacy. Taking photos of her from afar. There were other photos. Ones that would be far more devastating to her career and brand, but they weren’t released. At least not yet.
“That bastard!” Gabrielle screamed. “He knows I’m back home to stop him from getting out of prison. He released these photos to try to rattle me.” She stood and paced between the narrow aisle.
“Damian took these pictures of you? How the hell could he have flooded social media with them from prison?” Hannah asked.
“Obviously, he had help. Probably one of those criminal advocate groups he’s tricked into thinking he’s a changed man. I didn’t authorize these photos to be taken, and I damn sure didn’t approve their release.”
“That’s good news. I can get the attorneys working on takedown notices to all the sites. We’ll need to strategize on how to deal with this. Maybe some videos for the Emerge Anew site to address what’s going on. I can meet you at King Estate. How soon until you’re off the plane?”
“Damn, if I know. We’ve been sitting here for almost an hour already,” Gabrielle gripped the diamond-encrusted butterfly charm dangling from her necklace. She moved it back and forth quickly as she stared through the door of the sleeping quarters into the main sitting area of the plane. “Go to King Estate and start working on a game plan. I’ll call you when I’m on the way.”
Tossing the cell phone onto the sofa, she walked through the dining area and peered into the cockpit.
A man with a sexy Scottish lilt, who’d introduced himself as the best damn pilot on the planet, sat hunched over a clipboard. She couldn’t remember his name, only the hubris that coated his every word. Stacy sat next to him, nodding as he whispered something to her, pointing at the papers in her hand.
