Brett glares at me. “Well, Riv?”
It’s interesting that they’re all focused on me. What about Jake? He’s the one who left, who let them all think he was dead.
But they’re all so happy to see him. Who can blame them?
Where do I begin? How do I tell this story that began twenty years ago?
I’ve only seen Jake once since he took off. About ten yearsago. I was in Miami on business, and I went to see him. We’ve been in contact since he left, and I sent him money a few times, but for the most part, he’s made it on his own.
It never seemed right.
The four of us are fucking billionaires. He should have reaped the benefit of that night.
Then again…he did kill a man.
It hasn’t slipped my mind that there’s no statute of limitations on murder.
But the police didn’t find any evidence of Marnie’s or Old Man Larson’s disappearance. They both just vanished into thin air. No fingerprints, no gunshot residue.
Nothing.
A cold case.
Marnie’s parents, of course, sent out an Amber alert and searched for their daughter for years.
She was never found.
The case got colder and colder until everyone accepted that she must be dead.
Only Jake and I know where she is.
And we’ll never talk.
So I ask myself now… How much can Jake and I divulge? I trust Brett, Alex, and Seb with my life, but…
The fewer people who know what happened all those years ago, the safer Jake is.
Which is why I’m rethinking bringing him here.
No one mourned Old Man Larson. He paid for what he did to Marnie—with his life.
“Enough, Riv,” Brett snaps, pulling me from my musing. His eyes are ice-cold, his jaw set. “We want answers.”
Jake shifts beside me, a silent plea in his gaze. I nod subtly. He agreed to come with me. He knew the risks.
“Jake did what he had to do,” I begin, my voice almost drowned by the ocean’s relentless waves.
Brett’s cheeks are red. “You owe us a lot more than that, Riv.”
I open my mouth but Jake gestures to me.
“This isn’t on Riv, Brett,” he says. “It’s on me.”
“Jake, how could you?” Alex asks. “We mourned you. We buried you. We found that damned hat you loved but never wore at the mouth of the river. How could you let us suffer like that?”
I take a step toward Alex. “Wait a minute, you don’t know what he’s been through. What happened. Why he had to leave.”
“Then why didn’t you just fucking leave?” Brett demands. “We would have at least known you were alive. We wouldn’t have—” He stops abruptly, choking up.
