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Slowly lifting his head, he placed his hand over her mouth and motioned for her to be quiet. Over his callused fingers he saw her eyebrows draw together for a second, then shoot upward. She got the message. “Stay here,” he whispered against her ear.
“No—” she said against his hand, but he shot her a look that brooked no argument, motioned for her to go back into the cabin, and slowly, quietly, mounted the stairs.
Her heart pounding, she watched in mind-numbing fear. What if the person on deck was the murderer that he insisted still existed? What if Eunice wasn’t the killer? Who else could it be? Her heart pounded. She couldn’t let Zachary fight him alone. Quickly, she searched the salon for a weapon, found nothing, and took the stairs silently to the deck.
“—so it doesn’t matter if she’s your sister or not, you still want to fuck her.”
Jason Danvers’s voice whispered over the rush of the wind.
Adria’s skin crawled. What was he doing here? Had he followed them?
She eased up the stairs and spied Jason standing on the main deck, his back braced on the boom, the night wind causing his jacket to flap around his hips. Rain was beginning to fall heavily and yet he stood, bareheaded, his eyes trained on his younger brother.
Adria felt as if she were in the presence of pure evil. Was there a phone on board? Could she slide back down the stairwell unnoticed and make the call? Or would it be on the bridge? A radio of some kind?
“Christ, Zach, you never learn, do you? First Kat and now her daughter.”
Adria froze. “You were with Kat,” Zach said calmly, his back to the stairwell as he squared off with his brother.
“But I didn’t move on to London.”
“Probably because you were too busy killing Ginny Slade.”
“So you figured that out, little brother. Jesus, if you try a little harder you might just get some kind of Agatha Christie award or something. You and Adria—no, London—have become quite the detectives.”
“You didn’t need to kill her.”
“Didn’t want her to go shooting her mouth off. I knew about Mom. Knew that she was the one behind the kidnapping.” He grinned, his leer wickedly cruel in the darkness. “I figured I’d use Mom’s plans to get what I wanted. Just go a little bit further. I even knew that she’d killed Kat. I’m just surprised the police never figured it out.”
“They will now.”
“Too late. I’m just lucky Sweeny finally located Ginny. I’ve been looking for her for years.”
“To what end?”
“To ensure that our little half-sister never showed up.”
Adria tried to slink back down the stairs.
“Don’t go anywhere, London,” Jason said, and she froze. “Didn’t think I’d seen you?” He clucked his tongue. “Come on up and join the party.”
“This is no party. Leave her be.”
“Can’t do that.” He waved Adria up the stairs and she saw the gun, steely and cold, glistening in his hand. So this was it. The final standoff. Unless she and Zach could stop him. “Tell me,” Jason said, “how does it feel to be the wealthiest woman in Portland? Better enjoy the feeling, because it’s not gonna last long.”
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, climbing the stairs and feeling icy raindrops pelt from the sky.
“Just having a chat with my brother. You’re part of the family now, so you can join in.”
“How’d you find us?”
“Oh, well, that was real tough,” Jason mocked as the wind kicked up. “I knew you’d be together somewhere. It was just a matter of figuring out where you’d want to spend your time together. It had to be somewhere close by but private. Jesus, Zach, I know you like to think of yourself as some kind of irreverent rebel, but screwing your own sister?”
“You miserable son of a bitch!” Zach lunged, hurling himself at Jason, but Jason did a quick side step and grinned so evilly, Adria’s heart froze.
“No!” she cried, expecting the sharp report of a gun.
Instead Jason pushed hard on the wooden boom, and the huge beam came around, catching Zach in his midsection and propelling him against the rail.
