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I shake my head. “No. But it does complicate matters. If we’re to help Asia retrieve her friend then things are going to get messy. People are going to get hurt.” Ma Silva knows as well as I that people will die, likely both of us included.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Ma asks, studying me carefully.
“Yes. We get her out too.”
“Promise me, Malakai. I cannot see another child ruined by that family.”
I nod. “I promise.”
A loud knock at the door has Ma nearly jumping out of her skin and cutting our conversation short. She’s not usually so easily spooked, but given everything that’s going on, I really don’t blame her. I raise my finger to my mouth, urging Ma to remain quiet. Standing, I reach for the gun that I’ve tucked down the side of the sofa cushion I’m sitting on and crack open the door so I can see into the hallway. Grant passes me, indicating for me to stay put. He knows what’s going down, and he’s fully aware that life on the island has become very dangerous for everyone, including himself.
When he opens the door, my stomach drops out. There standing before him is Connie, and she looks as though she’s about to start World War Three.
Fuck.
“Get out of my way, Grant!” she yells, shoving him aside.
“What the hell is she doing here?” I hiss at Ma Silva.
“I’ve no idea!” she stutters, her face draining of colour.
“Well it looks like we’re about to find out.”
Connie storms past Grant who has the good sense not to try and stop her. If the cat’s out of the proverbial bag, then facing up to it is better than trying to make a steaming pile of shit smell like roses. She’s obviously found out something and is pissed. Schooling my features into a blank mask to hide the fact that my insides are churning up like the sea in a squall, I step away from the door just in time.
Like a whirlwind, Connie steps into the room, her rage only tempered slightly by seeing me.
“You’re back!” she shouts in a mixture of relief and anger.
“Looks that way,” I respond, easing my gun into the back of my jeans and making sure I cover the bulge with my jumper. Outwardly I’m calm, but inside I’m not calm, far from it in fact. I’m fucking quaking with my need to reach out and hold Connie tightly against me. Her cheeks flush a deep, furious red. She turns to Ma Silva, pointing at her.
“You knew Malakai had come back and you didn’t say anything? Why, Grandma? Why?”
“Connie, please. There are things going on that we didn’t want to concern you with,” Ma Silva says, trying to reason with her.
“To do with the King you mean, are those the things you’re talking about?”
“How did you…” I begin, but she holds her hand up, instantly silencing me. My skin prickles at her gumption and at my need to fucking kiss her angry little mouth.
“I had a nice conversation with someone called Grim just now. Turns out she sent Malakai here to cash in on a debt. To spy on the King who happens to be staying at the Palace right now, and you have kept that from me. That’s why you’ve been trying to get me to leave!” she rages, her face beautiful in its fierceness.
“Grim had no right to tell you a damn thing!” Ma Silva retorts.
“She thought I was you. Turns out we sound very similar over the phone, especially when the reception is as piss poor as it is right now. You left your mobile phone at the house. Next time you want to keep secrets from me, Grandma, I suggest you cover your goddamn back!”
“You need to calm down, Connie. Ma didn’t tell you about what’s going on to keep you safe. This isn’t a game we’re playing.”
“I know damn well that this isn’t a game, Malakai! I know how dangerous the King is, after all, that fact has been hammered into me repeatedly over the past eighteen months since meeting you!” She’s panting now, her body trembling with emotion.
“Connie…” Ma Silva reaches for her arm, but she shakes her off.
“No. Don’t you dare try and make this better. You lied to me, Grandma. I’m part of this family too and I deserve to know whatever it is that you’ve got yourself embroiled in.”
“She’s keeping yousafe,” I snap. She really doesn’t fucking get it.
“Safe? Like you did when you murdered Abel for me? Is that why you’re here, Malakai? Is that the debt you’re paying back, because if it is, then that’s my debt too! You wouldn’t have had to kill the bastard if it wasn’t for me. Tell me what’s going on. TELL ME!”
She’s right of course, that is the debt I’m paying back. Grim helped me, so now I help her. Tears well in her eyes and I so desperately want to brush them away as they fall over her lashes and run in silvery tracks over her cheeks. Instead, I push all emotion aside and paint on the mask I’m so used to wearing.
“Fine. You want to know, then I’ll tell you. I’ll fucking tell you!”
“No,” Ma Silva exclaims. “I don’t want her involved, Malakai.”
I turn to her, shaking my head. “It’s too late for that now. You should’ve got Connie off the island the minute he arrived here. That’s on you, Ma.”
Resigned, I sit down heavily and tell Connie everything I know. Everything except the mysterious little girl and the fact the King had love in his eyes when he’d looked at her.
