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I remembered everything.
Day 72
I tossed and turned all night, images of Cian flooding my mind. Everything was rushing back to me—the love, the fear, the anger. And Ryzen. Everything Ryzen had done to me. He must be out of his damn mind to bring me to this island, to drug me and keep me locked away from everyone. I couldn’t understand what his endgame was. The only answer I came up with made my stomach turn. Did he think we were going to secretly get married to close the deal with Covington? Then what? He’d keep me locked away forever? No, he wouldn’t let it end that way. I had a feeling he had something much more sinister planned. But I wasn’t going to stick around to find out what. Because I was getting off this damn island, and if he tried to stop me then I was prepared to do what I needed.
I woke up with a new sense of purpose. Enough with the games. Enough with the bullshit. It was time to take action.
Kaviathin’s words flashed through my mind.
Your lion is tearing the world apart looking for you.
Cian must be going crazy. My heart ached at the thought of him not knowing what had happened to me, only knowing that Ryzen had me. God, the terror in his voice when I’d told him that Ryzen was chasing after me. His frantic instructions echoed in my ears, making me squeeze my eyes shut.
The only thing keeping me calm was the other memories. Juliet’s smiling face; Orin yelling in the kitchen that dinner was ready. Cian’s lips all over my body; the way he kissed me and told me he loved me unlike any other; his fierce need to protect me.
I’m coming, Cian. Just hold on.
I rushed to get ready and waited for Valik, my hands unable to keep still. He came at his regular time in the afternoon, both of us silent as we walked across the back yard and over to the tree line. I gripped his arm, almost unable to control my excitement to tell him the news. When we got past the first row of trees, I turned to him, my eyes big and my smile stretched from ear to ear.
“Are you OK? You look a little crazy.” He chuckled, and I leaned in close. We were outside and nobody had followed us, so there was no need to whisper, but I couldn’t help it.
“I remember. Everything.” I exhaled sharply, watching his reaction.
His mouth fell open and he picked me up in his arms, swinging me around. “Thatagirl! Yes, fuck yes,” he hollered.
“Shh.” I slapped his chest. “Someone might hear.”
“Oh, damn,” he whispered and put me down. “Didn’t think that through. You remember it all?”
“Most of it, yeah.” I nodded and we continued our walk. “It seems kind of like a movie playing in reverse though. Like things are out of order… but it’s there.” I tapped the side of my head. “There’s more though. Look, I can’t go into all the nitty details of everything, but you need to know that Ryzen and I were never really engaged.”
Valik stopped walking, his eyes almost popping out of his head. “What? Why? No way.”
I nodded and faced him. “There’s just too much to tell you, but what I can say is that the engagement, the wedding, was all for show. And because of the people Ryzen’s mixed up with, well, I’ve been working with the FBI.” I nibbled on my fingernails, hoping this wasn’t going to freak him out. “Not by choice. But the good news is, they are definitely looking for me.”
Reassurance washed over me at the thought. I’d known Cian would be looking, but the FBI had to have been searching for me as well. I almost couldn’t believe they hadn’t found me yet.
“But that night that I pulled the knife on you, I found evidence that Ryzen blew up my warehouse. And other evidence against Kaviathin…” My words trailed off as I realized that Valik had to have known at least a little bit what Ryzen had been up to with Kaviathin. “You knew that though, right? That Ryzen was working with the Mafia?” I put my hands on my hips, tilting my head to look at him.
“Yeah, I knew. Not at first though. I was a nobody when Riddick hired me to be one of their guards. Didn’t know what I was getting mixed up in. But I found out pretty quickly. By then, it was too late to look the other way or even walk away. The last few years have been a damn mess.” Valik wrung his hands together, his lips in a flat line.
“What aren’t you telling me?” He was avoiding my eyes, obviously keeping some type of secret from me. The question was, was it worse than mine?
“I don’t want to freak you out, so let me explain everything before you say a word. OK?” He gave me a pointed look and I nodded. “I fucked up a while back. Robbed a few banks, and when I didn’t get caught, robbed a few more. I never hurt anyone, OK?” He shook his head and kept walking as I tried to keep up the pace. “Was sentenced to ten years, but got out in six for good behavior. I tried to keep straight when I got out, but it’s hard out there when you’re a felon, Nova. You get the jobs nobody wants like mopping floors and cleaning dishes. Got mixed up with the wrong crowd again.”
“How did you end up working for Ryzen then?”
“Fighting. Used to fight for money at an underground club. Riddick came in all the time, became real friendly, and offered me a job.”
OK, well, that wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t like Valik had ever hurt anyone. That was what he said, and I believed him. There was no reason not to.
“I’m not judging you, Valik.” I rubbed my hand up his arm. “We all make mistakes. Was that what you were worried about telling me?”
He shook his head. “The thing is, the agent who arrested me for the robberies… when he found out I was in tight with the Goodacres, he made me a deal I couldn’t refuse. Turn informant and give them intel on Ryzen, or they would reverse my parole and send me back to prison. I had no choice. I think one of the other guards might be an informant also, but I’m not sure. Agent Dobbs is a fucking prick, I can tell you that.”
My mouth fell to the floor at his words. Dobbs? That slimy sleazebag. God, how many other people had they forced to turn informant or be sent off to jail?
“But I swear”—Valik held up his hands and faced me—“they didn’t tell me anything about you working for them… they only said that I needed to watch over Ryzen’s fiancée and keep her safe. Keep you safe. Which is what I’ve been trying to do since we got here.”
