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I watch how Destiny pushes her feelings aside, giving small tells that show me just how difficult this is. The way her throat tightens, the nervous sweep of her hand through the husky’s fur, the slow, measured breaths that swell her chest.
The three rapid blinks.
Her luscious mouth turning into a thin pale line, robbed of its color.
The way she exhales tells me she’s trying to air out her emotions.
Her eyes are still clear, though, and they’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
Hell, all of her.
If this storm reaches up and drags us to the bottom of the sea, I’ll go down with her on my mind.
And I’m sure it’s a one-way trip to hell, knowing my last living act was to cut out her heart and stomp on it like a drunken bull.
“Adriana,” she whispers as she looks at me.
“What?”
“That’s who’s behind this. It has to be her.”
I rake a hand through my hair as I process what she’s saying. “Adriana Cerva? Meghan’s mother? You think she’s responsible for the cut line?”
It doesn’t add up that a greedy, underhanded clown like her could do something so serious, let alone get aboard unnoticed.
Destiny nods and paces away from me.
The tears are gone, replaced by cold determination and the razor-sharp focus that sets her apart. “I think she was using Meghan as a puppet the whole time. We underestimated her.”
“Dess, she hired Mark, who couldn’t even find a way into the lab without giving himself away. You really think she’d find someone who could breach my ship’s security?”
She frowns. “You saw her, you know how toxic she is. I don’t know how, but I’m sure there’s a motive, and where there’s a will, there’s a way. She could’ve bribed someone again. Crazy, nasty-ass pageant mom. I can’t believe it either, that she might get us killed.” Her steps quicken as she paces, taking advantage of what seems like a break in the yacht lurching up and down hills of water. “All this over money. That’s the sick part.”
It dawns on me then.
“Not money, no. The fact that we’re about to nail her to the wall with Mark caught red-handed. This is self-preservation.” Fuck, I hate that it makes too much sense, even if I don’t knowhow.“If it’s her, she’s prepared to do anything to save her own skin. Just like she was with her daughter’s brand.”
“Yep. Success has everything to do with money. Her condition for keeping quiet was having Meghan take my place, or a massive payoff from you. And when you found out about Mark and what he did...” She inhales sharply. “Imagine how mad she must’ve been. Psycho enough to do anything.”
I think again about the deflated young influencer sitting at the restaurant table with us.
At the time, I barely registered Meghan. Adriana was always the threat.
But now that I think about it, there was something very wrong with that picture beyond a greedy, overbearing mother. Meghan was hollowed out. Not at all the loud, confident force she is online.
Her mother controlled the situation from the very beginning.
She was the personality, and Meghan was always just a blank slate. A tool Adriana used for success.
The thought makes me sick with fury.
It’s my turn to start pacing, all I can do to refrain from hurling my fists at the walls.
“Oh, God. Adriana wants us dead. I should havelistened,” Destiny groans, and there’s such certainty in her voice, I find myself believing her now without question.
“Listened? What do you mean?”
Dess looks up miserably.
