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“I didn’t. Neil told me about the CPS call, and I told him that Laurence was behind it. He wouldn’t listen to me. But I didn’t know about it ahead of time. And if I had known, I would have told you. Or have you forgotten that Neil is my best friend, too?”
“I haven’t forgotten,” I said, somewhat subdued.
“As for the other? A year ago, I wouldn’t have believed a word out of your mouth about kidnapping plots. But what I know of Laurence now? How Vee has changed?” He couldn’t finish. He pushed his chair back. “I’m sorry, I have to leave. I changed my mind about wanting to be here.”
“Please, don’t tell Valerie about this!” I pleaded.
“No, no, I won’t.” He picked up his satchel from beside his chair. “Keep Olivia safe. But don’t let Neil do what he always does. Don’t let him get involved.”
“We have to fix this for her, Rudy.” Beneath the table, my fists clenched so hard the tips of my nails bit into my palms.
“We will. But give me time. Because right now, I have no idea where even to start.”
I watched him walk away, my stomach knotting up tighter than it already had been. Soon, the tension would snap me like a string.
Though I didn’t particularly enjoy eating lunch alone, I was starving and hadn’t planned on getting ditched. I ordered my food and scrolled aimlessly through social media, and when my plate arrived, I cleaned it in the kind of record time people didn’t like to see in public. All the while, I hoped in vain that someone, anyone we knew in New York, would walk through the door and rescue me from my thoughts. At one point, I convinced myself I’d spotted the au pair from the school parking lot walking out the door, then dismissed her as a hallucination born of my desperation for company. I turned my attention back to my lackluster salad and left as soon as the bill was paid and before my mind could play tricks on me again. It would try any avenue of escape.
I couldn’t blame it. Everything I’d hoped wasn’t true had turned out to be. And everyone’s hands were tied.
Chapter Nine
By the time we got ahold of Sasha, announced our plan to the ecstatic girls, packed our things, and arranged transport, our flight option was to leave JFK at midnight on Monday. We would fly through the night on El-Mudad’s much roomier jet, which could comfortably fly all seven of us, plus Marisol.
“I’m still not understanding where we’re putting everyone,” Neil said when we staggered onto the plane.
“It’s just like when my family got an RV to go to my uncle’s wedding in North Dakota,” I explained again. “You, El-Mudad, me, and Mariposa in the seats, fold down the back couches into a bed, and the girls can all squish on there together.”
“This is going to be uncomfortable,” El-Mudad complained.
But it was the only way I had been able to work out how all of us could get at least some sleep on the flight. Arriving in Belize with a cranky toddler who’d only had five hours was not ideal, but it wasn’t as if I’d had lots of time to plan.
Of course, I wasn’t supposed to have planned anything. But Neil couldn’t have possibly believed I would leave well enough alone.
Between the flight and the car ride, the teenagers were able to recharge fully. It astounded me when I thought of all the times I had run for whole days on four hours of sleep. Just the thought of it exhausted me now.
The way the girls had gelled into one little clique made me bittersweetly envious. Deep in my only-child heart, I longed to have a sisterly bond with Molly like the one Amal and Rashida shared. Realistically, I knew our ages and family dynamic stood in the way. Amal and Rashida had grown up together; Molly and I were just barely not strangers anymore.
When the stretch Lincoln Navigator we’d hired pulled up the pier in front of the Nauti III—a name I slightly regretted when Amal’s face paled in disgust—Molly let out a soft, “Holy…”
“That’s a big boat!” Olivia shouted from the third row of back seats, startling all of us; we’d thought she was asleep.
“That’s not a boat; it’s a freaking cruise ship!” Molly exclaimed. “I can’t believe this. I can’t. This is actually unbelievable.”
“One day, your sister won’t be able to impress you anymore,” Neil said with a smile.
“You doubt my awesome powers?” I nudged him with my elbow.
We stopped and climbed out, and Molly followed along with us to the gangway in a sort of trance. The crew lined up on the deck, out of the way but silently present for anything we might immediately need.
“Do we already have assigned cabins?” Amal asked as we walked up the ramp.
