“Marissa, wait.” He caught her arm as she was walking away. “Make sure our butler escorts you to the room. I don’t want anything happening right before the wedding.”
She looked at him incredulously.
“Why would something happen to me?” she said, cocking her head. Her words had started to slur together.
He laughed awkwardly. “Oh, I’m probably just being paranoid. You know, with what happened on the jet. I can’t bear the thought of something happening to you.”
“Oh Ethan, you’re so sweet. I see Marcus right over there.” She waved to a tuxedo-clad man hanging by one of the hotel buildings. “I’ll make sure he gets me to the suite.”
She made an about-face and walked in their friend Marcus’s direction.
Ethan sighed. They had already agreed to stay in separate rooms that night in anticipation of the wedding. Which was Ethan’s idea. He pretended it was a romantic gesture toward his bride, but in truth, he needed time to make sure everything in his plan was ready to execute.
When he saw that Marissa was safely on her way, he turned back to where he had seen Sydney. She was gone.
Deflated, Ethan decided to head toward the beach. Maybe a walk would help him clear his head. He slowly made his way in that direction. He stopped at the edge of the pool and had a waiter bring him another scotch. Drink in hand, he could hear the ocean waves calling to him. The moon was just barely visible through the clouds that striped the evening sky. A storm rumbled far off in the distance; he could feel the air bloated with the impending rain.
As he reached the edge of the beach, he leaned down and pulled his leather sandals off. The sand welcomed his feet, easing some of the tension he felt throughout his body. He arrived at the edge of the water, the sound of the waves crashing louder and louder. He could taste the salt on his lips, mixed with the amber liquid from his glass.
He couldn’t see into the dark ocean, but he was sure there were sharks in the water. Waiting for their prey to make the wrong move so they could swallow it up. Although Ethan had always thought of himself as more of a predator than prey, in this moment, he felt like the helpless fish in the water. And Estavez was the shark, waiting and waiting for him to make the wrong move.
He felt trapped. Estavez was well connected. Money had afforded the South American gangster a worldwide reach. And he knew a different kind of people than your average everyday neighbors next door mowing their grass on Sundays. The types of people that knew killers. If Ethan ran, he would be found anywhere he went, on U.S. soil or abroad.
He owed Estavez one million five hundred and forty thousand dollars. It wasn’t a small sum for anyone, no matter how wealthy you were. And Ethan’s wealth was a front; he didn’t have the kind of tangible assets that someone like Marissa had. Everything he had was wrapped up in the website. And truthfully the website wasn’t even his since Estavez owned a huge chunk of that too.
He stood facing the ocean and sipped his scotch. The wind ruffled his clothes, sending a chill up his back. Maybe if he stood here all night, he could think his way out of this mess. He looked down at his glass.
“I wish you were here, Jack,” he murmured under his breath. The thought brought with it a surge of sadness that bubbled up in his throat. He and Jack would have found a way out, like they always did. Like they did with their parents, together.
But Jack was gone. Ethan had come up with a plan on his own. One that involved killing his own wife. It was fairly simple. After they wrapped up the wedding reception, Ethan had planned on surprising Marissa with a weeklong trip around the Caribbean in a gorgeous seventy-foot yacht he had rented just for them.
Other than the small staff, they would be alone in the vast blue ocean for days on end to enjoy their newly wedded bliss. He planned to add a heavy dose of Rohypnol to her after-dinner drink during the second night of their excursion. A few sips later, she would become drowsy and pass out. By that time, the boat would be cloaked in darkness. He would slip her body over the side of the boat, and she would drift to the bottom of the sea.
He thought it was a wonderful way to die. One moment you are having the best week of your life, and the next you are just gone. He hoped he would be so lucky one day. From what he knew of Estavez, if Ethan were ever to cross him and get caught, he would not be treated to the same painless demise.
He thought getting the Rohypnol undetected was going to be the most difficult part of his plan. Carrying it on him through the airport felt too risky, so he decided to purchase the drug after they arrived in Jamaica. He’d found a dealer rather easily on the dark web, set up a time to meet, and made the exchange. While Marissa thought he’d been out shopping, he’d actually made a trip to a town called Shettle Wood to complete his purchase. He’d believed his plan had gone smoothly until Bishop had informed him he had been followed.
Ethan looked up the beach to his left. He could see a couple far down the beach, sitting in the sand. He needed to stretch his legs a bit more and headed in their direction.
But just as he started to make out the details of their silhouettes, he heard a voice call to him from back down the beach, closer to the resort.
“Ethan, wait up!” He stopped and turned. As the man drew closer, he could see it was Alex, Sydney’s date for the wedding. Perfect timing, he thought as he walked to meet him.
It was time to circle his own prey.
Twenty-Eight
Sydney
Sydney felt like her body was on fire and ice cold all at the same time. Her vocal cords were frozen from the moment she saw him. The ocean seemed to grow louder as if to compete with all the voices that were screaming in her head. She found herself holding her breath in one moment and breathing quick shallow breaths the next. Whether it was a panic attack or a heart attack, she imagined they felt the same. Jack was alive?
For months after the plane crash, Sydney had waited for news. She had tried to book a flight down to the location near where he landed, but friends and family members had told her to stay and wait. So she waited. And waited. Until she felt so frustrated and sick, she thought she would scream if she didn’t do something.
She reached out to Ethan many times during the aftermath of the crash, but he never answered her calls. Marissa later told her that it was too painful for him to talk about. He had accepted that Jack was gone. While Marissa couldn’t understand his acceptance, Sydney was too absorbed in her own feelings about Jack’s disappearance to think about his reaction. Now she thought maybe Ethan knew he was alive all along.
Jack was a seasoned pilot. As an identical twin, he once explained to her, it was tough to have your own identity. Flying was a way for him to carve out his own niche in the world. He spent hours practicing on the flight simulator. When the weather allowed, he spent almost every Saturday morning up in the sky, logging hour after hour. It had never really bothered Sydney because he was such a capable pilot. He really seemed to take his flying seriously.
That, among other reasons, was why Sydney had not accepted that her husband was gone. She finally broke free of the people trying to support her and flew down to Venice, Louisiana, the nearest Coast Guard station, and demanded answers. What she discovered was deeply disappointing.
The Coast Guard team had retrieved pieces of the plane, luggage, and many of Jack’s personal items. There were shredded shirts, torn shorts, and even a shoe he was wearing the day he left. They found the headset she had purchased for him as a Christmas gift. But the last straw was his bracelet. He and Ethan had matching silver bracelets they had worn every day since she had known him. They never took them off. Jack had never really told her the whole story, but she knew it had been a gift from their parents.