Maren’s gaze jumped to her father. “You knew about this? And you said nothing?”
“Relax, Maren. I didn’t think it would become an issue. And if it did, I figured we could use Drummer’s position to our advantage.”
“And just what exactly would that position be?” Maren asked.
“He trusts me,” Drummer said calmly. “I’ve spent the last five years worming my way under his skin so he thinks I’m his ally instead of his nemesis. Rachel’s death was classified as a boating accident, but I know he killed her.”
When the rest of the group only stared at him, he said, “Rachel was an historian. Declan hired her to do some research on an Aztec artifact he was trying to find. You guessed it,” he said, nodding. “Our illustrious
La Malinche.
At the time, he still thought it was in the northern Yucatan, but he’d hit a wall and couldn’t find any more information on its location. Rachel not only earned his respect but his trust. And somewhere along the line, she got personally involved with him.”
Maren crossed her arms over her chest. “He can be charming when it suits him.”
“Yeah. I’ve noticed.” Drummer scowled. “By the time she learned who and what he was, she was in too deep. She was afraid he wouldn’t let her go. She thought if she could get something on him, she could blackmail him into leaving her alone. I didn’t know anything about her plan until it was too late. Just before she died, she told me she’d found incriminating evidence related to a death in Mexico. One he’d been involved with. One related to that statue.” He looked at Thad. “She had evidence proving he’d been with those divers in that cenote the day Colin was killed.”
Thad’s back went rigid. And his hand landed against Maren’s shoulder and squeezed.
“Then she conveniently died,” Drummer went on. “I couldn’t do anything to prove it wasn’t an accident, but I know in my heart it wasn’t. The same way you know your brother’s death wasn’t either. He killed Rachel to shut her up, because she got in his way. And he never looked back.”
“So you’ve been conning him,” Maren said. “You’re the third investor on this project.”
“Yeah. I’ve been feeding him info since I got here. Patrick and I thought if we kept him in the loop, he’d be inclined to sit back and watch from the sidelines.”
“But he wasn’t,” Thad said gruffly.
“No. Not after his run-in with Maren last week.” He glanced at her. “I knew he was in contact with you. I just didn’t realize how deep his obsession ran. I didn’t tell Patrick about your involvement because I didn’t want to jeopardize the plan, and honestly, I didn’t know where your loyalties lay. I also didn’t know what was happening with Isabel. I’d have stepped in long ago if I’d known about her.”
He ran a hand across his forehead. “It didn’t click with me before, but your assistant, the one you said was with Isabel. What does she look like? About five-feet-four, auburn hair, wide mouth, sharp cheekbones, long narrow face?”
The blood drained from Maren’s cheeks. “Yes. How did you know?”
Nate shook his head and glanced at Patrick. “Candy Hampton. She’s worked for him for years.”
“
What?
” Maren glanced from Drummer to her father’s surprised expression and back again.
“I met her about seven years ago when she was just his secretary,” Nate said. “He’s a persuasive man. She started working at the hotel, what, five years ago? Odds are pretty good he recruited her to keep tabs on you. It would have been just before Isabel disappeared the first time, right?”
Maren sank into a chair and dropped her head. “Yes.” Pain stabbed through her soul at her utter stupidity.
“I’m not sure how he conned her into helping him,” Drummer said. “But my guess is she was young and naïve, and he convinced her you were all out to screw him. And if she didn’t do what he wanted, he probably made it clear he could make her life a living hell.”
“He’s not getting away with it anymore.” The ice in Thad’s voice made Maren look up. His hand clenched into a fist at his side. “This ends now.”
Nate nodded. “He trusts me. I’ve been waiting a long time for payback. I know that boat like the back of my hand. If Isabel’s there, I know where he’s got her.”
A vein pulsed near Thad’s temple. “We go in, get Isabel, and get her out. Then the son of a bitch is mine. He’s about to find out what hell is really like.”
Maren’s stomach clenched at the hatred she saw in Thad’s eyes, at the determination and vengeance in his voice. This suddenly wasn’t the man she knew and loved. The change was so abrupt, so powerful, it left her reeling. And her heart clenched. Not with fear, but with gut-wrenching regret.
She drew in a sharp breath, swallowed, and stood. She needed air. Needed a moment to find her balance. Running a hand over her face, she glanced around the room. “I’ll be right back.”
The sun was setting low over the water when she stepped off Patrick’s porch and onto the dirt road running through camp. Palm trees swayed above. Seagulls cried in the distance. A balmy breeze blew her hair away from her face, but it did little to warm the chill that had settled in her veins at the memory of a voice too much like Thad’s.
On a long breath, she pressed shaking fingers against her aching temples and started toward the beach.
“Maren, hold on.” Thad’s hand on her arm stopped her.
When she turned, his eyes were no longer on fire, but she could still see the smoldering flames, the resolve. And beneath that the hint of gentleness, of the man she recognized.
That was the one she wanted for the rest of her life.
“I love you.” The words spilled out before she even had time to think them through. “I do,” she said before he could respond. “I didn’t realize how much until just now. I can’t fight it anymore, Thad. I don’t want to. I just want you. I want us. I want Isabel to know you and for us to be a family like we should have been a long time ago.”
His eyes went all soft and dreamy, and the love she saw reflected there made her insides melt. And right then, she knew. This was the real deal. And whatever happened from here on out could never taint what she felt for him.
“Oh, Blondie.” He took a step closer and reached for her. “I want that too. You have no idea how much.”
“No.” She held up a hand to block him before he could kiss her and make her forget what she’d seen in that cabin. “You don’t get it.”
Hands settling on her arms, he hesitated and looked into her eyes. Her heart thumped against her ribs, but she lifted her chin, knowing this was as important as the love coursing through her. “I want that future with the man who just told everyone in there how much he loves me. Not the one with the vendetta against Declan.”
His brow dropped. “I think I missed something.”
“Please let this go.” Feeling the beat of his heart beneath her palm, she tried to steady her quaking voice. “Once we have Isabel back, and now that I know I have you on my side, we can figure out a way to keep him away. He won’t be able to hurt us anymore, not unless we let him. Please, Thad. Just let it go. Let him go.”
“I had to have heard you wrong.” He dropped his arms as if her skin had burned him and took a step back. Betrayal flashed in his eyes, and the hurt she saw there clawed at her heart in a way that left her feeling hollow. “Are you asking me to let the bastard live after what he’s done? Did I hear you right?”
She took a step toward him, desperate to bridge the gap he was building. “No one has more reason to hate the man than I do. But that kind of emotion is overpowering. It consumes you. I know because I’ve been there. It’s the same passion that rules Declan. Everything he’s done, he thinks he’s done out of necessity. The same way you and I believe in the actions we took that got us to this point. It doesn’t make it right.”
“Are you comparing me to Declan?” Disbelief raced across his features. He rested his hands on his hips, the lines around his eyes creasing deeply as he stared at her as if he’d never seen her before.
“No. God, no.” Her chest tightened. She lifted her hands, dropped them. “There’s no comparison between you. You have goodness and strength and gentleness in you, and he has none of that. He’s only focused on one thing. But I’m telling you, if you do this, if you go after him with this twisted sense of vengeance, then he wins. Even if you kill him, he still wins. Because the same hatred that rules him will have gotten to you.”
“No,” he said with sheer disgust. “Once I kill the bastard, I win. Then it’ll finally be over for good.”
She blinked back tears. She was on the verge of losing him, not because there wasn’t enough love between them, but because of a hatred she’d spent years trying to overcome.
“It’ll never be over. Don’t you see? That hatred will always hang over us. It will always be there, a constant reminder of him. I can’t start our lives like that. Hate nearly destroyed me once. I won’t let it again. The only way we’ll ever be free is to walk away.”
His eyes narrowed. “Are you giving me an ultimatum?”
“No.” She swallowed. “I would never tell you what to do. You have to make your own choices based on what you feel is right.”
“But you’re saying if I go after him, you’ll walk.”
“I’m saying,” she said calmly, “that I love you. More than I ever did before. More than I ever thought I could. And I would do just about anything for you, but not this.”
She heard the hitch in her voice, knew she was about to break. His eyes were once again hard, but this wasn’t something she could back down from. Not if she wanted to make sure she never wound up like Doña Marina. Not even for him.
“I’m saying,” she went on, even though her heart was breaking, “if you do this, then you have to do it on your own. Because I can’t be a part of it.”
C
HAPTER
S
EVENTEEN
T
he air was still. Too still. Like the calm before the storm, no breeze blew across the water. The palms lay silent in the late hours of dusk. Even the birds in paradise were silent.
Standing on the pier, waiting with clenched jaw, Maren crossed her arms over her chest and said every prayer she knew. If this didn’t work, if something went wrong...
She closed her eyes and tried to think optimistically. All the planning in the world couldn’t change what was about to happen. At this point, she had to put her faith in Drummer, Lisa and Rafe, her father...and Thad.
Her heart clenched at the memory of Thad’s grim face when she’d left camp. Turmoil had hardened his features, had made his voice gruff. He’d kissed her good-bye, and she’d seen the fear lurking in his eyes, but she hadn’t been able to read his thoughts, and he hadn’t volunteered them. She had no idea what he planned to do once they found Isabel, or where they even stood when all of this was over.
“There’s the tender.” Drummer’s voice cut through her reverie, and she looked where he pointed across the water.
Stomach rolling, she picked up the backpack at her feet. When the boat slowed to dock at the pier, she took a steadying breath, slung the strap over her shoulder, and willed her feet forward.
Nate’s guess had been right. The
Marina
was moored roughly three miles off the northern shore of Belize. Adrenaline pumped through Maren as she stepped out of the tender and climbed the ladder to the deck of the glistening white yacht. The last traces of sunlight disappeared beyond the horizon as a servant led them into the main salon.
Seated on a plush couch studying a file, Evan glanced up.
Maren gritted her teeth. Her first instinct was to lash out, to rake her fingernails down the soft flesh of his cheek, to make him bleed and hurt the way she had bled. But she knew that wouldn’t get her anywhere. And it wouldn’t get her what she wanted.
“How nice of you to join me.” Evan tossed his folder onto the coffee table in front of him, then stood and stepped forward.
For a moment, it was as if she and Evan were the only two in the room. His gaze never left her face.
The son of a bitch was gloating over her being here.
“Relax, Maren,” he said with an icy warning. “The situation is only as bad as you make it.”
She lifted her chin. “I’m here. Again. You made your point just like you wanted.”
“Always so dramatic.” He glanced at Nate behind her. “Wouldn’t you agree, Drummer?”
When Drummer didn’t respond, he stepped past her toward the bar. “So, tell me. How goes the excavation, love?”
Maren turned, her gaze following him. “Where’s Isabel, Evan?”
He added ice to three glasses. Silence stretched across the room while he poured scotch into each tumbler. He handed her a glass, took a slow sip of his own, and let his gaze settle on hers. “Resting.”
“I want to see her.”
“I don’t think so. Why don’t you tell me about the excavation first. We’ll deal with Isabel later.”
“No,” Maren said calmly, “we’ll deal with her now, or you won’t learn anything about the excavation.”
Evan was quiet for a moment; then he said, “How about a compromise? Drummer can go check on her and report back here on her well-being, while you and I have ourselves a little chat.”
Maren set her glass on a nearby table, untouched. “Why should I trust him now that I know he’s working for you?”
One side of Evan’s lips curled in a self-satisfied smirk. “No one could ever accuse you of not being cautious.” His smile faded. “How about because it’s the best offer you’re going to get.”
She watched him through steely eyes for a few moments; then she turned toward Nate.
Drummer’s expression didn’t change, but his gaze shifted from her to Evan. “Where is she?”
“Downstairs.”
His gaze shot to Maren. “I’ll be back.”
Maren watched as Nate disappeared down the steps, a mixture of relief and fear rushing through her veins.
When she turned, she met Evan’s sinuous smile. “I’ve been waiting for you, darling. You have no idea how long three days is for a man.”
She refused to step away from him. Wouldn’t let him see her fear. “You didn’t miss me. You just want to humiliate me into doing your dirty work. There’s a reason why you have to rely on me and my father to find
La Malinche
for you, Evan. She’s not your birthright.”