Page 62 of Sunburned

“They won’t. This isn’t altruistic. No one here is trying to ‘do the right thing.’ They want money, and for that they need leverage. If they go to the authorities, they’ll have played their cards and will have nothing left to blackmail you with.”

“You’ve dealt with this before.”

I leveled my gaze at him. “So. Have. You.”

He turned back to the window. “We’ll find out who it is when we meet them at five.”

“We?”

“You and me.”

“Tyson…” I dug my nails into my palms, reminding myself to stay calm. “They said to come alone.”

“I will. You’ll already be there, waiting.”

“I didn’t bring protection,” I protested. “I don’t want to get into a situation where—”

“I have guns, if that’s what you need.”

I shook my head. Packing my own registered weapon in Florida was a lot different than pulling out some gun of Tyson’s in the territory of another nation. “I don’t think that’s legal.”

“Now who’s paranoid?”

I held up my hands. “This is getting a bit above my pay grade.”

“You want more money?”

“No.”

A rapping at the door, and he dropped his rock to the bed. “Five o’clock.”

I fixed him with my gaze. “After the dive, you and Cody and I are going to sit down and have a conversation like adults.”

He didn’t answer, striding for the door. But I wasn’t worried. As much as I preferred to tell him about the arrest report after we’d had a chance to talk civilly, if he refused to play ball, I’d have to force his hand.

Either way, I was done taking his shit.

I left Tyson chatting with the white-uniformed captain, a deeply tanned man in his forties with a blond man-bun, and descended the stairs to another sumptuous lounge one level down. This one featured a golf simulator, shuffleboard, and arcade games, as well as tables for pool, foosball, and poker, with an open sitting area and bar decorated in the same shades of gray and cream as the master suite.

“Welcome aboard, Ms. Collet,” an attractive male crew member greeted me with a smile. Hell, they were all attractive—which after a few days in St. Barth’s should’ve no longer been remarkable, but somehow I was still thrown by it, like I’d wandered into one of those utopia scenes in a movie where you know something nefarious is going on beneath the surface. Life simply wasn’t supposed to be quite so perfect. “This is the game room,” he went on, oblivious to my wariness about the symmetry of his face. “There is a gym and sauna directly behind the bar,” he said, pointing, “and you will find pickleball and basketball courts on the deck beyond.”

Good God, Tyson was rich.

Proof that money couldn’t make you happy, I supposed, no matter how good-looking the crew of your yacht might be.

The guy indicated the wide spiral staircase behind him. “The stairs are here, please, when you’re ready, madame.”

As I reached the next landing, I was greeted by another fit male crew member with thick, short brown hair. His name tag indeed readEvan, as the girls upstairs had said it would. “Bonjour, madame. You are Audrey Collet, yes?”

I nodded, shading my eyes against the glare off the sparkling rectangular pool. The main living area was decorated in that same soothing wealthy man’s greige and cream with a circular bar in the center of the room. To one side was a long dining table beneath a modern LED chandelier, to the other a grand piano and seating area with a studied simplicity that came off as distinctly sophisticated. Off the hallway past the piano, I could see Jennifer and Allison chatting between the open doors of what must be their suites.

“Madame?” I turned my attention to the young man. “Your room is one more deck down,” he said. “Number seven. Please meet on the pool deck ready to dive at one. That’s in fifteen minutes.”

I forced a smile.“Oui, merci.”

I descended yet another stairwell and followed the beige-carpeted hallway past doors four, five, and six to door seven. Past my room weretwo more doors, with another at the end of the hall markedCrew. Through the open door of the room next to mine, I could see Samira helping Gisèle unpack.

My cabin was small but well appointed, everything built into the space: polished wood queen-size bed with white linens, a dresser against the opposite wall with a television above it, and on the other side of the door to the bathroom, a closet.

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