The dead man’s knife came into view.
Evie thought about the size of the boat they were on, and others who may be on board. So as she moved into a standing position, she grabbed the sharp weapon at the last minute, carefully slipping it between her waistband and her lower belly. With the hem of her shirt concealing it from plain sight, Evie got herself back onto her feet and started running straight for her family’s friend.
She didn’t bother asking Landy how he’d found her. All Evie cared about was that he was here, and he’d just saved her when she’d been seconds away from?—
“I’m going to need you to stop right there.” Landy lifted the gun still clutched in his hand, a look of resignation falling over the man’s face.
She stumbled to a stop in the middle of the narrow hallway, nearly tripping over herself in the process. “Landy, what are you…It’s me, Landy! It’s Evie! Now, put down the gun, and let’s get the hell out of here!”
“I’m sorry.” He shook his head with a nervous lick of his lips. “It wasn’t…it wasn’t supposed to end up this way. You were never supposed to get hurt.”
She was never supposed to get…
“Landy, what are you talking about? You know what? It doesn’t even matter. Just put the gun away, and you and I can just walk away from whatever all this is.”
“We can’t.” He stared back at her, his voice wooden and free of emotion. “It’s too late for that now.”
“No, it’s not! Whatever this is…whatever you’re involved with…I can help you! My dad and I can?—”
“You and I both know Phillip’s not your father,” he revealed surprising knowledge of her secret. “I just wish I’d known sooner.”
There were so many thoughts swirling through her overwhelmed mind, Evie was having a hard time trying toremain focused on her top priority, which was getting the hell off this yacht.
“You’re right,” she acknowledged what the man had just said. “Phillip’s not my real dad, but he is your best friend. So whatever trouble you’re in, I know he’ll do whatever he can to help you.”
“He can’t help me!”Landy shouted, becoming more agitated than Evie had ever seen him.
With the gun held tightly in his hand, the man she’d known nearly her entire life began pacing the short distance between the hallway’s long, narrow walls. She watched, trying to follow his ramblings as he began muttering about owed money and deals with what she gathered were some very unsavory characters.
“No one can help.” He gave several jerky shakes of his head. “Not anymore.”
“Landy—”
“You weren’t supposed to get hurt. You were never supposed to get hurt! And those guys in that cave…they weren’t really going to kill you and those girls. They were just trying to scare you, so you’d get Phillip to?—”
“What did you just say?”
Evie’s question was little more than a whisper, because she was too stunned in that moment to muster anything more. She had to have heard the man wrong. Landy was like an uncle to her.
No way was he involved in what happened to her and her students in Afghanistan. After all, he was her father’s oldest and most trusted friend.
Surely, he wasn’t saying what it sounded like he was…
“I’m sorry.” He stared back at her, a broken reflection of the man she used to know and finally confessed his full truth. “I got into trouble. Financial trouble. So I did what everyone in my circle does.”
“You borrowed the money you needed.”
Landy nodded. “Eight million dollars.”
“Landy…”
“I don’t need your pity, Evelynn,” he spat. “I didn’t wantanyone’sfucking pity. That’s why I went to the men I did to get what I needed. I couldn’t let anyone in our world know I’d messed up the way I had.”
“Did my…” She cleared the near-miss from her throat. “Did Phillip know?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I made sure to keep him out of it.”
“Except the part where you tried extorting ten million dollars by way of terrorists demanding a ransom, though…right?”