Chapter 5

I said yes.

If I was going to build a life with Cole, I owed Leo something. Closure, at least.

I asked Cole for a large sum of money, guilt eating at me the whole time, and had his people wire it through an untraceable, encrypted line into the account Leo always used.

That was how we'd stayed in touch for years. He never had a fixed address, always moving for the job. Money and the occasional message, whenever he had time to check.

A few days after I sent it, I remembered the necklace around my neck.

Before Leo joined the crew, he'd had two necklaces made. One with a photo of me as a kid, one with a photo of him. He kept his. I kept the one with his picture inside.

He'd never once asked for it back. Maybe it didn't mean much to him anymore. And the money I'd sent would set him up for life. Call it even.

I made up my mind.

Late that night, I slipped past the crew patrolling the deck and found a quiet corner. I meant to throw the necklace into the sea.

The second I let go, Rio stepped out of the shadows like he'd been waiting there, hand already on his gun.

“What are you doing out here?”

He startled me so bad my hand jerked. The necklace hit the railing and snapped in two.

I was about to tear into him.

Then I saw his face.

All the color drained out of it. I'd never seen him look like that. Not even when he pulled a gun on someone.

His mind seemed to just stop working. He dropped to his knees and picked up the broken pieces with shaking hands.

I had no idea what was happening.

He looked up at me, completely undone.

“Where did you get this?”