Page 72 of Isle of Beauty

My mind simmers with theories but I’m dehydrated and hungry. We’ve been chasing ghosts for weeks and my body is still healing. I hate not being able to be at full force and bring the reckoning deserved.

I grab the glass of water on the counter and down it while I text Giulia to do a deeper search on Ana Pierce.

On my way to the bathroom, I hit the threshold of my door with my shoulder. When I sit down to pee, my vision starts to blur and I have to lean against the wall to support myself and get back up. My eyelids feel heavy and keep closing every half second, a headache forming and making me want to throw up. I fall to my hands and knees. It’s harder to keep my eyes closed.

Fuck.

The water…

I never drink anything that I haven’t broken the seal of myself.

I fight against whatever poison is filling my veins but it’s useless. I hear a pair of footsteps entering the room before I lose total consciousness and my last thought is that complacency really is a bitch.

TWENTY-NINE

PIERCE

WHO THE FUCK IS DIMITRI BARYCHEV?

First Lana, and now Julian.

The ones I love are being targeted and I can’t help but only react to it. Despite our constant vigilance, our surveillance and research, the trail ends in the UK without a trace. From my training these past few weeks, I gathered that while most families aren’t happy that the Moretti-Bartoli aren’t trading wider, they don’t have outright enemies and they never made contact with the reigning families up North. My mother is the only suspect and I refuse to believe she’d put my brother in a damn coma.

Pain lances behind my eyes as I let anger consume my entire body and a thirst for retribution fill my waking dreams.

Staying in this room that smells of disinfectant and the threat of death is fucking with my head. Lana left an hour ago and Giulia just went down to the police station to read their full report but I’m pretty sure that lead will also be cold by the time she gets there.

I’m left with Igor, my father and Bea. My father’s skin looks ashen and his shoulders have slumped forward with the weight of his pain.

I can relate.

I come to stand by his side, my hand on his shoulder. “Coffee?”

He just nods but doesn’t answer. He looks like a fragile old man and the sight tears at my chest. I rub at it mindlessly while I go to the coffee machine and get my father what he needs.

Bea joins me. “How are you feeling?”

“I should be the one asking you that. Your son’s gravely injured and your husband’s a ghost.”

“They’re both strong and unfortunately, it’s not the first time one of the men I love is on a hospital bed, almost dying. I wouldn’t say it gets easier but I hold on to the faith that Jules will wake up and come back to us.”

She looks at her son through the window with eyes shining with so much love it hurts to witness. I feel like an intruder. I don’t ask her about her previous experiences. It might be about my father and I’m not ready to learn how many times he escaped death, possibly because of the hits my mother put on him.

“When you came back to Kalliste, Alessio was so overjoyed. I’ve never seen him like this.” She turns to look at me and her eyes burn with a need to grant pain and death to those who threatened her family. I’ve seen it so many times in Lana’s eyes, even Giulia’s. “You’re going to find whoever did this, you hear me?”

“Yes Bea, I will.”

“I mean now. There’s nothing you can do for Julian here. What he needs is for you to push through and find the people responsible. And end them. They’ve threatened us enough.”

She’s giving me an order but all I feel is pride as I take in her misty eyes and trembling hands.

I leave the hospital in a rush and get to the airport. One thing we haven’t considered is that our enemy is using people who aren’t local, especially after we found Mr. Berg and ended his life for targeting us.

I introduce myself with the Bartoli name and miraculously, it opens all the doors I need. The island is a prime spot for tourism and there are too many people who come and go but I take the passengers lists anyway, as far back as a month ago. I’ll need to cross references all the names with my internal systems and find people with criminal records.

Next, I demand to be sent all camera feeds live directly on my phone and hook them to Pierce Security Company face recognition program.

By the time I’m done, it’s well past morning. While both programs run, I decide to get back to the hospital and check on Julian. Lana and Igor should be there and we can regroup. Hopefully, Giulia had some luck.

---