Page 39 of Nothing to Do

Was it?

Alessia and her friends may not be the most concise, but justice weighed their side. Zane hadn’t caused the upset and he had tried to limit it. Like she’d said, when she got scared, she got mad. If her sister wasn’t leaving the island, she wouldn’t either. Now all she had to do was find Zane.

FIFTEEN

HE WASN’T AT the corporate suite.

After breakfast and a swim to clear her head, she’d said goodbye to Alessia and her friends at the spa. Honi was outside, waiting, and drove her to the corporate suite at her request. Except it was abandoned.

Maybe Zane didn’t want to come across her. She couldn’t object if that was the case. After all, wasn’t that the same damn reason she’d avoided the building the previous day? He must’ve taken what she said to heart. Or it pissed him off and he never wanted to see her face again.

If he didn’t stay at the resort, which he wouldn’t, he must have his own house on the island. Stood to reason, right? Why buy an island and build a resort only to deny yourself the opportunity to enjoy it in peace?

With a sort of dread circling in her belly, she went back to Honi and the cart.

“Will you take me to the main house, please?” she asked.

Honi did a double take, but a gradual smile curled his lips. “The main house?”

“Yes, I won’t stay… I know it’s probably out of bounds for guests.” Maybe she could leave a message somewhere. “I would never invade his—”

“No,” Honi said and got them going. “You don’t have to explain, Miss Florin.”

Because he could see right through her or he’d been given special instructions on what to do if she made extravagant requests? Maybe he’d drive her right off the end of theisland. She’d always considered Honi a luxury, a resort-provided kindness who ensured she got to the right place in a safe and timely manner.

Now she wondered if he wasn’t some kind of spy, or maybe a guard with instructions to take her down if the need arose.

They didn’t drive back toward the hotel, which was something. Maybe. They passed the airstrip and the employee block, as well as the private beach she and Zane spent their evenings on. The road kept on going and going, past a fenced area and a gate. Without signs, she didn’t know what either were protecting. Foliage from each side of the road thickened as they drove up a gradient. Not much, just enough that it felt different from the other end of the island.

In the final bend, the foliage thinned and right in front of them were two grand wood paneled gates flanked by endless natural stone walls. Honi stopped, but it took her a second to see the intercom. Actually, it took him nodding at it for her to figure out she needed to press the button. A single bleep was the response and the button lit up.

Did security have a hut somewhere? She couldn’t see it. Yeah, it was kind of intimidating. No wonder Zane hadn’t brought her there on their dates, she had so many questions. Though, apparently, her subconscious just answered its own questions without bothering to request them from her lips. She reasoned away this and that because, come on, who believed they were going to work with a billionaire every day?

“Yeah?” a female voice yapped all of a sudden. “Forget your keys? What’s the password? Hmm… think maybe the power’s going to my head.”

“Uh…” What was she to…? A female. Zane’s female? “I’m looking for, uh… Zane, Mr. Dyce.”

A pause. “Looking for him for what?”

Reasonable question, though she hadn’t expected to answer it to his staff, or with Honi right beside her.

“I just need to tell him something and there are no phones here. Cellphones, I mean.” There was obviously an internal system, though it wasn’t like she had his number. “Could you just tell him Thea dropped by and—”

Another beep. No more words, just a beep and the light disappeared. Okay, great, so much for leaving a message.

She didn’t expect a gap to form between the gates or for it to continue widening. Even watching it took a second to… Oh, shit, the gates were opening, for her, for… Honi drove through when there was just enough space like they were in some kind of hurry. No. No hurry. Uh… she couldn’t straighten out her thoughts. A message, she was supposed to leave a message, or see him, not see this… woman. A woman in his house, God, was she in an episode of Cheaters?

The smooth golden stone beneath the wheels wound around trees and lush greenery. When it opened out, the house was… wow… Right at the tip of the island, she couldn’t see beyond the building, but with the ocean on three sides, she guessed the view would be incredible.

When Honi stopped the cart, she swallowed. Her driver wasn’t going in, no… coward. Okay, so in fairness, he never joined her in the corporate suite, why should that change now? Because safety existed with him, didn’t he get that? Whatever lay ahead was… unknown. And they were all alone, on a private island… where a body may never be found.

“Your timing couldn’t be better!” A woman strolled from the open doorway into the covered portico. “Do you like Sex on the Beach?”

“Uh… excuse me?”

The woman raised a pitcher. “We have a lot to talk about, beautiful.”

Honi smiled and nudged her on. No going back now. She dipped one foot onto the pathway and then the other, slithering, somewhat begrudgingly, from the seat onto her feet.

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