Page 82 of The Engagement Party

“You’re going to be on this island with him and without a loaded gun until we get back.” Cassie gave Dylan’s body one last shove with her foot. “You need to protect yourself.”

Mitch whistled. “Fucking unbelievable.”

“Is it?” Sierra asked.

“Hate me. Call me names. I don’t care.” Cassie’s tone matchedher words. “I’m protecting my family and, whether you appreciate it or not, I’m giving you a chance to save yourselves.”

“Dylan isn’t the only one with an ego problem,” Mitch said.

“He’s going to wake up soon. I’d handle him before he attacks again. Who knows what else he has hidden around here that could kill you.”

Ruthie took a step toward Cassie. “When we get off this island, I’m going to hurt you.”

Cassie leaned in. “Ifyou get off.”

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Alex

He’d lost all control of the situation. Screw the headache and dizziness, the pain in his shoulder and slow shutdown of his muscles. Alex knew he needed to rein Cassie in. He’d tried many times over the years and failed, but he had to succeed this time. She’d become untethered in her need to keep the crumbling façade in place.

He waited until they left their friends, and she had a chance to take a few deep breaths away from the stench of death. “You know we can’t do this. That was tough talk back there, but that’s all it was.”

She picked up the pace as she walked them around the house, scanning the landscape for a small inflatable or whatever Dylan used to get to the island while he parked his larger boat somewhere else. “We don’t have a choice.”

“Of course we do.” When she didn’t stop, he grabbed her arm and yanked her to a halt.

“We will lose everything, including our daughter.” Her wild eyes matched her rapid speech. The practical veneer she wore collapsed as her armor fell. “What were you thinking back there, admitting to being on the bridge when Brendan died?”

“I was there.” It felt oddly comforting to admit it out loud. “Going to Brendan’s place wasmyidea. I’m the one who suggested we threaten him, beat him up if we had to, to get a confession. Me, not Will. He took the fall for me, and Dylan killed him for it.”

The reality of dead friends and wasted lives crushed him, but he pressed on. He deserved the physical pain he was in and the emotional blow to come.

Will’s confession acted like a slamming door in Alex’s mind. No more pretending or bumping along. Cassie operated on fear. She pushed forward to outrun her panic about being dragged backward into the kind of upbringing she viewed as a death sentence. He’d played along for so long, blaming her and avoiding his own responsibility, cowed by the implied threat that she’d protected him and would ruin him if he talked. It had to end.

“If you would have told me that your genius plan to avenge Emily was to attack Brendan, I would have stopped you back then. I let my guard down for a few hours and you almost ruined everything,” she said.

“Ruined your plans, you mean.”

“Your future!” She shook her head. “Without me... do you... We wouldn’t be in this mess more than a decade later if you hadn’t gone off on your own.”

“Well, before marriage I still thought for myself.”

“And look how that worked out.” She zoned in on what she clearly saw as his betrayal. “Your sudden show of honesty back there could destroy our family. So, once again, I have to clean up your mess. You should have kept your mouth shut.”

“Dylan will wake up and kill them.” He pointed it out because he didn’t want to believe that was her twisted plan.

She headed for the dock next to the sunken causeway. “I warned them.”

The breath squeezed out of his aching lungs. No denial. No softening of the possible outcome. She’d taken Dylan’s gun and unloaded Ruthie’s, leaving them all potentially defenseless against Dylan’s rage. It was as if she welcomed the violence to come. “You want Dylan to attack them. You want us to be the sole survivors of this weekend.”

“It’s the only way for us to get through this with minimal damage.”

Whatever line had kept them from becoming someone like Dylan blurred into nonexistence. She’d jumped over it, smashed it. Pretended she didn’t see it. Knowing she could divorce her humanity from the pursuit of her lifetime goals didn’t shake him as much as it should have because he knew. He’d lived it for years.

“You said Will killed Emily.” It was tough to force the words out, but Alex did it, hoping she would rush to explain she’d gotten lost in the moment or something equally benign.

“That is the story we’ll tell, yes. That is the story from now on.”

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