Page 30 of Submit

Casper comes along side me and gives me the signal to follow him.

I’m both excited and nervous when he pulls up to a deserted beach in a small alcove fifteen minutes later and drops off his board, landing gracefully in the water. I follow suit, my dismount slightly less sophisticated and I lug my kite out of the water, placing it next to his on the empty, secluded beach. The back of the area has thick shrubs roughly ten to twelve feet high all across it creating a natural wall. They look like they carry thorns so I doubt anyone’s going to try and carve a path through them which means we’re cut off from the rest of the island.

“This beach is only accessible by water so it’s rare that anyone is on it because the kite school doesn’t bring students down this far,” he explains.

“Except you,” I correct.

“Except me. Just this once,” he clarifies and another rush of heat fills my core.

Knowing our time is limited yet again – what would it be like to have enough time to savor this man slowly, I wonder - I cut to the chase. “Why did you tell me to be careful Monday night? What did you mean? And how do you know Will?”

He answers with a question of his own. “How well doyouknow Willem?”

“Fairly well. We’ve been together two and a half years and have lived together most of that time. Although, I’ll admit it feels more recently like I don’t know him as well as I once did.”

“And his boss? How well do you know Marcel?”

“I don’t know him at all, actually. He seems kind of slimy. I tried to get to know him and his wife when we first moved here, but she’s too timid to speak much around him and even when he’s out of earshot, she doesn’t say much.”

“That’s because he’s a tyrant. Marcel has been causing trouble in Aruba for years trying to get this wind farm off the ground. When he finally got yourfiancé’s,” he spits the word once again, his disdain for Will clear, “parents’ blessing to push the project forward down here, he went off the rails trying to get the governor on board.”

Confusion slams into me like a cruise ship hitting a dock with no reverse thruster. “Will’s parents? What do they have to do with anything?” I’ve never really thought it was strange that I’ve never met them and based on Will’s stories, I can paint a decent picture: Uppity, refined, probably stellar at small talk and making people feel inadequate. Once I had that picture painted, meeting them wasn’t high on my priority list.

“You really don’t know.” He says this slowly like I just confirmed all of his suspicions. He takes a deep breath before continuing. “Marcus and Vivienne Van den Tweel own V&V Industries. Your fiancé’s down here because they’re priming him to take over the company and this was the project to prove his value to the board.”

I feel my eyes bug out of my head. “What thehell?Willem never told me his parentsown the companyfor Christ’s sake! All this time, he’s led me to believe he chose to work for them because of their Dutch roots.” I’m pacing back and forth in the sand, hands on my hips. So angry that tears are threatening to spill onto my cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Libby. I started connecting the dots and figured he’d kept you in the dark.

Casper takes a seat on the beach with his knees bent, feet apart, flat in the sand. His elbows draped across his knees, a total picture of relaxation, watching me pace back and forth as he drops this bomb in my lap.

“Why wouldn’t he tell me?” I ask, unable to think of a good reason to keep something this big from me.

“Maybe he thinks you’d stay with him for the money and he’s been feeling you out? He’s worth billions whether he completes this job or not.”

Billions?The fuck?

I scoff, “Feeling me out fortwo and a half years?Besides, if he thinks I’d stay with him for money, then he doesn’t know me at all. I never wanted the money. The only reason I haven’t started working yet was because I hadn’t found the right job and because his salary bought me time.” I’m trying to process so many things right now but I still have a burning question. “None of this explains howyouknow all of this though.”

He tries to evade the question and says, “I’m in security. It’s my job to know everything about everyone.”

I know that’s not the whole answer so I push for more. “I know you don’t owe me anything and you’ve already told me more than anyone else, but I’m tired of being taken for a fool. What’s the real reason, Casper?” His tongue rolls over his bottom lip slowly as he contemplates how orifto tell me anything. It’s distracting as hell, but I need information so I snap my eyes back up to his and do what I said I’d never do again.

I beg a man.

“Please. This is my life we’re talking about. I uprooted the whole thing to move to a foreign country and I’m supposedly getting married to a man that I apparently know nothing about.Please,tell me the truth.”

“I can’t tell you everything, but there’s a big oil family in Venezuela. They’re as dirty as the Van den Tweels…dirtier actually. They’ve been pushing the governor to allow off-shore drilling at the same time the Van den Tweel’s have been pushing for the wind farm. The people of Aruba want neither so the governor has held out. Now, it seems the Venezuelans and the Dutch are teaming up together to overthrow the governor and have him replaced by someone who will allow both companies to pillage this island and the others in the chain as well.”

As I listen to this unbelievable story unfold, I stop pacing and sit in the sand right in front of Casper. “Ohmigod. Is the governor in danger? And Beatrice?”

“Yes,” he answers solemnly. “We’ve thwarted one assassination attempt already but they’ll keep coming. The Venezuelans are ruthless.” A shadow falls over his face as he says this. The stony look on his face makes a bell go off in my head.

“You’re Venezuelan, aren’t you?” I ask, finally recognizing his accent. Does he feel responsible in some way because of that?

“I am.” He pauses and narrows his eyes like he is warring with himself over whether to continue. Finally, he finishes his statement, raking a hand down his face – which I’ve noticed he does when he’s stressed. “And my last name is Hielo.”

Twelve

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