Page 124 of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

“Maybe a lot of us, women especially, go through life pleasing people. First we try to be what our parents want us to be,” said Adele, thinking of the place she was in when she met Miller. Unformed in a lot of ways, ripe for the taking. “Then maybe our boyfriends or husbands. Theneveryone—social media, our kids, the neighbors. It’s not even conscious all the time. It often takes a moment of reckoning before we ask ourselves,Who am I? What am I doing here? What do I want?”

She paused a second, took a breath. She noticed how Harley gave her the space to finish her thoughts. How much of this interview would wind up on the cutting-room floor? Probably a lot.

“I think that’s what happened for Malinka,” she went on. “She is a young woman who has accomplished a lot—for her father, for her fans. I think what happened at Enchantments helped her to see herself in a new way. Helped her look at her past from a different perspective and forge a truer path forward.”

She nodded to indicate that she was done.

“Malinka and Chloe continue to support each other online, and have a message of facing the truth, mental health, honesty, and self-love,” said Harley. “Between the two of them, they have more than three million followers,and they are launching their podcastGrrl Power: Yes I Canin January. The outpouring of financial support for Malinka has allowed her to save her company and the foundation which continues its work of empowering women.”

“That sounded like spon con,” said Adele. Harley just smiled. That, she figured, he’d edit out. She remembered that last moment in Enchantments when Malinka went back for Chloe. Petra Arruda’s men then helped them both to escape before the collapse. “I wish them both well. I hope they both face down their demons while they’re young.”

If Malinka was her daughter, she’d have had advised her to stay away from a woman who’d lied and hurt countless people with her so-called crusade to expose Maverick, who then bailed on everyone when Enchantments started to fall, including Hector Cruz and Gustavo Bello, her supposed partners in trying to bring down Extreme. But Malinka was a grown woman, and like everyone, she’d have to make her own mistakes.

Harley kept his eyes down a moment, then said, “And finally, let’s spend a little time talking about Maverick Dillan and Angeline Alba.”

“So much to say about those two,” she mused.

“Indeed. Maverick Dillan, founder and CEO of Extreme, and Angeline Alba, COO, escaped Enchantments that night. They somehow managed to get to the airport, though roads were washed out. Dillan’s jet was the first to leave Falcão Island once the storm had cleared with just the two of them and the crew on board. What do you think about that?”

Whatdidshe think about that?

“It’s easy to think that they got away with something,” she said. “Supposedly there was money, right? Cash in the back of one of the Range Rovers?”

“That’s the rumor. The jet, corporately owned by Extreme, landed at a private airport outside Toronto. And now Dillan and Alba are off the grid. Gone. No one has heard from them since.Maverick Dillan is wanted for questioning in the murder of Alex Tang. Angeline was caught on film along with Dillan and Gustavo Bello disposing of Tang’s body and is also wanted by police. Thoughts?”

“There’s something I know for sure,” she said after drawing and releasing a breath. “We don’t get away with things. We can run and we can hide. We might escape justice or the law, for a time. Like Miller did. But he said that he was never free, knowing what he’d done, that he was on the run, how badly he’d hurt his family. That his life was a kind of hell of looking over his shoulder, separated from everything he ever loved.”

“We can’t escape the truth of ourselves?”

“Something like that.”

“Online rumors abound,” said Harley. “There have been Mav-and-Angeline sightings all over the world. One or two of the photos are convincing.”

Blake filled her in daily on the latest. It was his mini-obsession.

“Sounds like you have the subject of your next podcast.The Rise and Fall of Maverick Dillan and Extreme.”

“And fall it did. Hector Cruz, the last shareholder still accountable, filed bankruptcy for the company. A pending multimillion-dollar deal with BoxOfficePlus imploded. Extreme is being sued by sponsors who paid for advertising they never received. A group called Moms Against Mav, who demand compensation for their injured children, has filed another suit. No fewer than ten charities say that money raised for them was never received from Extreme. The company that made it seem like their Extreme Games was simply a fun way to do good in the world. But that’s not the whole truth. What would you say to Maverick if you had the chance?”

Adele didn’t have any anger toward Maverick or Extreme. Since her trials on Falcão Island, her followers had more than doubled. She hadn’t won the prize money, but her income from her WeWatch page had tripled. She had a raft of new sponsors—from apparel to camping and climbing gear to organic, vegan protein bars.Her interview with Malinka and Chloe would be the premier episode of their new podcast.Adele Crane: Mom, Tough Be-atch, and Survivor.

Adele had gone to Falcão Island for something she didn’t get. But she walked away with other things she never expected.

She would keep her job at the school because the work meant something to her. In her heart, what she’d wanted as a younger person, before she met Miller, was to help people, as cliché as it sounded. With her job as a school counselor, her blog, and her WeWatch channel, she felt like she was doing that. Finally.

“I’d tell him to come back,” she said. “To face the truth. To make amends. It can be terrifying to face the consequences of our actions and choices. But it’s no easier to spend your life running.”

Harley looked down at his notes.

“The most recent headline is that Hector Cruz has been arrested for the murder of Alex Tang,” said Harley. “Apparently there’s security footage that shows them in an altercation, ending in a fatal fall.”

Adele nodded; she’d heard the news last night. That, at least, was one question answered. They dove into other open items like: Who had been hiding in the hotel leaving items that reminded her of Miller? Who had put that flask in Cody’s tent? The consensus was that it was just one of the Extreme team, doing what they did best: keeping things unstable. It tracked with claims from other challenges. But Adele thought that maybe it was Chloe, though she’d denied it. Adele had become adept at understanding that some questions didn’t have answers. And you just had to live with it.

“There is one other thing I wanted to get your opinion on, Adele.”

“What’s that?”

“There are some people that say the whole thing was a plan cooked up by Maverick, Malinka, and Chloe, something to get more views. All of the drama with Petra Arruda, the radical shaman as she calls herself on Photogram,and her private security team, the abduction of Angeline—that it was all theater. And then things just got out of hand when the hotel collapsed.”

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