Page 48 of The Weekend Getaway

“We still have to get rid of Phil,” Alex said.

Jolted from her musings, Mia stared at him. “What?”

“I don’t like it either,” Alex said, returning to the bed. “But we don’t have a choice.”

“But … you agreed that if Phil has an accident?—”

“He’s not going to have an accident,” Alex said, sitting next to her.

Mia shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“Phil is going to have to leave the island,” Alex said.

“Why?” Mia asked, staring at him, focused on his darkening pupils, the evidence of a plan, a new scheme churning in his mind. Alex was always hatching a scam to pull, and Mia hated his ideas. She despised his diabolical plotting. It scared her, what he was capable of. And yet, secretly, it thrilled her, as well, how calculating and cunning he could be.

“He was called away on urgent business,” Alex said. “That’s what you’ll tell everyone.”

“Me?” Mia’s heart dropped. She didn’t want to be involved in the treachery. She was no good at deception.

“They probably won’t believe you at first,” Alex warned. “You’ll have to be persuasive. You’ll have to be just as convincing as you were with Sarah all those years ago.”

She felt the same way she had fifteen years ago—weak and like she might pass out. “I don’t know about this. Maybe?—”

“We have to work together if this is going to work.” Alex slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. “Ineed your help. I need to know that I can count on you because this is for our future. We have to make sure that Phil doesn’t ruin our lives. We can’t let him destroy us.”

Mia leaned into him. “What do you need me to do?”

“Tell the others I took Phil to the mainland in the speedboat and I’ll return tomorrow afternoon.”

“And what are you going to do?”

Alex exhaled. “Mia?—”

“I want to know,” she’d told him. “I need to know. We’re in this together, right?”

He’d told her, and the horrific audacity of his idea terrified her, but it aroused her, as well, and they’d made love. Alex was relentless and savage, but Mia enjoyed his assault.

Mia stared at Alex’s phone. Confusion and worry snaked through her. Alex had taken his phone with him when he’d left the room last night, right? It bothered Mia that she didn’t know. Didn’t remember. Biting her lip, she focused on Alex’s phone again. Why would Alex leave his phone beneath the bed table?

Fighting panic, Mia cautioned herself not to jump to conclusions. If Alex had left his phone, then he’d done so for a good reason. Maybe he didn’t want the phone acting as an unofficial tracking device. Or maybe … maybe … she didn’t know. But she wasn’t going to worry. If Alex didn’t have his phone, then obviously, he didn’t need it.

CHAPTER 47

MIA

Sarah was sobbing.

Standing just outside the entryway into the kitchen, Mia frowned as Jason consoled Sarah, one arm wrapped around her heaving shoulders as she cried, shaking her head, mumbling incoherently. Confused, Mia glanced at Chris, shuffling around the island, staring at his cell phone, cursing under his breath.

Questions rushed to Mia’s mind but were soon overtaken by memories.

The night she’d been forced to console Sarah. Forced to convince her not to go to the cops after Phil Richart raped her.

“What do you mean?” Sarah had asked Mia, after she’d told Sarah she should make Phil pay for what he’d done to her, emphasizing the word pay, hoping Sarah would understand.

Mia had sighed, momentarily hating Alex for putting her in the position of having to persuade Sarah to go along with his plan. A plan Mia didn’t necessarily agree with. A plan that would allow Sarah access to something she didn’t deserve. Richart money. And for what? Because Phil had raped her?

Mia wasn’t even sure that was true.

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