Page 47 of The Weekend Getaway

“No,” Jason said. “That’s not what we need to do.”

Chris frowned. “Why not? We need to find Alex. If someone killed him?—”

“If someone killed Alex, then we need to alert the authorities,” Jason said. “And then we need to get the hell off this island.”

CHAPTER 46

MIA

Mia reached for Alex’s phone.

She pressed a button to stop it from ringing, then sat on the bed. Fighting apprehension, her thoughts disorganized, she took a deep breath. Why was Alex’s phone under the bed table? Had he accidentally left it? Or had he purposely not taken it when he’d left the room last night, following their conversation?

“You need to go talk to him,” Mia had urged. “Tonight. Don’t wait.”

Alex scowled at her. “And say what?”

“Tell him you know who sent those notes,” Mia said. “Tell him … that it was me.”

Frowning, Alex stared at her. “You sent Phil those notes?”

Mia rolled her eyes. “Of course not. But Phil doesn’t need to know that. All he needs to know is that your wayward wifeis feeling guilty and decided to make things right by telling him that we blackmailed his father.”

Alex scratched his chin. “And how does that solve our problem?”

“Well, for one, Phil will direct all his anger and ire toward me,” Mia said. “He won’t bother you or try to destroy the firm.”

“I still think he’ll go after all of us,” Alex had said. “We all benefitted from scamming his dad.”

“Okay, fine,” Mia said. “You still have proof of what he did. So, it’s mutually assured destruction.”

“No, it’s not,” Alex said. “Sure, Phil may lose some of his upper-crust friends and maybe he’ll get kicked out of the country club, but I doubt it. These rich bastards stick together. They protect each other. And they overlook each other’s faults and flaws. The proof means shit because it won’t send Phil to jail. Fifteen years have passed. It’s too late for Sarah to press charges. Or bring a civil suit against him.”

Mia fought confusion, tried to quell her panic. “But, I don’t understand … the whole reason for inviting Phil to the getaway was to blackmail him with the proof?—”

“It was a stupid idea,” Alex said, standing, walking toward the center of the room. “I should have known it wouldn’t work. Jason was right …”

“Jason?”

“He told me not to do it,” Alex said. “Said it wouldn’t turn out like I hoped.”

“And what bright idea did he come up with?” Mia wanted to know.

Alex chuckled as he strode toward the wardrobe. “A loan?”

“A loan?” Mia scoffed. “The firm has already overextended itself with the bank?—”

“A loan from Phil,” said Alex. “I shot that idea down because …”

“Because?”

Sighing, Alex said, “I’m not sure we could pay him back. If we blackmailed Phil, we wouldn’t have to.”

“So now what?” Mia asked, staring at Alex, entranced by how handsome he was.

She wished they were on a second honeymoon, that they had the villa, the whole island, to themselves, and after spending the day making love every place they possibly could, they’d retired to their bedroom to devour each other again. And she would let him be rough with her, even though sometimes his brutality scared her. In her fantasy, there were no problems with the firm, no money issues, no looming bankruptcy, no greedy clients demanding money they wouldn’t have gotten if not for her husband, so why shouldn’t he have the lion’s share of it. Why should those traitorous, ungrateful clients get one dime? Alex was the one who’d done all the work, and he deserved the entire settlement.

Mia didn’t care that he’d cheated the firm’s clients out of millions of dollars. Wrongful death settlements never benefited the person who’d suffered most—the person who’d died. Beneficiaries who sought to monetize their loved ones' passing were vile and inhumane. They deserved nothing. Mia hated every one of them who’d gone to the police and thestate board to file claims against Alex. But in her fantasy, there were no greedy beneficiaries. In her fantasy, there was only?—

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