Page 41 of Footprints in the Sand
“Right? I get weird vibes from her,” Valerie said. “I’m sorry we invited her.”
Nico’s eyes glinted. “Don’t be so cruel to your countrymen. Maybe she knows how to hang out. You don’t know.”
Alyssa shrugged. “Come on, Nico. Give us the goods.”
“Give me the cash.” Nico wore a sinister smile.
Eva’s heart pounded in her throat. All she wanted in the world was to get out of there, to run down the road and disappear in the darkness. She wondered if she could make her way through the house and out another door, a door that didn’t force her through that gate.
The last thing she wanted to do was wait around and see what happened next.
But now, as she waited in the shadows, she stewed in resentment, for herself and her naivety. Also for Nico and his funny attitude and his easy way of manipulation. He’d wanted her to believe that he was falling in love with her, and maybe because of loneliness, she’d let herself kiss him. She’d cut it off after that, thankfully. But it still felt terrible, knowing she’d spent a romantic day with a drug dealer—a drug dealer who did “a little of this, a little of that” around Paros and Naxos.
For the first time in a while, Eva felt a wave of homesickness.
Then again, she knew that things like this happened on Martha’s Vineyard, too. Nowhere was safe from people like Nico.
And it’s not like Finn was in the right when he stole from me, she remembered.
When the American girls and Nico started to do the drugs he’d brought, Eva realized she needed to get out of there. On shaking legs, she explored the massive villa, pointing herself in the direction of the road. After ten minutes or more, she finally discovered a door that seemed to lead outside and dropped into the darkness. There, she listened as Nico and the three Americans cackled and talked too fast, apparently having forgotten all about her.
But Eva didn’t want to take any chances. Down the road, she fled until she reached a small gas station, where she bought a bottle of water and called a cab to take her back to the hotel. She’d narrowly escaped something terrible.
Chapter Nineteen
Martha’s Vineyard - July 2025
Thirty seconds after Dimitra opened the door for Finn, he burst into tears. He looked like a sobbing green bean. Dimitra and Harry ushered him inside and set him up at the kitchen table—the same kitchen table where he’d probably eaten a thousand breakfasts with his ex-girlfriend Eva. Dimitra leaned against the counter with her arms crossed over her chest. Harry stood beside her, his hand on her shoulder. Eventually, Dimitra found a beer in the fridge and put it on the table in front of Finn, hoping that would calm him down. He cracked it open, sipped it, and sobbed again.
“Son, you’re going to have to tell us what’s going on,” Harry said finally, sitting across from Finn and crossing his hands on the table.
Dimitra thought,It’s clear that Harry is a good man, a good father.
She felt a spike of sorrow, knowing that he was tied to so many things back in South Carolina. But she’d never wanted more from him than what he’d given. Not really.
Or did she?
Finn hiccuped and took another sip of beer. “I told you. Eva is in trouble, and I don’t know what to do. None of her family members will talk to me, and Eva won’t answer the phone or respond to my texts. It’s looking dire. I need to know she’s all right.”
Dimitra spoke quietly. “I talked to her very recently. She seemed okay to me.”
In fact, she’d seemed really happy, but Dimitra didn’t want to add insult to injury for this poor idiot, this poor man who’d done something so horrendous to his ex-girlfriend that she’d wanted to leave the country.
“Why do you think she’s in trouble?” Harry asked.
Finn rubbed his cheeks nervously. “It’s complicated to say.”
“Can you give it a try, man?” Harry urged. “It’s just that we can’t help you unless we know what’s going on. And we want to help you. Dimitra and I will try.”
Finn took a breath. Again, Dimitra couldn’t believe how simple it seemed to Harry to calm this young man down. It made her think of Kostos, who so often had made frightening situations so much worse because he’d made Dimitra feel foolish for her fears.
“I guess you know why she left me?” Finn began.
Harry squinted. “I’m sort of new to this story, Finn. Can you help me out?”
Finn winced. “I had heard about these investments. They seemed really safe, you know? I figured I could surprise her and grow our nest egg by, like, twenty times the size. I imagined us retiring by forty-five and traveling or whatever. We wanted to have kids, and you know, I thought it would make everythingeasier. But I got bad information about the investments. I lost close to everything.”
Dimitra filled her lungs. She wasn’t even sure Meghan knew the extent of what he’d done. Maybe Eva had been too embarrassed to share everything.
