CHAPTER 83 GIGI

Chapter 83

GIGI

I know you're out there." Gigi had gone back to where she'd found the bag. No matter how many times she said the words, calling them out to the ocean, there was no reply.

"I know you can hear me. I know you're there." Time was ticking down. Her ride off the island left at noon. "I'm going to tell Grayson you're on Hawthorne Island," she warned, raising her voice. "Because if you're here, it's probably because Eve sent you, right?"

Gigi didn't even really know who Eve was , other than that she was young and rich and had a twisted connection to the Hawthorne family. Grayson had warned Gigi to stay away from her, too.

"If Eve sent you here, that can't be good, right? And I have a moral obligation to say something! I don't know why I haven't already. It's not like I'm even any good at keeping secrets. I hate secrets." Gigi swallowed. "I hate this."

She hadn't let herself think those words even once in the past seventeen months.

"And you!" Gigi added loudly. "I hate you very much, just for good measure." She reached into her pocket and withdrew the remains of the necklace. All of it but the bug. She launched it into the ocean.

"The bug I'll give to Xander," she warned.

No response. The wind whipped at Gigi's hair. She started to turn—and a hand clamped over her mouth from behind.

The hand was holding a rag. The rag smelled sweet— sickly sweet, terribly sweet . Gigi fought, but his other arm immobilized her.

"Easy there, sunshine."