45. Jenn

Chapter 45

Jenn

I wrapped my arms around my curled-up legs, shivering at the back of the speedboat. My ridiculously expensive evening gown did nothing to fend off the cold.

The lights of Le Rocher faded into the distance, and I strained my eyes, desperately searching for any sign of Emmett.

But it was too dark.

We were moving too fast.

The boat that had met him on the dock wasn’t moving. Were they even coming after me?

“You’re cold,” Noah’s quiet voice startled me. He was suddenly close, too close.

I recoiled as he wrapped his tuxedo jacket around my shoulders. The warmth was a relief, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel grateful. Not to him.

The engine was too loud for his voice to carry, but still, he leaned in. “I won’t let him hurt you. I promise.”

I wanted to laugh. Or cry. Or both. Instead, I summoned what little courage I had left and tried to sound brave. “Then turn the boat around and let me go.”

Noah’s lips curved into what might have been a reassuring smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I know Emmett and Rav. They’ll deliver the disc.”

The disc. One of two things Emmett and his team had stolen. Stolen? He hadn’t debated with Noah, so it must have been true. How much of the past week was a lie? And how had I fallen for all of it?

“Fucking Reynolds Recoveries,” Enzo shouted into the night.

Noah stood, raising his voice as he walked to the front of the boat. “We’ve got far more dangerous opponents to worry about than Reynolds.”

I pulled the jacket tighter around me, my thoughts a jumbled mess. Maybe Simon was the wise choice after all. At least he never had me help with art forgery or a casino heist.

God, what had I gotten myself into?

Enzo hollered over the engine noise. “I should have put Joseph Reynolds in the ground instead of in prison.”

Joseph Reynolds? Scarlett’s father? What did Enzo have to do with Mr. Reynolds’ imprisonment?

“That was twenty years ago,” Noah said, confusion evident in his tone.

“It was my first job for the boss.” A sickening pride filled Enzo’s voice. “I wanted to kill him, but the boss insisted you never kill a resource you may need later. Instead, all we got was a pain in the ass from his whelps.”

“They’re a distraction,” Noah said, but something on his face made me wonder if he believed it.

“You’re still soft for the skinny one. Can’t blame you. The tits on her! Honestly, her mother’s more my type. I’ve always wanted to fuck an MI6 agent.”

“That wasn’t why I tried recruiting her.” Noah’s jaw tightened. “Scarlett would have been useful for our team.”

Scarlett was going to join Fenix? Evelyn was MI6? Their father was framed? My throat closed up. Scarlett had lied to me about even more than I’d thought possible.

“Useful? You’re smarter than she is. I tell you, we should have used those photos to expose her. Throw her in jail along with her old man.” Enzo turned, and I saw his profile, the control lights casting wicked shadows across his scarred face. “What do they call it in English? Poetic justice?”

“You’re a sadistic fuck.” Noah shook his head.

They’re distracted. Neither of them is looking at you.

The engine was loud enough they might not hear the splash if I jumped. We were still hundreds of feet from the yacht, so its lights wouldn’t give me away. But what then? Would Enzo circle around and pluck me out of the water? Shoot me?

And even if he abandoned me, what would I do? I couldn’t swim all the way back to shore, especially not in the dress. It would probably pull me down like an anchor.

Enzo said something to Noah, but it was too quiet. The two men argued, and Noah grew agitated, waving his hands and rolling his neck like he was scanning the heavens.

This might be your only chance to escape. You can do this.

Slowly, I shifted my weight, preparing to jump. I glanced at the two men, then at the dark water we sped through. I needed to be quiet, stealthy—they were only ten feet away. More importantly, I had to jump far enough and at the right angle to avoid the motor.

Taking a deep breath, I gripped the bench, my arms trembling. I pushed up to standing and?—

I was hauled back down to the bench. Noah wrapped his jacket tightly around me, pinning me to the seat. His voice was almost apologetic as he said, “Don’t make him more angry than he already is.”

I swallowed a scream. No one would hear me, anyway. “Stop pretending to be my friend.”

Noah’s eyes met mine, a flicker of hurt crossing his face. “I’m not pretending.”

I looked back toward the shore, searching for any sign of rescue. There was movement and lights at the port, but nothing below the museum. Emmett was coming for me, wasn’t he?

What if he wasn’t? What if that was one more thing I’d misjudged about him? “What happens if they don’t bring you what you want?”

“They will,” Noah replied with unwavering confidence.

If only I could have borrowed some of his certainty. Why was he so sure of Emmett when I wasn’t? I was the one who’d slept in his arms, made love to him, told him how much I wanted him. I was the one who’d been in love with that liar since the tenth grade. “Why do you want it so badly, anyway?”

“He genuinely didn’t explain things to you, did he?” Noah sighed as he sat next to me. “I work for a man with… vision.” His gaze drifted to the stars, an unsettling smile playing on his lips. “The disc is part of a set of ancient artifacts that, when combined, will change the world.”

“Into what? Billions of crazy kidnappers?”

Noah extended his arm along the back of the bench and stretched out his legs, as if we were old friends catching up. “A cure to disease.”

“Which disease?”

He swept a hand across the sky, his voice filled with awe. “All of them. Everything.”

I followed his gaze upward, searching the constellations as if they held some answer. Was ‘all of them’ supposed to include a cure for whatever insanity had overtaken Noah?

“I tried telling Scarlett about this,” Noah said, his voice softer now. “But my teammates didn’t treat her well.”

My stomach lurched at the implication. If they didn’t treat his former fiancée well, what did that mean for me?

Noah rolled his head toward me and said, as if reading my thoughts, “No one hurt her.”

My imagination churned with nightmares of Emmett, beaten after his kidnapping. How bad had it been that he still had nightmares? Still slept with a gun under his pillow?

Oh, god. If they didn’t bring the disc, would Noah, Enzo, and whoever was aboard the yacht hurt me to get it? Spots crowded my vision. Stop breathing so hard .

“And no one’s going to hurt you,” Noah added quickly. “I’m sure Scarlett was coordinating the op from HQ.”

“HQ?” I echoed, swallowing the bile from my throat.

“The office in Halifax. I’m certain she’s not in Monaco. Which means she was on the line and no doubt told the team your safety comes first.”

I blinked, trying to process everything. “She’s in charge?”

“When do you remember her not being in charge?”

The question hung in the air, unanswered, as the boat slowed and Enzo’s voice cut through the night. “Open the garage door.”

Ahead of us, the back of the yacht lifted, creating a space large enough to swallow our small boat whole. Terror screamed through my limbs, leaving me paralyzed. Once we were inside, I’d be trapped in the middle of this shitty situation with no way out.

“How does this work?” I asked, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to keep it steady. “They sail up to the yacht, toss over the disc, and you… what? Throw me overboard?”

“We’ll be more humane than that.” Noah’s lips quirked into a humorless smile. “The last thing we want is a firefight. We only want the disc.”

“And what do you do when you get it?” I pressed, desperate for any information to help me understand—or escape—this nightmare.

“Sail away, like we’d planned to all along.” Noah waved a hand dismissively. “All the Reynolds team accomplished was slowing us down by an hour.”

I clenched my back teeth to stop them from chattering as our boat glided into its designated spot. My eyes darted around, taking in two armed men patrolling the upper deck with scary-looking rifles. This was real. This was happening.

“Where are you going?” I asked, hating how small my voice sounded.

Noah stood, tsking softly as the boat settled into place. He held out a hand to help me up, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. “We’re going to visit our boss. And as pleasant as it was to see you again after all this time, I’m not divulging where he is.”

I remained frozen in place, my body refusing to cooperate.

Noah leaned closer, his voice dropping to a whisper that shot ice through my veins. “Don’t make me pick you up again.”

Bile rose in my throat again, but I managed a weak nod and forced myself to stand on shaky legs. As Noah helped me from the small boat onto the platform, a familiar voice cut through the air.

“This has been a disaster,” Massimo drawled, as though a disaster were no more than an inconvenience.

“Your son stopped the painting auction,” Noah informed him, while not letting go of my arm.

Massimo muttered something in Italian, his face contorting into anger. His gaze locked onto me, and I felt myself shrink under its intensity. “That was your doing, was it not? You’ve poisoned my son.”

“Um… he…” I was going to be hurt while I was here, wasn’t I? He’d take something out on me.

There was a sharp crack.

Blinding pain.

Bright lights seared my eyeballs.

I clutched the spot where Enzo had backhanded me.

Noah jerked my arm, spinning me behind himself so he stood between me and Enzo. “Don’t touch her!”

“What are you going to do?” Enzo raised his chin, advancing on Noah. “Find another fire extinguisher?”

“So you did know it was me,” Noah said, his tone cocky despite the tension sucking the oxygen out of the air. “Well, let me be clear—you need to get some fucking control. Martine did us a favor by letting us in. How do you think she’ll react to you killing her guards?”

Enzo leaned in, his gravelly voice full of menace. “I should have thrown you and the skinny one into the pit in Venice.”

“Your impulsiveness is going to ruin everything.” Noah didn’t back down, countering Enzo’s intensity with confidence. “How many pieces of the phoenix would you have without me? So unless you’ve got something more impressive than framing an innocent man twenty years ago, shut up and do your fucking job.”

I cowered behind Noah. How was I relying on this man who, only a day ago, I thought was dead? Who’d thrown me over his shoulder and taken me—by force—out of the Casino Rocher?

Such shitty irony.

At least Simon never hit me. But he had lied to me.

Tears blurred my vision. Again!

Everyone lied to me. Was I that gullible? That stupid?

You should have listened to your father.

“Come with me,” Noah said, guiding me from the garage onto the boat’s back deck. He kept himself between Enzo and me, a human shield I never thought I’d be grateful for.

As we stepped out into the night air, I squinted—sending a fresh wave of pain across my cheek—into the darkness, my eyes drawn to the museum in the distance.

Please, Emmett, please.

But then…

Was that…

Movement? Lights? Yes! Lights flickered at the base of the Rocher, just below the museum.

Noah followed my gaze, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Ahh! They’re on their way.”

They were coming for me.

But what would Enzo—or the other men with the guns—do when they got here?