Page 104 of Blue in the Deep Blue Sea

My ankle throbbed with every step, and I tried not to slow him down as we made our way towards the lighthouse. We seemed to be alone outside, but as we drew closer, we noticed the door was slightly ajar.

Oliver pulled me close and led me around the back of the lighthouse until he found a spot where we could listen unnoticed. The window was low enough for us to hear every word and catch glimpses of the room inside.

He bent down beside me and whispered, “The old man in white is Andrea Bianchi. He’s connected to smuggling antique art and drugs. The two men beside him, the blond one is Luca, Dante’s twin brother, and the one next to him is Inno.”

“Inno?” I whispered.

My mind remembered Annie. She never got the chance with him, and now he’d gone down the wrong path, just like my brother. I couldn’t stop wondering if that was because she’d died.

Gianni pushed himself up from the bed in the corner.

“Dante should’ve been here an hour ago with the gold.”

“We haven’t been able to reach them for days,” Inno said. “Do you think something happened?”

“We need that gold, otherwise we’re all fucked,” Gianni said, sniffling before springing to his feet. Restless energy pulsed through him as he paced the length of the lighthouse. “Isabella isn’t returning my calls. She’s supposed to tell me whether her uncle opened the case.”

“Calm down,” Andrea Bianchi said. “We’ve done all we can. Now we wait for it, sell it to Moretti, and seal the deal for New York.”

My heart shattered into a thousand pieces.

My brother was using again.

I knew the signs. The restless pacing. The frantic energy. His bloodshot eyes. The weight he’d lost since I’d last seen him. Oliver noticed it too. Sadness washed over his face as he looked at the man we’d searched so desperately to find, only to realize he’d been alive all along while we’d lost so much trying to save him.

He hadn’t disappeared. He’d left by choice. And that choice was drugs.

“Baby, we have to go,” Oliver whispered. “I think we’ve heard enough.”

I nodded as a tear spilled down my cheek. Betrayal crashed through me, sending my heart racing so hard it hurt. His hand never let go of mine, but his grip tightened.

Oliver was all I had now. And I couldn’t lose him.

I just couldn’t.

There would be nothing left of me.

Cold metal pressed against my temple.

“Baby?” The familiar male voice sent a chill down my spine. Then he laughed. “Since when do you call herbaby?”

The color drained from Oliver’s face as he saw the gun resting against my head. My chest rose and fell in quick, panicked breaths. My jaw trembled as the man yanked me away from Oliver, my fingers slipping from his hand.

“Lorenzo,” Oliver said, his voice low. “Put the gun down.”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to get rid of her?” Lorenzo asked. “Didn’t you say you never wanted to see her again?”

He laughed again. “I can help you with that.”

He lowered his face to my hair, inhaling slowly before letting the breath out.

“Or…” A crooked smile spread across his face. “Would you rather share?”

“I swear to you, if you touch her, I’ll strangle you with my bare hands,” Oliver growled through gritted teeth, his fists clenching at his sides.

Lorenzo only laughed.

“Everyone!” he shouted.