Stay put,” Knox ordered Gigi. “Stand still and try not to kill yourself.”
The next thing Gigi heard through the darkness was the sound of Knox dropping down through the trapdoor. Seconds later, Gigi heard heated words being exchanged below, but she couldn’t make them out. Her brain helpfully superimposed what Knox had said earlier over whatever argument he and Brady were having now.
I have never and will never tell Brady, because Brady couldn’t even begin to understand a Calla Thorp good-bye. Gigi thought about the scar at the base of Knox’s neck. She thought about Brady saying that no one shot a bow like Calla.
And then she thought about Brady telling Knox they weren’t brothers.
Standing there—in darkness, alone—Gigi’s mind went to the bug and the fact that if someone was listening, they were getting a real show. She looked out into the night.
There were no signs of a storm, nothing that would have knocked out the power. Maybe this was a part of the game. Maybe the game makers had planned this, but deep down, Gigi didn’t believe that.
She believed that someone else was on the island. The Thorps aren’t the only game in town, Knox had said, after jerking his head toward the bug. And Orion Thorp isn’t the only member of his family who likes to play.
Gigi’s hand came to rest on the outside of her thigh. Her gown was thick enough that she couldn’t feel the knife underneath. What if the power was
cut?
She fished the bug out of the front of her dress. Three breaths later, she spoke. “I know you’re out there.”
Silence.
“I know you’re out there,” she said again.
Silence, again—and then a familiar, if tinny, voice: “No, sunshine, you don’t.”
