by Ella Miles
Julian tries to fire his gun at me, but he’s out of bullets.
I fire my last shot back, hitting him in the leg. There is nowhere for him to run. I toss my gun down, and then I run at him with all the rage he’s caused me, for all the pain and heartbreak. I put everything into it. I do it for Enzo, for Kai, for Siren, for myself, and for the baby we lost.
I should think of a way to save myself. The yacht is going down, sinking to the depths of the sea. I have no way to know where we are or how far we’ve been swept out to sea, but I know that we have been pushed far out with the storm.
Instead, I’m focused on my mission—killing Julian.
My body collides with his. I run into him so hard that we break through a glass window and fall hard into the ocean, my body slamming down hard on top of his. The water engulfs us; the waves crash down one on top of the other. If I don’t kill Julian, the storm will, and I’ll end up dead in the process.
We both kick for the surface, while fighting to push the other down, as we are desperate for oxygen.
We both crack the surface at the same time. The water continues to hit us over and over, and it becomes more of a battle of survival than a battle with each other.
This has to change. The only way I have a chance at surviving is to kill Julian. Then I can find a way to save myself.
So when the waves hit us next, I grab onto Julian and hope that my large body can hold more oxygen than his. I pull him down into the ocean with me and hold onto his legs, hoping he didn’t get a good breath.
He kicks against me, but I hold my grip tighter, knowing that I’d rather him die along with me than let him get another ounce of air.
He kicks hard, but I pull him deeper into the ocean as my lungs start to tell me they need oxygen. Fear and anxiety start racing through me, but I let it fuel me to sink further down instead of going up.
Julian is getting desperate above me. Desperate for oxygen, for last words before he dies, but he’ll get neither.
He digs into his pocket, and I see the shininess of the knife that he holds. But if I let go, he’ll get away. He stabs my hand. I grip my teeth tighter together to ensure I don’t let any spare oxygen out. He drives the knife again and again into my hand, but I hold on. We are close. He’s using too much energy. He will run out of oxygen soon.
Julian looks at me with desperation and a wildness in his eyes. If he’s going to die, he wants me to die with him.
I know what’s coming, and I brace myself.
His knife slices through my neck, a wound that unleashes plenty of blood. I need oxygen. Now, if I’m going to survive.
Instead, I hold on, praying that my oxygen supply doesn’t run out. When I can’t hold on any longer, I let go and kick to the surface. I hit the air, still filled with pouring down rain, expecting Julian to hit the surface a second later. But he doesn’t.
I look down into the water and watch as his body drifts down—Julian’s dead.
I take a deep, calming breath—Julian Reed is dead.
Finally, I succeeded.
I hold my hand to my neck, hoping to stop the blood as I look around, trying to find out where I am. The storm is still beating down on me, and I can’t see very far, but I don’t see land. I don’t see any boats. It’s just me, once again in the middle of the ocean all alone while I bleed to death.
The truth broke us.
Love destroyed us.
Sin saved us.
How far will I go for love?
As far as it takes…and in my case, saving Siren means I’m to once again die in the ocean. But I have no regrets.
I died for the love of my life.
36
Siren
Trust your heart, Easton’s voice rings in my head.
I step into the room and look at all the guns lining the walls. Guns capable of penetrating the armor I’m wearing. I could end up shot just like Langston.
Trust your heart.
My eyes say to stick to the right and move as quickly through the room as possible. But my heart says to take it slow, one step at a time, and to stay by the walls.
I move to one side of the wall and take a careful step. The guns start, but I’m able to jump and avoid getting hit. The guns reload before firing higher this time, and I duck.
I take a deep breath. I can do this.
Step by step, I do the same. One step forward and dodge the bullet spray before moving on to the next. Everything in my body is telling me to run, but then I can’t watch the guns change direction a second before firing. I won’t know to duck or jump to avoid being shot.
Finally, I take my last step out of the room. I’ve survived in one piece.
Now I just have to find which of the many ruined rooms left that the box is in, and survive the final test.
“Okay, Easton, where did you hide it?”
There are five rooms left. Two are open to the sky, and the rain continues to pour down. The other three have roofs.
The smart thing would be to hide the box in one of the more complete rooms, but something hidden shouldn’t be obvious.
I step into the room on the far left. It’s the most incomplete, the least obvious room. I shield my eyes from the rain as I look around for where he hid it. Surely, he didn’t just bury it in the ground.
My hands go against the walls, and I find a crevice that my hand fits in perfectly. I slip my hand in and all of a sudden, the room is moving. New walls are going up, the floor shifts, and a roof starts covering overhead. And just like that, I’m in a high tech room.
Easton went all out to protect the box, as he should have.
I just don’t know if I’m worthy of getting the box. I asked him to protect it, even from me, so the last test will test me as well as anyone else.
A computer comes up from the ground with the highest tech safe I’ve ever seen. I don’t see a door on it or any mechanism that could be cracked.
I walk over to it and try to lift it, but I can’t move the safe as I expected. The only way to get the box is to complete the last test. I look around the room—no doors, no windows, no escape. I won’t be getting out of here until I complete the test either.
I look at the computer screen on the safe, my new enemy. I know what is about to happen—Easton told me. But I still haven’t figured out how to solve his puzzle. All he told me was that wanting to destroy the box wasn’t enough to open it.
Suddenly, the screen comes alive, and the computer voice speaks. “Are you here for the box?”
I walk to the screen and press the button that says, “Yes.”
“How far are you willing to go?”
I stare at the screen, my mind whirling. Easton told me that I would have to give up everything if I wanted to get the box.
I rest my hand against my stomach, feeling my baby kick. I think about Zeke on the yacht, who has hopefully killed Julian by now.
I don’t want to lose either of them. I’m not willing to lose either of them.
I will do what it takes to protect them, yes. But I won’t give them up to get this box. I won’t give them up to save the world.
A symbol pops up on the screen, telling me that it’s listening to my voice. Now is the time to speak. I see the guns come out; all pointed at me. I see the timer on the wall with a countdown.
If I answer incorrectly, the guns will go off, the room will be destroyed, and the box will be gone forever. It’s what I want, the box gone. But I don’t want to sacrifice my child to save the world.
My child is more important.
My love is more important.
Follow your heart.
“I’m not willing to go far at all for a stupid box. I’m not willing to give up my family, my husband, my child, my love. I won’t give up the love of my life to protect the world. All I’m willing to do is give up myself, lose my own life to get the box. But I can’t even do that since my life is tied to another. How far will I go for a stupid box? Not far at all. How far will I go for those I love? As far as it takes.”
I close my eyes, not having a clue if I said the right words or not. I wait for the bullets. I wait for the guns, the bombs. I wait for death.
But it doesn’t come.
I open my eyes, thinking maybe I’ve already died, when I see the screen swirling. The safe unlocks, the room opens. I did it. I’m free.
I grab the box from the safe and then run out of the room before the guns accidentally go off.
As I step foot outside of the castle, I hear the whirl of a helicopter. I look up and find Enzo, Kai, and Langston peering down at me. Thank God.
I wave at them, and the helicopter lands next to me. I climb in.
“Where’s Zeke?” I ask Langston, sitting in the back next to me and his arm bandaged up properly now.
“We are going to search for him now. The yacht got pushed out to sea in the storm. We’ll find him,” Langston says.
Kai and Enzo give me a look, and then we are flying over the ocean. I hand Langston the box to keep safe, while I look out the window in search of Zeke.
Three hours later and we still haven’t found him.
All eyes are on me.
“We aren’t giving up,” I say, firmly.
“We aren’t asking you to,” Kai says gently.
“Then what are you asking?”
“I’m telling you that we are almost out of fuel. We are going to have to head toward land to refuel and make a better plan to find him.”
My tears come back, but I choke them back. I have to be strong for Zeke. I have to.
“We won’t give up. We’ve given up on Zeke before, we won’t again,” Enzo says.
I look around at the three people outside of me who care about Zeke the most. We will find him. We have to.
37
Zeke
It’s been three days.
Somehow I’m still alive, still floating in the water.
I’m delusional. I won’t last much longer. My body is too weak. If it was up to my heart, I’d fight forever, but my heart isn’t in control anymore. My lungs are, and they are about to give out.
And then I hear a new sound out of nowhere. All I’ve heard for days are waves, wind, and the occasional bird. But this, this is heavenly.
It’s not real, I know it. I’m dying; the beautiful sound is my brain easing my pain as I take my last breaths. I’m thankful.
I hear a splash and look over, assuming I’ll find a dolphin or, with my luck, a shark.
Something is swimming toward me—my angel.
“Zeke!” I hear her scream as she grabs onto me. “Oh my god!”
Her hand goes to my neck immediately, but the wound stopped bleeding long ago.
“You’re alive,” she cries.
“My angel, my beautiful angel.”
She laughs through her tears. “No, your Siren. I’ve been calling out to you for days. I finally found you, time to go home.”
“This is the best dream ever,” I say.
She shakes her head and then pulls me hard. Next thing I know, I’m being lifted onto something hard that rocks. It doesn’t make sense to me, but it doesn’t matter, I won’t be conscious much longer.
“We need to get him to a hospital, now,” a voice says.
“Hold on, baby. Just hold on. Keep your promise to love me forever,” Siren says, and then she presses the sweetest kiss to my lips before the world goes dark.
I open my eyes, and all I see is light. Am I dead? Is this heaven?
“Zeke,” I hear a voice so tentative and scared.
I turn my head, and Siren jumps on me before kissing me all over.
“You’re alive. You’re awake. Thank God,” Siren screeches as she kisses me everywhere.
“I am, it seems. Thanks to you.”
She kisses me once more before curling up next to me in what I realize is a giant bedroom on a beach that looks an awful lot like Miami.
“You’re home in Miami,” Siren says, answering my unspoken question.
“And everyone?”
Siren whistles, and the door opens. Enzo and Kai walk in. Kai has tears flowing from her eyes, while Enzo tries and fails to hold his back.
“You’re alive! We were so worried,” Kai says.
“Come here, Stingray.” I hold out my arm to her and pull her into a hug, while Siren lies on the bed next to me, still holding onto me.
“So glad you made it through,” Enzo says, avoiding eye contact so he doesn’t start crying.
“When you heal, you’ll come back to work for us, won’t you?” Kai asks.
“I need to discuss it with Siren first, but I know that I won’t want to be stepping foot on a yacht or on the ocean anytime soon.”
Everyone laughs at that.
“Come on, Stingray, we should give them some time alone,” Enzo says, pulling Kai off me. Together they walk out of the room.
“Julian? Your father?” I ask Siren.
“Both dead.”
“Your brother?”
“Dead.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I’m sorry my brother’s gone, but I know this is what he wanted, to die protecting what he knew he should and saving the world.”
“You saved the world,” I say, kissing her hand.
“With some help.”
I smile at that.
“And Langston?” I feel the anger and pain returning at his name.
“He’ll be in to visit soon.”
I frown. “I’m going to kill him.”
“Wait, listen first.”
I narrow my eyes as she takes my hand and puts it under her shirt to her stomach.
“What are you doing?”
“Just wait.”
A second later, I feel a kick.
“Oh my god! The baby?”
“Is alive.”
I pull her tighter to me. “How? I thought Langston hurt you and the baby. I thought—”
“No, he realized when we got back to the room that night that Julian was watching. He needed to make my reaction as real as possible, so he did the minimum to physically hurt me to make me fear him. To put on a show for Julian.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Langston saved me. He didn’t actually rape me, just pretended.”
“But the blood?”
“I caused it. I found a knife and used it to cut both Langston and my thigh to cause all the blood, so you’d think I’d lost the baby.”
“But why?”
“I needed to see you broken to trigger my memories, and that was the most traumatic thing I could think of. I’m so sorry.”
“Shh, you have nothing to be sorry for.” I rub her stomach. “In fact, you just made me the happiest man to know that you’re still pregnant. We are going to get our happily ever after finally.”
And then I kiss her, and kiss her, and kiss her, long into the night.
Until a knock at the door draws our attention away from each other.
Langston pokes his head in. “Sorry to interrupt, but I think it’s time we destroyed this since we all risked our lives to get it.”
Siren stands and helps me out of the bed, although I don’t really need the help. I do enjoy being so close to Siren, though.
Langston looks at me, and I look at him with a nod. All the lies and sins we’ve committed will take a while to heal, but I know that he cares about Siren and that he will protect her with his life. That makes him one of the best men I know.
Langston motions for us to follow, and so we do until we are all outside on the sand—Enzo, Kai, Langston, Siren, and me.
Langston puts the box in the center of our circle along with driftwood. He douses the wood gasoline, and then he hands a box of matches to Siren.
Siren strikes one of the matches. “I should have done this long ago, then maybe we wouldn’t have gone through hell.”
“We got rid of two more evil men who would have continued to terrorize the world without us. It was worth it,” Kai says.
Sir
en nods. “Still, it feels silly that I kept it around because of a feeling that it needed to exist. That time never came. Now it’s time to destroy it.”
And then with that, Siren tosses the match onto the wood. We all stand around the fire, watching the box and contents slowly burn.
Kai and Enzo walk back to the house. Followed by Langston. And then it’s just me and Siren on the beach.
“Truth or sin, what did you do to get the box?” I ask. She’s told me the story of what her and Langston did to save the baby, but not what she did to get the box, what danger she put herself in.
“Truth or sin, what did you do to kill Julian?” she asks back with raised eyebrows.
We’ve both done incredible things for love. We burned a castle down, lied, and hurt and killed so many people. But in the end, our love prevailed, and it will continue to prevail forever.
“Sin,” we both say at the same time. The truth doesn’t matter now, and sinning together is much more fun.
“Fuck me, Zeke.”
I grin. “Oh, I plan to, over and over and over. Just like I plan on loving you, forever.”
Epilogue
Siren
“Cayden is so sweet,” Kai says as we stare over my six-week-old son. Zeke got his way in the end and got to name him, the perfect name for our little warrior.
“He is sweet when he’s not crying. I don’t think we’ve slept more than an hour these last few weeks,” I say, staring down at my sleeping boy in his crib.
“It gets better, trust me. Soon you’ll want these days back.”
I sigh, my life couldn’t get any better. Kai hugs me, holding me close to her.
“You need to take your time and enjoy your son, so this isn’t the time to talk about it, but I can’t wait until you get back to work. It’s such a boys-fest without you.”
I laugh. “We definitely need to hire more women.”
“I agree.”
Zeke and I have been working for Kai and Enzo these last few months. I’ve mainly worked from the office with Kai, while the boys have done the more hands-on work. Although, Zeke has yet to step foot back on a yacht or in the ocean. I’m sure he will as soon as our son is old enough to ask him to take him out on a boat, as we do live in Miami on the beach.
