Page 76 of An Epic Voyage

“One of Benny’s goons.”

He looked in pain, but he wasn’t currently crying.She glanced to her right and spotted a frizzy bird’s nest of bleached-blonde hair.“Jinger?”

Jinger lifted her head to reveal her bloated, red face.Thick smudges of mascara around her eyes and down her cheeks made her look like a demented circus clown.“Indigo?”She pushed to a sitting position, her chains jangling.“Get over here and fix my makeup and hair.”

Seriously?Good grief, her audacity knew no bounds.Indy raised her hands.“Sorry, Jinger, I’m a little tied up at the moment.”

Jordy choked on a laugh.

“So?”

“What do you mean, so?My arms and feet are shackled like yours.In case you need it spelled out to you, I’m currently unable to cater to your every whim.”

“But if I look good enough, Benny will take me back.”

“What part of this don’t you understand?”She lifted her arms again.

“Your fingers work.”

She clenched her jaw.“No.”

Jinger’s head canted to the side.“What?”

It was apparent that the woman rarely heard the word.“I said no.Do you comprehend the situation we are in?”

“But, Benny loves me.I want to look good for him.That’s your job.”

“Right now, my job is getting us out of here.Either you don’t realize it, or you are in denial, but you are in grave danger, Jinger.”

Her eyes welled up, and she started sobbing again.Indigo ignored her and turned to Jordy.

“What happened?Why are you guys here?”

“Jinger was upset that Benny was avoiding her.She made me go with her as she stormed into his suite.We overheard him making plans to meet someone.When he said Jabari Abdullahi’s name, I gasped because I’ve heard of him.He’s the head of the Black Serpent Syndicate.I saw a documentary about the genocide he’s responsible for in his country.Benny sicced his bodyguards on us.”Jordy narrowed his one good eye.“You don’t seem surprised about Abdullahi.Who are you, Indigo Adair?”

“I’m a cosmetologist from Boston.Did you hear when the meeting is?”

“Not the exact time.Only that it’s tomorrow afternoon.”

They had a few hours to devise a plan to escape, halt the sale, and arrest Van Houten.Doable.

“What happened to you, Indigo?I was so worried when you didn’t make it to the boat.”

She stuck with her original explanation to Griffin.“Yeah, I was exploring the island and didn’t hear the warnings.Griffin found me, but by the time we got back to the dock, the yacht was gone.”

“As soon as the boat pulled away, I went to Benny and told him we had to go back, but he wouldn’t do it.Jerk.”

“No, it was my fault I didn’t make it.There was no need to put everyone else in danger.”

“We saw on the news that the hurricane hit the island.How did you survive?”

“There was a panic room.We were completely safe.”

“Was Benny upset you stayed on the island?Is that why you’re here?”

“Uh, sure.”That was as good a reason as any.She couldn’t reveal her true purpose, whether or not she trusted Jordy, and she didn’t.It was no offense to him.He’d never given her a reason to doubt him, but she trusted only Evangeline, Jackson, Piper, and Chelsea.And now Griffin.Wow.That realization came as a shock.He’d moved into a select group of her confidantes in a very short amount of time.

It wasn’t the spectacular sex—though that certainly didn’t hurt.It was his integrity and honor.Even when she had thought Griffin worked for Van Houten, she’d been drawn to him.She’d responded to his innate goodness—something he couldn’t hide behind a hard mask of indifference.