"I'm sure it's fine," she said, but she honestly didn't think the helicopter sounded right either.

The whine of the engine went silent. Maddie squeezed MJ's hand. They waited, listening to the howl and whistle of the vicious wind. Maddie held her breath. Why had the engine stopped? And the blades weren't rotating.

A horrifyingly loud crash of trees cracking and metal grinding echoed across the island.

"Oh G.o.d," MJ whispered.

"It's okay," she said instinctively, and pulled him close, holding his head to her chest. "It's okay. Don't worry."

He held her back and studied her face like a light-bulb had just gone off in his head. He shook off whatever thought he had and helped her out of the hammock onto her feet. "We have to get to the hotel."

They ran down the path with the wind and rain whipping at their faces. Drenched and panting for breath, they heard golf carts speeding toward the landing pad. "Come on," MJ said, and tugged her toward one.

He jumped in behind the wheel. Maddie followed as quickly as she could, and hung on as he spun out on the wet pathway. She slid back and forth across the slick seat, grasping the bar that ran up the side for dear life. "How can you see?"

It was dark as midnight with leaves and palms blowing in front of them across the path, and the rain slicing across the windshield in waves. "I can't!" he yelled over the roar of the wind.

He was going to end up driving them right into the water where they'd drown or get eaten. It was a chance she'd have to take, because she wasn't going to tell him to slow down. His dad was in that helicopter. MJ had to get to him and Maddie would carry him across a desert on her back to get him there if she had to.

Two white golf carts came into view up ahead. "There!" She pointed.

"Got it." MJ pulled up alongside them and they jumped out.

The wreckage wasn't hard to find. It smoldered on the ground a few yards inside a dense grouping of Mangroves. "There's Beck," MJ said, and he took off jogging.

She ran to catch up.

Beck limped out of the trees with Riley supporting him on one side and Joan on the other. He held his hand across his chest, gripping his ribs tightly. "We're okay, Junior. You're dad's right behind me."

Maddie stepped up beside MJ. He took her hand. "What happened?" he asked. She felt him shaking.

"Tail got hit by lightning. Controls went out. Engine followed suit." Beck winced in pain. "Hold up," he said, and bent at the waist, panting. "I think I cracked a few ribs. It's hard to take a deep breath."

"I'll bring the cart over," Riley said, and took off running.

Maddie spotted Merrick limping out of the trees with his arm around Rachael. "MJ," she whispered and nodded toward them. "Go."

MJ jogged to Merrick's side. "Are you okay? You're limping."

Merrick put a hand on MJ's shoulder. "I'm fine."

Tears flowed freely down Rachael's face. Merrick brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. He whispered something in her ear and held her face in his hands for a moment before turning back to MJ.

"Your head's bleeding," MJ said.

Merrick reached up and dabbed his forehead with his fingertips, then examined them. "It is." He shrugged and wiped his hand on his torn pants. "It doesn't hurt."

"Probably a concussion," MJ said. "I'll go bring a golf cart over." He spun Maddie around. "Come with me."

The two of them tread across the landing pad to the golf cart. He was shaking, his face pale. She ran her fingers through the back of his hair. "It scared you."

"I just got him. I don't want to lose him yet." He stopped the cart in front of Merrick and Rachael and got out. Maddie followed.

MJ put a shoulder under Merrick's arm. "Let me help."

Rachael wiped her eyes and fell into step with Maddie behind the father and son. "He could've died," Rachael said, her voice cracking. She sniffled and exhaled a deep breath. "I could've lost him."

"He didn't." Maddie stopped her and wrapped her in a firm hug. "He's fine and he's here now."

"I know," Rachael said. "I guess you don't realize how much someone means to you until you think you've lost them for good."

Her words. .h.i.t home with Maddie. "You're right. There's nothing worse than not having someone you love in your life." She watched MJ help Merrick into the pa.s.senger seat of the golf cart as she and Rachael approached to get into the back.

G.o.d, if it had been MJ in that helicopter. If she'd heard it go down knowing he was inside... She would've hated herself for not being with him for the past year and a half. Hated herself more than she already did. Not being with him, but knowing he was still in the world, hoping and praying he was happy-that was something she could find a way to live with. But, if something happened to MJ... if Maddie woke up tomorrow and found out he was gone from this life... No. She'd never be able to forgive herself for wasting even one day without him.

What the h.e.l.l had she been thinking all of this time?

Twenty-Three.

When they got to the hotel, Beck was already sitting in the lounge in a pair of fresh shorts, shirtless with a bandage wrapped tight around his chest. MJ's feet sloshed in his shoes as he and Rachael helped Merrick upstairs to get cleaned up and changed into dry clothes.

Maddie lumbered up the stairs behind them. He knew the adrenaline rush from the past hour had taken a toll on her. He glanced over his shoulder. Her dark hair dripped water down her arms. Her T-shirt clung to her wet skin, and he'd never once seen her look more beautiful.

She lifted her eyes to his, reached up and placed her hand on his back.

For a moment, huddled close to his father with Maddie's delicate fingers touching him, his world had righted itself. He wasn't the lone, black sheep begging for acceptance in a family that had been saddled with him twenty years ago.

He didn't know this man beside him, but he felt a connection he'd never experienced before. A connection that ran blood-deep. MJ had always wanted to feel this with his grandfather, but could never get beyond the shame and scorn that hung over his head from being the b.a.s.t.a.r.d child of the son the Old Man despised.

Merrick patted his shoulder when they reached the second floor landing. "Did Rachael give you the big room on the end?" He pointed down the hallway.

"Yeah."

"Go ahead and get changed. I can make it to the third floor with Rachael's help."

"Okay." MJ didn't want to let his dad out of his sight, and it made him feel foolish. "I'll see you back downstairs."

Merrick smiled, and it was like looking in a mirror. MJ saw his own dimples in his father's cheeks. "If you don't come down," Merrick said, "I'll come find you this time."

Even though they were only talking about meeting up in the lounge, MJ knew Merrick meant he'd never lose him again. It was a certainty MJ knew by the sincerity in Merrick's voice and the determination set in his eyes.

He watched as Rachael helped Merrick up the next flight of stairs. If he leaned against her, she'd crumble under him. MJ was six foot two and Merrick was a few inches taller and built like a linebacker.

Maddie rubbed her hand across his lower back, stealing his attention away from his dad. She'd never looked at him this way before, with awe and wonder. "I'm so proud of you," she said. "You have everything you've ever wanted."

He turned to her and gathered her wet hair off of her shoulders. "Not everything."

Her eyelids fluttered as she dropped her gaze. MJ brushed a few locks of hair off of her forehead and placed a kiss on her damp skin. "Let's dry off."

He left Maddie outside her room and strode down the hall toward his own with thunder rumbling overhead and lightning flashing outside the windows.

Maddie came to his room as he was tugging a dry T-shirt over his head. She stood in front of a chest of drawers studying a framed, hand-drawn map of the island hanging on the wall. The paper was yellowed and creased under the gla.s.s as if it had been folded in quarters.

MJ walked over and stood behind her. "It's really old. Think it belonged to Archie?"

Maddie laughed. "Archie? I don't know. It could've been his."

He looked closer. The name of the island and the directional markers on all four sides were written in calligraphy inside banners drawn with scrolled edges. "Hey, the hotel's labeled Weston Estate at Turtle Tear."

Maddie stood on tip toe to get a better look. "Must have been when Ingrid and Archibald lived here with their family, before they turned it into a hotel." Her finger darted out, pointing to a huge tree in the center of the island. "Look at the heart with their initials on this tree! This is on a beam in the ceiling of-"

"The tree house bedroom," MJ finished. "I saw it too. I had no idea who A.W. and I.B. were then though."

"I didn't either." Maddie gazed at the map with an intense expression. "By this map, it looks like the tree stood very close to where the tree house is built." She turned and looked at him, her eyes calculating. "Rachael thinks Ingrid's grave is near the tree house. I wonder if she was buried under this tree."

MJ loved the way she held on to uncertainties, mysteries, couldn't let one go until she figured it out. She'd always been that way, and her curiosity had gotten them in plenty of trouble growing up.

"You should tell her," he said, leaning close and breathing in the fresh, rain-soaked scent of her hair.

The windows and walls creaked and groaned from the pressure of the wind blowing against them. The lights flickered and went out.

Maddie turned and poked him in the ribs. "Are you still afraid of ghosts? Remember the time when we were little-I think I was thirteen, so you must've been like nine-when we camped out at the lake and I made you listen to me tell ghost stories, and I held your hands so you couldn't cover your ears?" She laughed.

"How could I forget? You told me there was a ghost living in the west wing of the house. You scarred me for life." He put a hand to his chest. "You won't be satisfied until you've killed me."

She ran her hand down his chest. "No matter what it seems like, I don't want to hurt you," she said, just above a whisper.

MJ wished he could see her face in the dark. He reached for her, but she stepped away from him. "You know," he said, following the sound of her soft inhale of breath, the brush of her hair against her back as she moved, "when we were in the hammock earlier, something happened that I want to talk to you about."

"What?"

His foot b.u.mped into hers, and he took her by the arms to keep her there. "When we heard the helicopter go down, you held me and kept telling me it would be okay."

Her muscles tensed in his hands. "Was that wrong of me?"

"No. But I'm a man, Maddie. You don't have to protect me anymore. You haven't needed to protect me for a long time. I know it's instinct. I'm four years younger and we grew up together like brother and sister, but that all changed a long time ago."

"I-I don't want you hurting. I can't stand to see you in pain."

He pulled her against his chest. "I know, but it's not up to you to shield me from it either. Do you understand?"

She nodded and wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezing him tight. He felt her trembling and when she sniffled, he realized she was crying. "Please, don't," he said, stroking her back. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't. You freed me."

He pulled her back and lowered his eyes to hers, cursing the blackness of the room that wouldn't let him see her face. "What do you mean, I freed you?"

Maddie laughed through a sob and held his face in her hands before bringing her lips to his. She kissed him like it was the first time. Something inside her had shifted. Had he won her back? He was afraid to ask.

Someone knocked on the door and opened it at the same time. Maddie pulled away from him and in the candle-light that Merrick held inside the door, MJ saw her wipe her mouth with the back of her hand, hiding a smile.

"Sorry," Merrick said. "I should've waited for you to answer. Beck has the only flashlight-guess we know now that we're not prepared for storms-but Rachael had these candles for an anniversary party renting out the hotel in a few weeks." He limped forward and handed them each a few candles and a couple packs of matches.

Merrick had changed into a pair of basketball shorts and a T-shirt. He had a bandage on his forehead and his knee was gouged. The wound looked deep but it was hard to tell how bad it was in the flicker of candlelight. "Knee any better?" MJ asked.

"It's fine. I jammed it into something sharp and twisted it, too. It's not bleeding anymore, so I'm taking that as a good sign." He chuckled. "Come downstairs when you two are ready."

"We're right behind you," Maddie said, hooking her arm through MJ's.

They took a few steps and her phone rang in her pocket. She pulled it out and MJ peered at the screen. If it was the other guy, he'd take the phone out of her hand and toss it out into the storm. The number displayed as unknown. Maddie pushed the answer b.u.t.ton and held it to her ear. "h.e.l.lo?"

MJ lit a candle.

"Yes, this is Maddie Simcoe."

"We'll be right down," MJ told Merrick.

"Northside Hospital?" Maddie said. "What's wrong? Is it my father?"

Merrick stopped in the doorway. Maddie gazed up at MJ. As she listened to whoever was on the phone from the hospital, he saw the world fall apart in her eyes.

"I can't. I'm away at an island resort with no way off because of the storm." Her words broke as sobs began to wrack her body. She dropped the phone and bent over, curling into a ball. "Oh my G.o.d. My dad." MJ grabbed her before she fell, and Merrick scooped up her cell phone.

"h.e.l.lo?" Merrick said. "I'm a close friend of the family. Mr. Simcoe works for my father. What happened?"

MJ lifted Maddie in his arms and carried her to the bed. "He'll be okay. I promise, he'll be okay." He prayed he was right and the news wasn't that Mr. Simcoe had already left this earth.

She reared her head and glared at him like a wild tiger, then beat against his chest with her fists. "This is your fault! If you hadn't stolen my ring, I would've been there! Enzo did this!"

MJ captured her wrists and pinned her to the mattress. "What are you talking about? Why would my grandfather hurt your dad? They're best friends. That doesn't make sense."

"Because I'm here with you!" she yelled, her face contorted with rage. "He's been threatening to fire my father for over a year if I didn't stay away!"

MJ let her go and backed away. He didn't understand-must've heard her wrong-couldn't think because of the freight train rushing through his head. "He was the reason you left me?" It was unreal. His head spun and for a second he thought he might pa.s.s out. "Why?"

Maddie jolted up, throwing her feet over the side of the bed. "It doesn't f.u.c.king matter now! I didn't listen. I had to follow you here to get my ring back. This is your fault!"

Merrick staggered over, set a candle on the nightstand and handed Maddie her phone back. "They said he fell down a flight of stairs and hit the back of his head pretty hard. He's unconscious, but stable. They'll call with updates."

Maddie fixed her eyes on Merrick's, blue granite to steady brown-black like MJ's own. "Are you saying it was an accident?"