Page 83 of Under Pressure
Jonah grabbed her and yanked her inside, slamming the door behind them. “He’s just joking, and there’s something I really need to talk to you about.”
She gritted her teeth, and stared daggers at the door. “Fine. What?” She was still in his grasp, and she rested her hands on his back under his suit coat. Her fingers brushed over something metal, and she froze.
“What if I told you I could do something that would make us rich beyond our wildest dreams?” he asked.
She let her fingers travel over the metal—a gun. Whatever she’d been expecting, this wasn’t it. He’d carried guns before, but she certainly hadn’t expected one on their wedding day—not from him. “What are you talking about?”
“Make it so we could travel the world, buy anything we wanted: houses, motorcycles, land, anything; would you want that?” he asked earnestly—almost like he was asking permission to do something sketchy, something she wouldn’t like unless the payoff was big enough to buy her silence. She’d heard that tone before—from other men who were better left in the past.
“No,” she said. That wasn’t her dream. Never had been. If she’d wanted that, she would’ve stayed behind and married the underboss who’d made her and her dad go on the run.
The big goofy grin on his face fell. “No? That’s it?”
“I’m happy with my life as it is,” she said. “We’re more than comfortable. Between the two of us, we’re doing better than most people could even dream of. I’m happy.”
“But just think!” He got excited again. “You could remodel your store. We could buy a house cliff side so you could be close to the lighthouse. And travel.” He repeated that last one.
She wanted to shut him down, but her instincts told her she needed to let this conversation play out. Those kinds of promises always came with a cost. “Go on.”
He started speaking rapid-fire now. “TheRey Del Mar. I found it. And there’s treasure on it. So much treasure.”
Blue shook her head, trying to clear it of cobwebs, trying to catch up. “But that’s Sean’s treasure.”
Jonah grabbed her shoulders. “That’s the thing. It’s not. That treasure is in international waters, which means whoever gets it first, gets it. Can you imagine the ratings from that for my channel? A treasure hunt with a real treasure at the end?”
Taking a step back, Blue shook her head. “How do you even know where to find it?”
“Miles, Levi, and I followed them out last night.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Well, sort of. We tried to follow them, but when it became obvious they’d seen us, we headed back.”
That explained why his boat had been in the lane behind her apartment and the pier shops.
He continued, “Hex put a tracker on their boat, theBluebell—” He rolled his eyes. “—this morning before they left. We know exactly where it is.” Hex was Jonah’s group’s tech guy. He’d once put a tracker on several wolves in a pack, and the guys had to find them on foot in the Canadian wilderness . . . during winter—it’d taken them a month. Their followers had gone from thousands to tens of thousands.
Another thing Hex could do was put listening devices on them. He’d done that for another show that had gotten them all thrown in jail. If the judge’s son hadn’t been a huge fan of Jonah’s show, they’d have all been facing felony charges. The only way Jonah knew as much as he knew, was if he’d beenlistening in. Blue had only found out about that one after they’d been dating for a year. She’d nearly dumped him—but the man had a way with charm.
“And what if they get it before you do?” she asked, already fearing the answer she knew he’d give. He was wearing his gun after all.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Yep. They planned to get it by any means necessary. His confession was like a double slap across the face. After all her years of running, she’d still ended up with a man who was just like what she’d been running from. Only disguised in charm and a pretty package that spoke to her in flattering words.
“Babe, it’s supposed to be our honeymoon,” she ran her hands up his sides to really sell this line of bull she was pulling—she felt so dirty. “I don’t want to spend our first night together with other people. I mean, when exactly do you expect to exact your plan?”
“I know, darlin’. Me neither,” he said with a cocky, overeager grin. “We have to get to it before the hurricane hits.”
That made sense. If the hurricane hit the shipwreck, it would probably displace it, which explained why Sean and his guys would be going after it today. Which also explained why Jonah wanted to go after it now.
A large gust of wind hit the side of the building, making the shutters over the windows slam against the rock façade around the windows. Even though Blue knew this building would be one of the safest to be in during a hurricane—it’d be built to withstand the worst of storms—it still made her jump.
What nightmare had she just been pulled into?
“So, what do you say?” Jonah asked, reeling her in again.
“No, I won’t do it. I won’t let you do it,” she snapped.
His smile fell. “Is this about Sean?”
“Yes, it is.” She pulled away from him.
