He Betrayed Me, I Let My Brother Punish Him

Chapter 2

The hard edge of the diving flipper caught Zane across the cheek, leaving a vivid red welt.

He stood stunned for a moment, then erupted.

"What the hell is wrong with you!"

He pressed a hand to his face, and the sight of him flustered and furious gave me a small, savage satisfaction even through the pain.

The rest of the group went into uproar. They crowded in from every side.

Blake, Zane's oldest friend, jabbed a finger in my face. "Are you insane? Zane and Chloe were being nice to you, and you actually hit him?"

I tried to fight back, but the pain had gutted every word before it could leave my mouth. All I could do was gasp.

Every breath felt like swallowing broken glass.

Chloe squeezed out a few tears and tucked herself behind Zane, the picture of someone gravely wronged.

"Don't blame Neen, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have touched her things." She paused, then shifted tack. "But Zane always said that once we're family, what's his is mine. And what's yours..." She let the implication settle. "Naturally becomes mine too."

The words gave Zane exactly the outlet he'd been looking for. He pulled Chloe against his side, face pinched with concern.

"You've done nothing wrong. She's the selfish one."

"Family?" I forced the word through clenched teeth, voice raw. "She's no family of mine."

Zane's expression turned hard.

"Nina, I'm warning you, don't you dare talk about Chloe like that. She's the daughter of my father's fallen comrade. We've been raising her for ten years. She matters a hell of a lot more to me than some outsider I've known for three."

An orphan? I went still.

For three years, the Chloe he'd described to me had been his childhood sweetheart, the girl who'd grown up beside him and gone abroad to study.

'When had the story changed? When had she become a ward the family had quietly taken in?'

'He'd been spinning lie after lie for years. Didn't he ever get tired?'

My breathing was getting harder. Dark spots swarmed at the edges of my vision. My foot had swollen into something purple and grotesque.

I pressed both hands into the scorching sand just to keep myself upright.

I pointed at Chloe, desperate to expose them, but my throat could only produce a wet, broken wheeze.

Tiffany, Blake's friend, mimicked me with a theatrical sneer.

"Oh, look at that. Is the little princess having some kind of episode?"

Laughter broke out on all sides. Zane watched me like I was putting on a show, his face twisted with disgust.

"Enough, Nina. Stop making a scene. You might not be embarrassed, but I am."

He marched over, hauled me up off the sand, and dragged me toward a cluster of rocks jutting out from the water's edge.

"You love the ocean so much, right? Stay here and cool off. When you're ready to admit you were wrong, you can come back."

The rocks stood isolated in the water, dozens of feet from shore. You could only reach them at low tide.

And the tide was coming in.

"Zane... please... the tide..." I grabbed his arm with the last strength I had. Even my fingernails were trembling.

He wrenched free with a look of revulsion.

"Playing the pity card again? You think that still works on me? When we were kids, you pretended to fall in the water so I'd write your homework. When we were older, you faked being mugged so I'd buy you a purse. Nina, can't you come up with something new?"

He shoved me onto the largest rock and walked away without a backward glance.

Cold water was already washing over the rocks, slapping against my wound with each wave, each one sending a fresh jolt of pain through me.

From the shore, I heard a champagne cork pop. Zane's voice floated over, low and soothing as he tended to Chloe.

"Ignore her. Let her sit out there and think. When she's ready to admit she was wrong, I'll bring her back."

"But Zane, is it safe out there?" Chloe's voice carried a note of dark delight she barely bothered to hide.

"What's going to happen to her? Besides, I had someone push her in when she was little. She swims like a fish now. Let her suffer a bit. It'll do her attitude some good."

I leaned back against the wet, slippery rock and felt my body heat draining away.

The tide came in faster than I'd imagined. The water had already reached my calves, and despair rose with it, slow and steady.

I screamed toward shore with everything I had, but the waves swallowed my voice whole.

They carried on as if I didn't exist, laughing and celebrating on the beach while I sat alone in the rising water.

I don't know how much time passed before a figure swam toward me.

It was Chloe.

She draped herself over a nearby rock, wearing a smile. Her eyes were full of malice.

"You know what Zane says about you, Nina? He says you're like a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe. No matter how hard he tries, you just won't come off."

I stared at her. I wanted to scream at her. All that came out was a weak, broken sound.

Chloe reached into the waterproof pouch she'd brought and pulled something out.

My phone. She'd somehow fished it out of the water and charged it.

Right in front of me, she unlocked it and opened my conversation with Marcus.

"Look at this." She tilted the screen toward herself. "'Brother, send a speedboat...' Tsk, tsk. Calling for backup, were we?"

She smiled and flicked the SIM card into the sea.

"Such a shame. Even if your brother shows up, it won't change a thing."