A Gift of Matrimony (Lover's Gift Book 2) Page 4

  I promised my mother I wouldn’t do anything that would put my life at risk. Everyone in the room walked up to me for a hug before leaving. “I wish you luck in your endeavors, Isabella. And by the way, your phone’s vibrating,” said Dr. Logan before she left. It was sitting on the couch next to Gaspard. I picked it up to find that the call was from an unknown number. I usually didn’t answer unknown callers, but with all the drama happening to me since my divorce, I was hoping it was someone calling with good news. I answered the phone to a familiar voice.

  “Hello. How are you going?” he said. It was Felix. The man had been living in Australia for so long that he had picked up a thick accent.

  “Where am I going?” I asked, confused.

  He sighed. “No. How are you going? It’s the same as saying how are you doing in Americanese?” he joked.

  I curled my lip. “How did you get my number?”

  “I have Dante’s will here with me. It has all of your contact information in it. You must have made an impression since he’s included you in his will.”

  I was floored. Dante never told me about his will. He certainly never told me he had included me in it. “I had no idea,” I exclaimed.

  “Yes, well, he did. I thought you might want to know.”

  I stared into space for a few seconds. Whether I was in his will or not didn’t matter, because he wasn’t dead. I was going to find him. “Was that the only reason you called?”

  “No, it isn’t. The board told me last week that they’re giving up on the search. Just because he’s missing doesn’t mean that he’s dead. You feel the same way, yes?”

  “Yes, of course. We talked about this already.” I wondered where he could be going with this. I waved to Gaspard to keep him from leaving. “Felix is on the phone,” I whispered. Gaspard’s face wrinkled at the very mention of his name. I didn’t know what bad blood those two had with one another, but if he was talking about getting Dante back to me, then I was all ears. “Are you going to help me look for him?”

  “I can’t. I’m too busy to go out searching the wilderness for my cousin. The only thing I’m concerned with is bringing him back safely so I may go on with my life and not have to worry about managing that business of his. If he’s alive, then I’m off the hook.”

  “So, why are you calling if you’re not going to help?” I grew a bit suspicious.

  “I never said I wasn’t going to help. I just said I wasn’t going to go looking for him personally. If you truly love him and you want him to be brought home safely, then you will accept my gift.”

  “Gift? What gift?” Where was he going with this?

  “I called in a favor to my friend in the Royal Navy in the UK. They agreed to help you in the search. Dante had his hands in many dealings around the globe, and a lot of people depend on him. His life has had a positive impact on many world leaders. The last thing any of them want is to see me in charge of the Cayman Roth Conglomerate. If you’re willing, they will help you find him.”

  I couldn’t believe it. This was exactly what I needed to hear. What a godsend this was. “This is amazing, Felix.”

  “Don’t thank me. Just find him. Check your email. Your contact will be Commodore William Noah. I leave the rest to you.” He hung up without saying goodbye. I turned to Gaspard and told him what Felix just said to me.

  “Are you serious?” he asked. A dumbfounded look came over him. Gaspard was in apparent shock that Felix would do anything to help anyone but himself. I guessed in a way he was helping himself by supporting me. I just hoped it wasn’t too late. I leaped to my computer sitting on my kitchen table to check my email. He wasn’t kidding. All the information I needed to get in touch with Commodore Noah was there. How Felix got my email address, I didn’t know, but I was grateful for it.

  “Don’t trust that guy,” said Gaspard.

  I spun around in my chair to face him. “Why not? He just gave me everything I needed,” Gaspard joined me in the kitchen along with Maya and my mother.

  “You’d be wise not to trust Felix, Isabella. He isn’t everything he seems. He’s an exceptionally gifted hacker who’s allowed his many talents to go to waste. Instead of joining Dante in consolidating many of his IT businesses, he decided to go off on his own and hack government systems for profit. I also heard he’s done jobs for organized crime factions around the globe. I have no clue why Dante made him his beneficiary. In all honesty, Felix was the last person who needed to be in charge of this empire Dante’s built. I don’t know how he got a naval officer to help, but be sure to take his assistance sparingly,” he warned.

  Maya and my mom went back into the living room with tea. “Are you sure about this, sweetie?” my mom said.

  I thought about what Gaspard had just told me and stared into my mom’s eyes from across the room. There still wasn’t any doubt about me going.

  “I’ll be safe, Mom. I’ll take every precaution. I promise.”

  I went back into the living room where she hugged me again. She had never seen me like this, which was why she was so afraid I might do something reckless. I would never do anything that may put my safety in jeopardy. Not only for my sake, but for the people who depended on me. And for Dante. My mom kissed my forehead. “I love you, sweetie,” she said. Everyone had already left but my family and Gaspard. He still had a suspicious look about him after Felix’s call.

  “Come sit and have some tea, Gaspard. I’m sure nothing is menacing about Felix wanting to help.” I tried to lighten his mood.

  “No. I’m fine. I should be getting back to New York. I wish you luck. Maya, Mrs. Kam, enjoy the rest of your day.” He saw his way out. I went back over to my computer to review the information Felix sent me while Maya and my mom continued to give me worried glances.

  I heaved a sigh. “I’ll be okay. There’s no need to worry.”

  My mom sat back into the couch and drank her tea. “I hope so, sweetie. I hope so.”

  Chapter 7

  Isabella

  Day three of the search and I never thought it would be this hot and humid out here. Despite the urging of the commodore to stay behind, I decided to come along so I could get a grasp of how hard it could be to find someone in this terrain. It was crazy to think someone could survive out here this long, but my faith in Dante was unrelenting and true. I knew he was out here; I just had to see this through.

  “Watch out for the snakes, ma’am. They get pretty big here,” said one of the guides assigned to me. The helicopters above us made it difficult for me to hear most of what was being said. The midshipman in charge told me the pilot would be flying out a few miles ahead to expand the search. As beautiful as the scenery around here might have been, I was in no hurry to set up camp. The bugs alone were irking me. I felt as if I were the main dish in their twelve-course meal.

  The mosquitos wouldn’t stop until they had poked every inch of my body. The bug repellent I’d brought was useless, and I was about five seconds from covering myself in mud to keep them off. With my hands flailing about in every direction, the only thing I heard was to hold still before the guide blasted me with a wide spray of misty smoke. I started to gag on it before he stopped.

  “Are you all right now, ma’am?” asked the guide, holding a tubular device inches away from my face.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I exclaimed. I coughed and coughed.

  “It was for the bugs, ma’am,” he assured me. Before I could get too angry, I noticed the mosquitos had stopped swarming me. He stood there with a satisfied look as if he’d been waiting all day to spray me with whatever that stuff was.

  “You should be okay now, ma’am,” he said with a smirk.

  I was grateful and pissed at the same time. He could have given me a warning before spraying me, or better yet, he could have given it to me before we left the boat so I could do it myself. Either way, the bugs had stopped feasting on me, and now I could continue with the search. Just as I was about to feel a bit of comfort in this green pond of
mud and water we were walking through, something landed right on my shoulder.

  I felt as if I were in one of those horror movies where the guy who was about to be killed was arguing with his friends on what to do next, only to find the monster was right behind him.

  His friends would look terrified and he knew in his gut that the beast was there, ready to devour his soul. I looked at my shoulder and there it was, with its long legs and hideous-looking fangs. If I had to guess, I would assume it was one of those things that stuck to your face to implant an alien in your chest. A facehugger was what they’re called, I thought. Why did everything in this jungle want to kill me? Horror filled the depths of my soul as it motioned its fangs toward my face.

  “Oh my God, what is it? Get it off, get it off, get it off!” I screamed, running around in circles before tripping over a branch stuck to the bottom of the pond. I landed face-first into the mud, and the creature migrated to the top of my head to keep from getting wet. I shook with fear, hoping this thing didn’t kill me.

  “It’s all right, ma’am. It’s just a whip spider. They’re harmless to humans,” said one of the locals with us. I damned near fainted.

  “There is nothing all right about a freaking whip spider! For the love of all that is holy, get it off!” He took it off my head and threw it back into the trees. Still, my heart was beating fast as hell as I wiped away the mud from my eyes and face. I hadn’t even been out here two hours, and I was already filthy and had bugs trying to kill me. Of all the places that spider could have landed, it just had to be my shoulder.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to head back? We can continue without you,” said the midshipman. Did he think I was some kind of coward who couldn’t hack it out here? Granted, that spider had gotten the better of me, but I could press on as far as needed if it meant I could find Dante myself.

  “I’m all right. Let’s go,” I said, walking past him.

  Hours into the day’s search and walking this endless river, one of the locals signaled at us, waving his hands back and forth as if he’d found something. We ran over to his location, where he pointed across the lake, shouting in Portuguese. It looked like a piece of a torn parachute that had been shredded by the elements.

  We went to investigate and found two shoes next to the fragmented parachute. This area was miles from the crash site. Could the wind have carried him this far away when he jumped out? Or maybe this stuff belonged to someone else. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. They began to examine the fragments, and I said a prayer they didn’t find any limbs or a body.

  “This stuff has been out here a while, and it could very well belong to Dante,” said the midshipman. I headed over to see if I could recognize anything from the rubble.

  “Look there! The Cayman Roth logo on the part of the parachute that’s torn. You see it?” I pointed out enthusiastically. This was definitely his stuff. I was sure of it.

  “You’re right. How could the initial search teams have missed this?” he said. Regardless of what they did, this find gave me hope that he was out there somewhere and we were getting closer.

  “Look for body parts!” shouted one of the locals. Body parts? Insensitive prick!

  “What do you mean body parts?” I bellowed. He mumbled something in his native tongue and rejoined the group.

  “Listen, everyone. We don’t have much sunlight left. We should head to the extraction point. We’ll pick up the search tomorrow,” said the midshipman.

  He was right. They didn’t want to start the search so late in the day, but I insisted. Whatever sunlight we had I was going to make the best of it. In any case, it was getting dark and the last thing I wanted was to be out here at night. “I need everyone to gather all the stuff we found. If it’s Dante’s, then I want it,” I requested. They thought it was all useless junk, but it wasn’t to me. If it belonged to Dante, then I was keeping it regardless.

  We headed back to the rendezvous for pickup. It was nearly dark and I sure as hell did not want to be out here when the sun went down. That spider thing might come after me again to finish the job.

  Chapter 8

  Isabella

  The commodore thought it would be a good idea for me to stay ashore for the rest of the searches. The Amazonian forest was a beautiful place. I could only hope this place hadn’t done to Dante what I feared. So far, they had been able to find more wreckage from his crash that drifted some miles away from the original site. The landmasses here were plentiful, and there was no doubt in my mind he could have survived out here. When they did find him, I wanted to be the first person from civilization he saw.

  During our dinner date in Seoul, he’d told me about his time in the Boy Scouts and his yearlong travels with survivalists after he graduated college. Perhaps that was a reason he’d decided to survey this area himself. Maybe he missed nature. I just hoped nature hadn’t claimed him. Whatever survival training he’d received I expected would do him good.

  This was my first time in Brazil, and my Portuguese was sparse to nonexistent. When I first arrived and met with the commodore, he took me out on the initial search runs. He had ships looking around the riverbanks while most of the other searchers flew overhead by helicopter, looking for signs of life through the fog.

  If he was still alive, he would have at least tried to make a fire to keep himself warm. It had been a week and so far, nothing. I was still confident nonetheless. If he had been ejected from his helicopter, then I was sure he wouldn’t be anywhere near his original crash site. Maybe the wind blew him farther out when the storm hit. The locals I’d brought out here to help in the search had been kind to me so far, except that one guy and his sly comment about Dante’s body parts.

  I told them I would quadruple their pay if they found him, whether he was alive or . . . or gone. I didn’t even want to say the words. I refused to let them slip from my lips. He was alive, and I knew it. I could feel him in my bones. He was calling for me, just waiting to be found. I got frequent reports, at least once every five hours by my request, on the status of the search.

  They found things the initial survey’s by Gaspard didn’t notice. I could only surmise that they didn’t bother to look inside the forest areas where he’d most likely be. It was starting to seem as though they were more concerned with finding the wreckage than human remains. I should have come out here months ago.

  ***

  It was 3 a.m., and I couldn’t sleep. All I did was sit by my radio waiting for the latest update, hoping for them to say they’d found him and he was alive. I’d never asked fate for anything my entire life, but if fate could bring him back to me, I would be forever in its debt. I could hear the searchers on the radio, various channels open by my side as they scrabbled through the wilderness looking for clues and wreckage. As I nodded off, despite my best efforts to stay awake, I heard someone on one of the radio frequencies scream.

  “I found something, but it doesn’t look like it’s breathing!” they said.

  I nearly jumped out of my skin, eyes wide. I listened closely, trying to figure out what was going on, but most of what they were saying was in Portuguese.

  “What is it? What happened?” I screamed over the radio. Shivers overcame me while I waited for a response. Ten minutes, then fifteen, and now twenty, still no answer. “What the hell did you find? Someone answer me!” I was growing restless.

  “It’s here!” I heard shouted repeatedly. My heart beat faster as I readied myself to go out on the next boat to see what was going on. They found him. They finally found him! I had to go now.

  “Calm down, everyone, it’s just a dead alligator,” said one of the British officers on the same frequency. My heart sank into my stomach. I grabbed the radio next to my cot and started screaming in a fit of rage.

  “Do you know what you did? Do you have any idea what the hell you just did to me!”

  “Hello? Do you copy? Who’s on this frequency—over?”

  “It’s Isabella Kam. The reason you’re out he
re!” I tried to calm myself, but frustration got the better of me.

  “Sorry, ma’am. We didn’t know you were listening. We thought you were asleep.”

  “Of course I’m listening. I’m always listening. Don’t do that to me again. I thought you found him!” I threw the radio on the floor and fought back tears. I was an emotional wreck. How was I to sleep now with my heart racing? I couldn’t believe these people, going berserk over a damned alligator. I went downstairs to the bar to have a drink. Maybe that would calm my nerves a bit. Everyone was sleeping, and there was no one tending the bar, so I went ahead and fixed myself something.

  It wasn’t uncommon for people around here to mix their own drinks. I decided to purchase this little bar so I could be alone and drink by myself. The last thing I needed was to be surrounded by drunkards who liked to hit on me in their off hours. I didn’t feel the need to bring any bodyguards due to most of the locals here being somewhat friendly.

  It was now 3:45 a.m., and since I had been here, I’d probably had a total of ten hours of sleep a night. I was always hoping this would be the day they found him. I felt as though I was driving myself mad. As if I was obsessed. Was this what love was, an obsession to find someone even when they couldn’t be found?

  Had I been deceiving myself these last two years? Maybe everyone was right—maybe Dante was dead. How could I have allowed fate to take him from me? I should have been by his side from the day he told me he loved me. I held my love for him just as long as he had kept his for me.

  Two years he waited for me to leave my husband and come to think of it, he’d loved me his whole life. Since we were children. Nothing could tear our obsession for one another apart. If I did find him and he was alive, I would never leave his side ever again. I would love him, and only him, until death graced its cold fingers upon me, taking me into the hereafter—I swore it.