“Let’s talk about it later. Believe it or not, I only want the best for you.”

“I’m not a child, Eban. Don’t treat me like one.” She sounded tired. “I think I might be cursed, just like the island.”

Damn. “It’s not your fault these things have happened to you, Darby.”

“I never thought it was my fault, but they keep happening and I’m sick of being a victim.”

“You’re a survivor not a victim.”

“I’m both,” she retorted angrily. “Stop making me sound braver than I actually am.”

For once he had no idea what to say.

She gave him an easy out. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I haven’t even thanked you for dropping everything and coming up here to help me. I suck.”

“You don’t suck. You’re amazing.” He swallowed the regrets that crowded his throat. “I’m sorry I was so far away to start with.”

She blinked, clearly taken by surprise.

“But we need to concentrate on figuring out this mess before we deal with anything else.” He quickly switched back to a neutral topic. Murder. “Can you think of anyone who might have a grudge against you or Martin?”

She shivered. “No. None that I know about. Martin was well-liked in the department.” Her eyes went wide. “Besides Hurek, I suppose. Except I think it’s more of me having a grudge against him than the other way around.”

Darmawan Hurek had been the leader of the terrorist group who’d abducted her last year. He’d escaped before the FBI could arrest him. Most of his men had been killed.

“This isn’t connected to Hurek.”

Darby raised her fine-winged brows at him. “How do you know?”

“It’s not his style for one. Plus, he’s on the FBI’s most wanted list so sneaking into the country isn’t that easy.”

“Not impossible though, given the coastline and Canadian border.”

Eban nodded, conceding the fact. “It’s still not his style. If he got hold of you, he’d want you to know it.”

Darby shuddered, and he wished he hadn’t been quite so frank. The guy would revel in her fear and torment.

“Quentin is reaching out to see if there are any updates or recent sightings of the guy. I doubt he’d come here, especially in the winter.” Eban cleared his throat. “Were either you or Martin seeing anyone else?”

“You know I wasn’t.”

“Not even Martin?” Eban kept his tone calm, as if it really wouldn’t matter to him if she was dating other people. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel judged by him when he’d repeatedly balked at a more intimate relationship.

“I wasn’t seeing Martin.” She looked incredibly sad. “I admit I had thought about kissing him in the past, maybe even sleeping with him. More to get it over with than because I was attracted to him. Which wasn’t fair. He was nice. We liked each other but there was no spark.”

“Darby…” The woman was breaking his heart.