Jon shook his head. ‘Why didn’t you leave this to me like I asked you to? You would’ve had your brother back, I would’ve been rich and no one would’ve been any the wiser.’

I stared at the man I’d considered one of my dearest friends. The man whom I’d confided in over the years as if he were my confessor. I didn’t know him at all.

‘You must’ve known your plan was doomed to failure,’ I told Jon. ‘Did you really think that, with all of Tobey’s resources and connections, he wouldn’t find his daughter before the ransom was due?’

Jon shrugged with false nonchalance. ‘Once I knew Eva had taken over my kidnapping scheme for some nonsense political agenda, it was my duty to take it back. I couldn’t give a shit about Tobey and Dan and who did what to who. All I want is my money.’

‘Why did you even come here?’ asked Tobey. ‘You must’ve suspected that your plans had been shot out of the water.’

‘You’re right. I knew there was a risk that my involvement was now known, but I decided to follow the cash.’

‘So you’re only here because you knew I would be?’ asked Tobey.

‘Don’t flatter yourself,’ said Jon. ‘You and I could conduct our business over the phone from different continents if necessary. No, I needed to be where Callie is. She’s the only one I could use to force you to transfer money into my bank account. So here we all are.’

‘You’re the one who killed my men at Gurendah Harbour, aren’t you?’ said Eva evenly.

‘Unavoidable, I’m afraid,’ said Jon.

‘I’ll be sure to thank you and yours properly for that.’ The wink Eva bestowed on Jon made my blood run cold. I stared at my friend, even now unwilling to believe it of him. I’d read the online story of the two bodies found in a house at East Gurendah Harbour a few hours ago. Jon did that?

‘Who are you?’ I asked him.

‘Says the woman who’s never had to scratch for money a day in her life,’ said Jon with bitterness. ‘What would you know about going without? I read all your online journals and they were a joke. Yearning for and harping on about trivial bullshit. You’ve never struggled to pay a bill or put food in your stomach.’

I stared. ‘How did you access my password-protected journals?’ I asked sharply. I hadn’t updated them in years, but the mere fact that he knew about them, let alone had read them, made my cheeks burn fiery hot.