Sixteen

"Are you two okay?"

I turn my head and see Terry with a pistol in his hand, with the others approaching us.

Thank god they are okay. Knowing Terry, she must have kept the others safe.

"Thea!" Effie cried and ran into my arms. Ares followed as we formed a Reid family group hug to wash the terrifying event away. I'm glad they are okay. Everyone is okay.

My heart is at ease.

"Are you guys okay?" I asked my baby sister.

Effie nodded and sniffled. Her eyes have been red from crying. "Yes, I have never been scared in my life."

"Same here."

I almost peed my shorts, but I'm not going to admit that with everyone here.

"We had the knocked-out ones tied up on the way to you guys. Was that your doing, bro?" Seth asked his older brother, impressed.

"It was no big deal." Rex smiled and gave Seth a high five.

"Where did those guys come from, and what did they want?" Ares asked, confused and shaken.

"No clue what their main motives are," Rex replied. "But the leader insists on taking the girls away and leaving us men swimming with the sharks."

"Are you fucking serious?" Logan growls. "They want to take the girls away and us guys dead? And for what? If Terry hasn't kept me in the dark. I would've taken those fuckers down. Then Effie and the girls would've been taken."

"I agree with you, bro," his twin responded, agreeing.

"Then both of you would've been dead," Lily clarified, then looked at Liam. "They had guns. Suppose something happens to you or Logan. I don't want our children to be fatherless."

Lily starts to quiver as she cries out. Liam is rational with his twin that they can take down those men.

"I admired your encouragement and trying to be heroes, but I agreed with Lily. I was scared when Rex fought them." I explain. "Your brother had a hard time with the leader. They were equally matched. If Terry hadn't shot him in the head, I would have lost my fiancé, and Jacob would have lost his father. So, think before you act. I know you two haven't joined the military, but Rex had military experience with your dad. You two are the youngest of five and already fathers. You two still have a life ahead of you. Don't jump to conclusions and make dumb shit."

The twins looked at each other, then at their partners, who held them in an embrace and said sweet words. I did the same with Rex, knowing I had almost lost him.

"But the major issue here is who sent them? Terry?" Ares glances at her.

We all looked at her as if she had another head on her shoulder. "Don't look at me." Terry had her hands up. "I may be the greatest hitman in the world and made a few enemies-"

"A few?" Lily retorted and cut her off with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay, a lot," Terry sighs, making it seem she is proud of being the highest hitman anyone has ever seen. "I can remember faces and names, and these men aren't ones I can recognize. I need to contact Kendall for facial recognition, on this yacht has cameras. Odin ensured he had it on video if anything happened to his grandkids during the trip. Let me call her."

Terry pulled out her phone and walked out of the group. Her voice was heard from a distance.

Everyone was under pressure from what had just happened. We would have almost lost our lives if it weren't for Rex and Terry. Don would've helped, but he's miles away watching his pregnant wife.

"Did you guys contact Don?" Rex asks.

"No, those assholes broke our phones," Liam groans. "Luckily, Terry had her spare device. But didn't contact Don or anyone until everything was safe."

"She said it's better not to alert Odin until she and her team get to the bottom of this," Seth added.

They were right.

Although we almost lost our lives, it's better not to get Grandpa stressed out. Right now, he's on a business trip dealing with the rest of the Black Order, who had escaped the raid after Eva's death. He and his elite team are hunting those still loyal to Eva.

Knowing Terry was the biological daughter of that psycho, she wanted to join the assignment, but Grandpa insisted she come with us and have a relaxing vacation. He knew someone like Terry was with us and the dangers that might happen during our break. She's the person to count on.

But we couldn't always depend on her. Terry needs a vacation.

"Do you think they are one of Grandpa's?" Effie asked Ares, who shook his head and shrugged in response.

"I don't think so," I answered, and just when I was about to think, I noticed one was missing, the one who hadn't spoken up after everything that had happened. "Um...guys? Where is Jo?"

Everyone had their heads up and turned their heads, looking for her.

"She was with us?" Lily claimed. "Jo was with Ares."

I look at my brother. "Ares?"

I watch the color of his face fade. "Shit!" He curses under his breath and dashes off.

"Ares!" I cried and followed him, along with Rex, Effie, and Logan behind me.

Ares stomps his way and searches from one room to another frantically.

"Jo!" He calls out loudly. "Jo, where are you?"

I did the same and screamed Jo's name. Everyone was looking for her on the yacht, but she gave no response.

I search for places where people could have hidden and others that are obvious to investigate. But she was nowhere to be found.

As I walked past, I glanced at the tied-up men Seth and the others had handled. I noticed something strange.

The men were out cold as I crouched down and counted. "There are supposed to be eight of them. Including the leader, but I only see six here."

"Thea," Effie stops. "Why did you stop?"

"Effie, when Seth and the guys tied these men up, were there seven of them?"

"No, we counted six. Why?"

My eyes grew wide as I ran off and headed to the lower decks.

"Ah, where are you going?" Effie followed me.

Rushing to the escape boats, I noticed one was missing. Usually, yachts have two or three escape boats in case of emergencies. Grandpa told us there were three, but they were all gone. The bastard had them on the loose so that we won't use them. I ran to where those men boarded the ship and saw their jet boat still docking beside it.

"Fuck!" I ran and regrouped with the others. Ares has returned and could see his anger coming off him. He had his head down and his hands fisted. Another guilt trip for not protecting Jo. "The boats are gone."

"What?" Rex says with a frown.

"How can that be? We were just there," Liam states.

"Well, apparently, one of those men had escaped with one of ours, then unhooked the others. He could have used him, but they make noise, so we would miss him leaving. He took the opportunity and took Jo away." I explained my theory.

"We have to go get her," Lily says in a frantic tone.

"But where?" Effie asked. "Even if we know that she was taken, they probably are ahead of us. We have no clue where to look."

I scratch my head and growl.

Effie is right.

There's a possibility that Jo was taken away far from the yacht. We are in the middle of the ocean, far from the main island. It's nothing but a vast ocean.

When all hope is lost, I fear for Jo's safety due to her condition. That's when Seth shouted. "Guys! Look!"

We all hit the rails as I squinted my eyes to see what Seth was pointing at.

From a distance, especially at night, I see the silhouette of a structure on an island.

"Is that?"

"That's an island," Rex answered. Then he disappeared, only to reappear with a map. He held a flashlight over it. "We are here, and this is where we are supposed to be anchored, but you see no island on the map."

"Do you think it's isolated?"

"Probably," he sighs and feels frustrated.

"Rex," Liam calls out. We look behind us. "Those bastards destroyed our engine and anchor."

"How the fuck did they do that?" He growls.

"No clue, but they are fucked," Logan added, then brushed his hair back. "It will take weeks to fix, but with nothing to use here on the yacht, it will take months. This was probably planned since the beginning we ventured out here."

"And Terry can't contact Don because the signal got lost," Effie says.

"But she has the best devices. It should be no issue."

"Yeah, but I think something is jamming the radar, bro." Liam, who is familiar with computers on this yacht, should help fix the problem. "I tried re-routing the signal with my computer, but that same jam broke it."

"What are we going to do?" I asked with a frantic heart, worried.

"Fuck!" Rex hit the rail with his hand as I tried calming his anger by rubbing his back. "Is this their plan? To have us stranded on a goddamn island. But why here?"

I watched my fiancé get frustrated and shaken. I knew something was up with those people on the dock before we left. They had us targeted from the very beginning.

The question is, why?

Why us?

Who is doing all this? What did we do to deserve to be targeted by some thugs?

As I question myself with no answers, our yacht continues to sail slowly closer to the mysterious island, where we can never expect the dangers that might come our way once we land.