My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 801

Chapter 801

“I don’t need long.”

That was the difference. I didn’t need to own their system. I only needed to understand it. I pulled up the satellite image. The island appeared as a dark shape against darker water.

There was one proper dock, one main road, and one building. A secondary structure farther inland. No visible lights around the perimeter, no patrol vehicles, no boats moving nearby.

I studied it for another minute, “Put us down here.”

Ciro looked at the coordinates, “That’s not the island.”

“I know.”

“It’s open water.”

“I know.”

He looked at me through the mirror, “You want to land there?”

“Not land,” I pointed toward a darker stretch of coastline several miles from the island,.”We go low and stay off their approach.”

Ciro stared at the map, then he understood. We didn’t need to fly directly over the property. We didn’t need to announce ourselves. We didn’t even need to land near the dock.

The helicopter could get close enough to the island without becoming part of the island’s normal pattern.

The rest could be handled on foot. I opened the equipment case. Everything was still there. I checked each one without hurry. I secured the equipment and looked at the tracker.

The green dot had stopped, “She’s there.”

Ciro nodded.

I looked at the island again. For the first time since leaving Chicago, something inside me became completely still, it was not calm. Calm suggested peace.

This was different.

It was the absence of uncertainty.

I knew where she was.

That was all I needed.

“Kill the cabin lights.”

The helicopter went dark, the city disappeared behind us. Below, the ocean became one endless sheet of black.

Ciro reduced our altitude.

The aircraft moved toward the coast without the usual glow that announced its presence from miles away.

I watched the instruments, then the map, then the island, the property remained dark. I brought up the security feed one last time.

1/3

+15 Bgnus

Ten guards.

My mouth curved slightly, “Giovanni, you really should have hired more men.”

The island grew larger ahead. I closed the laptop. The screens went black. Everything I needed was already in my

head.

Ciro looked back, “How close?”

“Close enough.”

He lowered us farther. The helicopter moved through the darkness, staying away from the island’s direct approach.

There was no spotlight, but just the low vibration beneath my feet and the black ocean beneath us. The island remained unaware and that mattered because once they knew I was coming, their choices would change. /

I wanted them making the wrong choices.

I looked down at the tracker, the green dot sat inside the main building. My fingers tightened once around the edge of the seat, then relaxed.

Emotion was useful only when it told me something.

Right now, it told me one thing.

She was close.

I opened my eyes fully, “Take us in.”

Ciro adjusted the controls, the helicopter slipped toward the island. I watched the shoreline through the night- vision display.

Black became gray. Trees became pale shapes. The water looked almost white beneath the moon. Every movement stood out against the stillness.

I studied the island for several seconds, “Set us down on the west side.”

Ciro glanced at the coordinates, “There?”

“Yes.”

“There’s no landing area.”

“There’s enough ground.”

He gave me a look.

I ignored it.

The helicopter descended behind a line of trees, far enough from the main building that the sound would be swallowed by the wind and the surf.

The skids touched down. I didn’t move immediately. I listened but there was only the faint rush of water against the rocks.

I opened the equipment case and took out the night-vision goggles. I secured them, checked my communication channel, then looked at the tracker again.

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