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to be mentally prepared for anything. The honest truth was, however, she was already running on fumes and had been from the moment she’d woken up in Shane’s beach house. But there’d been no time to sleep, even during this five-hour flight on, yes, the world’s nicest plane.
    It’s like a five-star hotel suite in the sky —extra-large, beige leather seats, a workspace, kitchenette, and satellite TV.
    She still found it difficult to digest Roen’s two very contrasting worlds—one the epitome of wealth, power, and success. The American dream. The other savage, deadly, and, well…crap, they had monsters, mermen, and a living island. The universal nightmare. There couldn’t be two more different worlds, yet Roen had managed to walk in both, be a leader in both, and be the man she loved in both. Which was precisely why she’d broken her parents’ hearts and left, only leaving a note to say she was okay, but needed some time alone. It was also why she was about to risk her life to save him. She just hoped she wasn’t too late. And if a hair on Dana’s head had been harmed, Liv would make them all pay. How?
    Hide the butter knives.
    First, however, she’d had to get up to speed. Because apparently, while she’d been indisposed, a story about the discovery of “the Fountain of Youth” had spurred a massive search for El Corazón. And she had a damned solid clue which particular human had started those rumors.
    It was the ER doctor in Wrangell who’d been on call when Liv’d been punished by the island for breaking her promise not to tell anyone about its inhabitance. In Liv’s defense, she’d been so messed up in the head after being shipwrecked on El Corazón and after leaving Roen behind—his choice, not hers—that she’d been going mad. She’d later learn it was because mates who were separated after finding each other went a little crazy. But the moment Liv had spoken the word “mermen” to her therapist, the island let her have it. Convulsions, burning in her veins, the inability to breathe. How did Crazy Dirt do it? Liv had no clue. But the punishment didn’t stop at giving her a massive painful seizure on the therapist’s office floor. Crazy Dirt went after Dana, too, landing her in the ER with respiratory failure. That was when Liv used a vial of sacred water she’d taken back from the island to heal her sister. Unfortunately, Liv left the vial behind, and it snowballed from there. Dr. Fuller found it and sent the remaining few drops to a lab. Why? She’d been suspicious when her patient miraculously healed. Later, Dr. Fuller would confront Liv and confess that she’d also had repeated dreams about a miracle water that could cure any illness. Then the tabloids somehow got wind of the lab reports, and the legend of the Fountain of Youth was born.
    Now, over five hundred fishing boats and yachts filled with treasure hunters, desperate souls, and good old-fashioned opportunists were looking for the island.
    And they’re all crazy people . Because only crazy people would actually believe a tabloid story and then hop on a boat in search of the mythical Fountain of Fucking Youth. From what she’d seen in the news articles online, they were close, too. A few hundred miles too close. It was only a question of time before one of them got lucky and ran right into the place. Which was why signing the bank transfer had been critical, just like Phil said. Roen had already told her his plan to hire private security to keep people away once he held the title.
    Roen was a smart, smart man. Don’t hide the island, just treat it like your private, secluded getaway. Trespassers unwelcome.
    “Miss Stratton?” the female pilot—a Judy or Janna something—said over the intercom. “We see a landing strip.”
    What the hell ? Liv rushed from the cabin into the cockpit. The pilot pointed straight ahead toward a long strip of cleared land. The sun was just now dipping into the water toward the west straight