The Vines by Shelley Nolden (ebook and pdf reader .TXT) 📕

“Who the hell do you think you are? Where is he?” The wind from the approaching storm whipped her hair, and she gathered it away from her face. “Put him on.”

“He needs to rest. I know it won’t seem this way, but what I’m about to do to him: it’s to save you, too.” The call disconnected.

Screaming, Lily flung her phone and it ricocheted off the brick wall.

Afraid she’d broken it, she rushed over and flipped open the glowing screen.

Instead of feeling relieved, a sudden heaviness pulled her to the ground, and she began sobbing.

Almost every night since Sylvia’s birthday party a week ago, Finn had stayed late at his office. Apologizing for needing the time alone, he’d repeatedly reassured her that he would explain everything once he knew more, after this second visit to the island. She’d assumed he’d been researching how those bats and syringes related to his family’s work. Secretly, Lily had done the same.

She’d learned that bats are ideal hosts for deadly pathogens. In their search for food, they cover vast areas, dropping feces that can land on other animals’ food sources. In 2004, scientists from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology found a cave in the wilderness of Yunnan Province that was home to bats carrying hundreds of coronavirus strains. One of those strains matched the virus responsible for the SARS outbreak. Only about half a mile stood between that cave and the nearest village. Its exact location: a well-protected secret.

Lily hoped to God that those bats in the Gettlers’ shed hadn’t come from that cave, via the black market. Regardless of their source, their presence was problematic. During her Internet searching, she’d read about three subsequent smaller SARS outbreaks. The World Health Organization believed that they’d all originated from failures in safety procedures at virology laboratories. If even those top institutions’ containment procedures had been flawed, then the security of the Gettlers’ off-the-grid operation couldn’t be ironclad.

Where did those bats wind up? Lily wondered for the gazillionth time. She’d assumed that Finn’s determination to return to North Brother related to that very question. Dread that Rollie was using the abandoned island to secretly house those bats pooled in her stomach.

If those bats were carrying a coronavirus, or another disease, such as Ebola, and one escaped . . .

Considering her and Sylvia’s medical issues, the notion of a respiratory disease outbreak in New York City freaked her out.

To fend off a panic attack, Lily forced herself to breathe slower. She was jumping to conclusions, she told herself. Then again, maybe Rollie was crazy, and a threat to public health. Clearly Finn was concerned about that possibility.

Long before she’d glimpsed that cage through the shed window, Lily had suspected something was off with his family. It didn’t require a psychology degree to realize that any family who believed it had been ordained to unearth a chemical compound that would lead to a universal vaccine or cure had serious problems. But it had been more than that.

Rollie’s questions about her medical history, values, and commitment to Finn, seemingly whenever the two of them were alone, had begun the night they’d met, when Finn had stepped away to use the restroom during dinner at a Cal Poly restaurant. The covert looks, too, made her feel like Rollie was constantly assessing her suitability for his son.

She knew that his father’s approval mattered a great deal to Finn. So, for Finn, she’d tried to win Rollie’s favor. And, admittedly, for herself as well. All her life, she’d been longing for a dad, and she’d found one in Rollie by disregarding her gut instinct to stay clear.

Two years ago, Leonard had finally confessed that having a toddler with brain cancer had been too much for him. As if that justified his relocation to Los Angeles before she’d finished her third round of treatment. “I thought you were going to die,” he’d informed her while asking for forgiveness twenty years after the fact. She’d told him she’d think it over. As long as she had Rollie, it had been easy not to.

But had she really been ignoring her instincts? Lily wondered. Her stated reasons for refusing to commit to Finn were legit; he deserved a healthy wife and biological children. Yet, if she truly believed that he’d be happier with another woman, wouldn’t she have already forced him to move on? There had been another factor at work within the shadows of her subconscious, fueling her fear of commitment.

Cora’s ominous words had given her permission to recognize a feeling she’d smothered for years. The notion of marrying into a family so tightly bound by loyalty, secrecy, and reverence for its patriarch frightened her.

While she liked Kristian, whom she knew genuinely cared about her health and happiness, she had been quietly observing his wife. Hannah always seemed on edge around Rollie. Even Milo showed an unusual amount of deference to him.

That same man would likely find out that Finn had broken his edict to stay off the island if she did call Kristian, which was beginning to look unavoidable. Regardless of any possible truths behind Coraline’s insinuations about marrying into the Gettler family, Finn was in danger.

Picking at her nails, she considered notifying the police instead, which would land Finn in jail.

Rising, she began another lap. To solve this, she needed more information. The only way to achieve that was by calling the woman back.

Holding her breath, she pressed the speed dial button and waited.

With each ring, her heart rate accelerated.

The call connected with a click.

“You need to stay away from them.” That same, hoarse voice.

Lily’s stomach clenched, but she wouldn’t be pushed around. “Put Finn on.”

“No,” Coraline breathed heavily. “This project poisons their souls. I can see Finn’s a good man, but he won’t stay that way.”

“You’re wrong,” Lily said with a snarl. “You don’t know anything about him.”

“I’m sorry, for what I’m about to do.”

“What the fuck does that mean?!” Lily shouted into