He smiled.
“Sweetheart?”
I forced my eyes halfway open.
“Lucas…”
He sat beside me.
“You look terrible.”
“I feel sick.”
His fingers brushed my forehead.
“You should sleep.”
I stared at him through barely open eyes.
For the first time since our wedding, I saw the man underneath the smile.
There was no love in his eyes.
Only calculation.
He kissed my forehead.
“Midnight isn’t far away.”
Then he left.
I waited.
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Then a shadow appeared beyond the balcony glass.
A woman.
She raised one finger to her lips.
I nearly screamed.
She opened the balcony door.
“Don’t make a sound,” she whispered.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Valery.”
She stepped inside.
“I work on this yacht.”
“You heard them?”
“I’ve been watching them for weeks.”
My heart stopped.
Valery reached into her jacket and pulled out an identification card.
“I’m an undercover investigator.”
She looked at the communicator in my hand.
“You sent the emergency signal?”
I nodded.
“Good.”
She lowered her voice.
“Because if we wait until midnight, you won’t survive.”
I stared at her.
“What do we do?”
“Leave.”
She pointed toward the rear of the yacht.
“There’s an emergency raft on the lower aft deck. We have less than an hour before they start searching for you.”
“What about the crew?”
“Most of them don’t know. The ones who do are being paid.”
She paused.
“And there’s something else you need to know.”
“What?”
Valery’s expression hardened.
“Your husband’s family has been doing this for years.”
She told me about her sister Samantha.
Samantha had married a wealthy businessman connected to the Abernathy family.
Six months later, she disappeared.
Her fortune vanished with her.
The police called it an accident.
Valery never believed it.
“I came aboard this yacht looking for evidence,” she said.
“Tonight, I found it.”
I looked at the communicator.
“Then let’s finish this.”
We waited until the yacht entered the outer edge of the storm.
Rain began hammering the windows.
The waves grew violent.
The family was distracted downstairs.
Valery opened the emergency hatch.
We slipped onto the lower deck.
Then we heard a voice.
“WHERE IS SHE?”
Lucas.
He had discovered I was gone.
“Check the suite!”
Footsteps thundered above us.
Valery released the raft.
It dropped into the black ocean.
“Go!”
I climbed down.
