Chapter 3 - ONE GENTLE PUSH
The wind nearly knocked me backward.
Flynn steadied me.
“Careful.”
I almost laughed.
Careful.
From the man preparing to murder me.
The aft deck stretched fifty feet behind us, slick with rain, illuminated by low amber safety lights.
Beyond the railing was darkness.
Nothing else.
No island.
No ship.
No rescue.
Fiona and Aidan remained inside behind the glass doors.
Watching.
Flynn walked me toward the stern.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Lightning split the horizon.
“It’s terrifying.”
He smiled.
“You always loved storms.”
Before tonight, maybe I had.
Now every wave looked like an open grave.
Flynn moved behind me.
His hands settled around my waist.
The recorder beneath my coat pressed against my ribs.
Make him talk.
Mara’s instruction echoed inside my head.
I leaned into Flynn.
“Why did you bring me out here?”
“For a memory.”
“What kind?”
“Our last honeymoon night.”
His voice changed on the word last.
My skin prickled.
I turned.
He looked almost peaceful.
“Flynn?”
“Yes?”
“I had the strangest dream.”
His expression sharpened.
“What dream?”
“That you wanted me dead.”
Silence.
Rain ran down his face.
Then he laughed.
“You definitely took too much medication.”
Too much.
I tilted my head.
“How much did you give me?”
His eyes hardened.
“I gave you what you needed.”
“For seasickness?”
“For sleep.”
“Why?”
The smile disappeared.
“You ask too many questions.”
There.
The mask was slipping.
I stepped backward toward the railing.
Flynn followed.
“Did you ever love me?”
His jaw tightened.
“What kind of question is that?”
“A simple one.”
“Of course I love you.”
“Three hundred million dollars’ worth?”
His entire body froze.
There it was.
The moment he knew.
Not suspected.
Knew.
Lightning flashed.
His face became something I had never seen before.
Cold.
Empty.
Almost relieved.
“How long?” he asked.
“Long enough.”
He glanced toward the glass doors.
His parents were still watching.
“You heard us.”
“Yes.”
“You should’ve stayed in bed.”
“You should’ve married someone you didn’t need to murder.”
Flynn stepped closer.
I backed against the rail.
“Where’s your phone?” he asked.
“You stole it.”
“Recorder?”
My heart skipped.
He lunged.
I twisted.
His hand caught my coat.
The recorder fell from beneath the fabric.
It hit the deck.
Flynn stared at it.
Then at me.
A slow smile spread across his face.
“That was clever.”
He crushed it beneath his shoe.
My stomach dropped.
But Mara still had her recording.
He didn’t know that.
“You think this saves you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He grabbed my wrist.
“You don’t understand how long I’ve waited for this.”
“How long?”
“Since before I met you.”
I forced myself to keep talking.
“What?”
His grip tightened.
“My father studied your family for two years.”
I stared at him.
“Our first meeting at the Meridian Foundation gala?”
“Arranged.”
“The broken elevator?”
“Arranged.”
“You helped me out.”
“I needed you to remember me.”
Our love story.
Every coincidence.
Every romantic accident.
Manufactured.
“You spent two years pretending?”
“Eighteen months.”
“You proposed after eleven.”
“You were easier than expected.”
The cruelty landed harder than I wanted it to.
He saw it.
Enjoyed it.
“You wanted someone who didn’t care about Sterling money,” he continued. “So I became him. Cheap restaurants. Weekend hikes. That ridiculous apartment downtown.”
“You said you hated private jets.”
“I love private jets.”
Despite everything, a hysterical laugh escaped me.
Flynn frowned.
“What’s funny?”
“I can’t believe I almost apologized for asking you to fly commercial.”
His mouth twisted.
“You always were embarrassingly sentimental.”
“Why kill my parents?”
“Because your inheritance structure is complicated while they’re alive.”
“And after?”
“You become controlling beneficiary of several family trusts.”
“For about five minutes.”
“Long enough.”
He pulled me closer to the rail.
I could barely hear myself over the storm.
“You won’t get the money.”
“I already have access.”
“Power of attorney doesn’t survive death.”
For the first time, he blinked.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“I think whoever taught you estate law was an idiot.”
His face changed.
Good.
Keep him angry.
Keep him talking.
“The document you signed gives me authority over Sterling Holdings interests.”
“Only under incapacity.”
“Which you’ve conveniently suffered for three days.”
I understood.
Drug me.
Create medical incapacity.
Use the power before my death.
Transfer what he could.
Then kill me.
“You’ve already moved money.”
Flynn smiled.
“Now you’re catching up.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Inside the cabin, Aidan tapped impatiently on the glass.
Flynn glanced over.
That was when I saw movement above us.
A shadow near the upper observation deck.
Alvarez.
Waiting.
I needed Flynn positioned closer to the port side.
I stepped sideways.
He followed.
“You know what your mistake was?” I asked.
“Trusting you?”
“Thinking you’re important.”
That struck.
Flynn’s face darkened.
“You’re just your father’s errand boy.”
“Careful.”
“Aidan planned this, didn’t he?”
“Shut up.”
“He chose me.”
“I said shut up.”
“He told you what to wear. What to say. When to propose.”
Flynn grabbed my throat.
Not enough to choke.
Enough to frighten.
“You have no idea what I built.”
“You built nothing.”
His eyes burned.
“I built the accounts.”
“Your father told you how.”
“I recruited the bankers.”
“Your father introduced them.”
“I got your signature.”
“Because your father told you where.”
His fingers tightened.
“You think Aidan respects you?”
“Stop.”
“He’ll take the money.”
“Stop talking.”
“He’ll leave you with your mistress and whatever allowance he decides.”
“SHUT UP!”
The door behind us opened.
Aidan shouted, “Flynn!”
Flynn spun.
“What?”
“You’re wasting time!”
Exactly what I wanted.
Father and son angry.
Egos exposed.
I looked at Aidan.
“Flynn says this was his plan.”
Aidan’s face went blank.
Flynn stared at me.
I smiled.
“He says you just followed instructions.”
“You lying—”
Aidan stepped onto the deck.
“Finish it.”
Flynn turned on him.
“I am finishing it.”
“Then why is she still standing?”
“Because she knows about the transfers.”
Aidan’s face changed.
“What did you tell her?”
“Nothing important.”
“You idiot.”
There it was.
A crack.
Flynn released me.
“What did you call me?”
“Do this now.”
“You’ve been ordering me around since we started.”
“Because every time I leave something to you, you make a mistake.”
Flynn stared at his father.
Behind the glass, Fiona looked horrified.
Not because they planned murder.
Because the family was fighting before the murder.
I took another step.
Closer to the flare location beneath my coat.
Aidan pointed toward me.
“She dies. Then we deal with everything else.”
Flynn looked at me.
Then back at him.
“You heard him, Evie.”
He reached for me.
I pulled the flare.
His eyes widened.
“What the hell—”
I struck the ignition.
Red fire exploded into the storm.
Flynn jumped backward.
I raised the flare above my head.
“ALVAREZ!”
Aidan lunged.
Before he reached me, floodlights slammed on.
The aft deck became daylight.
An alarm screamed.
Over the yacht speakers came Alvarez’s voice.
“SECURITY ALERT. ALL CREW TO AFT DECK.”
Flynn’s face collapsed in disbelief.
Then the two armed guards burst through the door.
One raised his pistol.
Everything happened at once.
Mara screamed from inside.
A crewman tackled Fiona.
Aidan grabbed me.
The guard shouted.
Flynn yelled, “Take her!”
A wave slammed the stern.
I crashed into the railing.
Aidan’s arms locked around my waist.
He tried to lift me.
I drove my elbow backward.
He grunted.
The flare fell.
Red sparks spun across the deck.
Then a gunshot exploded.
Someone screamed.
I turned.
Alvarez stumbled against the upper stairs.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
The armed guard aimed again.
Flynn seized me.
“Enough!”
He dragged me backward.
“Let go!”
“You wanted drama?”
His face was inches from mine.
“You got it.”
He lifted me toward the railing.
My feet left the deck.
The ocean roared below.
I grabbed his shirt.
“Flynn!”
“Goodbye, Evie.”
Then he pushed.
For one impossible second, I was weightless.
Rain.
Wind.
Lightning.
Flynn’s face above me.
Then black water swallowed everything.
The cold punched the air from my lungs.
I sank.
Deeper.
My coat dragged me down.
I fought it.
Couldn’t find the surface.
The yacht became a distorted glow above me.
My lungs burned.
I tore at the coat buttons.
One opened.
Then another.
I kicked free.
Up.
Up.
My head broke the surface.
I gasped.
A wave crashed over me immediately.
“AURORA!”
I screamed.
Nobody could hear.
The yacht was moving away.
Flynn’s plan had worked.
I was in the ocean.
At night.
During a storm.
Then something landed in the water near me.
A life ring.
A rope attached.
I grabbed it.
Someone above shouted.
“MRS. STERLING!”
Not Hayes.
Sterling.
Mara.
She was leaning over the lower platform.
“Hold on!”
The yacht suddenly accelerated.
The rope snapped taut.
I screamed as I was dragged.
Someone was controlling the engines.
Flynn.
Mara yelled something I couldn’t hear.
Then she disappeared from sight.
The rope began slipping through my numb fingers.
Ten seconds.
Maybe less.
I would lose it.
I wrapped the rope around my wrist.
The yacht surged again.
Pain ripped through my shoulder.
Then the engine sound changed.
A massive grinding noise shook the water.
The Aurora slowed.
Alvarez.
He must have reached engineering.
Hands grabbed me.
Crew members hauled me onto the lower platform.
I collapsed, coughing seawater.
Mara covered me with a blanket.
“You’re alive.”
I couldn’t answer.
Above us came screaming.
Then another gunshot.
Mara looked up.
“We have to move.”
“What happened?”
“Flynn took the bridge.”
My teeth chattered.
“Alvarez?”
“Shot, but alive.”
“Aidan?”
“Still with Flynn.”
“Fiona?”
“Locked herself inside the dining salon.”
The yacht rolled.
A warning alarm sounded from somewhere deep inside the vessel.
I stared at Mara.
“What is that?”
Her face went pale.
“Engine room.”
“What?”
She grabbed a radio.
“Engineering, report!”
Static.
Then a panicked voice.
“We’ve lost starboard propulsion!”
Another alarm.
“Fuel pressure falling!”
Mara looked at me.
I whispered, “Flynn.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“If we lose propulsion in these waves, we can still stabilize.”
“Then why are you scared?”
“Because somebody just opened the fire suppression valves in engineering.”
I stared at her.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning they aren’t trying to escape anymore.”
Thunder rolled.
May you like
Mara’s expression hardened.
“They’re trying to sink the entire yacht.”
