Chương 8
The way he always redirected conversations about his finances.
The way he became nervous whenever my father asked about his work.
The clues had existed.
I just had not wanted to collect them.
“Did you plan this from the beginning?”
“No.”
I looked back at him.
“I met you because of your family.”
The honesty hurt.
“But I loved you before I realized what your family meant.”
I shook my head.
“You don't get to separate those things.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He looked older than he had that morning.
Not physically.
Something else.
Like the person he pretended to be had finally become too heavy to carry.
“I loved you,” he said.
I said nothing.
“I also made choices that put you in danger.”
The sentence stayed with me.
Because it was the first time he had not asked me to forgive him.
He was simply admitting the damage.
The alarm sounded again.
Different this time.
Sharper.
The officer's voice cut through.
“Ms. Sterling, we have a problem.”
I turned immediately.
“What?”
“The yacht has lost external communication.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“Someone disabled the satellite connection.”
“Can you fix it?”
“Not remotely.”
A horrible understanding formed.
Someone wanted us isolated.
“Who has access?”
The officer answered carefully.
“The captain.”
My eyes moved toward the door.
“Captain Reyes?”
“Yes.”
I knew him.
He had worked for my father for eight years.
He had been the person who taught me how to navigate the yacht.
The person who once yelled at me for standing too close to a storm railing when I was twenty.
I hated that every trusted person now came with a question mark.
Flynn noticed my expression.
“Evelyn.”
“What?”
“There's something else.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He hesitated.
That hesitation was different.
Not hiding.
Fear.
“My father didn't just bring me onto this.”
He looked toward the hallway.
“He brought someone else onto the yacht.”
“Who?”
Flynn's eyes moved toward the ceiling.
Toward the upper deck.
“The person who has been controlling the captain.”
A sound came from above us.
A heavy impact.
Then another.
The yacht shifted slightly.
The lights flickered.
The security officer spoke urgently.
“Ms. Sterling, move away from the windows.”
I stepped back.
“Why?”
Because the officer answered before I asked the next question.
“Because someone just opened the fuel access compartment.”
I stared at the ocean outside.
The beautiful blue water that had surrounded us since the beginning.
The water Flynn planned to use as my grave.
Now I understood something.
The plan had never been only about pushing me overboard.
That was just the simplest version.
Someone had been preparing the entire yacht.
And whoever was behind it was no longer waiting for midnight.
The yacht tilted slightly beneath my feet, and for the first time since discovering Flynn's betrayal, my fear became something different.
It became focus.
Fear made you freeze.
Focus made you move.
“Where is the captain?” I asked.
The security officer answered immediately.
“Bridge level.”
“I need to get there.”
“No.”
The answer was firm.
I looked toward the speaker.
“No?”
“You cannot move through the yacht without knowing who is controlling access.”
I looked at Flynn.
He understood before I spoke.
“We need to find another way.”
I hated that he was right.
I hated that the person who helped destroy my life was standing beside me as my best chance of surviving it.
The door opened wider.
Flynn stepped inside slowly.
I almost told him to leave.
The words reached my mouth and stopped.
Not because I forgave him.
Because the yacht moved again.
Harder this time.
A glass on the table fell and shattered.
The sound made all of us turn.
A small, ordinary sound.
The kind that would have meant nothing yesterday.
Now it sounded like a warning.
Flynn looked at the broken glass.
“He started early.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
I stared at him.
“You're sure?”
Flynn nodded.
“Aidan always wanted control.”
He looked toward the ceiling.
“But Daniel wants something else.”
“What?”
Flynn's face tightened.
“Erasure.”
The word felt heavier than murder.
Because murder ended a life.
Erasure attempted to remove the existence of one.
My family.
My father's company.
Everything he built.
Everything connected to his name.
The speaker crackled.
Then a new voice filled the room.
Not the security officer.
Not the captain.
A man's voice.
Calm.
Older.
Familiar in a way that made my stomach turn.
“Evelyn.”
I stopped breathing.
Daniel.
My uncle.
“I know you're listening.”
Flynn went pale.
“How?”
Daniel continued.
“You always were curious.”
I moved closer to the speaker.
“You tried to kill me.”
A pause.
Then a tired sigh.
“That's a dramatic way to describe a necessary situation.”
My hands curled into fists.
“Necessary?”
“Yes.”
The calmness made me angrier than shouting would have.
“Explain.”
“I spent thirty years protecting the Sterling name.”
I almost laughed.
“By destroying it?”
“Your father was destroying it.”
The words hit unexpectedly.
“What?”
“Your father became obsessed with finding betrayal everywhere.”
Daniel's voice hardened slightly.
“He stopped trusting everyone.”
I looked at Flynn.
That was the cruel irony.
My father had been right to be suspicious.
But Daniel was using my father's caution as evidence against him.
“He found out about you,” I said.
“Yes.”
“And you decided to kill him.”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
“I decided to stop him.”
The distinction meant everything to Daniel.
Not to me.
“How?”
Silence.
Then:
“By making sure he could never expose what he didn't understand.”
I felt cold.
“What happened to my father?”
“He is alive.”
The relief was immediate.
Then suspicious.
“Where?”
Daniel ignored the question.
“He made the mistake of believing evidence was enough.”
The yacht shook again.
Flynn stepped closer.
“Evelyn.”
I looked at him.
“We need to move.”
Daniel heard.
“Flynn.”
The way he said his name made Flynn stop.
“You really thought you could save her?”
Flynn said nothing.
Daniel laughed quietly.
May you like
“You were always weak.”
Something changed in Flynn's face.
