Chapter 5 - THE $62 MILLION TRAPCaptain Mercer stood ten feet away with the flare gun aimed at my chest.
A flare gun isn't designed as a traditional firearm.
At that distance, I wasn't interested in technical distinctions.
Adrian extended his hand.
"Phone."
Behind me, machinery thundered.
To my left, Maya stood perfectly still.
Vanessa hovered behind Adrian, suddenly looking much less confident than she had in the yacht office.
I tightened my grip on the satellite handset.
David was still connected.
Hopefully listening.
"What happens after I give it to you?" I asked.
Adrian smiled.
"We talk."
"You already explained your plan pretty clearly."
His jaw tightened.
"Claire."
"Did you know David froze the accounts?"
That did it.
For the first time, genuine panic crossed his face.
"What?"
"The sixty-two million."
Vanessa turned sharply toward him.
"What sixty-two million?"
Interesting.
Adrian hadn't told his mistress everything.
"Nothing," he said.
"Apparently it was something," I replied. "You tried transferring it to Captain Mercer's company."
Vanessa stared at Mercer.
Then Adrian.
"You told me the money would go to our account."
Adrian snapped, "Not now."
"No. Now."
Mercer looked irritated.
"Everyone shut up."
That was when I understood their weakness.
Greed had united them.
Greed could separate them.
I looked at Vanessa.
"Did he tell you Mercer gets paid before you?"
"Claire, stop," Adrian said.
"Did he tell you there's no three-hundred-million-dollar inheritance?"
Her face changed.
"What?"
"Most of my estate doesn't go to Adrian."
"She's lying," he said immediately.
"Call my lawyer."
I raised the phone slightly.
"He's listening."
Adrian lunged.
Maya shoved a metal cart between them.
Mercer fired.
The flare struck the ceiling.
A violent burst of red light exploded above us.
Smoke filled the corridor.
Fire alarms screamed.
Sprinklers activated.
Everyone moved at once.
Maya grabbed me.
"Run!"
We bolted through the smoke.
Behind us, Mercer shouted.
Adrian cursed.
The ship's alarm echoed through every deck.
Doors opened.
Crew members spilled into corridors.
Perfect.
Now Mercer couldn't quietly control everyone.
We reached the main crew mess.
Six crew members stood there confused.
Leo was among them.
"Captain says there's a fire," someone shouted.
"There is no engine fire!" Maya yelled. "Mercer fired a flare at us!"
Everyone froze.
Mercer appeared at the far end of the corridor.
"She's lying."
Arun Patel stumbled behind him with blood at the corner of his mouth.
He pointed at Mercer.
"He's not."
Silence.
That changed everything.
Mercer barked, "Return to emergency stations!"
Nobody moved.
I stepped forward.
"Captain Mercer and my husband planned to drug me and throw me overboard tonight."
A steward gasped.
Mercer raised the flare gun again.
Leo moved first.
He grabbed Mercer's wrist.
Two deckhands tackled him.
The flare discharged into the wall.
Chaos erupted.
Adrian grabbed me from behind.
His forearm locked around my throat.
I screamed.
Maya swung the wrench.
Adrian ducked.
He dragged me backward toward the stairwell.
"Move!"
Vanessa stood frozen.
"Adrian, what are you doing?"
"What does it look like?"
"You said nobody would get hurt."
I almost laughed despite the arm crushing my throat.
"You believed that?"
"Shut up!" he hissed.
We reached the upper deck.
Wind struck my face.
The yacht was moving fast.
Too fast.
Black water stretched around us.
Adrian pulled me toward the stern.
Exactly where he'd planned to murder me.
"You're destroying everything," he said.
"I thought I was terrible at improvising."
"Stop talking."
"What's your plan now?"
His breath came hard.
"Mercer has a tender."
"So you murder me in front of everyone and escape?"
His grip tightened.
"I haven't decided."
"Your planning quality has really fallen apart."
He shoved me against the rail.
The ocean churned below.
Fear finally overwhelmed my sarcasm.
One push.
One slip.
It could still happen.
"Adrian."
He stared at me.
Gone was the charming man from my wedding photographs.
His hair was wet from sprinklers.
His shirt torn.
His eyes wild.
"Why?" I whispered.
Maybe I shouldn't have asked.
But I needed to hear him say it.
"Why marry me?"
For a moment, he looked almost offended.
"Because I loved you."
My stomach turned.
"No."
"I did."
"You don't drug someone you love."
"You have no idea what it was like being married to you."
"We've been married six days."
"I mean being with you."
His voice rose.
"Claire Beaumont. Claire Beaumont's company. Claire Beaumont's yacht. Claire Beaumont's father's house. Claire Beaumont's money."
"So you hated being rich on my money?"
"I hated being nobody beside you."
There it was.
Not poverty.
Not desperation.
Ego.
"I gave you everything."
"Exactly."
His face twisted.
"You gave it to me. I wanted something that was mine."
"So you decided to steal mine."
"Don't pretend you've earned three hundred million dollars."
That hurt more than I expected.
Not because he was right.
But because it was almost exactly what strangers had said about me after my father died.
Adrian knew that.
He knew where the wound was.
He chose it deliberately.
Then Vanessa appeared behind him.
"Let her go."
Adrian turned.
She stood five yards away holding a champagne bottle like a club.
"You lied to me," she said.
Adrian laughed.
"Vanessa, don't be stupid."
"You told me you loved me."
"I do."
"You tried to send sixty-two million to Mercer."
"That was temporary."
"Everything with you is temporary."
His arm loosened slightly.
That was my chance.
I drove my heel down onto his foot.
Hard.
Adrian shouted.
I twisted free.
Vanessa swung the bottle.
It hit his shoulder.
Not his head.
But enough.
He staggered.
I ran.
Adrian recovered faster than I expected.
He grabbed Vanessa by the hair and shoved her down.
Then came after me.
I reached the side deck.
Maya and Leo rushed upstairs.
"Claire!"
Adrian saw them.
He changed direction.
Ran toward the bridge.
"He's going for controls!" Leo shouted.
We followed.
Captain Mercer had designed the final stage of his plan well.
Too well.
The yacht was already moving toward an isolated reef system.
If Adrian disabled engines or steering at the wrong moment, we could ground at full speed.
The bridge doors slammed shut before we reached them.
Locked.
Through the glass, I saw Adrian rush to the console.
He hit controls.
An alarm began screaming.
Maya looked at the navigation display.
Her face drained of color.
"What?"
She pointed.
Directly ahead, the black outline of reef appeared on radar.
"Five minutes," she whispered.
"Until what?"
"Impact."
Adrian looked through the glass at me.
Then he smiled.
And pulled back both engine throttles.
Nothing happened.
His smile vanished.
The throttles were locked.
I remembered my father's letter.
Three emergency overrides.
I pulled out the satellite handset.
David was somehow still there.
"Claire?"
"Can you access my father's remote vessel control system?"
"I've been trying."
"Hurry."
Inside the bridge, Adrian frantically hammered at buttons.
The yacht kept moving.
Four minutes.
Three.
Then every navigation screen turned black.
The engines slowed.
Adrian stared around in disbelief.
The vessel began turning.
Away from the reef.
David's voice came through the satellite phone.
"Your father left remote emergency authority with the trustee."
I laughed for the first time that night.
"David, I love you."
"Save it until you're on land."
Behind the bridge glass, Adrian looked directly at me.
He had lost control of my money.
He had lost control of the yacht.
He had lost Vanessa.
And now he was trapped.
Then Captain Mercer appeared behind us.
Blood covered one side of his face.
In his hand was a kitchen knife.
He grabbed Maya.
Pressed the blade against her throat.
"Open the bridge," he said.
Nobody moved.
May you like
Mercer's eyes met mine.
"Or she dies."
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