Chapter 3 - The Accident That Wasn'tFor several seconds, I couldn't understand what Captain Reed had said.
Not because the words were complicated.
Because my brain refused to accept them.
“Before the wedding?”
He nodded, grimacing as he shifted against the storage crate.
“The brakes.”
My mouth went dry.
Six weeks earlier, I had nearly driven off a mountain road outside Asheville.
I had been returning from a weekend at my parents’ cabin when the brake pedal suddenly went soft beneath my foot.
I remembered screaming.
The guardrail.
The smell of burning rubber.
I had pulled the emergency brake and somehow managed to stop against a muddy embankment.
The mechanic later blamed a damaged brake line.
Flynn had been devastated.
He had held me that night and cried into my hair.
“I almost lost you.”
Now I felt sick remembering it.
“How would you know?”
Captain Reed leaned his head back.
“I didn't. Not until tonight.”
He explained that Flynn had been drinking with his father earlier and boasting that the ocean would succeed where “the mountain failed.”
Captain Reed had overheard them.
Then Flynn had approached him privately with the bribe.
A falsified log.
A convenient story.
I wandered too close to the stern during bad weather.
I had been drinking.
I was sick from medication.
A tragic honeymoon accident.
When Captain Reed refused, Aidan attacked him from behind.
“Can you walk?”
“I think so.”
I helped him sit upright.
The wound looked painful but not catastrophic.
“We need the Coast Guard.”
“Emergency radio on the bridge.”
“Locked.”
His expression hardened.
“My first officer has the override.”
“Can we trust him?”
Captain Reed hesitated.
That hesitation gave me my answer.
His first officer was named Grant Mercer.
I remembered him as a tall, quiet man who seemed overly attentive to Flynn.
“Who else?”
“Chief engineer, Daniel Cho. Absolutely trustworthy.”
“Where is he?”
“Engine room.”
I helped Reed stand.
He nearly collapsed.
We weren't going far.
I found an emergency medical kit, cleaned the wound as best I could, then tucked him behind the storage crates again.
“I’ll find Daniel.”
“No.”
“I can't carry you.”
“You also can't wander around alone.”
“I've already been doing that.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Mrs. Callahan—”
“Evelyn.”
“Evelyn. Your husband controls the people on the upper decks, and at least one person has already assaulted me. Whoever goes upstairs may not come back.”
“Then I won't go upstairs.”
I took his crew radio.
He caught my arm.
“They may be monitoring that.”
“I know.”
I left the storage room.
The lower deck felt different from the luxury spaces above.
Hotter.
Louder.
Narrow corridors vibrated with the machinery keeping the yacht alive.
I moved toward engineering.
Lightning flashed through a small porthole.
The storm was closer.
If Flynn wanted bad weather to explain my disappearance, he was running out of patience.
I found Daniel Cho beside an electrical panel.
He looked surprised.
“Mrs. Callahan?”
“Captain Reed sent me.”
Daniel's face changed instantly.
“Where is he?”
“Alive.”
I told him what had happened.
The reaction was immediate.
He grabbed a wrench.
“No.”
I put my hand up.
“What?”
“If you walk upstairs carrying that, Flynn knows we've figured it out.”
“So?”
“So we need evidence.”
Daniel stared at me as if I were insane.
“Evidence?”
“My husband isn't doing this alone. He has a plan for my parents too.”
That silenced him.
I showed him the pills and Maya's sealed drink sample.
Then Captain Reed's radio crackled.
Grant Mercer's voice came through.
“All crew, severe weather procedure in effect. Guests are to remain in cabins until further notice.”
Guests.
Plural.
There were only four guests aboard.
Me.
Flynn.
Aidan.
Fiona.
Grant continued.
“Mrs. Callahan is unwell. If anyone sees her outside her cabin, return her immediately.”
Daniel looked at me.
“That's not normal.”
“I guessed.”
Then Flynn's voice came over another channel.
“Evelyn? Sweetheart?”
I froze.
He had commandeered crew communications.
“You're confused,” he said.
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Those pills have made you disoriented. Please tell someone where you are.”
His voice was gentle.
Loving.
Perfect.
To anyone listening, he sounded like a worried husband.
“You could hurt yourself.”
I realized what he was doing.
Creating witnesses.
If I ran around the yacht accusing him of murder, he would blame medication.
If I fell overboard afterward, everyone would remember how confused I had seemed.
Flynn was writing the story before killing me.
Daniel whispered, “We need to shut down his access.”
“No.”
He stared at me.
“Let him keep talking.”
I raised Reed's radio.
“Flynn?”
Daniel looked horrified.
Static.
Then my husband's voice.
“Evelyn.”
Relief flooded his tone.
“My God. Where are you?”
“I don't know.”
I deliberately slurred the words.
“I got lost.”
“Stay where you are.”
I glanced at Daniel.
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“Your cabin.”
Lie.
“Come get me.”
“I will.”
“Promise?”
“Of course.”
Another lie.
I leaned against the wall and forced a tiny laugh.
“Do you still love me?”
Daniel's expression tightened.
Flynn answered immediately.
“More than anything in this world.”
That one hurt.
Not because I believed him.
Because yesterday I would have.
I lowered the radio.
“What was that for?” Daniel asked.
“I want him to think the drugs are working.”
“And if he traces the radio?”
“Can he?”
Daniel grimaced.
“Not precisely.”
“Good.”
I handed it to him.
“Now tell me how we get proof.”
The yacht had cameras.
Dozens.
Hallways.
Decks.
Engine access.
Security stations.
But the private salon where I overheard Flynn had none.
Daniel explained that footage was recorded locally to a server in the technical room.
“Can Flynn delete it?”
“If he has administrator access.”
“He probably does.”
“My father gave us the yacht.”
Daniel looked at me.
“You think he has admin access?”
“No. I think I do.”
Dad had given me a folder after the yacht transfer.
Passwords.
Registration.
Insurance.
Technical information.
I had barely glanced at it.
Because Flynn always handled logistics.
Another mistake.
“What do you need?”
“The master code.”
I closed my eyes, trying to remember.
My father hated random passwords.
He used family references.
Something meaningful only we would understand.
Then I remembered the folder label.
ROSE-1948.
My grandmother Rose's birth year.
“Try Rose1948.”
Daniel typed.
ACCESS DENIED.
“Caps.”
He tried again.
ACCESS GRANTED.
Daniel stared at me.
“Your father needs better cybersecurity.”
“For once, I'm grateful he has terrible cybersecurity.”
We pulled up the camera archive.
I searched backward.
Six hours.
Eight.
Then we found it.
Flynn and Aidan entering the captain's office.
No audio.
Minutes later, Aidan came out.
He checked both directions.
Then Grant Mercer appeared.
My heart sank.
Grant helped Aidan drag Captain Reed’s unconscious body toward the service elevator.
Three conspirators.
Confirmed.
“Save it.”
Daniel copied the video onto two drives.
“Can we upload it?”
“Satellite link is blocked from guest access, not systems.”
“Can you send it?”
“Maybe, if they haven't changed engineering permissions.”
“To whom?”
I thought of my father.
Then stopped.
If Flynn was watching communications, contacting my parents could accelerate the threat against them.
I needed someone outside the family.
Someone Flynn wouldn't anticipate.
“My attorney.”
“Name?”
“Naomi Brooks.”
Daniel opened a secure maintenance connection.
I typed quickly.
NAOMI. EMERGENCY. FLYNN PLANS TO KILL ME TONIGHT. THREAT AGAINST MY PARENTS. CONTACT FEDERAL AUTHORITIES AND COAST GUARD. DO NOT CONTACT FLYNN. TRACK YACHT. EVIDENCE ATTACHED.
I uploaded the video.
The loading bar moved.
Twenty percent.
Forty.
Sixty.
Then stopped.
CONNECTION LOST.
“No.”
Daniel typed rapidly.
“What happened?”
“Satellite antenna manually disabled.”
“From where?”
He looked upward.
“Upper deck.”
Of course.
The message hadn't sent.
Footsteps suddenly echoed outside engineering.
Multiple people.
Daniel killed the monitor.
“Hide.”
I ducked behind a machinery cabinet.
The door opened.
Grant Mercer entered with Aidan.
Daniel faced them.
“Problem?”
Grant smiled.
“Looking for Evelyn.”
“Haven't seen her.”
Aidan walked slowly through the room.
“We know she's down here.”
I pressed one hand against my mouth.
He moved closer.
And closer.
Then stopped inches from where I was hiding.
“Funny thing about rich girls,” Aidan said.
“They spend their whole lives believing somebody will always come rescue them.”
Daniel said nothing.
Aidan chuckled.
“My daughter-in-law is about to learn otherwise.”
His shoes turned away.
Then Grant spoke.
“Storm hits in thirty-five minutes.”
Aidan answered.
“Then Flynn needs her on deck in thirty.”
They left.
Daniel waited until the footsteps disappeared.
I emerged.
Thirty minutes.
That was all I had.
Then I noticed something on the monitor.
The interrupted upload.
Status:
VIDEO FILE — 61% TRANSMITTED.
My message hadn't reached Naomi.
But maybe part of the attachment had.
I looked at Daniel.
“Can they tell we tried to send something?”
His silence answered me.
Then alarms began sounding throughout the yacht.
Not storm alarms.
Fire alarms.
Daniel's face drained.
“That's coming from the engine room.”
Smoke began creeping beneath the door.
And suddenly I understood Flynn's backup plan.
May you like
If he couldn't find me before the storm...
He was going to burn me out.
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