Chapter 6 - The Son Aidan Buried

Declan’s boat could not safely come alongside in the storm.

Mateo ordered him to maintain distance until we knew whether his people were armed.

Declan laughed over the radio.

“Captain, everyone on your yacht is armed with something.”

“Answer the question.”

“Yes. We have firearms secured aboard.”

“Then stay off my vessel.”

“Your owner may disagree.”

Mateo looked at me.

I pressed transmit.

“I don’t know you.”

“Fair.”

“I don’t know if anything you said is true.”

“Also fair.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“You shouldn’t.”

That answer earned him more credibility than a promise would have.

Nora took the microphone.

“Where is Maeve?”

“Safe.”

“Put her on.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because Aidan monitors channels.”

Mateo said, “This channel is open enough that he may.”

Declan continued.

“Listen carefully. Aidan’s goal changed when Charles scheduled the Sterling board vote. He needs Evelyn’s voting authority before Monday.”

I asked, “How do you know?”

“Because the trust document was drafted by a lawyer who works for one of our sources.”

“Who?”

“I won’t name them over radio.”

“What happens if he gets my signature?”

“Mercer Strategic acquires proxy control over your shares.”

“And then?”

“He uses a coordinated debt position to force a board restructuring.”

Nora frowned.

“Debt position?”

Declan said, “Sterling Consolidated has more leverage than Charles disclosed.”

I knew the company carried acquisition debt.

Not enough to threaten control.

Or so I had been told.

“How much?”

“Nearly four billion.”

Lydia whispered, “Jesus.”

I grabbed the microphone.

“That is impossible.”

“Ask your father.”

“I will if I can reach him.”

“We can relay a call.”

Nora shook her head.

“Could be intercepted.”

Declan answered, “It will be.”

“How comforting,” I said.

“You need the truth more than privacy.”

I hated that he might be right.

Mateo’s radio beeped.

Arcturus reported maritime authorities had dispatched a patrol aircraft, but arrival would take more than an hour.

An hour.

On a yacht where the people trying to seize me were one door away.

Flynn knocked.

“Evelyn.”

I walked to the glass door but stayed several feet back.

“What?”

His voice came through the intercom.

“I know Declan is out there.”

Fiona stood.

“How?”

Flynn heard her.

“Mom?”

She covered her mouth.

Flynn’s expression changed through the camera.

“You’re with her.”

Fiona said nothing.

His eyes became cold.

“You betrayed Dad.”

Fiona pressed the intercom.

“Flynn, please stop.”

“He lied to you.”

“All of you lie.”

“I’m your mother.”

“You are a coward.”

She flinched.

I stepped in.

“Do not speak to her like that.”

Flynn laughed.

“And suddenly you care about her?”

“No. I care about what kind of man I married.”

His face hardened.

“You want truth?”

“Yes.”

“Declan killed someone.”

The radio behind us crackled.

Declan said, “That is true.”

We all turned.

I picked up the microphone.

“Who?”

“My mother’s driver.”

Fiona whispered, “No.”

Declan continued.

“When I was sixteen, Aidan’s men came for us after Maeve tried to expose Harbor Seventeen. We ran. Our driver was one of Aidan’s men. He pulled a gun. We fought. The car crashed.”

Nora asked, “And you survived.”

“Yes.”

“What about the driver?”

“No.”

“Maeve?”

“Injured.”

“How did you disappear?”

“Simon Vale arranged new identities.”

Nora’s eyes narrowed.

“Simon was in prison.”

“Not yet. He was arrested three weeks later.”

“Why didn’t he expose Aidan?”

“He tried.”

“My father said the same thing.”

Declan’s voice softened.

“Daniel Bell believed him.”

Nora looked down.

The salon door shook.

Flynn said through the intercom, “Declan is not rescuing you. He wants Sterling destroyed.”

Declan answered over radio, “Correct.”

I almost laughed.

“At least one man tonight can say what he wants.”

Flynn shouted, “He wants your family bankrupt!”

Declan said, “I want the truth public. Bankruptcy is Charles’s problem.”

I pressed my fingers to my temples.

“Enough.”

Both channels went silent.

I looked at Nora.

“What do you want?”

“To clear my father’s name.”

“Mateo?”

“To keep this vessel and everyone who isn’t trying to commit a felony alive.”

“Lydia?”

She looked offended.

“You.”

“Fiona?”

She whispered, “My son.”

“Which son?”

Her face crumpled.

“Both.”

I turned to the door.

“Flynn?”

He stared through the camera.

“What do you want?”

He took a long time to answer.

“You.”

“No.”

His jaw tightened.

“The money?”

“No.”

“The company?”

“Not exactly.”

“What exactly?”

He stepped closer to the camera.

“I want your father to lose what he took from mine.”

“So revenge.”

“Justice.”

“People use that word when revenge needs better clothing.”

His expression twisted.

“You don’t know what Charles did.”

“Then tell me.”

“He made Aidan carry the scandal.”

“Nora’s father went to prison.”

“Because Charles chose him.”

“Proof?”

“Dad has it.”

Nora whispered, “Of course he does.”

I asked, “What proof?”

Flynn looked past the camera.

“Open the door.”

“No.”

“I show you.”

“No.”

He smiled without warmth.

“Then you don’t want truth. You want safety.”

“Yes.”

That surprised him.

I continued.

“I want safety first. Truth second. You taught me the order.”

His face changed.

For a moment, I saw the man I had married.

Or the performance of him.

“I did love you,” he said.

I felt nothing.

“Past tense is finally honest.”

He closed his eyes.

Then the yacht lurched.

The engines dropped to idle.

Mateo ran to the controls.

“Engineering?”

No response.

He called again.

“Priya?”

Static.

Then Tomas answered, breathless.

“Captain, we lost fuel feed two. Someone opened the service manifold.”

“Can you isolate?”

“Trying.”

A warning alarm screamed.

Mateo swore.

“If both feeds go, we drift.”

“Toward what?” Lydia asked.

Mateo checked sea state.

“Nothing immediate. But we lose maneuvering.”

Declan’s voice came over radio.

“We can tow you.”

Mateo snapped, “Stay off.”

“Captain, this storm will put her beam to the waves.”

Mateo knew he was right.

I asked, “What is safest?”

He hated the answer.

“Controlled tow until we restore propulsion.”

“Then do it.”

“His boat comes close.”

“Do it.”

Mateo transmitted instructions.

Declan’s vessel approached our stern.

Through rain, figures prepared a tow line.

One was a woman.

Older.

Red hair streaked with gray.

Fiona saw her through binoculars.

Her hands began shaking.

“Maeve.”

Nora took the binoculars.

“Oh my God.”

Maeve Mercer was alive.

She stood on the bow of the fast boat like someone who had spent seventeen years preparing to return.

Then a gunshot cracked from somewhere below us.

Glass shattered.

Everyone dropped.

Mateo shouted, “Down!”

A second shot hit the exterior frame.

The fast boat swerved away.

Declan yelled over radio.

“Shooter on your port deck!”

Nora crawled to the monitor.

The camera showed Eli holding a handgun.

Flynn stood behind him.

I stared at the screen.

“Flynn.”

He looked horrified.

He grabbed Eli’s arm.

Another shot fired harmlessly into the air.

They struggled.

Fiona gasped.

“Flynn is stopping him.”

Mateo said, “Or trying.”

On the monitor, Aidan appeared.

He struck Flynn from behind.

Flynn fell.

Aidan took the gun from Eli.

He looked directly at the camera.

Then spoke into the intercom.

“Evelyn.”

His voice was calm.

“This has gone far enough.”

I crawled toward the console.

“What do you want?”

“You know.”

“My signature.”

“Yes.”

“And after that?”

“Everyone leaves alive.”

Nora whispered, “Lie.”

Aidan heard her.

“Miss Bell. Your father had the same problem. He never knew when to accept a deal.”

Nora went white.

“What did you do to him?”

“Nothing the court didn’t finish.”

“You framed him.”

Aidan laughed.

“Ask Charles.”

I pressed the intercom.

“My father isn’t here.”

“No.”

Aidan raised the gun toward Flynn, who was on his knees now.

“But my son is.”

Fiona screamed.

Aidan continued.

“You have ten minutes.”

“For what?”

“Come to the lower lounge alone.”

“No.”

“Then Flynn dies first.”

I stared at my husband on the monitor.

The man who had drugged me.

The man who had planned my disappearance.

The man who had just tried to stop a shot aimed at Declan’s boat.

Aidan smiled.

“After Flynn, the captain.”

Mateo said quietly, “Do not go.”

“Then Lydia.”

Lydia grabbed my arm.

“No.”

Aidan finished.

“Then your cousin.”

The monitor went dark.

The choice he offered was false.

I knew that.

But false choices still kill people when the person holding the gun controls the clock.

I looked at Nora.

“Find another route to the lounge.”

She understood immediately.

Mateo shook his head.

“No.”

“I’m not going alone.”

“You’re not going at all.”

“Then Aidan shoots Flynn.”

Mateo stared at me.

I said, “I don’t forgive Flynn.”

“Good.”

“But I’m not letting Aidan decide who deserves to live.”

Nora took the waterproof drive from her pocket.

“I have an idea.”

“What?”

“We give Aidan the one thing he wants more than your signature.”

“What?”

She looked at the old files on the isolated laptop.

“Charles Sterling’s confession.”

I frowned.

“We don’t have one.”

Nora met my eyes.

“No.”

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Then she looked toward the radio.

“But maybe your father is finally ready to make one.”