Sam

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I RAN ALONG THE EDGE of the ship, slipping my gun from my holster. The boat was listing far to the right, and it made it hard to trek the deck without having to hang on. No matter what the hell had happened, we were going to have to abandon the boat. Derek’s yacht was going down no matter if this was an accident or intentional.

But I had a feeling it was intentional.

I found the staircase heading downstairs, and the crew was scurrying up it. There was smoke pouring from the opening as I holstered my gun. I held my hand out, dragging the crew up the last of the steps as they ran for the lifeboats. People were coughing and screaming, and I could see tongues of fire flickering from below.

An explosion had occurred, and the entire lower portion of the ship was being engulfed.

“Call for the Coast Guard! We’re going to need help!”

I covered my face with my arm and ran down below the deck. If anyone else was trapped down there, I still had some time to get to them. I walked around, hacking and coughing as my eyes began to water. I could hear the security guards above the deck yelling for people to get into their lifeboats.

Then I heard Derek yelling for me.

“Sam! Sam! Where are you!?”

I had to ignore his voice. I knew he was panicked and worried, but I had to make sure no one was trapped down here. I walked around, darting into the small kitchen to see if I could find where the fire originated from. My first thought was the kitchen. That would’ve been the easiest to conceal, especially with having gas stoves on board. I rushed over through the thick haze of smoke, knowing I was getting closer as the smoke grew thicker.

And still, Derek was yelling for me.

“I’m not getting off this damn boat without you, Sam! I’m coming down!”

That man was as fucking stubborn as they came. I threw open the ovens, trying to see through the thick fog barreling from below deck. I was choking on the lack of oxygen, on the ship being burned and going under. Water was gathering up to my ankles as I sloshed around, looking at the knobs on the stoves.

But none of them were turned on.

The fire wasn’t originating from the kitchen.

I could hear Derek tussling with someone above ground. The security guards were probably trying to get him onto a boat. I sloshed along the floor, dipping below the smoke as I caught my breath. I swam across and threw open the bathroom door, making sure no one was down here. I was about to abandon the ship altogether when I got to the stairs, ready to get off this death trap and back into Derek’s arms.

Then, I heard it.

The smallest groan coming from the very back of the ship.

“Sam, please!”

I looked up and saw Derek’s eyes as he pleaded with me.

“Take my hand. The ship’s sinking.”

“Get on the lifeboat. I’ll be there in a second,” I said.

“What? Sam, are you crazy?”

“Someone’s down here, and I’m not leaving them!”

I pushed off the stairs as Derek continued to fight with someone. I heard him cursing and shouting for me, and I tried to block him out. I swam toward the groan, getting closer as the water rose higher and higher. I could feel the instability of the boat as it continued to tip onto its side.

But then, I felt the weight of the hull give way.

“Fuck,” I said. “This ship’s going to split.”

I threw open the very last door I came to. Nothing but a closet and a storage place for mindless shit. But there, floating around in oblivion, was one of the security guards.

“Come on. I got ya,” I said.

Throwing my arm around the man’s body, I dragged him from the closet. I could feel the ship’s weight severing the boat. I raced toward the staircase and pulled the man up, his cough sputtering ocean water up this throat. I yelled for some guards to help me with this man as Derek yelled for me, spotting me on the deck of the ship as he was pushed toward a life raft.

“Sam! Sam!”

I tugged him over to where Derek was, and I could see the fire in his eyes. He was angry and worried, and he helped me gather the man into the boat. Someone shoved a life vest over my head as they threaded it around my body, buckling me in as some random guard dragged the man into the ship.

Then I felt a tight grasp on my wrist before I was pulled.

“Derek!”

“I’m not letting you go again. Get on this fucking boat, Sam.”

I fell into the inflatable raft just before we pushed away from the ship. I held the security guard tightly in my grasp as Derek cradled me against his heaving body. There was a very scared chef on our boat with us, his eyes watching the ship as the last of the security guards made it off.

I could only watch in horror as the rest of the ship went up in flames.

“What the hell’s all this?” Derek asked.

That was a strange question to ask.

“There was an explosion below the deck,” I said. “Consumed everything in fire. Blasted holes in the side of the boat, I’m sure. It’s why we started taking on water.”

“And was there any reason for you to go below deck and risk your life? Again?”

“You mean to save the man in my arms? No, Derek. No reason at all,” I said.

“What a waste.”

“Seriously?” I asked.

“Yeah. I had this nice outing planned for us. Romantic. Filled with fireworks. I proposed a new job to you that would set you up for life. You know, the usual that comes with me. Then, my yacht has to go and sink.”

I furrowed my brow as I turned toward him and took in the annoyance written all over his face. He wasn’t upset. He was scared. He wasn’t even the least bit worried.

The man was annoyed.

“You’re annoyed.”

“Of course, I’m annoyed,” he said. “A sinking ship wasn’t really in my plans for the evening.”

I laughed, shaking my head before a bombastic cracking sound rang out. I whipped my head around, watching as the ship split into two and upended in the middle of the ocean. More of the hull was exposed, and it gave me enough of a view to see the flames spewing out from the massive holes in the side of the ship.

Holes that had the carnage hanging on the outside. Exposed to the elements and the waters.

That was what happened.

Someone had set an explosion to go off from the inside of the ship.

“Holy fuck,” I said breathlessly.

I could hear the chef beginning to cry as Derek’s voice wafted against my ears.

“It’s going to be okay. The Coast Guard is only a few minutes out, and you’re safe with us. And trust me, all of you are getting a very big bonus for putting up with all this. A glowing recommendation, too, to wherever you want.”

I smiled at his kind words as I turned around and looked at him. He was shaking with fear like the guard between my legs. He wasn’t crying like the chef whose hand he was holding. He was stable and kind. Compassionate and loving. Exactly the type of man who differentiated himself from the world of business. Exactly the type of man needed to garner the success he had in his life.

I felt a pinch of guilt surge through my body, however. Before I’d met him, his ship going up in flames would’ve rattled him. It would’ve scared him and panicked him. He would’ve kept asking me all sorts of asinine questions, and I would’ve been the one to try and calm his mind.

But he was perfectly calm, strong and independent of needing me to comfort him. That only happened when someone got used to the dark and got used to the black cloud looming over their heads.

It hurt my heart to see how used to this he had become.

“This wasn’t an accident, was it?”

I panned my gaze over to Derek, whose arm was around the trembling chef.

“No,” I said. “It wasn’t.”

“What did you see down there?” he asked.

“None of the gas stove knobs were turned up all the way, and none of the stoves were spewing fire. I couldn’t get all the way to the front of the undercarriage of the ship because of all the thick smoke, but the security guard I found was stuffed in a closet. And judging by the knock on the back of his head that’s bleeding, I’d say someone ambushed him and knocked him out.”

“Just like they did Jacob,” he said.

“Looks about the same. We won’t know until he gets checked out, but I’m eager to compare his wound to the files on Jacob’s.”

I saw the anger growing in Derek’s face. As his eyes gazed out over his burning ship, helicopters started whirring above our heads. The Coast Guard was here, ready to rescue us one by one from the middle of the damn ocean as fireworks continued to crack above our heads. The colors were ironically beautiful for such a damning night, and I took a moment to drink it all in before I sighed.

“Why the fuck would Jacob come after and endanger innocent people?” Derek asked.

“We don’t know it was Jacob,” I said.

“He could’ve paid someone! You said it yourself that he must’ve had resources.”

“Derek, now’s not the time,” I said. “We have civilians on board.”

“I’m a civilian, Sam!”

I winced at his words as a helicopter positioned itself over our heads.

“I’m a civilian,” he said defeatedly.

I didn’t have an answer for him. I didn’t know why Jacob would come after him when innocent bystanders were on board. It didn’t fit the original attack. Hell, it didn’t fit the original letters. The letters made sense when Jacob came into the picture, but the only way to describe his attack in Derek’s office was desperate. He was willing to put a bullet in both of us, but the question was had he considered me an innocent bystander? If he didn’t, then it would make sense why he would make the comment about killing both of us.

But if he did consider me innocent that night, then it gave us precedence for him attacking this boat.

I came to when Derek was helping the security guard up from my grasp. We worked him onto the airborne gurney, then watched the Coast Guard funnel him up to the aircraft. They sent down one more, and it was a no-brainer to stick the chef in it. She was scared and crying profusely, and I wanted to get her out of this situation.

Which left Derek and me in the boat.

Alone.

The helicopter started flying toward the shore as others waited to be filled. I sighed and sat back, closing my eyes and listening to the bobbing of the ocean. Something that had been so serene and comforting only days ago was now the cause of so much heartache and stress. I felt defeated. Angry. In the dark on so many things that didn’t make sense. Someone was pulling the wool over our eyes. It was the only conclusion that made sense.

But my mind was rendered useless when Derek tugged my body toward his.

“Come here,” he said. “Lean against me.”

I sighed, no longer fighting him as I curled into the strength of his wet form.

We sat there, our lifeboat bobbing up and down as a boat made its way toward us. They were coming for us by sea now that the helicopters were full. I gazed up at the fireworks still popping off, its residue falling into the ocean around us as the rest of the ship sank.

The ocean guzzled it down like a hungry child waking up after a nap.

“We’ll figure out who did this,” Derek said. “This is what you do.”

It had happened. The moment when people like me quit their jobs. I was now being reassured of my own competency by the one person I was trying to protect.

I was no longer the best, and that thought made me sick.