Avery

I needed tequila. Or a whiskey. What was it that people drank when they got bad news?

I stared at the letter in my hands, wanting the words on the page to be different to what I’d read on screen before I’d pressed print. I’d hoped my dad had gotten mixed up when I’d spoken to him a few days ago, but it was true, the insurance company was cutting Michael’s physical therapy. I slumped back into the chair in the internet café. They must have made a mistake. Surely.

My instinct was to go to the nearest travel agency, book a flight home and try to fix things. But it would only make everything worse, because now, more than ever, I needed my job. I’d spent the last few days with a pen and paper and calculator trying to figure out whether I could bridge the gap between what the insurance would cover and what Michael needed.

Whichever way I cut it, I was twenty thousand dollars a year short.

Guilt rose in my throat. It was heavy, suffocating. If I’d been a better sister, he wouldn’t have had the accident in the first place and if I was a better sister now I would be able to find a way to pay for his care. I should have gone to college, done pre-law or medicine—at least then my income would be going up every year instead of plateauing. I could have trained as a physical therapist or learned coding and come up with a great idea like Facebook or something.

I’d wasted my life. I’d walked away from college and the future I wanted for the money and it still wasn’t enough. What else was left? I didn’t know where to go from here.

I had nothing of any value that I could sell, and even if I got a job on one of those Russian yachts, I couldn’t make another twenty thousand a year.

Folding up the letter, I placed it into my bag, determined not to cry. I just had to find a way. I’d felt hopelessness like this when Michael was in the hospital, before we’d known if he was going to make it. And again when my mother left. Each time it had eventually lifted, or I’d become used to it—I wasn’t sure which—but for some reason, this time felt worse. Like before I’d had obstacles to get over but this time we were staring at a black hole that was threatening to consume the three of us.

For once, I wanted this to be someone else’s responsibility. I knew my dad was the parent here but there was nothing he could do. This was down to me. And that burden bore into me until all I wanted was just a moment without it. Maybe that was what I’d found in the time alone that Hayden and I had shared—a few minutes or hours where I felt lighter. It wasn’t as if the responsibility disappeared, more that being with him made me stronger somehow, as if he were lifting me up, reinforcing my strength. He’d be gone soon, and I didn’t know if this news about my brother’s insurance would have been easier to bear if I hadn’t escaped for a little while, if I hadn’t glimpsed a different life for a few hours.

I stood up, a little dizzy, and headed outside. I’d told Eric I wouldn’t be longer than thirty minutes. Hayden didn’t like me away from the yacht and anyway, I hadn’t touched his room this morning and I needed to clean the bathroom and change the sheets and do the hundred other things that needed doing even though we only had one guest on the yacht.

I squinted as I opened the door of the internet café and slipped my sunglasses on. Usually I enjoyed the heat, the sunshine and the blue skies, but today I wanted it to rain, hail, snow—anything that didn’t say vacations or money or happiness because that felt like someone else’s world. Not mine.

I started down the hilly, cobbled streets back to the boat. The last time I’d taken this route, I’d been in an entirely different frame of mind. I’d been so happy I couldn’t stop myself from smiling, talking to strangers—I’d wanted to sing out loud. Today everything was different.

“Avery.” A man called my name and a figure appeared beside me, as he tucked a newspaper under his arm. “How’s Mr. Wolf?”

I kept my pace the same, heading toward the sea as I realized that this was the same redhead, Phil, who’d approached me the morning after I’d slept with Hayden.

“What do you want? I’ve told you I have nothing to say to you.” There were more people around than there had been the previous time I’d met him—tourists wandering around and locals going about their business—but there was something in his overfamiliarity that made me feel exposed and vulnerable. As pleasant and polite as he was, there was something sinister buried below his pale skin and hard eyes. I stared right ahead.

“I like you, Avery,” he said, his tone cheery as if he were selling fruit or ice cream. “So I’m going to cut to the chase. I want to know what Hayden Wolf is working on.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t discuss my guests and who may or may not be on board.” I didn’t glance at him and just kept walking.

“Maybe not, but we both know Hayden Wolf is on the Athena. And we both know you could use some extra cash.”

My stomach flipped over. How did he know anything about me? Who the hell was this guy? “You need to leave me alone.”

“You don’t want to hear me out, even for your brother’s sake?”

I stopped in my tracks and turned to him. “What did you say?”

“I know you take care of your family, Avery. All I’m suggesting is a way you can do that.”

“You don’t know anything about me or my family—”

“It’s my job to find out these things. I know about your brother’s condition and how you pay for his insurance. Not to mention all the things you pay for that aren’t covered by your policy.”

How had this guy found out all this stuff? I turned back to face the water. “How do you know this?”

“I just had a friend ask a few of your neighbors. People will do anything for a little cash.”

Our neighbors had talked to strangers about us? For what? A few dollars?

“And that’s not a bad thing. I’m not judging. Everyone has their own circumstances to consider,” he continued. “It helped me a great deal. What I’m asking from you is nothing. We just need eyes and ears on the ground. That’s all. You’re not hurting anyone. In fact, you’ll be helping your brother.”

“How would sneaking around and spying on people help my brother?”

I glanced across at him and he was smiling and relaxed as if he were offering me suggestions on the best beaches in the area. “We’re prepared to pay you a lot of money to tell us what we need to know.”

“I’m not interested in your money.”

“Even to help your family? That sounds pretty selfish to me.” He tilted his head, looking at me as if I’d just said something ridiculous.

“My family wouldn’t want money that I’ve had to lie for.”

“Oh gosh, no. I don’t expect you to lie. In fact, all I want is the truth. You might even have what I need to know already. Tell me what Mr. Wolf is working on and I’ll give you—”

“I’m not interested,” I said and started walking toward the tender again.

“You haven’t heard what I have to offer you yet. For your brother’s sake, you should hear me out.”

“I’m not interested,” I said. All I wanted in that moment was to get back to the tender and put some distance between me and this red-headed creep.

“Would a hundred and fifty thousand dollars change your mind?”

I stopped walking.

He couldn’t be serious. He was going to give me a hundred and fifty thousand dollars? What kind of shit was Hayden mixed up in? This couldn’t just be one company buying another. Or a long-held grudge. For that kind of money, there had to be more to it.

“I thought that might get your attention.”

“A hundred and fifty grand?”

He smiled. “Right? Easy money. How many seasons would you have to work to make that money? Think of all the amazing things you could do. You could have a holiday, you could take some time off, maybe even go to university.”

My head was spinning. A hundred and fifty grand was so much money.

He pulled out a business card and held it between his index and middle finger. “When you’ve thought about how you’d spend the money, which college course you’d like to take, how happy your dad and brother would be with that extra cash in the bank, call me and we’ll arrange a time to meet.” He pulled out a satellite phone from his pocket and held it out.

I stared at his hands as though I was seeing a hundred thousand dollars right there, baking in the Italian sun. All I had to do was reach out and take it.

“You’ve resisted, Avery. You’ve said no. You’ve proved to yourself you’re a good person. Now your brother needs you to say yes.”

My head snapped up and his eyes were warm and calm, and if an outsider saw us, they might think we were friends or that he was making a pass at me.

I didn’t like him, not one bit, but he wasn’t wrong. My brother did need me, and a hundred and fifty thousand dollars was a lot of money.

I glanced back to the tender and then swallowed. Would my dad expect me to give up so much money? So much cash would be life changing for my entire family. Including me. I needed more time to work out what would be the best thing to do.

I snatched the card and phone from his hands and ran toward the tender where Eric would be waiting. I’d never seen a yacht as a place to escape to rather than from, but I’d never been more ready to leave solid ground. I didn’t know which way was up and being back on board was at least a familiar place. There I could decide whether I should betray Hayden or my family.