Derek

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WITH THE ATTACK ON my yacht, the FBI was officially brought in to investigate. They were getting fed up with all the nonsense going on in my life, and quite frankly, I was as well. This was getting out of hand, and it had to stop.

The problem?

They were treating Sam as if she was a suspect.

We were meeting with two very particular agents with steely glances and tough exteriors. Sam and I, over the past week, had undergone some very rigorous interviews with them both. Sam seemed to be okay with everything, but it was tearing me apart. Some of the questions they were asking turned my stomach.

“What do you know about Samantha Williams?”

“How long have the two of you been involved under your employ?”

“Where was she during the explosion?”

Yep. That was right. Divers had recovered enough of my yacht to confirm there had been a bomb on the yacht. The security who was attacked? The wound was almost exactly the same as the one Jacob had behind his head. Same shape, which meant the same object was used. Same indentation, which meant the same force behind the object was used. Same length, which meant the same trajectory was used.

It was practically confirmed that it was the same assailant.

The FBI was also running triple-checked background checks on all the crew and staff on the ship. They wanted to know anything that seemed out of place. I told the agents that Sam already took care of that, but the only thing they did was roll their eyes.

“Everyone’s a suspect until they aren’t.”

They sounded like Sam when she first got here. But I knew Sam. I knew she wasn’t involved in this. She couldn’t be. She was as perplexed and shocked about the explosion as I had been. Hell, she ran down the stairs and into a fucking fire to make sure no one was trapped down there to die.

She wasn’t the one doing any of this.

And nothing they could say would convince me of it.

I walked into the interrogation room and saw Sam sitting there. Her face was stoic, and her eyes were locked on the wall as Special Agents Smith and Jones sat across from her. The heavy metal table was bolted to the floor, and they were staring hard at her, no doubt waiting for her to answer a question they had asked.

“Mr. Steele, glad you could make it. Have a seat beside Miss Williams.”

I raked my eyes down her body, registering how annoyed she was before I sat down beside her.

“Why was I pulled from my office?” I asked. “And why is my hired bodyguard not with me?”

“Just a few questions for her,” Agent Smith said. “But she’s a little hesitant to answer some of them.”

I looked over at Sam as she gritted her teeth. I could see her temple flexing as she clenched her jaw, physically biting down on her tongue.

What the hell was going on?

“Maybe I can help,” I said as I sat back. “What is it you need to know that you haven’t found out over this past week?”

“When Miss Williams went down below the deck, what happened?” Agent Jones asked.

“Sam, why aren’t you answering that question?” I asked.

But all she did was draw in a deep breath.

“Miss Williams, we can arrest you for obstruction of justice if you don’t answer the question,” Agent Jones said.

“That won’t be necessary. Miss Williams is in my employ. She might simply be waiting for me to give her the okay to talk,” I said.

Sam panned her calm gaze over to mine, but the anger in her eyes was obvious.

“Answer the question, Sam.”

She shook her head like I was playing into someone’s hand before she parted her lips to speak.

“I went below the deck and headed through the smoke for the kitchen. I was trying to find the point of origination of the explosion.”

“So you knew an explosion had occurred before you got down there,” Agent Smith said.

“No. But it was the only logical explanation for the boat listing the way it did when I was on the upper deck,” Sam said.

“What side did the boat tilt?” Agent Jones asked.

“To the right. Made it hard to keep my balance until I got below the deck,” Sam said.

“Why was below the deck easier to navigate?” Agent Smith asked.

“Because water was filling up the bottom of the ship. Spilling in from the holes in the sides,” she said.

“Did you see the holes down there? From where you were?” Agent Jones asked.

“No,” Sam said.

“Then how did you know there were holes in the ship?”

“Because that’s how water usually gets on a ship.”

“Now hold on a second,” I said. “Sam isn’t responsible for this. She was with me the whole damn time on the deck of the boat, preparing to watch the fireworks. If there was a bomb planted or detonated, it wasn’t by her. Not by a long shot.”

“She could have planted it before the two of you got on the ship,” Agent Jones said.

“So could you have, by that reasoning,” Sam said. “And if you’re really trying to pin this on me, then hear this. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to kill Derek. I’ve been in his home, in his office, in his bed. If I wanted him dead, he would’ve already been dead.”

“It’s interesting you’d frame this in a way so you could talk about yourself as the killer,” Agent Jones said. “Is that kind of talk easy for you?”

“She’s right. She’s had plenty of moments, and if you want to travel down this insane rabbit hole further, allow me to assist. When these threats that led to this moment first started happening, there was no way for her to predict I would need her help. There was no way for her to anticipate I would hire her to protect me.”

“Someone could’ve bribed her once you hired her. That kind of stuff happens all the time,” Agent Smith said.

“Well, it didn’t happen,” I said. “But if you’re still questioning us, it means you’ve got something on her that makes her look guilty. So what is it?”

Sam shot me a hot look as the two agents sat back and grinned.

“I see you enjoy your police procedurals, Mr. Steele. Fine. Here’s Miss Williams’ connection. Your former head of security, Mr. Steele, was in cahoots with Jacob.”

“What?” Sam asked.

“No, he wasn’t,” I said. “I would’ve known about that.”

“He was. It was confirmed last night. Jacob was paying him a very nice kickback to turn his head whenever Jacob made his way onto your property. Griggs was the one feeding Jacob your personal schedule. And now that we’ve caught him in his own web of lies, Griggs has made the decision to testify against Jacob in exchange for a reduced sentence,” Agent Jones said.

“And don’t you think it’s a little weird that Griggs suggested Miss William’s firm for hiring?” Agent Smith asked.

“Now wait just a second. I’ve worked hard for my reputation. I’ve got contacts and reputations all across the world, which is more than the two of you can say for yourselves. Why would I throw all of that away in the blink of an eye to plant a bomb? Why would I come out of the woodworks now and jeopardize everything I’ve worked for my entire life?” Sam asked.

“I find it interesting that, according to our sources, you’re the best in the business but didn’t see Jacob coming. And, by the look on your face, you still didn’t know about Griggs,” Agent Smith said.

“So how can I be a part of this if I didn’t know about Griggs?” Sam asked.

“Simple. Jacob’s paying you as well, and he didn’t fill you in on the information,” Agent Jones said.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked.

Everyone turned their heads to look at me as I stood from my seat.

“You mean to tell me my best friend and the former head of my security were compromised? And I didn’t know about it?” I asked.

“Sounds like a question for your ... uncompromised expert here,” Agent Smith said.

“I should have known this was going on,” I said as I turned to Sam. “Why didn’t you know?”

“Nothing in his background showed anything. Nothing in his bank accounts showed anything. Jacob could have paid him afterward, after he was fired to make sure we didn’t catch anything,” Sam said.

“So you mean to tell me my best friend went from a man who couldn’t get out of a locked down building to a man who has orchestrated some mastermind of a plan?” I asked.

“Derek, this is what they want. They want us to turn on one another, and you’re playing right into their hand,” she said.

“He’s on high alert. You know, like an expert should be,” Agent Jones said. “Miss Williams, you’re the only person who was on that yacht that night who can’t be accounted for. You had personal access to the yacht, but you have no alibi.”

“I already told you. I was at home preparing for the evening,” Sam said.

“And you have no one to corroborate that story,” Agent Smith said. “So you can see how things are getting a little hairy.”

“Fine. If you think I’m taking payments from some man in the wind, run my bank accounts. Check my credit cards. Do all of it. You won’t find anything there,” she said.

Sam looked up at me as my mind began to spin. Was it possible she was in on all this? The agents had a point, but I had seen Sam’s face when the boat rocked. I saw her face when the second explosion occurred. She was as shocked as I was. She had been hell-bent on saving that security guard below the deck of the ship.

Why would someone in on all this do that?

Why would my best friend want to shoot me?

Why would the head of my security sell himself out?

None of this made sense, and yet, all of it made sense.

Sam sat there, stoic and red-faced with her hands settled in her lap. Her leg was crossed over her knee, and her entire body was calm, but I could see the storm raging within her. I could see her walls coming back up. Maybe she was emotionally compromised. Maybe she couldn’t do her job any longer. None of this should’ve spiraled out of control. I had trusted her word up until this point, and all it had gotten me was heartache, bullets, and a sunken ship.

“The two of you have enough to think about for now,” Agent Smith said. “Just make sure you stay in the city. Neither of you are to leave until this investigation is wrapped up.”

“And Mr. Steele?” Agent Jones asked.

“What?”

“I’d suggest you watch your back. Since your ... expert security team isn’t doing a very good job of that.”

I watched the agents leave before I looked back at Sam. She was immovable, buried in her own mind. She wasn’t moving, wasn’t showing any emotion. Hell, her chest was barely moving with her breaths. Her hands were tucked between her thighs, and her eyes were hooked onto a spot on the wall.

So, without a word, I ripped the interrogation room door open and left.