SEVENTEEN
Sitting behind his large desk in his office one deck above the festivities, Finn's heart clenched like a tight fist as he observed Ariel's- no, Persephone's beautiful face, fixed and pale, in his monitor.
"Prosecute the son of a bitch to the fullest extent of the law," he told his lawyer in New York, eyes on the feed from the surveillance cameras in the solarium where Jonah and Callie were getting married.
Mentally he swore, unable to look away. She'd thrown him off balance from day one. Turned him on. Infuriated him. Driven him out of his fucking mind to possess her every second of every fucking day.
He knew damn well he should've indicated to her he had to leave the salon to take an urgent call and felt like shit for not doing so. Maybe not excusing himself was a subconscious way of punishing her. Fuck. Was he that small?
No. He was that fucking furious. Disappointed.
His anger had been directed at Derry, but hadn't it also been directed at her?
He felt betrayed. "Asshole."
"Yeah, he is," his lawyer agreed.
Finn didn't correct him.
Flailed by lashes of guilt, and in spite of how he felt about her lies and subterfuge, he couldn't take his eyes off her. Watching her now ripped a small jagged hole in his heart. Her hair rippled down her back in molten splendor. Had she worn it loose to torment him?
She'd changed into a purple dress that hugged her curves and made him aware of what he was missing by sitting in his office talking to his damned lawyer.
"Hell no, I don't give a flying fuck if he's thrown back in jail for another fifteen years. He's had all the chances I'm willing to give him, and then some. Throw the book at him, then fire Chamberlain for not paying attention. We knew the date of Derry's release, Chamberlin should've anticipated that Derry would try something."
Chamberlain, one of Finn's fleet of lawyers had been tasked with keeping an eagle eye on all of Derry's doings. Inside the joint and outside. He hadn't done his job.
His dick for brains foster brother slash ex-business partner, three weeks out of prison for embezzlement, had forged Finn's signature on several of his bank accounts, yesterfuckingday. To the tune of several million dollars. Redirecting the funds into an offshore account. Stupid mick to think Finn didn't watch his every dime like a fucking hawk. He'd been caught red- handed.
Derry business concluded, and annoyed this call had pulled him out of the salon earlier, Finn wanted to wrap things up. Impatience clear, he demanded brusquely, "Anything else?"
Of course there was. He suffered through another seventeen minutes of urgent business. He wouldn't've had to be playing catch up if he hadn't been so distracted, and busy with Ariel- no Persephone. She hadn't lied about that.
He disconnected the call.
On his big screen monitor, he could see every freckle, every micro-expression as if she stood right there in the room with him. But reality was, he didn’t need the high- resolution camera to tell him where the freckles were. He’d memorized every goddamn one, paying as much attention to every inch of her as though he’d been charting a course to Mars.
Standing well back from everyone gathered around the happy couple, she looked starkly alone and, damn it, vulnerable. She wasn't vulnerable, he reminded himself. She'd spent years plotting and scheming to rob the Cutters, with the thinnest of excuses. Nor was she alone in the back of the room. Thiago Núñez stood beside her.
Núñez said something to her, and she lifted her chin and looked straight ahead. Finn had seen that pugnacious chin lift before. When she was put in the hot seat. When she felt judged. Finn's chest ached, and he rubbed his fist over it. God damn it, when she had to defend herself against being hurt. How often had that happened in her life?
His harsh words before he left the salon had been knee jerk A first for him. He was usually meticulous and precise in his words and actions. For that alone, he needed to apologize...
Even though he knew damn well he had a valid reason for leaving, he felt as though he'd made the biggest mistake of his life by doing so at that particular moment. The lawyer had texted him in the middle of Peri's big reveal with an urgent message, and Finn was torn about not signaling to let her know that she hadn't been the cause of his abrupt departure. But that wasn't strictly true.
It wasn't his modus operandi to walk away from a problem. But Persephone Case tied him in knots and skewed his judgement. Two valid reasons for putting her behind him. He hadn't gotten where he was today by being a sucker. He'd learned quickly when to fight, when to hold the course, and when to walk away. With Derry and Erica, he'd done all three. They'd each had multiple opportunities to course correct. Both had chosen poorly.
He'd divorced Erica, and felt zero compunction being instrumental in putting his business partner into the prison system for another fifteen years.
He wasn't about to compromise his principles for a sexy, freckled, redhead, with more bravado than integrity. Persephone Case aka Ariel Andersen was the least defenseless woman he'd ever met.
He knew her to be foolishly fearless, and seemingly invincible.
She'd tried to steal his tablet, withheld that she was already in possession of another, all while holding back the truth about her real motive for being on board Blackstar. Were the words true at all, or had she specifically wormed her way into his heart to take advantage of her position as his lover?
He'd given her more than enough opportunities to tell him what the fuck was going on before she presented it to them. All the hours they’d spent alone and she hadn’t confided in him. That rankled and he added that to his list of warring emotions. She'd opted to be secretive, effectively shutting him out, and rendering any help he might've given her, moot.
He was used to making calculated, incisive decisions and acting on them immediately. He trusted his own goddamn instincts.
How many times had he granted someone a second chance only to get kicked in the head for it? Twice.
So why the hell would he allow a pretty redhead to kick him in the heart?
Because she held him firmly by the balls?
Fuckshitdamn.
When the priest indicated the groom should kiss the bride, Peri slipped from the room unnoticed, leaving Núñez behind. With zero interest in the wedding which was winding down, Finn turned off the monitor. There was no reason to watch the Cutters celebrating a private, family moment.
Honest to God, with the tablets and legend of Blackstar, he still wasn't sure if they were building the con to out-con even Derry. Or were they what he'd believed them to be for all the years he'd known them? Like a Rubik's Cube, he tried various scenarios to see if any of them lined up. Thus far nothing did.
Zane must've recognized her as the owner of Sea Witch when he'd checked her out with Finn's binoculars the other morning before breakfast. What was the reason for that lie? Unless he'd been looking at the other redhead on the dive platform on Case's ship?
Leaning back in his swivel chair, he knew it wasn't the Cutters actions that had him absently rubbing his palm across his aching chest. If he lived to be a hundred, he'd never forget the stark expression on Peri's face just before he walked out.
Damn it. He couldn't support her on this. Refused to bring into his well-ordered life a liar. A thief. A con artist. Been there, fucking done that. His reputation had been hard won. His personal code of ethics worked because he'd learned the hard way that to give an inch compromised everything he believed in and lived by.
His expensive divorce, and the dissolution with his business partner, didn't come close to the kick in his gut when he heard Peri blithely confess.
Fucking hell. Fucking, fucking hell.
It seemed that everything she did was calculated, planned. Had 'accidentally' bumping into her at Natural Sciences Museum in Buenos Aires really been a chance meeting? Hell, he didn’t know anymore. Where Persephone was concerned, he’d clearly lost his judgment.
He closed his eyes, then had to quickly open them when, in his mind's eye, her face appeared before him as a tactile after-image. Damn. He couldn’t even escape her in his thoughts.
It was one thing to crush a business rival, quite another to crush the spirit of a woman he'd allowed himself to care about.
"Fool me once- My judgement was skewed the second I saw that hair. Those lying eyes tasted that soft mouth- Damn it to hell." Shoving the chair away from his sleek glass desk, Finn rose. "I warned her. Didn't I goddamn warn her? No second chances. Don't screw me. Don't lie. Don't steal."
The Cutters had known exactly who she was. Known from the get-go. Which made it all the worse. He felt betrayed by them as well as Peri. The Cutters should've clued him in from the start. The fact that they hadn't indicated that they were inexorably entwined with her in something. And why had they let her swing in the wind like that without confronting her days ago?
Never mind. He now didn't give a flying fuck what or why. None of them had been straight with him. That’s all he asked. Transparency. Honesty. Was that too fucking much?
His captain had orders to pull up anchor the moment it was feasible for Blackstar to depart. Maybe once he put distance between himself and the woman who drove him to the point of madness, Finn would get used to sleeping without her by his side.
How the hell long would it be before he stopped thinking of stripping her naked? Before craving the scent and feel of her skin against his was in the past? How fucking long was it going to take to forget the silky glide of her fiery hair over his body and the taste of her mouth under his?
It had only been a couple of hours since he'd stalked out of the salon and he craved touching her like an addict needed a fix. He paced to erase the visceral memory of her ankles over his shoulders, and the dig of her sharp nails scoring his back. He remembered the feel of being deeply embedded in her slick sheath and her small breathy gasps of pleasure against his ear as he surged inside her.
Yeah. An addict. Only there was no cure. Nothing that could wipe the scent or taste or touch or her from his memory.
He wasn't any more of a drinker than the Cutters, but he was tempted to get blind drunk and stay that way until he could forget every tactile and visual cue.
No second chances.
Finn was a hardass about it. He'd learned that any other way was detrimental to his life, his business, and his heart.
"If I think feeling this way is bad, how would I feel when she lies again?" Because she would. Someone with her track record would lie and steal again. Because that was inevitable, too. What would he do if he'd let himself believe for even a second? When there'd be no fucking hope in hell of getting out the other end alive?
And yet – why had she stolen from the Cutters? There was more she hadn't told them, Finn was sure. Had she done it for attention? A need to be one up on those she perceived had taken advantage of her family? But why?
More than the bitter family rivalry and dissolution of their fathers’ partnership. He remembered her telling him - with a smile that broke his heart, that her mother had claimed to have postpartum depression for twelve years, until her death when Peri was in her mid-teens.
She'd lost her father when she was barely five.
Her brother had a slew of his own shit to deal with while raising his siblings, and taking care of business. He'd married. Her other brother had died. Callie was leaving her family and becoming a Cutter.
"Bloody hell." He imagined Peri in a filthy prison-God only knew where. Imagined what they’d do to her there.
He'd buy off the Cutters tomorrow. Save her at least from the horror of prison. Maybe that would rid him of this sick feeling. It would do nothing for the craving ache in his gut.
"Fucking hell.” A lightbulb moment had him dropped back into his chair, as he pieced together snippets of information she'd told him. "Her entire life has been filled with unmet expectations by the very people who should love her unconditionally."
She'd told him her background in the barest terms, but seeing that look of abandonment on her face, for that split second, said it all.
She expected people to leave her.
Mother. Father. Brother. Whatever it was she wanted from the Cutters. Himself. None of them had given her what she needed – to belong, to feel like she was included and part of something. "Did we all fail you, Persephone?"
He'd fucked up. Royally.
She masked the need with a cheerful and upbeat exterior, the chip on her slender shoulder just waiting to be knocked off so she could come out fighting.
"And I call myself an astute judge of character? How was I so damned wrong here?"
He hadn't heard if she'd explained more to the Cutters or if what he'd heard was it. What he did know was he needed to hear her out before making a judgment call that would change the course of his life forever.
His private line rang. It was the call he'd been waiting for, but he needed to wrap it up quickly. "Zak," he answered on the second ring.
The call took six more minutes of precious time.
Tapping his earpiece, Finn left instructions for his assistant, "I'll be incommunicado for the rest of the evening. Don't allow Persephone to leave with the others. Text when everyone else has disembarked and we're underway."
He'd put some mileage between himself and the Cutters until he found a resolution.
Every minute that passed that he didn't talk to her, was another minute she'd think he'd walked out on her intentionally, deepening her wound.
If he were going to make this right, he had to know everything his business partners and Peri were hiding. The truth.
Persephone Case may well be the one person who deserved that second chance.
But first, he went in search of answers.
The wedding was simple and moving. Finn's staff had pulled in greenery and orchids from all over the ship in lieu of traditional wedding flowers, and the solarium had looked festive and pretty. Callie, incandescent with happiness caused a lump to form in Peri's throat. She was happy for her sister, who'd gone through so much to end up with the man of her dreams and an instant big family.
Yeah, the Cutters were one big, happy, freaking family.
Finn hadn't been in attendance, no matter how she willed him to walk into the solarium to stand beside her. No matter how many times she rehearsed what she’d say to him if he did. To hell with it. She didn’t owe him a goodbye or any explanation. And she sure as hell wasn't going to beg him for anydamnthing.
Dr. Vadini had gone to his cabin earlier, and Finn hadn't joined them again. Not even for his friend's wedding. That left her and Theo to stand, like extra appendages, in the back of the room. Two outsiders watching happiness and love swirling around the Cutters, at arm's length. She felt like a gatecrasher.
Numb, as if she were watching something sad on T.V. and she couldn't change the channel, Peri was torn between resentment and jealousy of their close-knit family. She missed Ry.
Her chest hurt. They were so freaking happy. They’d already forgotten her and her big confession. For years she'd been blatant and in their faces in the hope of forcing a confrontation. What the hell was wrong with them anyway? She'd moved from being covert to being in the open - face to face. She'd admitted what she'd done, yet, they still didn't freaking see her as important enough to give a damn. All her mental hand- wringing and angst had been for nothing. She was no more interesting to the Cutters than a pesky mosquito.
Insignificant.
The next step was up to them. It was going to be damned hard to prosecute her when all the pilfering had taken place in international freaking waters. Given the lack of attention they were paying to her, they probably wouldn't even bother. She was that insignificant.
She was tough and resilient. Not a moper, she wasn't usually this damned introspective. It sucked. She inhaled deeply and breathed out slowly. She was over it. Done.
She was damn sick of them. And God, she was so sick and tired of her own vulnerability around them. It was exhausting. Useless. Now that she'd said her piece, it was over and done with. She could walk away with a clear conscious and concentrate on her own salvage.
Peri took in the fading light, and froth of whitecaps beyond the windows. "The winds are dying down enough to leave," she told Theo in a low voice as Callie, at the far end of the room, kissed her groom to much applause. The seas were down, but really too high to safely go out in her twenty-foot runabout.
But, when had she ever backed down and done what was safe? Hell, she was an excellent sailor, and her need to put space between everyone on board Blackstar and herself was more urgent than a few second thoughts about the danger of traveling from Blackstar to home. Tesoro Mio was closer, but right now she couldn't handle one more confession, followed by more recriminations. She just couldn't.
"Good," he whispered back. "I'll come with you."
"Fine. But I'm in a mood, so stay out of my way and don't talk to me." Or bring up Finn’s name. "I'm going to slip out, you stay for a bit. Don't make a big deal about leaving. Get your things and meet me down in the garage in about ten minutes."
Peri left. No one stopped her. Hell, she doubted anyone even noticed her absence. Stop it. You don't care, remember?
Callie's arrival had put a full stop to whatever whoop-ass the brothers Grimm had been about to deliver. Finn's closed expression, followed by his blatant absence, told her all she needed to know about how he felt. So be it. She'd had her say.
She'd let all sleeping dogs lie.
She went down to her cabin to get her things. Chest tight, eyes hot and dry, she just wanted to crawl into a dark hole and stay there. But since that wasn't an option, she grabbed her suitcase and started throwing in the few things she'd brought on board with her.
She needed to talk to someone who loved her no matter what. She took out her phone and called her brother. Not to tell him about what she'd done to his arch enemies, just to hear his voice.
Ry's phone rang and rang. He must be hunkered down with Addy and the baby riding out the high seas. Chest tight, she disconnected before it went to voicemail.
Hell, even the freaking animals went into the ark in pairs.
She wanted Finn with an intensity so deep she could barely breathe.
"The farther I'm away from him, the easier this will be," she said out loud to reassure herself. "I'll miss him for twenty-four hours. Max." She didn't need some guy to "complete" her. She was complete just the way she was.
Rolling up the white linen pants and tank top she'd worn to dinner the other night she stuffed the balled-up fabric into the case.
Whether she was on board Sea Witch, in the middle of an ocean, or in her glass house on the bluff, she'd never felt this alone. Isolated. Hell, she always prided herself on liking her own company and the feeling of self-sufficiency. It really ticked her off that, because of them, the brothers and Finn, she didn’t feel that now.
The exclusion she'd felt as she'd watched the Cutters tease and laugh, and damn it- love each other- hurt. It shouldn't because she hated them, but it did, which made her hate them even more.
It hurt that Finn hadn't cared enough to stay with her.
It hurt because she’d wanted him to care about her as much as she cared about him.
It hurt because she'd anticipated the end of their relationship barely before they'd started. She'd known it would happen. Eventually. But on her terms, not his. And not yet, damn it. She'd made this mistake of lowering her defenses. He’d snuck into her heart before she could raise her usual barricades, damn it.
Peri much preferred being the dumper than the freaking dumpee.
His expression would now be indelibly marked in her brain, and she'd never forget it. His features had been hard and fierce, his eyes pewter as they bored into her for that split second before he'd turned his back.
She pressed her palms over her burning eyes, breathing through the ache in her chest. “Alone is good,” she reminded herself, dropping her hands. “I like being alone.” Liked not reporting to anyone. Liked being unentangled emotionally. She reminded herself that she'd done what she'd come for. Finn had never been part of the plan. Just an extremely attractive distraction. Time to move on.
After changing from the purple sundress she'd worn to the wedding into jeans, and a long-sleeved black t-shirt, she stood in the middle of the well-appointed cabin. "To hell with all of them."
Her phone rang, and her stupid heart leapt.
"Is it done?" her brother demanded.
"I'm absolutely awesome, thanks for asking. How are you?" Peri said tartly, tossing a lone sandal into the case with enough force it bounced onto the floor. "It was a lovely wedding, Ry. Callie's very happy." She didn't want to make him feel bad by pointing out that he hadn't walked the bride down the aisle.
"Despite my misgivings, and loathing of the Cutters, I did try to get there to walk her down the aisle," he said gruffly, echoing her thoughts, as he frequently did. "I just want my sisters to be happy."
One of them was, and the other would be as soon as her freaking pity party was over.
"She understood." She tossed her makeup bag into the suitcase. "Maybe you guys could have them over sometime so you can welcome Jonah to the family," she said tongue in cheek. It would take Dr. Vadini's apocalypse before Ry consented to breaking bread with the Cutters.
"Jesus, Magma-" A lengthy pause, before he said with resignation. "Yeah. We'll do that for Callie-Hell, gotta go. Does this fucking wind ever stop?"
"Eventually. . ." she said to a dead line. "Love you, Ry," she added, knowing he wasn't there to hear it.
She sighed. "I'll go over and tell him everything tomorrow. He'll get over being pissed at me- relatively soon. As for these damned Cutters-What did I expect? An open-armed welcome after I told them I robbed them blind for years? Grow up, Persephone." Her wobbly voice sounded tinny, and the pep talk just depressed her further.
As for Finn. . .He'd torn through the emotional protective shield she'd armored herself in as if it were wet tissue paper. Destroying what had taken her years to build. He didn't know her at all. Hell, she didn't know him either, apparently. Because his walking out, when she needed him, had come as a shock. Although she'd three-quarters expected it all along. Peri had no freaking idea why the hell she was so affected by it. They'd known each other for a minute, and fifty-nine seconds of that had been spent having wild monkey sex.
She padded barefoot to the window to assess the wind and the water. Not that it mattered. She was going. High seas or not. Dusk was falling, darkening the sky. She'd been on the seas in inclement weather, loved it when the waves frothed over the bow of her runabout, loved the feel of the wind in her face, and the danger. But never when the waves were this high, or the wind this fierce.
"Scared of a little wind, or go?" she asked herself. "Go," was the only answer.
Finn had decreed the wind would stop at three am. She had no doubt he would be obeyed. By then she'd be safely asleep in her own bed. When she was back in her house, her boat, her dive, then this shaky, uncertain, emotional person she was right now, would be gone. Finn or no Finn.
Best of all, there was no need to interact with him or the Cutters ever again. Her lawyer could talk to their lawyer. She had her own claim, and salvage to fill every waking hour. She'd barely be aware of the larger ships anchored miles and miles away.
Screw them. Screw them all.
"My fault for having illogical expectations. So- screw me."
Resolution made, and backbone restored, she pulled on her waterproof windbreaker and looked around for her cap. Someone knocked on her cabin door. Hope leapt into her heart. Finn. The first and last person she wanted to see right now.
Yanking open the heavy door, her hopes sank. "Theo."
"Ready?"
She found her cap in the jacket's pocket. "We were supposed to meet down at the garage." Twisting her hair on top of her head, she pulled on the knit cap.
He shrugged. "Didn't have much to pack."
Crossing the room, she slid her bare feet into the tennis shoes she'd left out of the suitcase. As she tied the laces, she said over her shoulder, "Did anyone say anything before you left?"
"No." He shook his head, smiled, and held up a duffel bag. "But I did get this." Tilting it so she could see inside, he chuckled. "It is yours, after all."
He'd taken her tablet from the salon while everyone was upstairs. Peri hugged him. "Thank you. I was thinking it might end up as the spoils of war." Actually, she hadn't given the gold tablet a second's thought in the last couple of hours, which showed how distracted she'd been. "Weren't those security guys on duty?"
"They were, and I informed them that Dr. Vadini and I had been granted permission from you to study your tablet further, and you would be joining us. I merely recovered your property."
"And I appreciate it." She indicated he go ahead, then closed the door to her cabin behind her. The corridor was empty and quiet. Everyone on board was fully engaged in the wedding reception above decks.
"I don't know those people well enough to celebrate the marriage of two people I don't give a damn about," Theo said ruefully. "And honestly, neither should you. None of those people like you, Ariel. And that's an understatement. You shouldn't trust any of them to have your back. I'm glad you weren’t there to hear how they talked about you after you left with the other girls."
As they took the elevator down to the hull garage, Peri didn't ask him why her enemies would talk about her in front of him, knowing she and Theo were friends, nor did she correct the 'girls' comment.
"Holy crap!" She paused in the open doorway of the elevator and took in Blackstar's garage. It was a jaw-dropping space, filled with water toys on either side of what looked like an indoor swimming pool. First, the space was enormous. Second, there were not just three of the Cutter’s runabouts moored near Finn's sleek black speedboat, but there was also a shiny black pickup truck parked beside a-of course -black convertible, and two massive motorbikes.
"Apparently when not in use, the internal basin is used as an indoor swimming pool. A stupid waste of space if you ask me." Theo told her, indicating she go right along one of two docks. "Your boat is first in line, in position for departure."
The scent of salt water mixed with a faint trace of diesel permeated the fresh air flooding the expanse from the open doors at the far end where they were headed. A warm wind made her loose hair dance around her face, and she pushed it under her cap.
The garage door was open, and she saw that the sky wasn't quite black yet. The rimi on the horizon, a thick stripe of pale gray and tangerine, bled into a deep charcoal blue, scattered with pinpricks of pure white stars.
Witchcraft was already in position on the automatic slide mechanism, ready to drop with a push of the button.
Finn's sleek space-age-looking runabout was stored on a rack to the side of Peri's much smaller boat. She paused to give it an admiring glance. "And Finn's crew was okay with this?" Tossing her small suitcase on board first, she jumped from dock to deck. Witchcraft, snug in the rollers of the slide, rocked only slightly with her weight as she untied the bowline, then stood at the helm.
“Theo, I’ll need you on the stern.” Noting the key that she’d left in the ignition what seemed like a lifetime ago, she continued with directions. “We’ve got to hit the water before starting the engine. The controls for the slide are on the starboard side of the garage door. Given the rough seas, I’ll start right away, which means I’ll need you on board, and fending off until we’re away from the boat.”
Remembering the procedure from the last time she’d departed in her own boat, she added, “The slide automatically retracts, and the garage door auto shuts, so we don’t need to worry about that.” Adjusting her cap so it didn't blow off, she zipped her jacket up to her chin, then pulled the hood up over her cap and cinched it at her throat. The best she could do to keep dry. Having no peripheral vision, she had to turn her whole body to see if Theo needed help with the slide mechanism, but two men were there to help. She hadn't seen them when they'd entered the garage, and with the sound of the wind and waves beating just beyond the open garage doors, she hadn’t heard them on their soft-soled shoes.
"Senor Gallagher authorized us to assist you in whatever way necessary," the shorter, younger of the two men shouted as he threw the untied rope onto the deck near her feet. He spoke with a Spanish accent, with a strong hint of Patagonian.
Yeah, she bet Finn authorized her speedy departure. He wanted her gone. She’d made the right freaking decision. "Thanks for your help." She removed her waterproof Pelican case from the console, and placed her turned-off phone inside, then returned the case to the cubby, snapping shut the small door.
The three men spoke in rapid Spanish, their words barely audible over the slap of waves. The second man was older, mid-fifties, with a shock of black hair, which matched his black eyes. Without comment, he stepped on board and went to tie off the rope nearby.
"I've asked Santi and Eneas to accompany us back," Theo told her. "I know you're an excellent sailor, Ariel, but I won't be much help. I feel much safer knowing we have back-up should we need it.
"Theo, we can't take Mr. Gallagher's crew with us." Peri frowned, as Theo got in the boat with her. The other man took over at the garage’s control panel. "No offense," she told the two men. "They'll have no way back for one thing, and for another the water's settling, and I certainly don't need help."
"They have tomorrow off," Theo told her dismissively, as the boat started sliding toward the garage door. "Both have family in Puerto Mahón. They can find their way back to Blackstar on their own."
As Witchcraft glided from the shelter of the garage, the first man jumped aboard, and Peri no longer had time to argue, as the wind swept away her words, and she had to aim the bow into the waves. She started the boat as it hit the choppy water, then immediately maneuvered away from the yacht.
"As long as the Blackstar people know where they are, I suppose it's okay. Theo, grab life jackets for everyone from below. It’s going to be a rough ride.”
Pushing the throttle forward, she eyed her instrument panel, and pressed a button on the electronic guidance so she’d stay on track. She had about an hour of light left, and she’d need radar after the sun went down. "We should reach Puerto Mahón in two hours give or take."
The rough trip would require every scrap of her concentration. Perfect. The last damn thing she wanted was time to think about Finn.