Chapter 1: Lock Down the Yacht
Chapter 1: Lock Down the Yacht
“Lock the yacht down.”
Ethan Cole’s voice barely rose above the thunder of the engines, but every crew member in the corridor heard him.
Captain Robert Hayes stared at the radio in Ethan’s hand.
“Sir, we’re twelve miles offshore.”
“Then nobody can run.”
Ethan knelt beside his mother. Margaret’s hands shook so violently that water spilled from the cracked plastic cup.
Her left cheek was swollen. Dark marks circled one wrist. Her pale blue dress was stained with grease from the engine-room floor.
Ethan removed his suit jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Who did this?”
Margaret looked toward the steel hatch.
“Two crewmen brought me down here. They said Victoria ordered it.”
“Did they hit you?”
“One of them grabbed me. The other…” She swallowed painfully. “The other told me I should have accepted her warning.”
“What warning?”
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears.
“She told me to sign away my shares in Cole Maritime.”
Ethan went still.
Margaret owned twenty-six percent of the company. Those shares had belonged to Ethan’s father before his death. Combined with Ethan’s holdings, they kept the family in control.
Victoria had always claimed she had no interest in the company.
Apparently, she had lied.
Footsteps sounded above them.
Victoria appeared at the top of the staircase, still holding her champagne glass.
“What is going on?” she asked.
Ethan slowly stood.
The rage on his face made several crew members step back.
Victoria glanced past him and saw Margaret sitting on the floor.
For half a second, fear flashed across her eyes.
Then it vanished.
“Oh, thank God,” Victoria said. “You found her.”
Margaret flinched.
Ethan noticed.
Victoria descended one step.
“Ethan, your mother became confused. She attacked a steward. They brought her somewhere quiet until she calmed down.”
“You locked her beside a running engine.”
“For everyone’s safety.”
Margaret grabbed Ethan’s sleeve.
“She’s lying.”
Victoria sighed as though exhausted by an unreasonable child.
“Your mother has been acting strangely for weeks. I didn’t want to embarrass her in front of our guests.”
Ethan stared at his wife.
“Captain, collect every phone on this yacht.”
Victoria’s expression tightened.
“You can’t imprison people.”
“I’m not imprisoning anyone.”
He raised the radio.
“I’m preserving evidence.”
A young deckhand suddenly sprinted toward the rear exit.
The captain shouted for him to stop.
The man ignored him.
Ethan watched the deckhand throw something black over the side.
It disappeared into the dark ocean.
Captain Hayes seized him before he could escape.
“What did you throw?” Ethan demanded.
The deckhand said nothing.
But Victoria’s champagne glass trembled in her hand.
May you like
And Ethan finally understood.
Whatever had happened to his mother was only part of the plan.
