Chapter 4: The Voice in the Dark
Chapter 4: The Voice in the Dark
Captain Hayes connected the recording device to the yacht’s navigation computer.
The first minutes contained only static, breathing, and the distant sound of doors opening.
Then Victoria’s voice filled the bridge.
“You should have signed when I asked politely.”
Margaret answered, weak but clear.
“My son will learn what you are.”
“He sees what I allow him to see.”
A man laughed in the background.
Leo.
Victoria continued.
“By tomorrow morning, you’ll be declared mentally incompetent. Your shares will transfer to Northstar. After that, you can spend the rest of your life in a private facility.”
“I will never sign.”
“You already did.”
Ethan stood motionless beside the console.
The recording continued.
Margaret cried out.
A chair scraped across the floor.
Then Leo said, “Careful. We need her conscious for the video.”
“What video?” Captain Hayes murmured.
Victoria’s recorded voice answered.
“The confession. She’ll say she attacked me, became unstable, and asked to be placed under care.”
The bridge went silent.
Ethan slowly turned toward his wife.
Victoria stood near the doorway with two crew members beside her.
Her face had lost all color.
“You recorded a private conversation,” she said.
Margaret, now awake but still weak, sat in a chair wrapped in blankets.
“I recorded my imprisonment.”
Victoria looked at Ethan.
“You don’t understand what she was going to do.”
“Then explain.”
“She planned to remove you as CEO.”
Ethan glanced at his mother.
Margaret lowered her eyes.
The hesitation cut deeper than Victoria’s accusation.
“Mom?”
Margaret took a slow breath.
“I called an emergency board meeting.”
Ethan stepped back.
“Why?”
“Because someone had been stealing from the company.”
Victoria smiled.
“There it is.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Not Ethan.”
She looked directly at Victoria.
“Her.”
Margaret explained that three months earlier, she had discovered irregular transfers from Cole Maritime into Northstar Capital. Nearly forty million dollars had disappeared through fake consulting contracts.
She had hired a private investigator.
Before he could complete his report, he vanished.
Ethan’s anger turned cold.
“What was his name?”
“Daniel Ross.”
Captain Hayes stared at her.
“I know that name.”
Everyone turned toward him.
The captain opened a maritime incident database.
“Daniel Ross was found dead two weeks ago. His car went over a cliff near Port Haven.”
Victoria’s eyes flickered.
Ethan noticed.
Then the bridge lights suddenly went out.
The engines stopped.
The yacht drifted into darkness.
May you like
A gunshot cracked through the lower deck.
And when the emergency lights came on, Leo was gone.
