by Dori Lavelle
My heart in my throat, I turn to look back, to watch the yacht becoming smaller, slowly being swallowed up by the darkness.
I shiver, and not only from the cold sea wind sweeping across my skin or the salty sea water spraying my face.
I put my arms around my body, freezing in my lingerie. To find warmth, I curl myself up in a corner of the boat, unable to believe that my chance to escape has finally come. That what seemed impossible is turning out to be possible after all.
I never thought I would ever be free of Dax. I thought it was only a matter of time before I ended up like Maria Adamson.
Otto lifts a blanket from the bottom of the boat and tosses it at me. I wrap it tight around my body. The fabric is rough against my skin, but I don’t care.
“What if the other guard reports us?” I ask loudly, so he can hear me from the groan of the engine.
“He won’t,” Otto says without turning to look at me. “He’s my brother.”
“I don’t understand.” I chew a corner of my lip. “Why are you working for Dax? He’s not a good man.”
“He used to be good once. He was a very generous man. We came to the US to start a new life. We escaped from a German prison.”
Blood drains from my face. “What did you do?” What kind of criminal am I escaping with?
“We were imprisoned for theft. We were innocent.” He pauses. “Dax gave us an opportunity to start a new life.”
“Then why are you betraying him?” I should stop asking him questions. What if I force him to think about what he’s doing and lead him to change his mind? It’s too late now. Words cannot be unsaid.
Otto doesn’t speak for a while, focusing on the task at hand. The only sound
around us is the grind of the engine as the boat speeds across the water, and the wind whispering past my ears.
“I have my reasons,” he says finally.
I tighten my hands around the blanket so the wind does not snatch it from me. I end the interrogation.
He’s helping me escape. His reasons shouldn’t matter.
“Thank you,” I shout over the wind again. Water drops hit my tongue.
He glances at me for a second, acknowledges me with a smile, then turns away again.
After a while, the boat slows down and starts to bob on the water, water lapping at its sides.
I look back at where we’ve come from and no longer see Dax’s yacht.
“Why are we stopping?” I ask.
“My job is done here. I can’t take you all the way to shore.”
Fear digs its claws into my spine. “You’ll leave me here alone?” I glance at the inky black water. An image of sharks lurking underneath plagues my mind. What if I
escaped one kind of danger for the next?
If I have to be completely honest, I’d rather die between the jaws of a shark than to be tortured to death by Dax Pierce.
“If you can swim, you’ll make it to shore. It’s not too far.”
Maybe I could do it. Maybe I can still survive this. I’ve always been a good swimmer.
The thought of swimming again reminds me of the day I met Dax. The day I snuck to the hotel swimming pool and Christa found me. The day that changed everything.
Otto moves from where he’s sitting and comes to me. “Are you okay?”
“Not really, but I feel better now that I’m—”
“Don’t worry. You’re safe for now.” I flinch when he reaches out to run a hand down my cheek. I move away from his touch only for him to pull me away from the edge of the boat and closer to him.
“It wouldn’t be a good idea for us to tip over the boat before you make it to safety.” He takes my hand and holds on tight. “But I don’t see any harm in rocking the boat a little.” With a grin, he moves my hand to his crotch.
My cheeks burning with horror, I yank my hand away, my throat tight. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m confused.” His brow draws together. His smile widens. “Don’t tell me you thought I was helping you for free.” He laughs. “And that article you got about your kidnapping came from me. You owe me.”
“It was you?”
“Yep.” He winks. “Now it’s time for you to pay up.”
I pull the blanket even tighter around me. “But you—you offered to help me.”
“And I kept my promise.” He opens his legs wide and cups his own crotch. “But you didn’t ask about the payment.” He sighs. “I’ve been watching you, you know, sucking him, letting him fuck you. I wanted to be him.” He moves closer and I can’t move away far enough in the tight space. One wrong move and I’ll land in the water before I’m ready to swim to shore.
“Get away from me.” I flail my arms, the blanket falling from my body.
“And if I don’t? What will you do?” His grin in the moonlight is sickening. “It’s not as if you can run. Relax. The best thing you can do is open up that pussy, baby. Let me in. Soon it will all be over, and you’ll be on your way to freedom.” He licks his bottom lip. “What I’m asking of you is a small price to pay, wouldn’t you say?”
“You’re just as sick as he is.” I attempt to cover myself up with the blanket again, but he yanks it from me and throws it into the water.
“I was horny for you, and you needed someone to help you escape. I had to come up with a plan that would benefit the both of us.” He grabs my thigh roughly. I slap his hand, but he refuses to let go.
“Leave me alone, you son of a bitch.” I try to push him away, but he grabs my hands.
“Stop fighting. This is the easiest fuck you’ll ever have. I’m much gentler than Dax.” He grips both my hands with one of his large ones and moves the other to my thigh. “One fuck and we’re even.”
I don’t know where my strength comes from, but suddenly I’ve pushed him away and
I’m crawling away, not knowing where to go. My heart is thudding and
blood is rushing in my ears. Should I just jump into the water?
Before I can move out of his reach, he pulls my leg with such force that I fall flat on my face. Without wasting time, he throws himself on top of me.
I scream as he pushes his hand to the front of my vagina, fighting his way into my panties, his sweaty face buried in my neck.
My jagged screams are broken by a loud noise that distracts not only me, but also Otto, who lifts himself off me.
“Fuck,” he mumbles under his breath as a sharp light breaks the night.
I quickly sit back up. Breathless, I crawl to the far end of the boat, where I gaze into the piercing light in time to see a speeding boat approaching us. It’s so fast that we’re still in shock when it reaches our less powerful dinghy.
We finally make out that Otto’s brother is the one driving the boat, but my eyes move to the person next to him, my worst nightmare.
“Dax . . . I–” Otto lifts his dirty hands in the air as though in surrender.
Before he has a chance to say anything more, Dax stands up in the boat and reaches behind him so fast I don’t see what’s happening until a gunshot rings in the air.
Otto falls to the bottom of the boat in a crumpled heap.
My heart pounding in my throat, I scramble to the edge of the boat.
“Where are you going, my love? You can’t get away from me. You belong to me.”
I don’t speak. I don’t think. I just do. My decision to jump into the water could be one I’ll regret, but I do it anyway.
It’s done. I can’t stop myself from sinking to the bottom of the dark, possibly dangerous ocean.
Chapter Nineteen
Like everything and everyone, the water is on Dax’s side. It’s determined on making it hard for me to get away from him. Even with my swimming skills, it’s a struggle to cut through it, to move forward.
My heart and lungs are hurting as I swim underneath the stubborn liquid, using every ounce of energy I have left, which is not much.
Why don’t I hear gunshots? When I jumped ov
erboard, I expected Dax to shoot into the water in the hope that a bullet would catch me. But I hear nothing except the rush of water in my ears and my thudding heart.
In the darkness of the water, I’m scared and cold, and lost. I have no idea how long I can hold my breath before my lungs force me to swim up to the surface for air.
Maybe the reason Dax is not trying to shoot me is because he knows I’ll be coming up.
He’s waiting patiently for me to return to him.
But I can’t. I cannot give up without a fight.
I hold my breath for as long as possible, then I push the water out of the way, begging it to let me go.
I have no idea where I’m going or how far I am from shore, but the fear of returning to Dax, and being tortured to death, keeps me moving forward and hopefully away from his darkness.
Maybe I will make it to safety somehow, or maybe I will die in the deep, dark sea. If I don’t drown, sharks could end my life. And not only mine.
For the first time in a while, the thought of my unborn baby comes to mind and something inside me snaps.
An unexpected rush of warmth floods my veins. I can’t let the baby die. I can’t let myself die. I have to save both of us.
Holding my breath for much longer could kill the baby.
Hoping I have swum far away from Dax, I push myself back up to the top of the water and break through the surface.
I gasp for air and cough out water as more drips into my eyes.
Still treading water with my feet and hands, and gasping for air, I look frantically around me for any kind of danger, human or beast.
A sigh of relief burst through me when I see nothing. Maybe he left, convinced there’s no way I can survive.
If he captured me and took me back to his yacht, he would have killed me himself and my blood would forever stain his hands.
Letting me die out at sea would be so much simpler. He wouldn’t have to have one more murder on his hands.
I take a few more breaths and resume swimming. Just because Dax is hopefully no longer a threat, I’m still in danger. God knows what’s lurking beneath me. I have no idea how far from safety I am.
I swim like my life depends on it, which it does. I swim until my legs, my arms, my head, and everything else burns with exhaustion.
I’ve always been a good swimmer, but the current is much stronger than I’ll ever be.
The threat of failure doesn’t keep me from fighting for my freedom anyway. I’ll fight until I run out of energy, until my body quits on me completely.
When my body reaches its limit, I take a short break. It’s fine. I’ll just rest for a while before continuing.
I allow myself to float on the water, gazing up at the star-studded night sky. Warm tears fill my eyes as the water moves me forward in whatever direction it pleases. I trust it knows the way to shore. I pray I’ll make it there alive.
But my body is limp and heavy with exhaustion. I don’t know how long I can hold it before the current pulls me under.
They say moments before you die your life flashes before your eyes. They were right.
My mind is filled with memories of moments lost, mistakes made, regrets, everyone I’ve known, and loved, and lost. I think of my sister. I think of Curtis. I think of my unborn baby.
I can’t give up. I have to keep trying. This can’t be the end of my story.
I flip myself back onto my stomach and start to swim again, slower this time. I never thought I would be grateful for having no hair, but right now, I am. It’s much easier to swim without my hair tangling around me, slowing me down.
Something brushes against my leg. A scream makes its way up my throat as I kick in an attempt to push it away from me. When I can no longer feel it, I pick up my pace.
My relief expires fast, disappearing the moment the silence is shattered by the sound of a speeding boat and someone shouting.
Lights flash across the surface of the water, making it sparkle. My breath catches in my throat, but I keep swimming, not bothering to look behind me in the direction of the sounds, the light.
I know it’s him. He was not gone after all, just biding his time, hiding in the darkness, waiting to pounce when I weaken.
He has a boat for speed while all I can rely on are my drained arms and legs.
I consider going under again, but my lungs are already deprived of oxygen. I’m scared to kill the baby.
In my mind, I count the seconds until he shoots me in the head.
The boat reaches me and slows down, hovering over me like a beast in the night.
My body forces me to stop moving, but my mind won’t let me quit as I flail my arms.
“Don’t be stupid,” Dax calls from the boat, reaching out his hand. “Get in or you’ll die out here.”
I ignore him, and keep swimming away from his boat.
My teeth are chattering with cold and my body feels like a block of ice, both in temperature and in weight.
Any moment now, I will sink against my will. If I want to die, now is the time.
Let go, Emma.
“Emma, that water doesn’t have as much mercy as I do.”
Why doesn’t he go ahead and shoot me already? He’s going to kill me anyway.
A loud splash makes me freeze. Before I can register what’s happening, someone grabs my legs. I’m kicking like a crazy person, but I don’t have a chance against him. It doesn’t stop me from screaming and fighting as he grabs my waist and swims with me back to the boat.
Cursing under his breath, he lifts me out of the water and someone else grips me under the armpits to drag me into the boat.
A whimper escapes me when he lets me go. I crumple to the bottom of the boat, curl myself into a ball, my body trembling.
When Dax appears next to me, water dripping from his hair onto my face, my defeated gaze meets his. “Why don’t you just go ahead and kill me?” My whisper is as broken as my body.
“I can’t do that. I love you too much.” He runs a hand through his wet hair. “Don’t you see? You’re the chosen one. The lucky one. I’m choosing to keep you alive.”
The guard throws him a towel and he runs it over his head. “Don’t get me wrong. You will be punished for your betrayal, but I won’t kill you. Not yet.”
He gets to his knees and dries me off with the now damp towel. I’m too weak and cold to fight him off.
When he’s done, he lifts me onto one of the cushioned benches lining the sides of the boat and covers me with a thick blanket, much softer than the one on the dinghy.
I want to rebel, to throw myself overboard again, but my body won’t let me do it. I’m desperate for the little warmth the blanket is offering me. It’s not enough. The way I feel, it’s hard to imagine I’d ever feel warm again.
“Let me go,” I croak. Dax brings his ear closer to my lips. I repeat the same words.
“That won’t happen. You’re my wife.”
My body vibrates when the guard guns the engine of the boat.
I close my eyes, wishing I were dead. It feels wrong to bring a baby into a world as cruel as this, a world in which Dax exists.
He sits down next to me, lifting my feet onto his lap, stroking them.
I have no idea whether it’s the exhaustion, the disappointment, or illness that forces my eyes to close, but they do. As much as I long for them to stay open, they let me down.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ll take very good care of you.” His voice comes from a distance away. His words don’t mean a damn thing.
His version of taking care of me is twisted and even he knows it. I’ll try to get away again. I have to.
But for now, the desire for sleep is stronger.
Chapter Twenty
I’m alive, but I might as well be dead.
My heart is beating, my eyes are blinking, but I feel frozen in space. I feel trapped inside my body, trapped inside Dax’s bubble with no knowledge of how to burst it.
I’m afraid that the only way I’
ll get off this yacht is inside a body bag.
I lay in bed with people swarming around me.
Dax is talking in German to the nurse—a tall woman with gray hair and matching gray eyes. He had brought her to the yacht to look after me.
Imagine my surprise when he brought me back to the yacht and instead of throwing me into the dungeon for my punishment, he doted on me instead.
Pretending to be a caring husband, he has turned my cabin into a medical ward complete with a nurse. He was afraid the length of time I spent in the cold water could lead to an illness.
There had also been a doctor, but she left right after examining me, the sound of Dax’s helicopter signaling her departure. She probably figured out that my condition is not as bad as Dax is making it out to be.
I don’t feel sick. I just feel numb, both in body and mind.
It’s been two or three days, or four. I have lost track of time. In that time, Dax has barely left my side for more than a few minutes.
He avoids leaving me alone with the nurse for long stretches of time, which doesn’t surprise me. He’s a man with a lot of dangerous secrets.
But surely the nurse must suspect what he’s doing to me. She can’t be that blind. There’s no way she could have missed the scars and the wounds that are starting to heal. She examined me, for God’s sakes. Or maybe he paid her well enough to keep her mouth shut even if she suspects his crimes.
She acts normal. She never asks questions, even when he’s not in the room.
Even though she communicates with Dax in German, I’ve heard her talk to someone else on the phone in English. She’s fully capable of starting a conversation with me.
The few times she was alone with me in the room, I tried reaching out to her, parting my lips to speak, but no words ever came out. Shock has rendered me speechless.
Inside my mind, I keep replaying the events of the night I almost escaped, the way Dax shot Otto without a moment’s hesitation, the way Otto fell to the bottom of the dinghy, lifeless.
Dax Pierce is a cold-blooded serial killer.
Thank God the morning sickness has subsided. I don’t even want to think about