by A. E. Radley
“Thank you,” Annie said, adding a little flourish to her hint of an accent.
They were guided along an opulent, large corridor with multiple awards hung on the wood-panelled walls. Up ahead, Annie could hear the bustling of muted conversation and realised that the dining room was absolutely packed solid.
Suddenly, her assumption that she would be able to easily fool everyone into thinking she was Serena Rubio seemed foolish. There could be hundreds of people in that dining room, potentially some Rubio mega-fans.
I’ll be fine as long as I stick with the Shelbys and then get back to the room as soon as possible, she reminded herself.
Graham led the way, conversing with various staff members as he went. He cut through the dining room towards a large table in the middle of the room. Annie frowned. The chairs were high-backed and padded with red velvet, with a brass ring on the back to allow the multitude of waiters that surrounded the table to pull the seats out with ease.
It was then that Annie realised something critical.
She was heading straight for the captain’s table.
Captain West
Caroline got to her feet to welcome Mr and Mrs Shelby and their guest. Graham and Louise were platinum members of the Dream Frequent Cruisers Club, members of Dreams Plus, and every other special club that Dream could come up with to flatter monied cruisers. As such, they were very well known amongst the crew.
“Captain West, a delight to see you,” Graham greeted her with both hands on her upper arms and a small kiss to each cheek.
“Lovely to see you again, Mr Shelby,” Caroline greeted. She turned to Louise. “And so nice to see you, Mrs Shelby, what a lovely dress.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Louise said. She gestured to the woman stood behind her. “This is our guest, Serena Rubio.”
Louise took a small step to the side, and Caroline had to remind herself not to stare. Serena was magnificent in a black, floor-length gown which clung to her body. The swooping neckline left little to the imagination. She realised that Serena was holding out a hand in greeting and quickly reciprocated. Her hand was warm, soft, and very gentle.
“Welcome aboard, Miss Rubio. Is this your first time on Fortuna?” Caroline asked.
“It’s her first time on a cruise at all,” Graham said. “She’s an opera singer. Performed with orchestras around the world, even won a Grammy.”
Serena narrowed her eyes at Graham. He didn’t notice as he was too busy taking his seat to Caroline’s left. Louise graciously gestured for Serena to take her seat to Caroline’s right, opting to seat herself on Serena’s other side. This was presumably so she could talk with Mrs Martin who already sat at the table. The two women often had a strange game of one-upmanship about which of their children were the most accomplished.
Graham quickly introduced Serena to the rest of the table, and everyone sat down. The waiters approached, placing the linen napkins on the diners’ laps and handing each of them a menu.
Caroline couldn’t help but glance up at Serena Rubio. She was a breath of fresh air to her table. She was young, incredibly attractive, and there was something about her that Caroline couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“Are you travelling alone, Miss Rubio?” she asked.
“She is,” Graham immediately replied.
Caroline maintained eye contact with Serena, seeing in her eyes that she had already had enough of Graham speaking on her behalf.
“I am,” Serena agreed. “My manager booked a trip for me, to rest and relax before my next tour.”
“She’s performing in Madrid in two weeks,” Graham said.
Serena’s eyes flashed with anger, and Caroline knew she had to diffuse the situation.
“Graham, have you told Mrs McGregor about your visit to Alaska?” she asked, gesturing to the woman beside him. “I know she spoke about being interested in hearing more about that side of the world.”
Graham turned like lightning and started to explain to Laura McGregor when and how she should make arrangements.
Caroline turned back to Serena, who offered her a smile and mouthed a “thank you.”
“Welcome aboard, I hope you find plenty of opportunity to rest,” Caroline said. “As well as visit some interesting ports.”
Serena smiled and then looked down at her menu. Caroline felt surprised. Usually people were happy to engage her in conversation, even wanting to continue talking long after she was ready to leave.
“Do you have any excursions booked?” Caroline tried again.
“No,” Serena said, keeping her head down.
“You will have to read our daily newsletter to see if anything appeals,” Caroline suggested.
Serena looked up. “Newsletter?”
“Yes, every evening you’ll have the latest edition of DreamFinders delivered to your room. It will tell you about the next day’s port, the weather, all the ship activities. Everything. It’s very useful. With a ship as big as Fortuna, it’s easy to miss out on something.”
“I’ll look out for it,” Serena said before returning her attention to her menu.
Caroline blinked. For some reason, she was being ignored. She didn’t know if Serena had an issue with her or simply wasn’t interested in her, but Caroline was fairly certain that it was the first time in her career that someone had sat at the captain’s table with absolutely zero interest in the captain.
She’d find it infuriating if she didn’t find it so intriguing.
“So, you’re a performer?” she tried again. She’d spoken with many celebrities in the past, and they were always more than happy to discuss themselves. Sometimes a star felt that their own celebrity was dulled in the presence of the captain and enjoyed the opportunity to reassert their authority.
“I am,” Serena agreed. “A singer.”
Caroline had expected a little more than that. “Impressive, and a Grammy winner?” Surely, Serena would jump at the chance to mention her awards and accolades.
“Yes.” Serena gestured to the menu. “Do you have a recommendation for a good wine to pair with the fish?”
“The Sauvignon Blanc,” Caroline replied. “I can order if you’d like?”
Serena nodded. “Please, that would be lovely.”
She turned to the assistant waiter. “A glass of the Sauvignon Blanc for Miss Rubio, water for myself.”
“Ah, no drinking on duty?” Serena asked.
“Occasionally I indulge, but not often,” Caroline admitted.
Graham turned his attention back to them and started to talk to Caroline about Serena’s many performances. Serena had a face like thunder, which Graham completely missed. Caroline nodded along politely, but her mind was focused on Serena.
A celebrity who didn’t want to talk about herself was unusual. A young, attractive woman at the captain’s table was also unusual. Caroline was fighting to tear her eyes away from Serena. There was something about her that intrigued Caroline.
She hoped it wasn’t just her looks. It had been a long time since she’d been seeing anyone, but she prayed she hadn’t stooped to the level of drooling over someone purely based on their looks.
She took a sip of her water, listening to Graham and watching as Serena focused on her menu, ignoring the man’s snobbish behaviour. There was something about Serena Rubio, but she just couldn’t put her finger on it.
Lost at Sea
Annie barrelled through the door to her stateroom. She tossed her clutch onto the sofa, kicked off her heels, and started to pace the room. The door clicked shut behind her, the automatic closure denying her the satisfaction of slamming the door in frustration.
“Why’s it so bloody dark in here?” she wondered aloud.
She patted the wall, searching for the light switch.
After a few moments, she found it and turned on all the switches to illuminate the room. Her bed had been made, the curtains drawn, a towel had been folded into the shape of an elephant on her bed, and a piece of paper and an envelope
lay beside it.
“Ah, this is the second round of housekeeping,” she realised. “Elephants and post.”
She picked up the piece of paper and saw that it was the DreamFinders newsletter that Captain West had spoken about. She opened it up and saw a hefty list of activities, opening and closing times for restaurants and bars, shore excursions, drinks offers, and more. She put it on the desk and turned her attention to the envelope.
She ripped it open and pulled out the card.
“An art auction?” she said. “This place has an art gallery, too? Does it ever stop?”
She tossed the card and envelope onto the desk and flopped down on the bed.
Dinner had been terrible. Well, not terrible exactly. More like terrifying.
She couldn’t believe out of everyone on the ship, out of all the thousands of people, she had been sat right next to the captain, the one person who could presumably smell an imposter and have her imprisoned.
The odds of sitting at the captain’s table were long, but to be sat next to the woman herself. Able to smell her perfume. There was no escape; every time she dared to look up over her menu, she saw curious eyes watching her.
Annie grabbed a pillow and held it tightly to her chest.
Everyone in the dining room had been watching her. Or rather, watching the captain. But as the person right beside the captain, she could feel the eyes of so many people burrowing into her.
So much for a nice, quiet, relaxing time. So much for hoping that no one would recognise her. So much for trying to keep a low profile.
She was going to kill Graham Shelby. Her fingers dug into the soft pillow. The man had clearly Googled the shit out of Serena Rubio and now knew far more about Serena than Annie did. He was dining off her celebrity, showing off about all the awards that Serena had won and all the places she had performed. As if he had something to do with any of it. Or as if he were a personal friend.
When he was no one.
No, that wasn’t quite true.
He was a bully. He’d pushed Annie to a dinner she didn’t want to attend so he could be the person who invited a star to the captain’s table.
Captain West had softly put him in his place a couple of times, guiding him to talk to someone else, changing the conversation, and even proposing a toast once while he was in the middle of talking.
Of course, Graham was too dense to know what was happening. He was too busy lapping up the praise from the other diners for finding a world-class opera singer and bringing her to them.
She’d felt like a prize bird, some rare species that Graham had managed to trap and show off to all his contemporaries.
Annie unclenched her fingers from the pillow and wrapped her arms around it in a full-body hug.
That part had been horrible, but it could have been far worse if it wasn’t for her guardian angel, Captain West.
Caroline was impressive. Commanding, as one would expect from a captain, but also thoughtful, sensitive, and intelligent. Annie felt bad that she had spent most of the evening attempting to avoid talking to her.
It was obviously part of the captain’s job to ensure that everyone was having a good time, and Caroline had continued to try to engage Annie in conversation.
The few times that Annie did cave in and talk to the older woman, she noticed a couple of subtle tell-tale signs of attraction. Dilated pupils, licking of lips, wandering eyes. Annie wouldn’t be at all surprised if Captain West were a lesbian, or bisexual. She was definitely somehow interested in women.
Seeing someone like Caroline show interest in her had resurrected long-since-buried feelings in Annie. She identified as bisexual and had dated both men and women up until the time she got involved with Diego.
After her relationship with Diego had fizzled out, and she’d been content to simply be in his entourage, she hadn’t even thought about dating anyone. Subconsciously she must have known that to bring anyone into that environment would be unfair, even if she hadn’t fully realised it herself.
She felt as if she had woken up from a dream. When she looked back, she didn’t recognise herself. Only now was she slowly putting together the pieces and realising what a crazy situation she had been in.
She’d genuinely thought she was happy. Now that she was out, she realised she’d been trapped. Her father had always gently chastised her for being impulsive, her mother encouraging her to be spontaneous but never reckless. Somewhere along the line, Annie had gotten muddled.
She groaned. Why did she ever think she could get away with this? She didn’t know anything about opera, and now she was stuck on a seven-day cruise with Encyclopaedia Graham who knew everything about her and more.
On top of that, she’d sat next to the captain for two hours, during which time she’d been invited to a multitude of other events. Everything was spiralling out of control. It was only a matter of time before everything came crashing down.
“Stop it,” she told herself. “Just… stop.”
She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down.
“This is better than being in Barcelona,” she reminded herself. “At least you’re safe for a while. You can do this. Pretend you’re an artist. They’re flighty, sometimes rude. You just bat people away when they get to close. You can do this.”
She swallowed and stared up the ceiling. She wasn’t at all sure if she could do it, but she had little choice now.
Running away from Diego Ortega by sea was a lot safer than doing it on land. But at sea, she had to be Serena Rubio and she was stuck in a confined space. Okay, that confined space was one of the biggest cruise ships in the world, but it was still a bubble from which she couldn’t escape.
Somehow, she’d managed to take the mess she’d been in and replace it with an entirely different one.
Annie jolted awake. She tossed the pillow to one side and sat up, gasping for breath. It was the nightmare she’d had every night for the last couple evenings. It was a blow-by-blow re-enactment of what she had seen, from the moment she had barged into Diego’s office without knocking, to seeing the blood, to running.
In her dreams, she didn’t get very far, being tackled on the stairs long before she managed to leave the luxury townhouse. Luckily, in reality, she had managed to get a lot farther.
She stood and picked up a bottle of complimentary water from the desk, downing half of it in a few short gulps.
Exhaustion must have hit her thick and fast; she’d fallen asleep in an awkward position, still wearing her dress from dinner. Now she felt wide awake. Adrenaline coursed through her, fight-or-flight mode fully engaged.
Unfortunately, she was trapped in a stateroom with nowhere to go.
She put the cap back on the bottle and returned it to the desk, eyeing up the closed curtains. She crossed the room, throwing the curtains open. For some reason, she was surprised to see darkness. Logically she knew it was nighttime, and she knew they were in the middle of the ocean.
Still, the utter absence of light confused her.
She opened the balcony door and stepped outside. She approached the railings and peered out in front of her.
Nothing.
Absolute darkness.
It was unnerving.
It was also cold.
The sound of the ocean hitting the hull of the ship caused her to swallow. She’d tried to get over her fear of the water many times over the last few years, but the addition of the darkness made the sound all the more eerie.
She went back inside, closing the door behind her. She looked at the bed but knew she was restless, and she’d not be able to sleep.
It was a good time to do something useful, like unpack. She’d had to get ready in a hurry earlier; now she could have a look and see exactly what Serena had packed. And to see how much of it was usable and what Annie would need to try to purchase on board.
She opened the wardrobe door and began to hang up dresses and blouses, fold jeans and shorts, and places shoes in the bottom of the wardrobe.
Serena’s feet were slightly smaller than Annie’s, so she knew she wouldn’t be wearing many of the shoes for any longer than she absolutely had to. She’d quickly slipped off the high heels under the captain’s table as soon as she was seated.
After a few minutes, everything was unpacked, and she slipped the empty case under the bed.
“Now what?” she wondered.
She felt claustrophobic, like she needed to get out. She’d never been great at confined spaces, and she wasn’t happy with the dark either. She tapped her fingers against her thigh as she looked thoughtfully at the clothes she had put away. There were a pair of thick jeans, a long-sleeved blouse, and a cosy-looking sweater.
She pulled off the dress and put on the comfortable, warmer clothes. If there was ever a time to inspect the ship, surely when everyone else was asleep would be the best time to do so.
She picked up her pass card from the table and slipped out of the room.
A Stroll in the Night
Annie took the elevator to the top deck, deck seventeen. The pictogram beside the button promised beach balls, parasols, and waves. It was three o’clock in the morning, and she’d already passed a few people staggering around the ship. Nothing to do with any weather conditions, solely the open bars.
Luckily, the drunken passengers were few and far between. They were also chaperoned by staff members helping them get back to their staterooms.
She hoped the pool deck would be quieter, so she could enjoy a brisk walk around the ship and blow the cobwebs of horrifying dreams straight out to sea.
The elevator doors opened, and she walked through the lobby towards the external sliding doors. She pulled the sleeves of the sweater down over her hands and stepped outside.
The cold wind immediately whipped around her, and she shivered involuntarily. She could hear waves crashing below, and the sound of the water constantly churning.
Crossing over to the railing, she looked down at the sea. Again, everything was black. She saw the occasional sparkle of light being reflected from one of the ship’s lights, but after a blink of the eye it was gone.