by A. E. Radley
Caroline looked broken, like a woman who desperately wanted just five more minutes but knew it was impossible.
Annie wanted to explain, wanted to lead Caroline to the sofa and sit her down and give her the two-minute condensed version, just to have it out there. But that wasn’t fair. Annie knew she had to make it easier for Caroline to leave; it was the least she could do.
She tried to smile as best she could.
“I understand.” She crossed the room and put her hand on Caroline’s cheek, pressing a soft kiss to the other. “Promise me that we can talk at some point this evening, just you and me. Fifteen minutes. It’s important.”
“I promise.” Caroline surged forward and kissed Annie briefly on the lips. “I swear, I’ll give you an entire hour. More, if I can.”
They exited Serenity, Caroline locking up.
“Can I give you a lift back to Fortuna?”
“Actually, I think I’m going to walk around,” Annie said. She needed some time and some air. She’d put an exact time on her revelation now. It really couldn’t wait another moment. She needed some time to think about things, plan her words carefully.
She owed it to Caroline to have thoroughly planned what she intended to say, to work out the way to cause as little pain as possible.
“Are you sure?” Caroline asked as they walked towards the peninsula.
“Yes, I want to explore Napoli. You made it sound so wonderful.”
“Okay, make sure you’re back on the ship by—”
“Eight-thirty, I know. I read my DreamFinder every evening.” Annie winked.
“Dinner tonight?” Caroline asked.
“Of course, unless you’re sick of me?” Annie joked.
“Never.” Caroline kissed her cheek.
Annie walked with Caroline to her Vespa, watching as she put on her helmet and offered her a small, sad wave goodbye before heading off the path they’d entered on a few hours earlier.
“Goodbye, Caroline,” Annie whispered to herself.
Another Interruption
Caroline stormed onto the bridge, still in her casual attire as a clear message to the incompetent team that she actually had a life off the ship. One she’d had to leave behind to come and clean up their mess.
The crew stood to attention and all attempted to look a little more on duty than they had before they’d noticed her arrival. She assumed that her mood had pervaded the atmosphere, but she couldn’t be upset about that.
She was furious, and she didn’t care who knew.
“Thomas?” she asked as she marched into the SCC.
“Caroline, I’m so sorry. The system crashed after the reboot, and then we realised we had—”
“To get my signature to make a change to the roster, I know.” She didn’t want to hear what had gone wrong. The result was still that she’d had to come back to sign paperwork and clear everything with the customs director.
All because the reboot she wanted to do yesterday had gone wrong today. Yesterday, she would have been on board and easily able to cope with the issue. Today, she had to walk away from one of the most important conversations she could remember having in her personal life.
The next day she would gather the bridge crew to talk about what had gone wrong and why. At length. But at the moment, she was too angry to speak.
She’d finally managed to convince herself that she might have found someone who could actually put up with her. Maybe more than put up with her. It was no secret that Caroline kept to herself and had long ago constructed a tall wall to keep people out. Being the centre of attention as the captain meant a lot of people tried to befriend her, often for bragging rights.
But it was a part of the job, so Caroline allowed the behaviour and simply modified her own. She trusted no one and presented a fake Caroline West which the passengers adored.
Serena had seen through her and hadn’t cared about her celebrity. Presumably because she was one in her own right.
Caroline sifted through the paperwork that Thomas was drowning in, helping him to get the customs forms in order, manually, before they had to set sail that evening.
She took a couple of calming breaths, reminding herself that Serena had seemed understanding of her unique living arrangements. She’d wanted to say something, but the way she’d held Caroline’s hands so tightly indicated that it wasn’t an end to whatever was growing between them.
Just a few more hours, Caroline reminded herself, and then everything will be answered.
“Er, sir?”
Thomas turned to look at the crewman who was interrupting them.
“The hotel director wanted to make you aware of three unexpected VIPs boarding here.”
“Got the paperwork?” Thomas asked.
Caroline heard an exchange of papers, too busy collating her own paperwork to care about what was happening behind her.
“Ooh, celebrities,” Thomas said.
“Anyone I’d know?” Caroline asked.
“Movie star and her husband,” Thomas said.
“Then, no,” Caroline said.
They worked in silence for a few minutes before Thomas spoke again. “I’m sorry for calling you back. I seriously tried everything, but the computer wouldn’t accept changes without your code and the customs director wouldn’t either.”
“It’s fine,” Caroline lied. “Besides, the reset caused other problems anyway. I take it the CCTV is out?”
A constant bug in the system had been causing havoc for the last year since a new piece of software had been added. Despite reassurances that a reboot would fix the sluggish systems, it often threw many other systems offline with it.
“Yeah, we’re working to get things back up,” Thomas said. “But that’s not the point, we should be able to cope without you.”
“I’m the captain, the buck stops with me,” Caroline said.
It was the way things on board the ship worked. Everything passed through her. The bureaucracy was antiquated, but it was the way things were. She signed off on absolutely everything; no one could be fired without having a meeting with her first. Even if they had gotten blind drunk and punched a passenger, the rules were that every decision passed in front of the master of the ship.
Even if that meant having no social life whatsoever.
Diego Ortega
Caroline raced out of the crew area, still putting on her tie as she walked down the long corridor towards the elevator lobby. If she saw another passenger manifest or order form, she’d throttle someone.
Not to mention whoever designed the supposedly foolproof system which was supposedly unable to fail. The one which had now failed in some way a total of fifty-two times.
She’d hardly had a moment’s peace, but she’d eventually managed to get everything sorted out to the satisfaction of the port authorities. Unfortunately, it meant a delayed departure, which meant planning a new route and burning more costly fuel in order to keep on schedule.
Thankfully the next day was an entire day at sea. If they’d had a port to get to then things would have been much worse. It was a lot easier to catch up to schedule when they had an entire day to cross water rather than just an evening to arrive at the next stop.
Caroline walked into the lobby and headed to the stairwell, knowing that it would be much faster to go down nine floors via the stairs than to wait for an elevator during the evening rush.
She greeted passengers on her way, knowing already that she’d owe Serena yet another apology for her tardy timekeeping. She’d cleared most of her evening so that she could devote two hours to her. Hopefully that would get her off the hook.
She dove into the ladies’ bathrooms to check her tie and general appearance before quickly returning to the deck and entering the restaurant. She nodded at the waiters who greeted her and took long strides towards her table.
“I’m so sorry I’m late, everyone,” she apologised.
Michael, her personal head waiter, pulled her chair out. She thanked him
and then took her seat. She glanced around the table, her eyes quickly landing on Serena, sitting to her right as had now become tradition.
Serena smiled at her, and Caroline felt relief flash through her. She felt whole again, something she had always felt was a ridiculous saying. How could any one single person feel like they weren’t complete? Now it made sense.
The empty chair beside Serena was slid out. A good-looking man in his forties sat down. He wore a tuxedo, had slick, black hair, and smiled warmly.
“Captain West, a pleasure,” he greeted her in a heavy Spanish accent.
Caroline noticed Serena go stiff. All the colour drained away from her face. Caroline’s eyes flicked from Serena to the newcomer and back again. She wanted to ask what was wrong but also focus her attention on the gentleman greeting her.
“My name is Diego Ortega. I see you have already met my beautiful fiancée, Serena.”
He placed his hand over Serena’s, leaned in, and gave her a soft peck on the cheek.
Caroline felt the very moment her mind went blank. She’d never experienced anything like it in her life before. She’d made life-or-death decisions with frequency throughout her career. She’d been trained so as not to not succumb under torture techniques.
And yet, this simple moment had undone her.
Serena was engaged.
Her brain still wasn’t co-operating as she scrambled to recall precisely how she knew the name Diego Ortega. But she was fairly sure he was in some way connected to a crime family; the name certainly sounded familiar. She knew it would come to her as soon as her heart stopped pounding and her brain finished its spin cycle.
“I couldn’t join this sailing immediately, but when I saw an opportunity open up in my schedule, I flew to Naples and raced to the port to be with her.” He picked up Serena’s hand and placed a soft kiss to her palm. Serena turned to look at him, offering a tight smile.
The other diners around the tables oohed and ahhed at the cute display. Caroline wanted to be sick. Or upend the table. Or both.
She opted to stand up.
“If you’ll excuse me, it appears I’m needed elsewhere. I do apologise, Mr Ortega, it was a pleasure to meet you,” she announced.
She didn’t look at Serena, Diego, or anyone else. She simply walked around the table, through the centre set of double doors, out of the restaurant with every intention of walking until Fortuna would allow her no more room.
The End of the Road
Annie watched Caroline walk away. Everything had happened so fast. One moment she was smiling at Caroline, the next she smelt the familiar cologne of the man from her nightmares.
Panic had swept through her so quickly that she’d thought she might pass out. In hindsight, that would be have been preferable. Surely Caroline wouldn’t have walked over her lifeless body in her hurry to leave?
But Annie hadn’t passed out. She’d been too busy wondering if she could turn to Caroline and beg her for asylum. If such a thing existed at sea. Or would Diego reach for the innocent-looking steak knife on the table and kill her before she had time to get away?
She looked at him. He was all smiles and charm, talking with the other guests at the table. The words echoed in Annie’s head, and she couldn’t focus on what was being said or by whom.
All she knew was that Diego was on the ship. And Caroline had left the table.
Only then did it occur to Annie that Diego was playing along with her ruse. He was referring to her as Serena. Which meant he knew everything.
Why is he here? Annie wondered. Why not just push me over the railing or slit my throat as I sleep?
Though Annie had not been intimate with him for a long time, she knew him better than most people. Even so, his behaviour confused her, and she scoured her brain to try to understand what he was doing. And, more importantly, what he would do next.
Diego had always had a flair for the dramatic. There was a chance that he was just trying to frighten her, or possibly prove to her that he could find her.
He’d done both, and now Annie was forced to sit beside him and smile and nod and play along with whatever he said.
“We haven’t decided on a honeymoon location yet, have we, darling?” Diego looked at her.
“No,” Annie whispered.
“It’s hard, with her being a famous opera singer,” Diego said. “Trying to find time in her busy, busy schedule.”
Annie swallowed hard and nodded, trying to force the tears down again.
“But we’ll figure it out, won’t we?” Diego stared at her, a faux smile plastered on his face.
Annie nodded again.
She knew they wouldn’t figure anything out. Diego wouldn’t have come all this way himself to have a simple chat with her. He was a man who liked to ensure that certain problems were solved rather than rely on someone else to do his dirty work.
He liked to see with his own eyes that skeletons in his closet were well and truly dealt with and wouldn’t come back to haunt him.
Annie realised that it was the end of the road for her.
She’s Taken
Caroline had walked around the top deck for a few minutes, dodging passengers, when she realised she’d find no peace there. She needed to get back to her own room if she was going to have the crying fit that she knew was coming.
She walked into the crew area on deck fourteen and approached her stateroom door. She hesitated and then turned around and walked farther into the crew area before hammering on another door.
The door opened, and Mara looked at her in confusion. “Is there an emergency?”
“No,” Caroline said, tears starting to stream down her cheeks.
Mara quickly pulled her into her cabin and closed the door behind them.
“Caroline? What happened? Are you okay?” Mara asked, holding her upper arms and trying to meet her eyes.
“I never should have listened to you,” Caroline said.
“Me?” Mara took a step back. “What’s happened?”
Caroline started to pace the room, not sure where to begin. She couldn’t believe she’d been so foolish to fall for Serena, and now she was crying. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d cried.
“I took Serena to Megaride,” Caroline explained. “Everything was so perfect; we had a wonderful afternoon.”
“Okay,” Mara sounded confused.
Caroline fell onto the sofa. “And now I just met her fiancé at dinner.”
Mara blinked. She sat on the edge of the coffee table. “You’re sure?”
“Oh yes, he introduced himself to me personally. Took her hand in his right there at the table. I… I ran away. I couldn’t think.” Caroline closed her eyes and rubbed her palms against her face.
“It doesn’t make any sense. Serena Rubio isn’t engaged. I stalked her online profile when she came aboard,” Mara said.
“So did I. Apparently this hasn’t made the media yet. Probably because of who he is.”
“Who is he?”
Caroline looked up at her friend. “Diego Ortega.”
Mara frowned. “Why do I know that name?”
“Probably from the news. He’s part of a large crime family.” Caroline hated the very idea of the man being aboard his ship, but it wasn’t unusual for criminals to come aboard the floating paradise that was Fortuna. Very often, crime did pay, and crime rather enjoyed a holiday.
“This makes no sense at all,” Mara said.
“It makes perfect sense. They are engaged to be married, and it’s being kept quiet because of her career. I can’t imagine people would be very happy with her marrying into the mafia,” Caroline explained.
As she’d marched as far as the railings of the ship would allow, she’d realised the answer was quite simple. Serena was having a little fun before tying the knot. It was all part of some kind of twisted game, a game that she never would have been a part of if it hadn’t been for…
“I shouldn’t have listened to you,” she told Mara again.
“It’s hardly my fault. She didn’t say she was engaged, she flirted with you, not me.”
“People have flirted with me before,” Caroline said, “and I kept my walls up and ignored them. You convinced me to let her in, to have fun and see how things went. If I’d not listened to you, I wouldn’t feel like… like some teenager whose boy-band hero just eloped.”
Mara stood up and walked over to her desk. She grabbed her laptop and lifted the lid. “This doesn’t add up. Why would she not mention him? Why has he turned up now?”
“I don’t know. Nor care.” Caroline lay down on the sofa, not caring about creasing her dress uniform.
“Did you take her to Serenity?” Mara asked, obviously knowing the answer.
“Yes,” Caroline whispered. “I feel like such an idiot. I wanted to show her the real me before the sailing was over. So she knew more about me, so she could… I don’t know…”
“You thought you had something with her, so you put yourself out there,” Mara said. “It makes sense. She must have been very important to you.”
“She was.”
Caroline’s radio beeped. “Eagle One?”
She groaned loudly.
Mara lifted Caroline’s jacket and plucked the radio from her belt.
“Thomas, it’s Mara. Caroline’s occupied, what do you need?”
“I need permission to reboot one of the computer systems again. We were having issues with earlier, and it seems the only solution will be a reboot. It will reset a lot of the ship’s systems,” Thomas replied.
“For fuck’s sake,” Caroline muttered. She sat up and rubbed at her eyes.
“What do you want me to tell him?” Mara asked.
“Tell him I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Caroline stood up. She needed to get back to her room to get changed and freshen up. Spending some time on the bridge was probably just what she needed. She didn’t relish the idea of more system failures and reboots, but the distraction was timely to say the least.