“Do that.”
Kemp left.
Lena looked at me.
“He knows you’re missing.”
“Yes.”
“And he knows why it matters.”
“Yes.”
We were running out of time.
PART 20
At 7:51, someone tried to enter the engine control room.
Temporary deckhand.
Denied.
Then another camera went dark.
Then a second.
Lena swore.
“They’re trying to blind us.”
Warren contacted authorities.
“Situation escalating.”
Response came.
Helicopter thirty-six minutes.
Patrol vessel fifty.
Thirty-six minutes suddenly felt like three hours.
Warren ordered loyal crew to secure critical areas.
Bridge.
Engine room.
Communications.
Fuel systems.
Tender controls.
No confrontation unless necessary.
The goal remained containment.
Then we heard footsteps outside the communications room.
Slow.
Heavy.
The handle moved.
PART 21
I stopped breathing.
Lena put one finger against her lips.
The handle moved again.
Then Dr. Kemp’s voice.
“Natalie?”
My heart slammed.
“Mrs. Cole?”
Silence.
Then.
“If you’re inside, you need medical attention.”
No response.
He waited.
Then lowered his voice.
“You misunderstood what you heard.”
My blood went cold.
He knew.
“Come out.”
“We can fix this.”
Fix.
No.
Lena silently triggered an internal security alert.
Two loyal crew members approached from opposite directions.
Kemp walked away before they reached him.
He had not forced entry.
But now there was no ambiguity.
PART 22
At 8:03, Dad called through the secure line.
I answered immediately.
“Dad.”
His breath caught.
“Natalie.”
“I’m safe.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Drugged.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
Mom’s voice came through.
“Baby.”
I started crying.
I had been holding everything together until then.
Hearing her broke me.
“Mom.”
“We’re safe.”
“Your father canceled everything.”
“We’re with security.”
“Authorities know.”
I pressed my hand against my mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
Mom said.
“For what?”
“For bringing them into our lives.”
“No.”
Her voice became firm.
“You do not apologize for someone else’s crimes.”
That sentence stayed with me.
PART 23
Dad spoke again.
“Our attorney checked the supposed power of attorney.”
“What?”
“It’s invalid in several critical respects.”
I almost laughed.
Adrian thought he had control.
He barely understood the structure.
Dad continued.
“Your trust cannot be moved by spouse authority.”
“Your voting rights cannot transfer through that document.”
“Your personal accounts are locked.”
“Even if he had succeeded tonight, the money would not have gone where he thought.”
I closed my eyes.
Three hundred million dollars.
He was planning murder for money he could not even access easily.
Greed had made him stupid.
But stupidity did not make him less dangerous.
PART 24
Dad said.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“Adrian’s lawyer contacted ours before the wedding.”
My stomach tightened.
“About what?”
“Beneficiary structure.”
“He asked hypothetical questions.”
“Spousal rights.”
“Missing persons.”
“Presumption of death.”
My entire body went cold.
He had been preparing legally.
Not impulsively.
Months.
Maybe longer.
Dad whispered.
“I should have noticed.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Dad.”
“I’m your father.”
“And I’m an adult.”
Silence.
Then I said.
“He fooled me too.”
That ended the argument.
For now.
PART 25
At 8:18, the storm intensified.
The yacht rolled harder.
Rain hammered the windows.
Wind rose.
Adrian had chosen this weather for a reason.
Now it complicated rescue.
Then Lena saw activity near the tender deck.
Temporary deckhand.
Fuel bag.
Emergency supplies.
Douglas appeared.
Then Marianne.
Then Adrian.
They were preparing the tender.
Escape.
Warren disabled launch controls remotely.
Adrian tried the panel.
Nothing.
He hit it.
Then shouted.
“Why isn’t this working?”
Deckhand said something we could not hear.
Douglas looked toward the upper deck.
Then whispered.
“Someone knows.”
Yes.
PART 26
Adrian’s behavior changed.
No more pretending Natalie might simply be sleeping somewhere.
He began opening crew doors.
Checking service corridors.
Searching.
Marianne followed.
Douglas spoke rapidly into a phone with no obvious signal.
Then Adrian found the service passage that connected to our suite.
My stomach tightened.
He followed it.
Closer.
Closer.
