Chapter 2 - THE SISTER WHO NEVER DIED
I wanted to call Mia a liar.
I wanted to grab the nearest radio, find the Coast Guard, wake every passenger and crew member on the yacht.
But there were no passengers.
This wasn't a cruise ship.
It was my family's private yacht.
And suddenly I understood why Ethan had insisted we honeymoon on it.
No strangers.
No witnesses.
No one except people who had already been bought.
“Why would my father help kill you?”
Mia opened a metal cabinet beneath the monitors.
Inside were passports, flash drives, two burner phones and a thick yellow envelope.
“Because sixteen years ago, your father and Ethan's father were business partners.”
“That isn't possible.”
“It is. They just made sure nobody remembered.”
She handed me a photograph.
My father, Charles Whitmore, stood outside a warehouse with Ethan's father, Gregory Harrow.
The date stamped in the corner was August 18, 2010.
I was eleven years old.
Mia pointed to a third man.
“That's Nathan Cole. My biological father.”
I looked at her.
“Gregory isn't your father?”
“No.”
Her mouth tightened.
“My mother had an affair. Gregory raised me because he thought I was his. When he learned the truth, I became inconvenient.”
The yacht suddenly rocked harder as the storm approached.
Mia continued.
“Nathan worked for Whitmore Financial. He discovered Charles and Gregory were moving money through shell companies. Hundreds of millions. Pension money. Insurance money. Money that didn't belong to them.”
I shook my head.
“My father built his fortune legally.”
Mia gave me a sad look.
“That's what he taught you.”
She inserted a flash drive into the computer.
Bank transfers filled the screen.
Dates.
Accounts.
Millions moving between companies with names I had never heard.
One account was labeled:
C.W. FAMILY HOLDINGS
Another:
H. MARITIME
“Your father was going to be exposed,” Mia said. “Nathan planned to testify.”
“What happened?”
“He disappeared.”
My throat tightened.
Mia touched the scar under her eye.
“I found Nathan's files when I was nineteen. I confronted my mother. She begged me to burn them.”
“Vanessa?”
Mia nodded.
“She said Gregory would kill us both.”
I remembered Vanessa smiling at my wedding.
Adjusting my veil.
Calling me the daughter she'd always wanted.
“What did you do?”
“I tried to meet your mother.”
“My mother?”
Mia looked surprised.
“You don't know.”
“Know what?”
Before she could answer, every monitor went black.
Then one came back on.
Ethan's face filled the screen.
Live.
He was staring directly into the camera.
“Mia.”
She stopped breathing.
Ethan smiled.
“I always wondered if you survived.”
He leaned closer.
“And now you've brought my wife to exactly the place I needed her.”
A metallic lock slammed behind us.
I rushed to the Engine Room B door.
Locked.
The ventilation fans shut down.
The room became suddenly, horribly quiet.
Then Ethan's voice came through the speaker.
“Claire, my love, Mia left out the best part.”
I turned toward the ceiling speaker.
His next words shattered everything I thought I knew.
“Ask her who paid her to get close to you six months before our wedding.”
I looked at Mia.
Her face went white.
“Mia?”
She said nothing.
Ethan laughed.
“She wasn't trying to save you.”
May you like
The emergency lights turned red.
“She was hired to make sure you married me.”
