The Private Serials Box Set(107)
“Not just yours. The registrar at the marina thinks your whole family is on that boat. They’ll find the boat, but they won’t find your bodies. They’ll think you all died in the crash and your bodies were lost at sea.”
“This can’t be the only way,” Derrek said, his voice wavering somewhere between angry and scared.
“This is the only way where you disappear, but are still breathing. Edgar wants you dead. Thinks I’m here to kill you, in fact. But I can’t do that. Even with how much I despise you, I can’t kill you. But I will tell him where you are.” I paused, letting everything sink in for him. “If you do this, if you crash this boat and disappear, I will pay Edgar off and tell him you’re dead. You’ll be free to start a new life, and I’ll make that a possibility. But if you don’t, it’s over.”
Derrek’s eyes flashed to Jessica’s, and she looked just as shaken as he did. After everything that had happened in the last few days, I was shocked this had come as some sort of surprise to them both. If someone were after Lena and myself, if we were being hunted, and someone offered me an out, I’d take it without hesitation. It would hurt, but I’d put my past behind me, leave my family, leave my life behind, to ensure Lena was safe and with me. I watched his gaze move from Jessica to the faces of his daughters and I knew the moment when he made the decision.
“You promise you can make us safe?”
I leaned forward and looked him in the eye, trying to impart as much urgency and passion with my words as I could. “If you’re not safe, then Lena’s not safe. There is nothing I take more seriously than her safety. You mean shit to me, but she means the world. I wouldn’t gamble with her life.”
Derrek’s eyes jumped from Jessica to Lena and back to me. He took off his hat, ran his hands through his hair, and exhaled loudly. “Okay, let’s get this over with.” At his words, Jessica stood up and moved to the side of the boat, leaning toward him and kissing him with all the passion you’d expect a couple in love to share. My eyes darted to Lena, to see if their exchange caused her any pain, but she was happily cooing at the child in her lap, oblivious.
When Jessica and Derrek pulled away from each other, she sat back down and I watched as Lena ran her hand down Jessica’s arm, comforting her. “He’ll be all right,” Lena said quietly as Jessica wiped a few tears from her cheeks.
“Okay,” I said, turning back to Derrek. “Like I said, just aim for the rocks then, literally, abandon ship before you get too close. It’ll probably explode and you don’t want to be too close to the explosion.” I heard Jessica muffle a cry at my words but Derrek just nodded. “Make sure your life jacket is on tight.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Derrek responded, with almost a laugh.
“We’ll be out to get you as soon as it’s safe for the girls.” Derrek just nodded at my words.
“I love you,” he said firmly to Jessica, but she just nodded in response, pressing her lips together to keep herself from crying. Derrek threw his end of the rope back into our boat and then took the wheel of his. We all watched as he pulled away slowly. Once he was a safe distance away, I took to following him.
We went at a slower clip, just far enough away to see him clearly. I was more than relieved to see that there were no other boats on the east side of the island. I hadn’t expected there to be any, really; it wasn’t an optimal spot for tourists. The west side of the island had all the beaches. I slowed the boat when he aligned his with the rocky cliffs. We stopped altogether and watched as his boat sped up, heading directly toward the rocks.
Jessica started whimpering as the boat approached the island, and eventually turned her head away, unable to look any longer.
The boat was starting to get a little closer than I would have liked. “Jump, Derrek. Jump, damn it,” I whispered. My heart started pounding harder; he was getting too close. Finally, I watched as he jumped from the boat, saw the orange of his life vest hit the water. Then just seconds later the boat hit with an impressively loud crash into the rocks. As I suspected, the boat burst into flames; the sound of the explosion was much louder than the crash, and the whole event was hard to look away from. Flames licked the sky, black smoke poured from the wreckage. Surely, if anyone had been aboard, they’d be dead on impact.
I pushed our boat forward and as we neared the crash site, the air was hot with the fire. I saw Derrek in the water, his life vest bobbing in the waves. As I neared it became clear he was moving, swimming away from the crash. I sighed in relief, glad to know he’d made it. I stopped the boat just yards from him and threw the rope out. He grabbed it and I pulled him in. After a struggle to bring him onboard, with lots of coughing and sputtering, he finally landed on the deck of the boat and Jessica flung herself on him, crying fully now, and very loudly.
Lena had both girls and tried to distract them, but we made eye contact and she gave me a small smile, obviously glad everything had turned out the way I’d planned.
“We’ve got to get out of here, now,” I said urgently. “Someone on that island heard the explosion and I’m sure the authorities are on their way here. Derrek,” I snapped, hoping to get his attention. When he finally looked at me from the deck of the boat, still coughing and breathing heavily, I nodded at the ocean. “Throw your wallet in the water. Jessica, you too.” They didn’t bother arguing or questioning me, which made everything so much easier.