Page 19 of Rock the Boat
Steven had done it. He had lied to my parents and covered up my death, not caring what it would do to them. It was one thing to stick the knife in my own back, but to do that to my parents was unthinkable. Pressing a little harder with my anger, I asked, “And after?”
“Oh fuck! He gave your phone to me, and I kept up the ruse until we got the last shipment,” he rushed out, practically yelling.
I spun around and looked at Helena with the gun at the ready. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she was breathing hard, her cheeks puffing out with each huffing breath she took. She made me think of the big bad wolf in theThree Little Pigs. “Have you decided you want to confess your sins and ask for forgiveness now or take your chances in hell where you belong?”
“Go to hell,” she snapped.
Before she could say anything else, I backhanded her as hard as I could. She was lucky I chose to give her another chance. I felt generous right now—not that she deserved it. “Try again.”
Movement out of the corner of my eye distracted me for a second, but I wasn’t worried that she would do anything. If she tried, my people would kill her on the spot.
Dom.
What was he doing here? He walked along the wall from the kitchen. How did he get in?
He was going to ruin everything.
Stopping when he reached the middle of the wall, he leaned against it and stared at me, his hands sliding into his pockets. How long had he been here on the ship?
I glanced over my shoulder at Sergio, and he looked anywhere except at me. That response answered all my questions. Dom had been here since we left port and had been stashed away, waiting to appear. Traitors.
And I needed to add my heart to that list. It pounded and lurched, happy he was here. This was precisely why I didn’t want him anywhere near this mess.
Swallowing hard, I returned my focus to Helena. “Well?”
“You were so fucking needy. You wanted his attention all the fucking time. Calling him. Trying to show up at his apartment. Wanting to go out and be seen in public. Who would want to be seen with you?”
“Your fiancé? He did show up at my door today, expecting something you don’t seem to be able to give him,” I returned, a smile on my lips as I breathed deeply and smoothed down my dress.
I was prepared for her to jump at me and attempt to attack me, and she did, but before I could do anything, Dom was there. Always saving me even when I didn’t want him to. In one smooth motion, he had his arm around her waist, pulling her against him and pointing a scalpel at her heart. “Truth hurts, doesn’t it, sweetheart?” he said.
“A scalpel, really?”
“You are using a switchblade and a gun. You have your way of doing things, and I have mine. Plus, I have the training to make sure this hits the exact spot to keep her alive so we can all watch as she drowns in her own blood. This far away from an operating room, there would be no chance for her. She would die within minutes, if not sooner. And I can promise, it would be pure agony.”
Helena whimpered, tears forming in her eyes and falling down her face. Her body trembled and shook. “Please,” she begged. It appeared Dom was able to do something I hadn’t been: put the fear of God within her.
“Now, you are going to do everything Nell tells you to, and if you try to attack her again, I have no qualms about ending you. After all, I don’t want you to destroy all my hard work. Who do you think saved her?”
Another whimper, but Helena nodded. “You were the third girl they used. I tried to tell Uncle Leon we needed another plan, but he wouldn’t hear of it. I was jealous of all of them. Did they drug girls? Yes, but only the ones who paid for it. Clod’s sister was an experiment. Uncle Leon gave them the drug and told them to have fun. It sickened me to know they positioned and took pictures of her while she was out of it.”
“And yet you stayed and did nothing to help her.”
“Of course, I did.” A mask fell over her face. She was cold, calculating. Gone was the frightened girl. This woman was in charge and took no prisoners. “Who do you think helped Uncle Leon? Who do you think is really in charge of this whole operation? Did you really think I didn’t know who you were? I will admit that I allowed my emotions to get in the way with this one,” she nodded down at Matthew, “but he is dispensable, as is everyone else you rounded up here.”
I lifted an eyebrow. Somehow, it didn’t surprise me. Women throughout history were able to control whole armies with a flick of their wrist. Leon was just a figurehead.
“You can kill them all, burn the ship to the ground, and slaughter everyone here. You won’t stop me, nor will I lose any sleep at night. In fact, I think I’ll start.” She stepped back, reached into the pocket of her dress, and pulled out a small gun. Everything happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to react.
The gun was aimed, the trigger pulled, and the bullet hit Matthew’s lower right butt cheek. He was hit in the ass by his own fiancée. My heart was pounding and my pulse racing. I was terrified, but in the end, she shot her own lover in the ass. Later, I would probably be laughing about that.
I expected the bullet to come toward me. The possibility that she would aim at any of her cohorts crossed my mind in the split second it took for my mind to register that she was holding a gun. However, I fully believed whoever she shot would be dead instead of writhing in pain, screaming that his butt was on fire and bleeding.
Moving my gaze from Matthew to Helena and Dom, I found her seething, and Dom winked at me. Had he saved me again? This was becoming a bad habit of his if that was the case.
“I was aiming for his dick. Maybe if he didn’t think with it, I would make more progress,” she snarled, trying to wrestle her hand out of Dom’s grip.
I heard a grunt and looked at Leon. He was on the floor, holding his knee. Emil grinned at me and shrugged.
