Page 10 of Rock the Boat
“Make sure the florist has the correct flowers we ordered. We made so many changes and corrections, I cannot be certain what will be delivered,” Camille, the wedding planner, stated. I’d met her through my parents, and after we talked once, she offered me a job. Imagine my glee when a certain person from my past hired her to plan their wedding. Of course, I might have plastered her business cards everywhere for his fiancée to find.
Making a note on my phone, I nodded. “Okay. Anything else?”
She leaned in close and whispered, “The bride and groom will be arriving shortly. When they board, I will disembark. The rest is up to you.”
“Thank you, Camille.” She had cornered me one day and asked me what my story was because my parents described a very different person, not to mention all the photos they displayed showed someone who I in no way resembled any longer. I didn’t tell her everything, just enough. Without another word from me, she announced she would help me but wanted to be far, far away from the fireworks. A boat in the middle of the harbor or further out accomplished that.
With a quick wink sent my way, she spun on her heel and walked away, leaving me standing there with a list of things to do. Some for her…some for me.
By the time the yacht set sail in two hours, everything would be in place. It was a small affair with a total of twenty guests plus crew members, who were all hand-selected by me and tended to live on the wrong side of the law. There were times Dom came in very useful, even if he didn’t want to be a part of my scheme.
After Dom saved me two years ago, I was always curious. He had this wonderful clinic with multiple rooms, but he didn’t get a lot of patients. Some sought him out here and there during the day, but it was nothing of consequence. When I needed to see my doctor, I sometimes had to wait a week or a month for an appointment unless it was urgent. His office didn’t have a steady influx of patients, and the phones didn’t ring off the hook. For about four hours a day, a nurse came in to help if needed, but other than that, I saw no one except him doing anything. What bothered me even more was that he had a great clinic set up to handle anything from a common cold to the most urgent of cases. There was even a sterile room in case surgery needed to be performed. It had everything. The more I saw, the more curious I became.
It took a little time to figure out why. I’d ask, and he would change the subject or tell me it was none of my business. One time, he suggested that it was in my best interest to forget it and get out of there as soon as possible. “I shouldn’t have brought you here,” he said that night. Only, I couldn’t forget it, and I wasn’t ready to return to the real world. I was terrified to leave, to step out those doors. What if Matthew found me again? What if someone else did? Did I still have a target on my back? I lived in fear.
One night, as I was falling asleep, someone pounded on the door that led to the alley. Dom poked his head into my room and told me to keep the door closed. I was in no way supposed to open it. Too inquisitive for my own good and scared that he was in trouble or that he was another Matthew and would try to kill me, I peeked. Two men in nice suits were dragging another whose face was grimacing with pain. His stomach was covered with blood, and the stain was spreading.
Gasping, I gave away my position. I really did make the worst kind of spy. Dom was trying to protect me, and I had ruined it. Would they kill us both now? Was the life Dom had just saved forfeit? The answer surprised even me. They spared me. Dom was no ordinary doctor. He treated certain families as well as helped those in his neighborhood. After a lot of sighing and glaring at me—it was a wonder he didn’t send me six feet under with his eyes—Dom told them what happened, and I had their loyalty. It shocked me, but a common enemy could band two strangers together rather quickly.
And today, a few of my “friends” had joined the crew on the yacht to help me organize the festivities.
“Excuse me? Melody?” a woman called, and I spun around, searching for the person. The bride, Helena Robins, had arrived. Next to her stood Matthew.
I held my breath, waiting for something, anything. Every time I met with her, each time I saw him, I expected the other shoe to drop, for there to be some inkling of recognition, but it never came. Granted, I didn’t look anything like I used to, but there was always that small chance—not that he remembered much of me beyond what he got out of our relationship. An address. It sounded stupid, and the more I thought about it, the stupider it sounded. Everything he did to me, pretending to love me, trying to kill me, was all because he needed an address that could not be traced back to him. He wanted me for my apartment, nothing more. I was merely an easy target because I had hardly any friends, didn’t socialize, and lived off-campus. I’d been more than naïve. The moment he got the last package he’d been expecting, I was no longer useful, which was why he finally dumped my cell phone. Dead or missing, he didn’t care. He could help himself to my apartment and my life.
If something had happened and the police began investigating, everything would lead back to me. My name on the boxes. My apartment. My everything. Matthew didn’t care if he ran my name through the mud, and for what? Drugs? Something else? I didn’t fucking care. I was curious, but ultimately, I didn’t care what he was doing, only that he did it to me…and others.
On this boat, I would take back everything he stole from me.
Smiling, I nodded. “Welcome aboard, Ms. Robins and Mr.—” I pretended to glance at my phone. “Mr. Blum. We have everything arranged. I apologize for the sudden change. Camille has become very ill, but please, do not worry. I have everything under control and am well versed in how to manage everything. Your wedding will be an event to remember.”
Matthew’s eyes raked over me from head to toe and back up again, lingering on my breasts, and he gave me a crooked smile. “We trust you. Don’t we, babe?” he asked the woman next to him. It took everything within me to suppress the eye roll because just hearing that word made me inwardly cringe.
“Yes! You have been there since the beginning, Melody. Of course, I trust you. I’m just excited that after five years, we are finally getting married.” Her voice grated on my nerves, and I had to constantly remind myself that this journey of mine was almost over. Both would pay the price. Helena’s guilt had been declared the moment she opened her mouth to speak the first time I met her. She was the mugger, the person who sliced me up with the hope I would die. She’d almost succeeded.
“I can imagine that it has been a long journey.”Way to go, me!My mask remained in place and didn’t slip one iota. Five years. The entire time he was with me, he was really with her. I was nothing more than a pawn—something to use and throw away.
“You have no idea.” She patted me on the arm and shook her head at the same time.
“But we got here, didn’t we?” Matthew asked as he leaned down and kissed her neck.
Smiling prettily, I tilted my head ever so slightly. “You are a lovely couple, and I’m excited to help you move forward into the next chapter of your lives.”
I watched Helena kiss Matthew, which caused my stomach to turn. Not from jealousy but revulsion. Both of these people set me up and tried to kill me, and here they were, acting like they didn’t have a care in the world. If they only knew what was coming for them.
Adam, one of the men who was helping with luggage, brushed my arm as he approached, and I noticed the small nod in my direction. Clearing my throat, I said, “If you two will follow Adam, he will take you to your rooms. If you need anything, you can call me or ask any of the employees to find me. Dinner will be in two hours, so you have time to get situated and refreshed.”
They left me standing there, picturing exactly what would happen to them later. My thoughts were only interrupted by my cell phone. “Melody Ward.”
“Nell—” Before Dom could say anything else, I hung up on him. He was trying to be my conscience, but he was too late. The part of me who might have considered right from wrong never made it off the rocks where I was dumped.
He called again, but I silenced it without answering, praying the boat would depart quickly. I would not put it past him to try and come down to the dock to talk some sense into me. It hadn’t worked yet, but he refused to give up. In some ways, it made me wish my heart still worked. There were times I thought it quivered a bit when Dom looked at me. I chalked it up to heartburn. Sometimes, though, I dreamed of being that same naïve bookworm who lived in her own little world, never experiencing the ugly side of life.
Too bad for me, that door was thrown wide open, and I had been thrown off the cliff into reality. The rose-colored glasses were gone. The innocence ripped away and shredded. When Dom found me, I was a shell. Over the last two years, I’d crawled my way out of the hole, rebuilding and reinventing myself. I was no longer helpless or a victim. I took charge of my own destiny, and I would make Matthew pay for what he did to me and the others who came before me.
“You know he does this because he cares.” Sergio, the man who had been stabbed the night I peeked, stopped beside me. “He does not want to see you tarnished or to lose more of yourself to this piece of garbage.”
“Do you suggest I simply walk away?” I countered. Anxiety was creeping up. I never wavered in my plans or desires for revenge, but every once in a while, there was a twinge of something trying to break through. I pushed it back down deep inside me.
“No. It is up to you, but if you want, I can make sure he is taken care of, and you will never have to get your hands dirty.”
I snorted, a soft, humorless laugh leaving me. “They already are.”
“Think long and hard. When you kill someone, that follows you for the rest of your life. Some of us have found a way to bury the ghosts and ignore them, to justify what we did. He deserves everything he has coming, but you do not need to carry that stain with you. Dom loves you, and he wants to keep you safe. If you decide to back away, no one will question you, and we will handle him for you. If you decide to continue, we will follow you until the end.”
“My decision has already been made.”
“Then tonight at dinner, you will have a captive audience,” Sergio said and strolled away, helping another guest onto the boat and to her room.
“A captive audience? That’s one way to put it,” I muttered under my breath and bit my lip. It was getting harder to push that small sliver of doubt down, but I would not let it or Dom interfere. I couldn’t. Glancing at Sergio, I forced a grin. “I believe I will also have an appetizer.
