“Oh no. Oh no! I’m not… You think that… I’m still a… Okay, I’m going now,” she choked out, panic and hormones doing battle in her throat.
Without waiting for a response, Dani spun and scrambled up onto the fiberglass housing. Her hand fumbled for the hem of her slipping gown. With one hand clutching her dress and the other gripping her work boots…
This is it. One heartbeat, one leap. Maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow bruised but free?—
She tried not to think about the fact that she might not wake up at all. Taking a deep breath, she launched herself into the night before she could change her mind.
For a split second, she wondered if she’d misjudged the height—because the fall seemed to stretch into eternity.
Seconds later, the lukewarm waters of the Mediterranean swallowed her whole.
The impact felt like an open-handed slap, threatening to steal the breath she had hastily gulped. A momentary sense of disorientation wrapped around her before she kicked—hard, feeling the chill of the water seep into her skin. Breaking the surface, she gasped and dragged the gown over her head. Flipping onto her back, she wadded the fabric into a clumsy bundle, threading her bootlaces on either side of the material before she tied the thin material firmly around her waist. If she was lucky, the knot would hold until she reached the docks. If not, she would be adding a new pair of work boots to Vito’s bill. In less than a minute, she was doing an awkward crawl toward the lights of the dock in the distance.
Her muscles screamed in protest, but a sense of exhilaration filled her, lifting her spirits. She had done it! A triumphant laugh escaped her lips; she had done it, against all odds! She had officially pulled off her insane escape!
Now, to reach the dock.
Her spirit was buoyed until she heard loud shouts, followed by a splash echoing behind her.
Dani twisted in the water, her legs pumping to keep her afloat. Thefamiliar theme song from every shark movie ever made started playing in her head. Her heart skipped a beat.
A sudden splash nearby made her whirl around, her heart pounding in her chest. Releasing a breath, she recoiled as a deep, furious male voice shattered the darkness just a few feet from her.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Have you lost your mind?” the man demanded, sputtering as he swam up beside her.
“You jumped in after me? Are you crazy?!” she shouted back, half-choking on seawater as she sank beneath the surface in surprise. She kicked upward and spat out a mouthful of saltwater. “Go back to the boat!”
“I should ask you the same thing, but I already know the answer!”
She turned and swam harder, fueled now by equal parts rage and disbelief. Her tied gown was weighing her down, and her boots felt like twin water anchors.
“Go away!” she barked over her shoulder.
“Why did you jump off the yacht?” he called out.
She twisted her head just enough to glare at him. “Maybe because I don’t like being kidnapped and locked up!”
His stroke faltered. “Kidnapped? Who the hell kidnapped you?”
“Vito Marino—after he dumped a bottle of champagne on me and tricked me into believing it was all a mistake!”
“What were you even doing on the yacht in the first place?”
Dani huffed, rolling onto her back. She fumbled, pulling her boots up and draining them so she could rest them on her stomach. She might have to ditch them. They weren’t worth drowning over. Neither was the gown. Her arms were starting to ache, and her body was so done with today.
“I told you—I’m a mechanic. I fix engines. I was hired to check the yacht’s system. Only it turned out there wasn’t anything wrong with them. Vito just wanted to meet the ‘pretty girl with the wrench’ he saw working on another boat. So congratulations, your buddy is a creep and a liar.”
The man swore—loudly and in Greek.
The string of words was so colorful, Dani barked a laugh mid-kick.
“Sounds like you’re not exactly Team Vito either.”
He grunted. “Considering that ismyyacht… no, I’m not.”
Dani stopped swimming, letting herself float in the waves like a piece of driftwood. She twisted to stare at him in the dark, wide-eyed.
“Your yacht?!”
