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“Sometimes.”
“You kill people?” Her eyes drink me in, and I don’t know how to answer her.
“Yes.” Because yes, I have killed people, but never someone who didn’t deserve it. I’ve killed other pirates who tried to hurt me. “But only evil men.”
“Oh.” She moves around the bridge, looking at the high-tech GPS monitors and I clock her every movement.
I can’t help but tease her. “Just going to state the obvious about your family and living in glass houses.”
She grins. “Touche. I’ll put my stone away.”
The clouds grow grayer by the second, and I worry that I may have made a mistake by letting her stay up here with me. I need to ensure she’s safe. This storm is gonna be a beast, but nothing my superyacht can’t handle.
“If it gets too dangerous, I’ll need you to go below with the crew.”
Bianca nods. “Ok.”
I step closer to her, wrapping an arm around her waist to move her where I want her to stand when the tempest approaches. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” I kiss the top of her head.
She rolls her eyes. “Except for letting Bishop Blackstone hurt me once he gets a hold of me.”
I ignore her words and sniff the cherry shampoo she’s been using since she’s been on this ship. “Don’t move from this spot.”
Eight
Bianca
* * *
Constantine Gold is infuriating. I’ve never met a man more infuriating in my life. I’d let him have it if the jet-black clouds rolling in weren’t ominous. I grip the chair near the helm of the ship for support, hoping Costi knows what he’s doing. To say I’m a little terrified is an understatement.
He looks like a real-life pirate standing at the helm, his dark hair waving at the looming clouds in the distance.
The waves smash into the vessel’s sides, and I hold on to the chair, trying to steady my feet. Streaks of lightning flash in the distance and Costi looks back at me, his eyes wild for the fight coming.
He’s in his element, battling Mother Nature, so I stand quietly in the corner and stay out of his way.
Knox returns, shouting nautical jargon at Costi. Costi taps a monitor, and the screen goes blank. This can’t be good.
“Everything’s still ok, right?” I ask, not wanting to die on this ship.
“It’s fine. Trust me.”
Easy for him to say. But I guess he’d never put his own life in danger, or the lives of his men. Only mine. I’m no longer important to him.
Was I ever?
Our precarious situation has my life flashing before my eyes. Our friendship and the day he walked away.
All this time without him, I liked to pretend he never wanted to leave me. Perhaps, I was the reason he never came back. Maybe I was too needy. I had genuine feelings for Costi that winter before he left. So pathetic. And I’m even more pathetic now.
I’m a fool.
I must stop being this pathetic girl, lamenting the loss of him, and remember the woman I am today. I take no prisoners. I take charge in my life. And I don’t let anyone fuck with me.
So, I need to get a plan together and figure a way out of Costi’s clutches as soon as we get to port.
Because I’d rather die than let Costi hand me over to Bishop.
It won’t happen. Because I won’t allow it. Even if I have to take Constantine Gold out myself.
The wind howls as the waves slam into the ship, making my body sway with the movement. I’d probably be sick right now if I weren’t so dang afraid. I don’t think I’ve ever been this terrified in my life.
It’s an eerie sound, a storm at sea. It roars and hollers, vibrating each of your bones together. I watch as a few more men come to the bridge and Costi shouts commands.
“Batten down the hatches,” Costi says to one man. “The GPS has failed, so we’ll have to keep her steady and heading on this path.”
“We’re gonna be thrown off course,” another man shouts over the deluge of wind and rain.
I hold on tighter to the beam beside me. The ship’s leaning so far, I nearly stumble over myself.
“We’re going to capsize, Cap,” Knox says in a foreboding voice.
“She’ll hold,” Costi says back.
I sway back and forth, stumbling to stay upright, hoping for a miracle. I’m sure any moment now my stomach will empty itself. I’m so nauseous and all I want to do is stop the motion. Everything about this moment right now seems iffy. As in, I’m not sure if we’re going to make it.
My eyes connect with Costi’s maniacal ones. He winks and it unsettles me. Like he’s a man about to take on the Devil all by himself. I think he just might believe he’ll win.
“Get below, B. Now,” he shouts at me over the wind.
