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“I’m not sure. I pepper sprayed his face, and he let go of me. I sort of slipped.” It made me feel slightly better that perhaps the perpetrator wasn’t a murderer. But he’d still endangered her life.
A wave carried us higher, and in the distance, I could see the yacht’s lights. So far away. “Are they leaving us?” Sylvia sobbed.
“No, baby, I promise. Your Uncle G will take care of Alphonse, and then they’ll come back here.”
“How do you know for sure?”
“He’s a billionaire, remember? The life jackets have GPS, and I’m pretty sure an alarm went off when I opened the bench to get this one.” I wrapped one hand around her forearm. “I promise. We’ll be okay.”
“You’re so brave,” she said quietly. “I can’t believe you jumped in for me when you can’t even swim.”
“I told you I can too swim!” I protested, hoping to distract her from the fact that now the yacht had vanished completely. “If your arms are getting tired, I’ll even show you. Let’s switch places. You put your arms through the straps so you don’t have to hang on, and I’ll demonstrate how a sinker won the Best Flutterkick three years running in Peewee Swim Class.”
She sniffled. “You were held back in Peewee Swim Class twice, Soleil. That’s nothing to be proud of. My arms are pretty tired, though.”
I faked a smile to hide my nervousness at letting go of the straps, then chirped, “Okay, Sylvia. While you rest, I’ll tell you about the time my best friend Candy took the cinnamon challenge in gym class and got kicked out of middle school for a month.”
I was only halfway through the story when I heard a sound, a motor of some sort. Sylvia’s head was higher than mine, and she saw the Zodiac lifeboat first. “Uncle G! Uncle G!” She waved her arms, and I got a face full of seawater.
“Sylvia, stop, calm down!” I shouted. “If you knock me off this floatie—” I managed to get a mouthful of salty water, and she quieted down immediately, grabbing my arms and holding tight.
“I’ve got you, Soleil. Don’t fall.”
I didn’t. In a minute, the Zodiac was there, with Giovanni and two crew members. One of them had a hook on the end of a pole, and he used it to drag the life jacket closer. Then Giovanni pulled Sylvia and me into the small boat.
“Oh god, I thought we’d lost you,” he rasped, hugging me and Sylvia both to his chest. “Oh, sweetheart. Oh, my love. I thought you’d both drowned. I thought I’d lost everything that mattered.”
Sylvia’s wide eyes met mine when he released us both slightly. “I think I’m the sweetheart,” she whispered, “and you’re the love.” Giovanni crushed us both into his chest again, purring so loud it almost drowned out the motor as we sped back toward the yacht.
Sylvia recounted everything that had happened as we rode, now with silver blankets wrapped around us for possible shock. Once we reached the yacht and Sylvia had been carried aboard, Giovanni wrapped my legs around his waist. He didn’t put me down until I was sitting next to Sylvia in the doctor’s office.
Weeping copiously, Lorelei held her daughter while the doctor did a short examination, then pronounced her well. “No concussion, no water in her lungs from what I can hear. But she should not be alone. Stay with her, Lorelei, and stay awake. If her breathing changes, bring her back to me immediately.”
“Keep her here,” Giovanni ordered. “I’ll have them bring in cots and some bedding. Dr. Rimbolt, please… my omega.”
No one mentioned his slip, and the doctor had to convince Giovanni to let go of me so he could check me out.“You were very brave, Miss Soleil,” he said eventually as he put his stethoscope away and jotted something on his tablet.
Sylvia gave a half-sob, half-laugh. “You don’t even know how brave. She’s a sinker. She can swim, but she can’t float. She could have died.”
All of a sudden, I was back in Giovanni’s arms, and he was shuddering, as if he were the one going into shock. “It’s okay, Grumpy. I’m okay. You found us. You saved us.” I stopped. “Alphonse. Is he…?”
“He was a con artist,” Lorelei said, her voice raw. “We went through his cabin. He and Muffin were working together.”
From the open door, Anne-Marie snarled. “They’ve both been restrained, and he’s under sedation until we get back to shore. We’ll be home in two days, at the most. I’ll make sure they both go to jail and stay there.”
“You’ll need a thorough checkup at a hospital, Soleil,” Dr. Rimbolt said. “You’re a very healthy woman, but after thirty minutes of exposure, and possible saltwater inhalation… Just to be safe, I want you both to get seen once you’re ashore.” I nodded.
“So,” I joked weakly after the doctor slipped out of the room. “We’re going home, huh? I guess that’s good. I’d run out of clothes for the fancy dinners. Silver lining, right?”
Lorelei burst into tears at that. “This is all my fault. If I had seen what kind of man he was, if I had listened to you, Sylvia. To you, G.” She took Sylvia’s hands in hers, staring down into her pale face. “I can never make it up to you, but I can try. I will try.” Then she and Sylvia were holding each other, and Anne-Marie was standing behind them, her heart in her eyes.
“Take me to my cabin?” I asked when Giovanni picked me up.
“No,” he growled. “Mine.” I wasn’t certain he was talking about his cabin or me. Maybe both.
After he unlocked his door, he ushered me into the bathroom, kneeling at my feet as he removed my ruined top and skirt. He didn’t touch me sexually at all, and wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Thank you for coming for us, Grumpy.”
