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One
Zali
The sky was crystalline, such a vivid blue that it was impossible to describe its beauty. A lone sea hawk circled high up, riding the wind currents as it searched for its next meal. Dolphins had been swimming alongside the yacht as Ry had navigated us north along the coastline to Jumpinpin. They should still be around somewhere, but I couldn’t see them. I couldn’t see much of anything except the sky as I floated in the waters of the quiet cove.
I needed this. I was desperate to disconnect from the stress and the reality of the world bearing down on me. It had built up to breaking point over the last few weeks. I was like a volcano, pressure building up until I was hissing noxious steam, a fissure cracking open in my chest, and my very soul bleeding out in red rivers.
This moment of peace, the chance to get back to who I really was at my core, was almost as essential to me as breathing. My eyes drifted closed. The late summer sun warmed my naked skin as the hum of the ever-moving waters filled my ears. When I lifted my head, I could hear the waves crashing against the eastern side of the sand dune sheltering us, the squawking of the gulls, and the splashes when birds dived, or a fish broke the surface.
The tension in my muscles melted in the balmy water as my hair drifted around me like a halo. A cool breeze peaked my nipples, and I sighed happily. The contrast of the two existing so harmoniously was a reminder that I had to manage the push and pull on my emotions too. The research was heavy. The subject matter even more dire. I needed to know the truth. That meant finding out exactly who had stolen my mother’s identity and what they’d done in her name since. But I was coming up short. I couldn’t find anything that suggested her identity had been used for more than the bank accounts I’d found on our trip to Monaco. The gaps in my knowledge terrified me the most.
What was I missing?
Finding out could mean discovering who was responsible for my mum’s and brother’s deaths. It was the only way I could get justice for them.
No, that wasn’t quite right.
I wasn’t seeking justice.
I wanted revenge.
Vengeance.
Retribution.
I would tear apart the person who took their lives. They would bleed. They’d regret ever crossing my path.
I would revel in their destruction. I would gouge away at their very being, torturing their body and soul one piece at a time. I would force them to endure every moment of agony.
Just so I could watch them suffer.
They would regret ever being born once I got my hands on them.
And I would get them. Nothing would stand in my way.
Water rushed up around my face, and I sucked in a breath before sinking under. I opened my eyes, focussing on the shafts of sunlight piercing the surface, casting spots of shimmering light straight onto the white sandy bottom. A couple of bait fish scattered as my foot touched the soft-as-silk sand, my toes digging into the fine grains.
I tread water, keeping myself under. It was another world down here. It wasn’t the deep hole or any of my favourite diving spots, and I didn’t have my spear gun or my mask and air tank, but I had everything I needed. I had peace. The water was my sanctuary, my escape.
Unclenching my jaw, I exhaled slowly, letting the tension bleed out of me. Bubbles floated lazily to the surface. With my muscles strung tight, I mentally catalogued every part of my body, forcing each muscle to relax. Beginning at the frown between my brows all the way to my curled toes, I relaxed every one of them, slowly shaking off the stress and the tautness.
Time became meaningless. It was probably less than a minute, but I stayed under until my lungs burned, the instinct to breathe screaming at me to inhale. Instead, I pushed off the shallow bottom, my face breaking the surface barely a second later. I heard Flynn’s relieved “There she is,” and warmth filled my chest.
Turning to the yacht, I smiled and waved at my guys. Flynn stood on the marlin board, wringing a towel in his hands while Ry had his shirt half off and was wearing only one shoe. My guys were looking out for me, and like a watchful sentinel, Flynn had summoned my knight the moment he’d sensed danger.
I went back to floating, but I couldn’t get lost again. I couldn’t zone out and just be. My favourite place in the world, the little corner of the Broadwater far from the Gold Coast’s hustle and bustle, wasn’t cutting it today.
I couldn’t get the weighty thoughts out of my head. ReimagINC’s downfall, my mother’s and brother’s boating accident deaths, the podcast that Tristan was producing on her, our trip to Monaco to get a retinal scan—the key to breaking the so-called “unhackable” security measures of the Grande Banque Unie—and the results of that hack—bore down on me like I was Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders. Sighing, I flipped onto my stomach, swam back to the yacht, and climbed the ladder. Water flowed in rivulets down my body, the chill of the ocean breeze making me shiver. Gooseflesh appeared on my skin, my nipples puckering and the fine hairs on my arms standing on end.
Flynn wrapped me in a thick white towel the moment I straightened and tugged me against him. His warmth instantly surrounded me, seeping into my bones as he rubbed up and down my back, drying me. He gave me a concerned smile, the furrow in his brow not lessening despite the slight upward tilt of his lips. “You look… a little more relaxed.”
“You’re a bad liar,” I teased. Then I sighed and cuddled into him, resting my head on his shoulder. “I couldn’t switch off.”
“Yeah, I get it.” He pressed a kiss to my hair and squeezed me tighter, his way of encouraging me to open up in my own time.
“I’ve got the same thought running over and over in my head.”
He stroked down my wet hair, careful not to get his fingers tangled in any knots. “What thought?”
