Page 59 of Blue in the Deep Blue Sea

I made a quick wave at them and ran outside. The key was still in the door of the cabin. As I pulled it shut behind me, I locked it from the outside and sprinted downstairs.

None of it mattered anymore. Not the secrets. Not the lies. None of it was worth dying for.

My feet pounded against the stairs as I took them two at a time. Within seconds, I reached the upper deck where my master suite was. As I raced down the corridor, Isabella appeared at the far end.

“Go to the deck!” I shouted. “Get into one of the rafts. Save yourself.”

“What?” she asked, frozen in place, until her eyes moved through the glass doors leading outside.

“Run! Now!” I yelled, my footsteps thundering across the carpet.

Her eyes widened as the tall wave drew closer, swallowing more of the horizon with every second. Without another word, she turned and ran through the doors.

She listened.

I didn’t know if my plan would work. I didn’t even know if we’d survive. But I knew one thing. This time, I wasn’t leaving behind the one person I’d already abandoned too many times.

My hands trembled as I grabbed the handle of the master suite. The key slipped against the lock, my fingers refusing to cooperate. I tried again. Then again until it caught.

The lock clicked.

I threw the door open. It slammed into the wall hard enough to shake the room just as the yacht lurched beneath another crashing wave.

Blue…

“Gabby,” I whispered.

She stood in the middle of the suite, still wearing her uniform. Her hair spilled over her shoulders, framing tear-stained cheeks. She turned toward me, her lips moving, saying something I couldn’t hear over the roar outside.

I ran to her.

The floor shifted violently beneath my feet as the wave closed in. I was only one step away when the deafening scream of twisting metal tore through the yacht.

The person I hated so much I wanted to drown is now drowning beside me.

15

BLUE

Inever thought I would see fear on Oliver Sinclair’s face, but the fear in his eyes terrified me more than the deep sea ever could. I felt the yacht tremble beneath my bare feet. I heard sounds I had only ever heard in nightmares, and the moment I saw him standing in the doorway, I knew my worst nightmare was coming true.

Isabelle had said we were one in a million for this to happen. Maybe we were just unlucky. Or maybe it was a sign that we could finally all be together somewhere on a better place.

I turned to the window for just a second, and that second became the worst of my life.

When fear corners you, when you have no choice, you think about nothing except survival. You don’t think about who you love or who you hate. You only think about how you’ll get out, how you’ll swim to the surface. But if you’re like me, so worn down by life that drowning almost feels like an escape, you only hope that, even then, you won’t be alone the way you’ve been alone your whole life.

Oliver was by my side within seconds. Those same seconds sent panic tearing through me because I knew everything was about to end. He reached for me, pulling me into him. My hands clutched the collar of his white linen shirt, and I held on with everything I had.

“Stay with me,” I whispered against his chest as my tear-filled eyes met his.

But there was no time for answers. No time for questions.

A massive wave crashed over us, swallowing us whole. The only sound that escaped us was a single breath, too small against the hunger of the sea.

The wave slammed into the windows, exploding the glass into thousands of razor-sharp shards that tore across our skin. Seawater burst through the broken frames, hurling us against the wall as it flooded the master suite. The yacht groaned beneath the force, then rolled, the sea swallowing it as it capsized.

Panic ripped through me. My mouth fell open as the current tore Oliver away from me. It dragged us further and further apart until only our fingertips brushed before slipping away. I sank deep, deep down, and he was pulled toward the surface.