Chapter 3 - THE SIGNATURE
The injured man called himself Daniel Price.
He was a security contractor.
According to him, my father had hired him three days before my wedding.
“Why didn't he tell me?”
Daniel winced as Lena examined his wound.
“Because he suspected someone inside the family.”
I stared at him.
“My father suspected Flynn?”
“Not Flynn specifically.”
Daniel looked toward the storm.
“He suspected the Sterlings.”
That distinction mattered.
My father had never trusted Aidan.
I remembered dozens of dinners where my father had quietly watched my future in-laws.
At the time, I had thought he was being protective.
Now I understood.
“Why didn't he stop the wedding?”
Daniel looked at me.
“He tried.”
My heart sank.
“What?”
“Your father hired investigators. Financial analysts. Private security.”
“Why didn't I know?”
“Because every attempt to warn you was intercepted.”
I stared at him.
“By whom?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then said:
“Someone close to you.”
The answer was obvious.
Flynn.
But another possibility suddenly occurred to me.
“Fiona?”
Daniel looked surprised.
“You suspected her?”
“She always knew things before I told her.”
He nodded slowly.
“That may matter.”
Lena finished wrapping his arm.
“We need to move.”
“Where?”
“Your suite.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“They expect you to be there.”
“Then where?”
Daniel reached inside his jacket and removed a folded document.
“This.”
I opened it.
My stomach dropped.
It was a copy of the power-of-attorney agreement Flynn had asked me to sign two weeks before the wedding.
I remembered the conversation.
He had told me it was standard.
Temporary.
Only necessary because the honeymoon yacht had been purchased through a complicated holding company.
I had signed it without reading every page.
Daniel pointed toward the bottom.
“Look at the beneficiary clause.”
I read it.
Then read it again.
My hands began to shake.
The document gave Flynn temporary control over several of my investment accounts.
But that wasn't the worst part.
There was a secondary clause.
If I became “incapacitated or unreachable,” he could act as trustee.
“How long?”
“Indefinitely.”
I stared at him.
“And this is legal?”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly?”
“It depends on how it was executed.”
“Meaning?”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“If Flynn forged or manipulated the circumstances, your attorneys can challenge it.”
“But he doesn't need to.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Exactly.”
I felt a strange calm settle over me.
“So this was never about my death.”
Daniel said nothing.
“It was about control.”
He nodded.
Flynn didn't need to kill me immediately.
He needed me incapacitated.
He needed my parents gone.
Then he could control the estate.
My death would simply make everything cleaner.
A noise came from the corridor.
Lena turned.
“Someone's coming.”
We moved.
Daniel led us through another passage.
We eventually reached a hidden compartment beneath the lower deck.
It contained old navigation equipment and a small communication terminal.
Daniel activated it.
“Can we contact the mainland?”
“Not directly.”
“Then what can we do?”
“Send an emergency signal.”
“Will they know?”
“If the signal goes through.”
He typed quickly.
Then the screen flashed red.
“Blocked.”
My heart sank.
“They're jamming communications.”
Daniel nodded.
“Which means this isn't a private family conspiracy.”
“What?”
“Someone powerful arranged this.”
I sat down.
For the first time, the enormity of what was happening overwhelmed me.
This wasn't a bad marriage.
This wasn't a greedy family.
This was organized.
Planned.
Funded.
Then I remembered something.
“The yacht.”
Daniel looked at me.
“What about it?”
“My father gave it to me.”
He froze.
“Your father owns this yacht?”
“Yes.”
“Then why is Flynn controlling it?”
I didn't know.
We searched the ship's records.
Lena found the ownership file.
Her face changed.
“Olivia.”
“What?”
“The yacht was transferred.”
“To whom?”
She turned the screen toward me.
My breath caught.
Sterling Maritime Holdings.
The yacht had been transferred from my father's company to a subsidiary controlled by Aidan.
“When?”
“Six weeks ago.”
Six weeks.
Before my wedding.
Before the honeymoon.
Before I signed anything.
I remembered my father saying he wanted to give me the yacht as a wedding gift.
Maybe he had never given it to me.
Maybe someone had taken it from him.
“Your father may have been trying to protect the yacht,” Daniel said.
“Or he was forced to transfer it.”
I stared at the ownership document.
Then I saw something else.
A digital signature.
My father's name.
But the timestamp was wrong.
It showed the transfer had been authorized at 2:14 in the morning.
My father never conducted business at that hour.
I knew his habits.
He went to bed before ten.
He never signed anything without his attorney.
“This is forged.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
I touched the screen.
“My father uses a different digital certificate.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Then we have evidence.”
Before I could answer, the communication terminal beeped.
A message appeared.
OLIVIA.
I stared.
Another line appeared.
IF YOU CAN SEE THIS, YOU ARE ALIVE.
My heart raced.
“Who is sending it?”
Daniel didn't know.
Then:
DO NOT TRUST DANIEL.
I looked at him.
He stared at the screen.
“What?”
Another message appeared.
HE IS NOT WHO HE SAYS HE IS.
Lena stepped backward.
Daniel reached for his weapon.
I raised my hand.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
The terminal went dark.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, Daniel said:
“That message was designed to make you distrust me.”
“Or to warn me.”
He looked at Lena.
“Who has access to this system?”
She swallowed.
“Captain.”
The word hung in the room.
Then the lights went out.
Complete darkness.
Somewhere above us, a door slammed.
A man's voice echoed through the ship.
“Find Olivia.”
I held my breath.
May you like
Then I heard Flynn.
“She cannot leave this yacht alive.”
