Chapter 6 - THE MISSING BILLIONAIRE
Fiona finally told me everything.
Victor Hale had been my father's business partner.
Twenty years earlier, the two men had built a technology company together.
Then Victor had secretly diverted money.
Millions.
My father discovered it.
Victor was exposed.
His reputation collapsed.
His family lost everything.
And Victor disappeared.
But Fiona remained.
She had remarried Aidan.
Their son was Flynn.
I stared at her.
“So Flynn married me because of you?”
“At first.”
The answer hurt.
“At first?”
Fiona closed her eyes.
“He was supposed to get close to you.”
“And then?”
“He fell in love.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That doesn't excuse anything.”
“No.”
She wiped her face.
“It doesn't.”
“What happened to Victor?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
She sat down.
“Victor disappeared six months after the scandal.”
“And you never looked for him?”
“I did.”
Her voice cracked.
“I spent years searching.”
“Why?”
“Because I still loved him.”
I stared at her.
“You married Aidan.”
“I was trying to survive.”
That sentence silenced me.
For the first time, I saw Fiona differently.
Not as an innocent woman.
Not as a victim.
But as someone who had made terrible choices while trying to survive consequences she hadn't caused alone.
“What does Victor have to do with Flynn?”
“Everything.”
She looked toward the door.
“Victor believed your father stole his life.”
“But he stole money.”
“Yes.”
“And Flynn believed the story?”
“For years.”
I remembered something Flynn had once told me.
His father had died when he was young.
He said his father had been betrayed by powerful people.
I had assumed he meant a business rival.
He had never told me the name.
“Where is Victor now?”
“I don't know.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Daniel entered.
“We need to go.”
“Why?”
“The yacht is losing power.”
“What?”
“Someone sabotaged the engines.”
Fiona stood.
“Aidan.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Someone else.”
My heart sank.
“Who?”
“We found another crew member unconscious.”
“Who?”
“The chief engineer.”
Lena appeared behind him.
“And the lifeboat controls are disabled.”
The yacht shuddered.
A warning alarm sounded.
I grabbed the railing.
“How long?”
Daniel checked his watch.
“Maybe forty minutes before we lose navigation.”
“What happens then?”
“We drift into the storm.”
I looked at Fiona.
“Can we repair it?”
She shook her head.
“The engine room is locked.”
“Then we open it.”
We moved quickly.
The lower deck was filling with smoke.
Someone had started a fire.
Not large.
But deliberate.
Daniel covered his mouth.
“Move!”
We reached the engine room.
The door was locked.
Lena produced a key.
It didn't work.
“Try again.”
Nothing.
Then Fiona remembered something.
“There's another entrance.”
She led us through a narrow passage.
We reached the secondary door.
It opened.
Inside, the engineering system was damaged.
But not destroyed.
Someone had removed a critical control component.
Daniel looked around.
“This was planned.”
“Can we fix it?”
“Maybe.”
Then he saw something.
A small metal box.
He opened it.
Inside was a second component.
“Replacement.”
I stared.
“Why would someone sabotage the engine and leave the replacement?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Because they wanted the yacht delayed.”
“Why?”
“Because someone is coming.”
The radio crackled.
A man's voice.
“Olivia.”
I froze.
Flynn.
“You've been very difficult.”
I looked toward the radio.
“Where are you?”
“On the upper deck.”
“What do you want?”
“Your father's trust documents.”
“I don't have them.”
“You do.”
He laughed.
“You've always had them.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your father hid them where he knew you'd find them.”
I looked at the safe documents.
My father's letter.
The black drive.
The truth was there.
“You're wrong.”
“No.”
His voice became quieter.
“I know your father better than you think.”
“Then you know he'll never give you anything.”
“He already did.”
“What?”
Silence.
Then:
“Your father is on this yacht.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“He came after you.”
Fiona gasped.
Daniel grabbed the radio.
“Where?”
Flynn laughed.
“Too late.”
I ran.
We reached the upper deck.
A helicopter was approaching through the storm.
My heart pounded.
A figure stood near the landing area.
My father.
Alive.
But surrounded.
Aidan held him at gunpoint.
My mother was beside him.
I nearly collapsed.
“Dad!”
He looked at me.
“Olivia!”
Aidan shouted:
“Stay back!”
I stopped.
My father shook his head.
“Don't give them anything.”
Aidan laughed.
“You already gave us everything.”
My father looked at me.
Then said something I would never forget.
“Your husband isn't the one you should fear.”
I turned.
Flynn stood behind me.
He was holding a knife.
And beside him stood a man I had never seen before.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Cold-eyed.
The stranger looked directly at my father.
May you like
My father went pale.
“Victor.”
