Below the Deck

PROLOGUE 10 JUNE

PROLOGUE

It is dark and quiet on the spiral staircase leading her towards the yacht’s underbelly.

There are no bright lights from above to guide her down the steps below deck: only low, muted beams from the emergency floor panels guide her path.

No peals of laughter or quieter chatter reach her ears from the decks above.

This feels wrong.

The urge to flee the boat and everyone on it rises, hot and desperate. She needs to get back to the safety of her cabin.

She is halfway down the staircase when she hears it. A thud; then, as she reaches the bottom of the steps and begins to creep along the dim passageway, a low, strangled moan.

It is coming from somewhere close by. It’s reaching her through the door in front of her with its rectangular gold nameplate that reads: Master Stateroom.

She switches on the torch on her phone and holds it up as she steps towards the door and touches the handle. The door opens without effort. She walks inside to this, the largest of the cabins: a luxurious suite with thick carpet, a king-sized bed, a sofa adorned with fat cushions.

Everything is as it should be.

Everything except for that godawful noise.

It’s coming from the en-suite bathroom. And it’s louder now, the sound, as her feet walk her closer.

She reaches the bathroom door, pushes it open, looks inside, and …

There he is. The man she both despises and is desperate for.

His back is facing her; he doesn’t know she’s there.

He hasn’t heard her yet, and he can’t see her in the gloom.

She hides the torch behind her back and stands frozen for a heartbeat, then her mind leaps into action: she has to do something, she needs to stop him – now.

She creeps back into the cabin to grab at something – anything – she can use to arm herself; then she moves back towards the bathroom, raises her weapon high.

She falters. Now that she is here, so near him, she is full of dread that his gaze might fix her one last time – that he might catch sight of her at this exact moment, saying you’ll never be free of me, never – that he might reach for her, try to clasp thick fingers around her neck and drag her with him to hell, to wherever she hopes he will soon be going.

Please don’t let him see me, please don’t let him see me, please don’t let him—

She breathes too loudly.

He swivels to face her.