ELENI
Light footsteps came up the staircase from below deck; a few seconds later, Sam emerged. Without even looking at them, he darted straight past and to the next staircase up, towards the upper deck.
Now’s my chance. ‘That sounds good. I’ll pop in on Rory, then come and find you, if you like?’
‘Ah, you know what – why don’t you stay above deck for a bit? I just want to crash out for a while.’
‘Talia – are you all right? You were in there for ages – what’s the matter?’
Talia stopped at the top of the stairs, but said nothing.
‘I can see you’re upset,’ Eleni went on softly. ‘Do you want to talk?’
Eleni didn’t feel close to Talia – she barely knew her, and she was hardly the type of person Eleni would usually be friends with. But she didn’t like seeing anyone this upset. And – less selflessly – she really wanted to know what had made her so distressed.
To Eleni’s relief, Talia turned, walked over to the sofa and sat down next to her. Eleni smiled at her reassuringly. ‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘Whatever this is – whatever’s happened, Talia, you can tell me. We can keep it just between us, if you like.’
Talia sniffed, her eyes welling up. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘Yes, I’d prefer it if you didn’t tell anyone else for now. Just until I work out what on earth I’m supposed to do.’ Her voice caught on her last words, and she dissolved again into floods of tears.
Eleni patted Talia’s arm, then reached into her beach bag and pulled out a small pack of tissues.
There were bloody Paw Patrol stickers all over it.
Never off Mum duty … She dug one out and handed it to Talia.
But the gesture only seemed to upset her more; Talia unfolded the tissue, covered her eyes and nose with it, and sobbed.
‘It’s Sam,’ she said eventually, through shaking breaths. ‘He’s been blackmailing Rory – and Rory’s been giving into it – it’s why he got a place on this trip. Sam had all these recordings, and – oh God, Eleni – it’s just so awful …’
Sam’s been blackmailing Rory? Eleni gaped at her.
‘So that’s what he’s been doing all week,’ she breathed.
It made sense: she’d suspected it was him installing the hidden camera, but now she was sure of it.
And he’s been trying to get close to me and Lucy; maybe he was trying to get something out of us to blackmail Rory with.
That sneaky, conniving, son-of-a … ‘I knew there was something. But what was he blackmailing Rory with – what does he have on him?’
Talia hesitated. ‘I – I don’t know if I should say … but it’s something to do with other women. Some of your colleagues at Ashworth. Some … inappropriateness.’
‘Right,’ Eleni said. This revelation wasn’t a huge surprise: she’d seen glimpses of it over the years.
Like in the meeting a few weeks ago, when he’d said something about Eleni making his company look so good.
And then his gaze had moved – lowered – to the curve of her breasts, then back to her eyes – so quickly she couldn’t be sure if it had really happened.
Eleni had moved an arm instinctively across her chest, even as she was shaking the thought away.
She’d told herself she’d imagined it – but of course she hadn’t.
Why do we women always do that? The self-gaslighting; the waving away of micro-aggressions.
Maybe it came from childhood – the messages girls get about being good and nice and compliant, and not making a fuss.
Even Eleni’s parents – wonderful as they were – expected Eleni to be the one to make peace when she and her brother argued.
It didn’t matter who’d started it; it was Eleni’s job to apologize – and she did, no matter how much it grated on her.
No wonder she grew up unsure how to trust her own instincts.
‘Don’t worry – you don’t need to tell me the details. Whatever Rory’s done – however bad it is – Sam can’t keep getting away with this.’ Then all the fury inside her settled into stony resolve. ‘Talia, we have to take him down.’
Eleni found Sam alone in the sky lounge. She needed to make this quick: she had to go and find Rory, she knew that. In a little over fourteen hours, they’d be leaving the yacht.
But she needed to do this first.
‘How’re you holding up there, Eleni?’ Sam asked as she entered. His tone was as pleasant as always. As if he hadn’t been gathering evidence from women at work and using it to blackmail their boss. As if he hadn’t put a fucking spy-cam in her cabin to watch her and her husband.
She took the seat opposite him. ‘I know what you’re doing, Sam. I know what you’ve been doing this whole time.’
Sam laughed. ‘What, you mean, sitting here in the dark trying not to shit myself? I thought I was doing a half-decent job of looking calm and collected.’
Eleni shook her head. ‘Nope. That’s not what I mean. I mean, what you’ve been doing since we got on the Lusso. And what you were doing for months at work before that.’
There was a long silence. In the greyish light, Sam’s body shifted in his seat.
He’s uncomfortable. He knows I’m onto him.
‘You’ve lost me now, I’m afraid. Ha.’ That uneasy laugh again.
‘What am I missing? What is it I’ve been …
doing this whole time?’ His fingers made quote marks in the air.
Was he mocking her? After he’d spent the trip – and probably longer than that – spying on her, collecting information?
Gathering stories for his own fucked-up agenda? How fucking dare he?
Eleni took a steadying breath. She should get a handle on her frustration; it wouldn’t serve her to rant and rage before he’d even admitted to anything.
Better to go in gently – give him enough rope to hang himself with.
She’d change tack; she could use her negotiating skills to get him to open up.
What was it she’d learned on that training course recently? Start with empathy, move to assertion.
‘Okay. Maybe I’m wrong,’ she said carefully. ‘But I’ve noticed that you seem very … interested in the women here. And at work, back in the office. What we’re thinking, how we’re feeling, whether we’re worried about anything. Stuff like that. You’re concerned about everyone’s wellbeing, I suppose?’
‘Well, yeah. Of course I’m interested. But not like … not in a weird way. Just, you know, I see you and Lucy every day, and I care about you, both of you. The same as I care about loads of the people I work with – we spend more time with each other than our own bloody families, don’t we?’
Eleni felt a stab of guilt. It was true: she did spend more time with people at Ashworth – men like Sam and Rory – than with her own family.
Her own children. She didn’t want that to be true, but it was.
Come on – focus. ‘If you care about your colleagues so much, then that’s a really nice thing.
Of course it is. And people trust you, don’t they?
They open up to you. I know I have this week, once or twice. ’
Sam sniffed. ‘I’m not sure where you’re going with this. Sure they do. I’m a good listener, aren’t I?’
Still pretending you’re the nice guy. But he hadn’t fooled his girlfriend.
He hadn’t fooled Talia. And he wouldn’t fool Eleni.
She’d known too many men like him – men who made the world believe they were decent, and kind, and good.
Then behind closed doors, or computer screens in dank basements, or footage buried in hidden cameras, or intimate videos recorded without consent – they quietly controlled – no, destroyed the women who trusted them.
‘That’s enough, Sam. Just fucking stop it.
’ Eleni didn’t have time for this. ‘I know what you’ve been doing.
To the women at work. To me, and to Lucy, and to Talia too – no, everyone, here on the Lusso.
Watching your co-workers like a hawk, inviting them for drinks, encouraging them to tell you things they probably never intended to say.
And then, dragging their stories out of them somehow – stuff they might not have wanted to share with anyone, let alone you.
Did they give you consent to record them?
Or was it even true – maybe you lied about having their words on tape, to get what you wanted from Rory. ’
A beat of silence, and then: ‘Talia told you all this, I take it?’ Sam’s voice was low, menacing.
‘How I found out is irrelevant. But you know what, Sam? I’m sure Rory’s done some revolting, stupid things.
He’s offended and hurt a lot of women. I’m not saying that’s okay – it’s not.
He should step down. I hope he leaves Ashworth and never holds a position of power again.
But you know what’s just as bad – maybe even worse?
It’s recording women – spying on them – without their consent, and then using what you’ve found out to blackmail your CEO into getting what you want. ’
There was a sharp intake of breath from Sam, then silence. ‘I … but …’ He gasped and floundered. ‘No,’ he said, finding his voice, quiet but firm. ‘I’m not as bad as Rory. What I did isn’t even in the same fucking league. You’ve got it wrong. It – it wasn’t like that.’
Eleni twisted her mouth into a grim smile. ‘Oh. Explain it to me, then. What have I got wrong? What was it like?’
‘I was trying to help. That’s all. When I heard the sort of shit Rory was saying, and how upset it was making some of the girls, well – I had to do something, didn’t I?
’ Oh please. ‘They weren’t going to do it themselves – they were too worried about their jobs and their reputations to tell anyone – but I’m a bloke, aren’t I?
I’ve got, you know, privilege that you don’t have.
I had to speak up on their behalf. It was the right thing. ’
He broke off as a stronger swell than they’d had since the squall had calmed lashed at the yacht’s underbelly; Sam lurched forward and almost fell off the sofa.
He straightened himself up. ‘And listen, Rory’s stopped now,’ he said.
‘I’ve not heard any new complaints for weeks, and I’ve been watching him since we’ve been here.
I’ve not seen him try anything that bad with you or Lucy, that’s got to be an improvement —’
‘Okay, but none of that justifies the blackmailing part, does it?’ Eleni interjected.
‘Say I believed you – that you, in your bubble of privilege, truly thought you were doing the right thing, recording those stories on the women’s behalf.
How do you explain threatening to expose Rory if he didn’t give you a place on this trip?
How does that help anyone except you?’ Sam stared at the floor; he said nothing.
‘And it’s not just Rory you’ve been watching while we’ve been here, is it?’ Eleni continued. ‘You’ve been keeping close tabs on the rest of us too.’
‘Ah – well, it’s like I said before, with you and Luce anyway, it’s because I care … not because I’m trying to gather any more information. Honest. I’ve just been trying to look out for you – all of you – with Rory around.’
Bullshit. He’s still lying.
‘Sam, come on. You replaced my smoke detector with a fucking spy-cam. You must have done it that day when you were here on the yacht by yourself – when you skipped the forest hike after you cut your foot.’ She was riling him up now, no doubt, and she didn’t care.
‘What did you do, blackmail Michaela to let you in our cabin? Threaten her with something so you could snoop around everyone’s private spaces – is that why she was scared of one of the men – you?
And what were you trying to find out about us, exactly? What was that ever going to get you?’
Sam stuttered in protest. ‘Eleni – what the fuck are you talking about? A spy-cam? That wasn’t me! I’d never do that – I wouldn’t even know how to. Come on. You have to believe me …’
‘Oh, enough with your lies!’ she yelled. ‘Who else would put it there? You’re the only person here that would want to spy on me and Nick. You’ve made that clear enough with your eavesdropping and recording without permission.’
Sam held up his hands in defence. ‘Yes, all right, like I said – I did do that – and yeah, I was using what I found out from some of our co-workers to get Rory to give me what I was owed – the trip here, putting me forward for the UK head of sales role. But seriously, even if you think I’m a prick for doing that – and I get that, really I do – please believe me when I say that I didn’t put a camera in your cabin.
Because, I swear on my life, I didn’t. I swear on my mam’s life. ’
Eleni observed him closely. He looked genuine enough.
But he’d lied already; he’d lied so many times, even in this conversation.
He was admitting to bits of truth – but not the whole thing.
Men like him were good at that. They thought that if they gave you just enough honesty, you’d believe them about everything else.
This was classic. She shook her head in disgust.
‘I’m finished now, aren’t I?’ Sam sounded miserable.
‘You’re going to tell the others, if you haven’t already, and everyone at work will know what I did.
I’ll have to leave Ashworth – I’ll have to start again somewhere else.
’ He ran a hand across his brow, then Eleni watched as he got to his feet, his movements stretching long, tapering shadows onto the wall behind him.
He stood still in front of her for a moment, watching her.
Memories of his – and other men’s – subtle abuses of power were alive now, pounding inside Eleni’s brain, reverberating against her skull.
Like the beat of those fire dance drums, taking on their own hypnotic rhythm, swirling and rising with the rocking of the yacht on the waves beneath her feet.
He’s watching us. Tap tap-tap tap. He steals our stories. Rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat. They’re all the same. Dum-dum-da-dum.
Eleni felt unsteady in her seat. Come on. I need to finish this. She looked up at Sam.
‘What happens to you is not my problem. You’ve made this mess yourself,’ she said.
‘Maybe. Unless …’ Sam turned his head from side to side, then glanced behind him. A cold drip of fear trickled down Eleni’s spine.
‘Unless what?’ Her voice didn’t betray her anxiety.
Another pause, then: ‘Unless we can find a way to keep this between us.’
Sam took one slow step towards her.