Chapter Three
Ella
“What happened?” I ask Lex, my voice barely making it past my throat, strangled by the large lump lodged there.
My breath stutters, and I have to force air into my lungs before I can keep listening.
I hear other voices in the background, muffled and urgent, and the rapid click of keys. Lex must be in an office.
“You’ve been compromised,” he says.
There’s no softening it, no easing me in.
“We have no idea how. De Marco has been following the breadcrumbs we’ve been leaving for him.”
Lex’s voice sharpens. “But Catalina reported the place is crawling with his men.”
The now-familiar surge of raw panic tears through me, like my body has been waiting for permission to unravel. What Lex is telling me is nothing new, and yet hearing it confirmed rips something loose inside me anyway, sending my pulse skidding wildly out of control.
My fingers curl tighter around the phone until it presses painfully into my palm. I shift my weight, suddenly unable to sit still. Every instinct screams to move, to run, to do something even though there is nowhere to go.
“How can you be sure those men are Tiero’s?” I ask. The question comes out strained, brittle around the edges. “They could be Molinaro’s.”
Even as I say it, I know I’m grasping at a fraying thread. The words feel flimsy the moment they leave my mouth, like a lie I’m trying to convince myself to believe.
“Molinaro is dead,” Lex says.
What?
This comes as a total surprise, knocking me off balance.
“Dead?” I repeat.
“Killed the day after your cruise left. He was found on a farm in Liechtenstein. Cyanide capsule and multiple gunshot wounds. All his men were dead too.”
My mind doesn’t wait for permission and floods with images I never asked for. Bodies crumpled in dirt. Dark stains soaking into the ground. Violence delivered fast and final, without hesitation.
“And you’re sure it was Tiero?” I ask, even though my gut tells me it’s true.
“He was seen in the area,” Lex replies. “Ella, he’s been eliminating anyone who could use you against him.”
More like protecting me from them. He’s following through on his promise to keep me safe.
I close my eyes, pressing my fingers briefly against my mouth as if that might contain the rush of emotions threatening to spill out.
Something warm and dangerous flickers beneath the fear, an unwanted spark of contentment at being watched over by him, even from a distance.
I don’t want it. I don’t want to feel comforted by this.
“Is there any chance I can get off this ship without him noticing?”
The question slips out before I can stop it. The first hint of defeat seeps in where hope used to sit.
“We’ve come so far. This can’t be it,” I whisper.
“Ella, we will find a way,” Lex says.
His voice is steady, but it doesn’t quite mask the tension beneath it.
“We’re working on a plan. Catalina counted at least three black SUVs, drivers still inside, and around fifteen Italian men visible, possibly more. Two of them changed into maintenance uniforms and went back through a staff entrance.”
My stomach drops, a cold, hollow plunge, like I’ve missed a step on a staircase that wasn’t supposed to end yet. My free hand curls hard against my thigh, nails biting through the fabric as if pain might keep me grounded.
So they are on board. And looking for me.
My mind flashes back to earlier, to the men passing in the hallway. Were those Tiero’s men?
My skin prickles, every nerve suddenly awake, alert, braced.
“Where are you right now?” Lex asks.
“In a cabin that isn’t mine,” I say. “The woman who stayed here disembarked this morning. Claudette and I thought it would be safer if I weren’t where anyone expected me to be.”
“Claudette?” Lex repeats.
I hesitate, the silence stretching just long enough for dread to creep in. My throat constricts, like my body is trying to swallow the truth before I can say it out loud.
“She’s the ship’s psychic,” I tell him. “We became friends.”
Silence.
Not the kind that crackles with anger, but the kind that weighs options and measures damage.
“Ella,” Lex says carefully, “how much have you told her?”
I swallow. It scrapes like sandpaper on the way down.
“Ella?” Lex prompts.
“Everything.”
Another pause. Longer this time. It stretches until my pulse starts hammering in my ears.
“And when did you tell her?”
Cold slides down my spine.
“This morning,” I say quickly, the words tumbling out before I can stop them. “Listen, Claudette is on my side. She’d never betray me.”
“You don’t know that,” Lex says. “You can’t trust anyone.”
I clamp my mouth shut. Arguing would be pointless. To Lex, everyone is a variable. Everyone is a risk. Including me, sometimes.
My gaze drops to the floor, to the faint scuff mark near the bed where someone dragged a suitcase once and never thought about it again. The mundanity of it seems cruel.
I hear voices in the background. Lex must have turned away, covering the phone and discussing with others what he discovered.
I brace myself, waiting for the reprimand and the lecture about operational security and misplaced trust.
“All right,” Lex says at last. “This Claudette should leave with you. De Marco will likely interrogate staff connected to you, so leaving her behind creates a witness risk.” Then, softer, he adds, “I’m glad you’re not alone. But you need to be extra vigilant. We’ll look into her background.”
The tension I’d been holding breaks loose.
“Okay.” My voice wobbles despite my efforts to keep it steady. Tears rush suddenly to my eyes.
I lower my voice. “Is Rhia there with you?” The question slips out like a reflex I can’t stop.
“She’s in Dublin, El,” Lex says gently. “She wants to talk to you just as much as you want to talk to her. I’m in Atlanta right now, overseeing everything until you get here.
I wanted to be in Halifax, but De Marco likely has eyes on me.
I can’t be anywhere near you until you’re secured at the Freemont compound. ”
I nod even though he can’t see me, the motion stiff. The distance seems suddenly enormous. Oceans. Borders. Men in between.
I draw a shaky breath and blink hard, once, twice, until the tears retreat, leaving my eyes burning and sore.
The cabin feels smaller now. Like it’s pressing in.
“Now what?” I ask.
“Stay exactly where you are,” Lex replies. “Do not move unless absolutely necessary. Catalina is monitoring the situation, and she will be the one to get you out.”
“How?” I ask, sharper than I intend, edged with panic.
“We’re implementing Plan C.”
My chest tightens further, breath catching halfway in. My lungs refuse to cooperate for a second, like they don’t like the sound of that letter either. All I can come up with for C is capture.
“Which is what exactly?” I ask.
“I’ll advise as soon as we can confirm the plan’s execution. Stay hidden until then.”
The lack of detail makes my skin prickle.
“Okay,” I say, forcing the word past the knot in my throat. “I won’t leave this cabin.”
With Tiero’s men searching this ship for me, it is the easiest promise I have ever made.
“Keep the phone on vibrate,” Lex continues. “Make sure it’s charged. And if anything changes, anything at all, you call me immediately.”
“I will.”
“And Ella,” he adds, his voice firm. “He will not get to you again. I won’t let that happen.”
I want to believe him. My mind clings to his words, turning them over like a charm meant to ward off evil.
But Lex isn’t in Halifax. And Freemont has rules. Jurisdictions. Limits.
Tiero doesn’t.
When the call ends, the silence rushes in too fast. I sit on the edge of the bed, my hands shaking now as they rest uselessly in my lap. I press my palms together, then flatten them hard against my thighs, trying to anchor myself in my body and stop the tremor before it spreads.
Claudette is perched on the sofa, her posture unnervingly calm, her gaze unfocused, as if she’s listening to something just beyond the room.
“They won’t find you,” she says quietly. “Not today.”
I swallow, my throat aching.
I hope she’s right.