Chapter 30
The video doesn’t capture the moment Elena stops breathing. It ends with Piper standing up, suddenly calm and pale, no longer holding the knife, the other girls sobbing, snapped back into their bodies, reaching for each other, huddling away from Elena’s body.
Eventually, they trickle away, walking out of frame, looking like battlefield ghosts, leaving only Piper and Viv remaining. And I suppose, whatever is left of Elena. I’m grateful she’s hidden behind the kitchen island.
My eyes are filled with tears for her—and understanding.
She wanted out. Trey was offering her an escape.
I remember how desperate I was for money, how I wanted Trey to pluck me from the yacht and give me a “real” job.
If he had hit on me then, instead of during the storm, would I have fallen for it too?
“This was hard,” Viv says on the video, rubbing Piper’s shoulders. “I know that. But we made the right call. It had to be done.”
“No,” Piper replies, her voice harsh and cold. “No, it didn’t. But it’s over. Now what?”
Viv bites her lip. “I’ll need your help. You’re the strongest here…”
“You want me to carry her.” Piper’s voice is frighteningly dead and flat.
Viv nods. “Help me get her to the tender. Then put her in the water. Take her away from Ligia. Away from the Keys. Listen, you have to weigh her body down, okay?”
“You want me to do this by myself?” Piper asks, sagging forward.
“I have to clean up the kitchen,” Viv says, grimacing. “Get all the blood wiped up. Come up with our next moves. I’ll say she quit and left, and we never heard from her again. I know her passwords; I can post something from her phone to her IG about going on hiatus. It will all be okay.”
Piper’s voice wavers. “What about Elena’s brother?”
“Oh, please,” Viv scoffs, reaching out to gently wipe a drop of blood from Piper’s cheek, staining her own finger in the process.
Piper flinches. “He’s too busy doing lines with his consulting buddies to even notice her missing.
Piper, she was only close to us. That’s the whole point. We’re her family.”
“The others… They saw everything. They might…”
“They’re not going to tell,” Viv says firmly. Confidently. She leans forward. “They didn’t stop you, Piper. They didn’t go for help. If they tell, they go down too. And they need this job. No one wants to lose the money and glamour of Empress.”
“Elena did,” Piper whispers. “We could have…fixed this.”
Viv raises her chin and pulls her hand away from Piper’s face. “Are you serious? Girl, you don’t get to have regrets now. You should have thought about that before you pushed her into my knife.”
“It was an accident,” Piper repeats, miserably.
“And now we have to clean it up. Come on. The sun’s almost down and I want to get her loaded up while we still have light left.”
“Viv…”
“Oh, and one more thing,” Viv states, snapping her fingers. “I’m going to tell Trey.”
Piper gapes. “What? Why? No one else has to know about this!”
Viv shakes her head. “Trey’s our boss, but more importantly, he has deep pockets.
If something goes wrong, which it won’t,” she adds hastily, “I need to know he’s got our back.
He’s got the ability to make people look the other way.
He can help cover this up. He doesn’t need to know the details.
I’ll tell him there was an accident and Elena drowned, and it would be bad press for the truth to get out there. ”
“But how do you know he won’t launch an investigation or turn us in or something?” Piper protests.
Viv smiles, sharklike. “Because he needs me. I’m the reason why Empress is so successful.
I’m making him millions of dollars. And despite what Elena thought, Trey isn’t ever leaving me.
He plays around, yes, but he always comes back to me.
Don’t worry about him saying anything. You don’t have to trust him. Trust me.”
Piper’s face falls as the fight goes out of her. “Fine.”
“Good,” Viv says, satisfied.
Viv doesn’t wait for Piper; she swishes out of the frame, leaving her bloody knife on the kitchen counter. Piper stands there for a moment, swaying on her feet as if she’s about to faint.
Slowly, her head turning like it’s on a string, Piper looks down to where Elena lies on the floor.
Mindlessly, she bends, disappearing from the camera screen for a minute.
When she stands back up, she’s holding Elena’s golden cuff bracelet.
My gut churns thinking about how that very same bracelet is in my room right now, blood washed away by the sea.
On the video, Piper clutches the golden bracelet, probably still warm from Elena’s arm, smears of red on its surface.
Piper walks over to the high-top table, and her hand, surprisingly clean, reaches out, and the camera goes blurry, black, shakes, and, with no ceremony or final words, the recording stops.
I drop the phone on to my knees, hands shaking, heart in my throat. I feel like I’m going to throw up, and I try to take steadying breaths as black spots float in front of my eyes.
It’s so much worse than I thought.
I need to figure out what to do. I need to hide this phone somewhere safe so I can take the video to the police as soon as I get off this yacht. I need to—
“I should have guessed she recorded it.”
The storm masked her footsteps, hiding her approach. I hadn’t even noticed her creep up behind me. She’s standing near the foot of the bed, watching the video from off to the side and over my shoulder.
I don’t have the energy to jump in surprise. I am physically ill from what I watched. Instead, I shift around on my knees so that I can face her, Piper’s phone slipping from my lap and landing next to the bed.
“I couldn’t sleep. What with everything that happened today. I had this feeling. Like I had to go to Piper’s room. I’m glad I did,” she says, staring at me.
I swallow the thorns in my throat. “Hi, Vivienne.”