Chapter 6 - The Second Plan in the Engine Room
Leonard walked toward the tool cabinet.
His steps were slow.
Certain.
The necklace light blinked again beneath my wet cover-up.
I pressed my palm over it, but the red glow had already reflected off the metal door.
Daniel stood.
“What are you doing?”
Leonard did not turn.
“Checking the cabinets.”
“For what?”
“For the woman your expression just revealed.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
Leonard reached for the handle.
The engine room door slammed open.
Vanessa rushed in, breathless and pale.
“Ryan found her blood.”
Leonard stopped.
“Where?”
“On the swim platform.”
“Is he certain it’s hers?”
“She’s the only pregnant woman he threw into the ocean today.”
Daniel closed his eyes briefly.
Leonard looked back at him.
Vanessa followed his gaze.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s what Ryan keeps saying, and now a dead woman is walking around the yacht.”
Leonard crossed toward her.
“Clara is injured. She has no crew, no access to communications, and nowhere to go.”
“Emily helped her.”
“Emily is contained.”
My throat tightened.
Contained could mean anything.
Vanessa rubbed her arms.
“I want off this yacht.”
Leonard smiled with no warmth.
“You wanted Clara’s life.”
“I wanted Ryan.”
“No. You wanted what Ryan promised you.”
She looked away.
He lowered his voice.
“Leaving now makes you the easiest person to blame.”
Vanessa’s face sharpened with fear.
Leonard had recruited her with greed and controlled her with exposure. The same method he had likely used on Ryan.
Daniel returned to the computer.
“The recorder signal shifted again.”
Leonard turned.
“Where?”
“Below the waterline.”
He was lying.
I knew because the transmitter remained against my chest.
Leonard studied the map.
“How?”
“Signal reflection from the hull. We may be reading a delayed bounce.”
Vanessa stepped toward the cabinet.
“Then why is there water on the floor?”
A thin trail ran from the staircase to my hiding place.
Daniel moved between her and the cabinet.
“Condensation.”
She looked at him.
“In a heated engine room?”
Before he could answer, Ryan’s voice came over the intercom.
“Leonard, bring everyone to the upper deck.”
“Why?”
“I found the transmission receiver.”
My heart jumped.
Leonard picked up the PROJECT ORPHAN HEIR folder.
“Where?”
“Inside Clara’s emergency beacon.”
“That is the transmitter.”
“No. There’s a return channel.”
Daniel stared at the computer.
“What kind?”
Ryan’s breathing came through the speaker.
“Two-way audio.”
The recorder did not merely send what happened around me.
Someone could speak back.
Leonard turned toward the cabinet again.
“Clara can hear us.”
The necklace vibrated once more.
This time, a faint voice whispered through the diamond against my chest.
“Do not trust Daniel.”
I recognized the voice instantly.
Dr. Helen Avery, my late father’s attorney.
She had supposedly retired in Arizona a year earlier.
Daniel heard the whisper through the metal door.
His eyes widened.
Leonard reached for the cabinet.
Daniel moved first.
He grabbed a wrench from the workbench and struck the overhead light fixture.
The engine room went dark.
Vanessa screamed.
Leonard cursed.
Daniel pulled open the cabinet.
“Move.”
I stepped out.
He took my arm and led me toward a lower access ladder.
“Where does this go?”
“Bilge corridor.”
“Why did Helen tell me not to trust you?”
Daniel’s hand tightened.
“Because she doesn’t know which side I chose.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No, Clara. It’s the only answer that keeps you alive.”
Behind us, Leonard activated a flashlight.
The beam swept across the floor.
Daniel opened a round hatch.
“Go.”
I looked down into darkness.
“How far?”
“Eight feet.”
“I’m pregnant.”
“I know.”
The flashlight beam found us.
Leonard raised something black in his hand.
A pistol.
Daniel shoved me behind the hatch rim.
The gun fired.
The bullet struck the railing, showering sparks.
Daniel fell against me.
Blood spread across his sleeve.
He pushed the key Emily had given me into my palm.
“Locker Three is not on this yacht,” he gasped. “It’s inside the marina vault.”
“We’re miles offshore.”
“Not for long.”
The yacht’s engines suddenly roared back to life.
The entire room lurched.
Leonard grabbed the railing.
Ryan’s voice came through the intercom.
“I’m taking us back.”
Leonard shouted, “You were told to stay offshore!”
Ryan answered with a coldness I had never heard before.
“You were told Clara would die.”
Then every cabin door on the yacht locked electronically.
May you like
Including the engine room.
📖 Find out why Ryan turns the yacht toward shore—and what he plans to do with Leonard, Vanessa, and Clara before they reach the marina in CHAPTER 7. 👇
