Chapter 32
Finn
They say when you die, your life flashes before your eyes. My life just went over the edge and into the ocean, and my whole life, every moment with her, blares inside my head. My heart lurches and falls right into my stomach. I run for them, intent to follow, when a sudden blast rings out. I fall to the deck, right as it breaks. The groaning of metal bending and melting echoes around me. My bruised ribs hurt, and the burn on my leg threatens to slow me down. Somehow, I manage to push myself up and hobble to the side. I can’t see either of them below the waves, and everything inside of me turns cold. I don’t wait for her to resurface before diving in after them, right as another explosion ricochets behind me.
The water hits me like a ton of ice shards, tearing into my skin. The salt water stings every open cut, and the blood that was covering my clothes and skin swirls around me. Twisting to the left and the right, I search for Winnie and Marco. A ripple catches my attention. Blood red rage clouds my vision. He’s trying to drown her, and judging by the way her limbs are floating, he’s succeeding.
My arms propel me over to him, my arm slides around his neck, and I squeeze. He lets go of her, his legs and arms kicking aimlessly. I don’t ease up on his neck. His hands and fists fly at my arm, my face, my already battered torso, but I hold on, forcing the air from his lungs until he’s choking on sea water. A gasp of bubbles escapes his lips, then his hands fall limp. With one last twist of my arms, I snap his neck before releasing him to the depths below. The air in my lungs burns. Frantically, I search for Win, finding her floating to the top. I swim after her, grabbing her arm and propelling us to the surface.
As we break the surface, I greedily suck air into my lungs. Winnie’s face is pale, a bluish tint fading along the edges of her lips. “No.” I pull her to me, pinching her nose and blowing air into her lungs. “Stay with me, Daisy.”
The yacht is engulfed in flames, tilting to its side, ready to sink. My eyes scan the wreckage before landing on the small, motorized boat that Marco and his goons arrived on. “We gotta go, Win. Hang on.” I wrap my arm across her chest, making sure her head is tilted back in the water so she’s floating on her back while I swim us to the little boat. Grunting with every stroke, I push us forward.
The edge of the boat is only a foot off the water, making it easy to secure Winnie’s arms over the edge. I hold them in place while I swing my leg over and haul myself in. I pull her in next, laying her body flat on the deck of the boat.
“Breathe for me, Win,” I plead with her, with her sister’s spirit, with God, all the while giving her my life’s breath and doing chest compressions.
She chokes, and water spits up from her mouth. Gently, I roll her to the side so she can get it all out. “Finn.” Her voice is hoarse, scratchy.
“Don’t talk, Win. Rest your voice. We need to get medical help to look at your neck. Are you in pain? Can you move your legs?”
She makes a sound like a laugh that turns into a cough. “Fine. I can move.” She gestures to her body with a flourish of her hand.
Relief instantly hits me. “Lie here for just a second. I have to figure out what we have in here.” She nods in response, and I start searching every compartment. After finding a pocket knife, I cut the rope that was still binding us to the yacht. Once that’s done, we start drifting farther away from the wreckage. I try three times to start up the engine, hiding my grimace when it sputters and dies right away. We’re stuck out here, bobbing in the middle of nowhere. Frustration builds in my chest, so I decide to search and see what else I can scrounge up. I find two flares, life jackets, and an emergency blanket. I open that first and bring it back to Win.
I make her comfortable, taking in our surroundings while I do. In the distance, to our south, I can see land. Unless someone was looking for us, they wouldn’t be able to see this little boat. I reach for one of the flares and light it off, high into the sky. It shoots a long line of red smoke straight into the air, then gives a little pop before fizzling out.
“We’re screwed, aren’t we?” Win laughs lightly.
Glancing down at her, I force a smile to my lips. “Nah. Someone will be looking for us.”
Whether she buys it or not, I don’t know. Either way, she reaches for me, her hand rubbing over the scruffy edge of my jaw. “Hold me?”
“You never have to ask, Daisy,” I tell her, lying down next to her and wrapping my arms protectively around her head and waist.
I don’t know how long we lie there, swaying in the ocean. The sound of the waves, the wind, eventually lulls us into a peaceful, serene state of mind. The whole time, I never take my eyes off Winnie. At one point, her eyes close, but she continues drawing patterns on my arm with her nails. So I let her rest. We chat about easy things. Keeping it light.
“Finn,” she calls my name, and I glance down at her. One of her eyes is squinting open.
“Yeah?”
She bites her bottom lip, a nervousness touching her features. “When we get back to land, I have something I need to tell you.”
My heart seizes in my chest. What if this is it? Now that Bianchi is no longer a threat, she has every right to walk away. As real as this marriage is, and as much as I want it, I did promise her it could be for now or forever. What if this has been all too much? What will I do if she wants to return to her quiet life?
A dark, obsessive feeling pours into my chest and runs through my veins. Winnie is mine. I know right now I’ll be breaking my promise to her, but even if she wants to leave me, I’m not letting her go.
“Winnie—”
The faint sound of a horn captures my attention. My head snaps up, scanning the horizon. A large black object is heading our way, a smaller white object floating close behind. “Someone’s coming.”
Win pushes herself to a sitting position, following my line of sight. “It's a boat. It's a boat, Finn!” Her hands grip my arm, excitedly.
Within twenty minutes, the sleek, matte-black yacht embellished with gold pulls up alongside us. The smaller, white boat belongs to the Coast Guard. A man in an all-white linen suit greets us at the stern.
“Dodger?”
I laugh, shaking my head. “That’s me. Daggerz send you?”
