“Why are you going so hard for Piper when you were able to discard Elena so easily?” I demand.
“You think that waseasy?” Viv’s voice turns hoarse and gasping. “I had to be strong for the others. I couldn’t show… I couldn’t—” She clears her throat. “That was not easy, Charlie. And I can’t loseanyone else.”
I pause. Is it possible that Viv actuallydoescare? Could her frigidity be a mask for the deep guilt and regret she feels about what she did to Elena?
If you did something that terrible to someone, you wouldn’t be able to bury it, would you?
The thought jars a memory loose in the back of my brain that scrapes unpleasantly against the soft flesh of the truth, and I gasp, jerk away from it. There are things we can bury and forget about if we try hard enough. The trick is to focus on a different pain instead.
Quickly, I change the topic. “Where did you even get a gun, Viv?”
“I made Trey buy me one when we startedEmpress. A bunch of chicks alone on the ocean? What if some creep found us and tried something?”
“Why is it so small?”
“It’s a Baby Browning mouse gun,” she says.
“Mouse?”
“That’s what they call a super tiny gun. Like a pocket pistol but even smaller. I love this thing, pretty mild recoil. Luckily, I’ve never had to actually use it on someone. And I’d rather not use it on you. So, behave. Where’s your phone?” She glances around the room, then shifts her gaze to my person.
“Uh…” The weight of my phone is heavy in the pocket of myshorts.
“Babe, you think I’m stupid, don’t you?” Viv bares her teeth, a flash of white in the dark. “I saw you glancing down at Piper’s phone while we were talking. I saw the screen lighting up. And I saw the service bars. You sent that video to yourself, didn’t you? Unlock your phone, and gimme.”
Reluctantly, I slip my phone free, typing in my passcode, handing it over to her. Viv snatches the phone and backs up again, tapping through my device.
“Where is it? You didn’t Air Drop it. And your phone has no service. Hoping it would come through when the storm passes? Well, sorry, but that’s not going to happen.” She drops my phone to the floor with a soft thump, lifting one heavy black rain boot and slamming the heel down on my screen. It takes her a few tries, but the glass splinters and the screen goes dark. “I’ll toss it overboard when we’re outside, don’t worry.”
“We?”
Viv nods, her voice disgustingly nonchalant. “You’re going to come with me on the tender. Swept overboard, remember?”
“Uh…no?”
“Uh…yes,” Viv mimics me, her voice becoming juvenile and snotty. “Did you forget I have a gun? Let’s go, we don’t have much time.”
Fear and frustration war inside me, pressurizing the inside of my head. “Viv, you can’t be serious. The storm might be passing,but it’s still dangerous. If we go out there, neither of us will make it. You’re going to kill us both.”
“Stop wasting time,” Viv hisses. She gestures with the gun, a tainted “come hither” movement.
I try one more time. “I thought you said you couldn’t lose anyone else.”
“I’m not,” Viv replies. “You aren’t a part of this family. That’s clear. And I’m sorry, but I don’t believe you’re going to walk away from this and not tell anyone.” Her body language changes—she goes from a rigid oak to a limpid weed. Her voice falters. “Please don’t make this harder than it needs to be. I’m sorry, Charlie, I am. But I meant what I said: I don’t want to lose anyone else. And that means I need to protect my family and myself.”
The injustice of it all crashes over me. I’m going to die because she’s unstable? Because she killed her best friend? “But Piper was going to do the same thing, and you want to findheralive!”
“Piper is family,” Viv explains, simply, calmly. “You’re not.”
* * *
We move through the yacht like liquid shadows, slipping down the staircase and on to the main level.
I want to scream, I want to call for help, but the storm is loud enough that I worry no one will hear me in time. And besides, I saw the video. The others had not anticipated violence, but they stood by while Elena was murdered and stayed loyal to Viv, after. Neverturning her or Piper in. I can’t trust them to save my life.
And Trey… Viv had told him some warped version of the incident with Elena, and he was entirely unbothered by it. Happy to keep their secret and hide the death of an employee. Clearly unaffected even though he’d been hooking up with Elena and planning to whisk her away as his assistant.
Before we left Piper’s room, I asked Viv where that same angry energy was for Trey. “You sleep with him,” I said. “Even though you hate him.”
