Chapter 14 - I DIDN’T GO ALONE
Gregory knew me well enough to understand one thing.
I would not abandon Celia.
He did not understand me well enough to know another.
I was not stupid.
I went to the aft observation deck.
But I did not go alone.
Ortiz’s officers moved through service corridors.
Staff Captain Kessler approached from the opposite stairwell.
Victor guided security through maintenance access points Gregory did not know existed.
Elaine insisted on coming.
Ortiz refused.
Elaine went anyway.
The wind struck my face the moment I stepped outside.
The Atlantic stretched black beyond the railings.
Gregory stood near the stern.
Celia was beside him.
She looked older than the photograph.
Harder.
Alive.
Gregory held the knife near her side.
“You actually came.”
“I said I would.”
Celia stared at me.
There was fear in her face.
But also something close to apology.
“I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
Gregory laughed.
“You two should start a club.”
He looked exhausted now.
No perfect suit.
No charming smile.
No mask.
Just rage.
“You ruined everything.”
I stopped twenty feet away.
“You brought a baseball bat onto our honeymoon.”
“My father said you needed pressure.”
“So this was Martin’s plan?”
Gregory’s expression changed.
A small mistake.
Enough.
“No.”
I smiled slightly.
“Then why defend him?”
His grip tightened on Celia.
She winced.
I did not move.
“Let her go.”
“And then what?”
“You walk back inside.”
“You think I’m going to prison?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head.
“My family owns people you don’t even know exist.”
A voice came from behind him.
“Not anymore.”
Elaine stepped onto the deck.
Gregory froze.
“Mom.”
Celia’s eyes widened.
Elaine walked toward her son.
For the first time since I had met her, she did not look frightened.
“You were a little boy when your father first hit me.”
Gregory’s jaw tightened.
“You used to hide under the dining table.”
“Stop.”
“You cried.”
“Stop.”
“You begged him not to hurt me.”
Gregory’s face twisted.
“STOP.”
Elaine kept walking.
“I spent years telling myself the cruelty inside you belonged to Martin.”
Her voice broke.
“But you chose it.”
Gregory’s attention shifted completely toward his mother.
That was the opening Celia needed.
She drove her heel down onto his foot and twisted away.
The knife moved.
I crossed the remaining distance.
Gregory swung toward me.
I caught his wrist with both hands and redirected it away from Celia.
We crashed against the railing.
He was stronger than I remembered.
Desperate people often were.
But strength without control was only noise.
The knife hit the deck.
Celia kicked it away.
Gregory grabbed my shoulder.
I broke his grip and shoved him backward.
Security officers flooded onto the deck.
Gregory looked around.
Trapped.
Then he turned toward the railing.
For one horrible second, I thought he might jump.
May you like
Instead he seized Elaine.
And pressed her against the edge.
