Chapter 1: The Black Water
The ocean swallowed Mariana before she could scream.
One moment, her fingers were wrapped around the yacht’s chrome railing while Nico clung to her neck.
The next, her mother’s hand struck down.
Mariana lost her grip.
Her white silk dress flashed beneath the yacht’s golden lights as she and her six-year-old son fell into the darkness.
The freezing water hit like concrete.
Mariana sank beneath the surface, tangled in silk and terror. Salt water filled her mouth. Her shoes dragged her downward.
But Nico was still in her arms.
That was the only thought that mattered.
She kicked off one shoe, then the other. She tore at the heavy fabric around her legs and forced herself upward.
When she broke through the surface, the yacht was already moving away.
“Nico!”
He coughed against her shoulder.
“Mommy…”
“I’ve got you.”
His small body shook violently.
Above them, music continued playing aboard the yacht.
Mariana could see silhouettes moving behind the glass walls of the upper deck.
Her father, Rodrigo Salcedo, stood near the railing in his burgundy velvet blazer. He still held his drink.
He had watched them fall.
He made no attempt to stop the yacht.
Her mother, Elena, stood several feet behind him.
Neither of them looked back.
“Help!” Mariana screamed.
Her voice disappeared beneath the sound of the engines.
The yacht grew smaller.
Then the lights vanished completely.
Mariana was left alone with her child in an ocean that seemed to stretch forever.
Nico began crying.
“I can’t feel my hands.”
Mariana held him higher.
“Listen to me. You’re going to keep breathing. You’re going to keep your eyes open.”
“Are we going to die?”
“No.”
She answered too quickly.
But Nico needed certainty, even if she had none.
Something orange moved between the waves.
A life ring.
Mariana swam toward it, forcing her body through the cold water. Her dress pulled against her, but she refused to stop.
She reached the ring and pushed Nico through the center.
“Hold the rope.”
“What about you?”
“I’m right beside you.”
Mariana wrapped one arm around the ring and used the other to keep them facing the waves.
Minutes passed.
Perhaps an hour.
The cold turned painful, then strangely distant.
Nico’s eyes began closing.
“Stay awake,” Mariana begged. “Tell me about your birthday.”
“The chocolate cake?”
“Yes.”
“With the dinosaur candles?”
“That’s right.”
“And a dog.”
Mariana’s throat tightened.
“You’ll get the dog.”
“You promised.”
“I promise again.”
A low engine sounded through the night.
Mariana lifted her head.
A searchlight moved across the waves.
A fishing boat emerged from the darkness.
She tried to raise her arm, but she had almost no strength left.
Nico did it for her.
His small hand lifted above the life ring.
The beam passed them.
Then suddenly returned.
Men shouted from the deck.
A rope struck the water beside Mariana.
Strong hands pulled Nico aboard first.
Mariana watched someone wrap him in a thick blanket.
Only then did she allow herself to collapse.
As the fishermen lifted her from the sea, she heard a voice from the radio.
A Coast Guard dispatcher was repeating a report from a luxury yacht.
A woman had apparently suffered a mental health crisis.
She had taken her child and jumped overboard.
Mariana closed her eyes.
May you like
Her family had tried to kill her.
And before her body was even out of the water, they had already begun killing the truth.
