Page 44 of Until the Sea Runs Dry

“This is just a hiccup. We can move beyond this. Let me take you home, and we can talk things over.”

She took a step back but bumped into the side of the yacht. The crashing water below filled him with unease.

“Look, I didn’t want to spoil the surprise, but I’ve booked us on that trip to China you’ve always wanted to go on. Five-star hotels and flights, even a visit to a panda sanctuary. Move away from the side and I’ll get us home. Everything will be all right once we get home. You’ll see.”

There was nowhere for her to run, and she must have known that by the acceptance that came into her eyes.

She looked down at the churning water, at the storm that was beginning to whip around them, and back to him. There was a defiance in her eyes he had never seen before that caused an uneasy flutter in his stomach.

“You’ve already taken far too much from me. I won’t let you take my life too.”

Before he could start toward her, she jumped over the side.

“NO!”

Terror leaped in his throat.

He sprinted for the side, leaned over it, but it was impossible to see anything other than that crashing surface. He scanned the water for any sign of his wife, but it was as if she had never existed at all.

A crack of thunder as loud as the pain in his heart threatened to tear him in two.

The floor beneath his feet lurched so violently that he almost fell. He couldn’t stay out here, not with those rocks so close, not if this storm were to get any worse.

“EMILY!”

Another clap of thunder was the only response to his cry.

Casting one last, desperate look over the ocean, Marko sailed home, barely able to see through the blur of his tears, as he left his wife to drown.

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