Page 145 of Until the Sea Runs Dry

He would hurt her, then shower her with so much love that all of her resolve to leave him would melt away. She would believe his promises, and life would be wonderful for a time, until the next thing would set him off…

The moment she saw him murder another man, she had woken up from that daze, and would have reported him to the authorities if Marko hadn’t gotten to her first.

Marko.

Just the name sent chills racing down her back.

Jane blinked, eyes darting around to record the details of her surroundings. If she could somehow get out of this alive, she’d need to remember as much as she could for the law enforcement.

“I can’t believe you are alive, Emily. I thought I’d lost you.”

Emily.

That was her real name, though it felt alien in this moment. Emily was a lifetime ago. She was Jane now… she wasn’t the abused and frightened wife Marko had turned her into. A picture of Logan flashed into her head, filling her with love.

This wouldn’t be the end of her story.

Not if she could help it.

“Who are you?”

She asked the question, hoping to throw him. If he believed her, maybe it would stall whatever plans he had for her.

Marko’s head snapped to her, his eyes turning hurt.

“How could you ask me that? I am your husband! We have been married for almost ten years. How could you pretend to be dead when all the while, you were here, living with that man?”

He sneered at the word ‘man’, like it disgusted him.

Jane shook her head, allowing her eyes to soften with confusion. “No. I don’t know who you are. I don’t remember anything from the time I woke up on that beach and Logan found me.”

He froze at her words, lips tightening into a thin, white line. “You’re lying. You can’t have forgotten me, not after all that we have meant to each other.”

“It’s the truth! You can talk to Detective Summers at LAPD. He was assigned to my case. He’ll be able to verify my story. Just call him and ask! Tell him you want to know about Jane Smith, that you think you might know who she is.”

His dark eyes glittered with indecision. Jane took this as a good sign that she was getting through to him. She reached out to him.

“Please… You don’t have to do this. Whatever has happened was in the past — and I don’t remember it, anyway. You can just leave and we’ll both get on with our lives. You can’t still want me now that I’ve been with another man.”

He flinched as if she’d physically struck him. Remembering how territorial he was, she had known he wouldn’t like that. Wouldn’t be able to stomach the thought of another man touching his property.

“I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you, but I didn’t know I was doing it. The doctor said I had amnesia that was caused from blunt forced trauma. I must have been in an accident.”

“You fell… from this yacht.”

His answer was calculating as he started to spin a variation of the truth, one he thought he might get away with. Jane forced herself to nod as if he had just revealed a big secret that she had been trying to uncover.

“That makes sense. If you can cut these ropes, I promise I won’t run. There’s nowhere for me to go anyway, not while we’re on this boat.”

“True. And you always were the worst swimmer.”

He smiled at her. The scumbag actually smiled as if they were sharing a joke! She got up to her feet, started toward him. When he flicked open a switchblade knife, she fought not to flinch, keeping a pleasant smile on her lips.

He took hold of her hands, moving to slip the knife through the rope when the whir of approaching helicopter blades sounded. Spotlights hit the choppy waters, churned up by those spinning blades.

A siren shrieked, lights gyred into the night.

Marko’s reaction was immediate. Instead of cutting her loose, he grabbed her, pulling her to shield his own body, and sliding the knife to her neck.

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