Page 14 of Knot for Sale

New urgency propelled me toward the bathroom to get dressed and grab the things I couldn’t afford to leave behind. Before I’d made it two steps, the floor shifted subtly beneath me, throwing me off balance. The low thrum of engines, which had started about twenty minutes ago while we were on the upper deck, increased in pitch.

“Shit,” Elijah said. “Um... I think it’s too late now, babe.”

Too late.Too late.

The words echoed in my ears.

“I need to speak to the c-c-captain,” I said desperately. “Is there a captain? Who’s in charge of the b-boat?”

Telegraphing his movement, Elijah reached out slowly and took both my shoulders in his hands. I thought for a moment that he must be shaking, and I wondered why. Then I realized the uncontrolled trembling was coming from me.

“No offense, Em, but I don’t think they’re going to turn the hundred-million-dollar mega-yacht around for you,” he said. “Could you maybe try talking to me instead? Who are those guys?”

My past. They were my past, come back to haunt me.

‘See you soon, bitch.’

I’d deleted the anonymous text, but I couldn’t delete the memory of it.

“They’re t-trouble,” I managed.

“For you?” Elijah asked. “Or in general?”

“Both,” I replied in a whisper. Then, because I knew it was unfair to keep him totally in the dark when he was trapped on the ship right along with me, I reluctantly added, “The older one is my uncle. The younger one is my c-cousin.”

Elijah’s shoulders relaxed fractionally, maybe because I was finally talking to him. “Okay. So, family trouble. Are we talking ‘awkward Christmas dinner’ here? Or are you in physical danger from them?”

“I d-don’t know,” I said. “I think it’s p-probably more on the ‘ruining my life’ end of the spectrum.”

“Like, maybe they’re going to sabotage your chances at the TSB contract? That kind of thing?” He still looked spooked, but not as actively freaked out as he had been earlier.

I wish I could have said the same. “I told you. I don’t know!” I resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose, knowing it would only smear makeup everywhere. “Maybe.”

Could that be it? I’d ruined Percy Rathbone’s life by exposing his cheating ways, so now Cade and my creepy uncle were here to do the same to me? The world of syndicated crime in London was a brutal one, but it wasn’t as though my arsehole of a cousin was going to publicly kneecap me on a yacht full of millionaires.

God. Why had I run for my room, instead of hiding until the pair walked past and making my escape down the gangplank when their backs were turned? Better to be penniless and wearing nothing but a bikini in a strange city, than to be trapped on this yacht with Tommy and Cade Huntwell.

Could this be nothing more than a coincidence? Did they even know I was here? The threatening texts said yes—see you soon, bitch—but logic said no. My uncle had no connection whatsoever to the world of international fashion. And I didn’t have any proof that the texts were tied to either him or my cousin.

“You’re a thousand miles away, dove,” Elijah said. “What are you thinking?”

He was still gripping my shoulders lightly—two points of grounding warmth. I breathed in his rain and rosewater scent and tried to think past my initial panic. The yacht was underway.I couldn’t get off unless I wanted to jump overboard, and I wasn’t that strong of a swimmer.

“Maybe I’m wrong,” I said with sudden uncertainty. “Maybe it’s a c-coincidence that they’re here.”

Elijah didn’t look convinced. That was fair. I didn’tfeelconvinced either.

“Why do they have it in for you?” he asked. “What’s the backstory?”

This wasn’t a part of my life that I wanted anyone to know about. And yet, Elijah needed to know. I licked my lips, looking down and to the side—omega instincts coming to the fore.

“I... was sleeping with Cade’s best friend, Percy. Cade’s my c-cousin,” I clarified. “I found out Percy had been hiding a fiancé from me. So, I tracked her down and warned her what kind of man she was about to marry. She called it off and publicly trashed him. It sent Percy into a downward spiral, and he eventually ended up in prison.”

It was so much more complicated than that—a generations-long tangle of competition and tragedy. Percy had only been the surface layer, but maybe Elijah didn’t need to know about the rest of it. Maybe this reallywasa coincidence, and I could just avoid them as much as possible for the next few days before running back to hide in New York.

I mentally kissed the TSB contract goodbye.

“Ouch,” Elijah said, wincing at my tale of woe. “I mean, it’s not like this guy’s cheating was your fault, but I guess I can see where the bad blood came from. Still, it does seem like a stretch that they’d wrangle an invite onto someone’s mega-yacht just to fuck you over. What about your uncle? Is he pissed off at you, too?”

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