Page 8 of Depths of Desire
With that, he turns on his heel and storms off.
I slam the door shut, my pulse thrumming. "Now what?"
Nico’s already moving. "Now we get off this ship."
"How?" My voice rises. "How the hell are we getting off if Customs is here?"
He doesn’t answer. Just pulls out his phone and starts texting.
"Well? What good is that going to do?" I demand.
"It’s going to get us help."
"Help? What kind of—" I stop mid-sentence as he glances up, his expression unreadable.
"You know how to swim, right?"
My stomach twists. "Why?"
Nico’s lips curl. "Because you’re about to get quite wet, sunshine."
My whole body locks up. "Oh, hell no. I am not jumping into the ocean."
His smirk vanishes. "This ship is compromised. There’s a dead body. If I leave you behind, my brothers will kill me. And if you stay, you won’t make it across the Atlantic in one piece."
I shake my head, backing up. "No. No way. We can hide?—"
"No, we can’t."
He moves so fast I barely register it. One second, I’m standing there alone, the next—his fingers close around my wrist, his grip unyielding.
"I don’t care what you want, sunshine," he murmurs. "I told you. You don’t have a choice."
A shiver runs down my spine. He’s right.
I’m stuck.
My lips part, but the words die in my throat.
Nico watches me, his eyes dark, assessing. "Let’s go."
I don’t move.
His gaze drops, lingering on the frantic rise and fall of my chest before flicking back up. Something in his expression shifts—an edge of satisfaction, of certainty.
He already knows he’s won.
"Fine," I grind out. "But don’t tell my parents where I am."
His smirk is slow, lethal. "We’ll see how it goes."
And just like that, I grab my bag and follow him into the darkened passageway.
Within five minutes, I’m completely lost once again.
Nico moves like he owns this ship, navigating the maze of narrow hallways and metal staircases with practiced ease, while I stumble behind him, my heart hammering into my sternum. Every shadow feels like a threat. Every distant voice sends a chill down my spine. And then, suddenly, we step outside.
The cool night air slams into me, a stark contrast to the suffocating warmth of the ship’s interior. The scent of salt anddiesel clings to the wind, and the deep black of the ocean stretches endlessly beyond the deck.
