Chapter 5

Isabella "Bella" Douglas POV:

Through a morphine haze, courtesy of the ship's medic, I watched them lead Haleigh below deck.

They were still cooing over the tiny burn on her hand, their backs turned to me-and to the smoldering ruin of my dress.

My hidden phone buzzed in my pocket. A text from Mr. Abernathy.

Transaction complete. Godspeed, Ms. Hale.

A wave of relief, so powerful it almost drowned out the pain, washed over me. I was so close.

Jameson came below deck a few minutes later, his face tight with annoyance.

"What are you hiding?" he demanded, his eyes finally landing on the severe, blistering burns that had devoured the skin on my legs.

For a split second, I saw horror flash in his eyes. A flicker of something human.

"I didn't hear you," he said, his voice strained. "On deck, with the wind... I didn't hear you scream."

He promised to stay, said he would get the medic to re-dress the wounds.

But then Haleigh's voice drifted down from the deck, light and carefree.

"Jameson, darling! The dolphins are here! Come make a wish!"

He hesitated. His gaze was torn between my mangled legs and the sound of her voice.

He chose her.

He always chose her.

He left.

Later, they moved me, setting me up in a deck chair like a forgotten piece of furniture, as the four of them stood at the railing, watching the sunset.

They laughed and pointed as a pod of dolphins leaped through the waves, their silver bodies catching the last rays of light.

"Make a wish!" Haleigh chirped, leaning against Jameson's shoulder.

I closed my eyes. The fire in my legs was a dull, throbbing echo of the inferno that had consumed my life.

I made a wish of my own.

A vow.

I turned my head, my eyes finding Haleigh's across the deck.

"I wish," I said, my voice clear and steady, cutting through the sound of the waves, "that I never have to see any of you again."

Just as the words left my lips, the sky cracked open.

A clap of thunder, so loud it shook the yacht, drowned out the finality of my words.

The storm had returned with a vengeance.