Chapter 7 - The Choice
The wind howled around the abandoned lighthouse, whipping Evelyn’s dark hair violently across her face.
Dominic stared at the laptop screen, the color completely draining from his face.
The death of his firstborn son had been the defining tragedy of his life.
He had spent millions trying to prove it wasn't natural, but he had never found a single shred of evidence.
Now, the man holding his pregnant wife hostage was offering him the truth.
“Give me proof,” Dominic demanded, his voice shaking with absolute rage.
The masked man held up a high-resolution photograph to the camera.
It showed three men sitting around a conference table: Richard Hart, Victor Moretti, and Owen Price.
Between them lay the black accounting ledger.
“You have ten seconds,” the masked man warned, his hand resting heavily on the release levers.
Vanessa sobbed uncontrollably, thrashing against her ropes.
“Dominic, please!” Vanessa begged.
“I know where the ledger is!”
“I can take you to it, I swear!”
Evelyn said absolutely nothing.
She didn't beg for her life.
She didn't plead for the child growing inside her.
She simply stared at the man she loved, waiting to see what he valued more: his past, or his future.
“Ten.”
Dominic looked at Vanessa, his eyes dark with conflict.
“Nine.”
He looked back at Evelyn, staring directly into her unwavering gaze.
“Eight.”
Seven months of marriage.
A lifetime of secrets.
“Seven.”
“Dominic!” Vanessa screamed, her voice hoarse.
“Six.”
Evelyn saw his jaw tighten.
She saw the cold, ruthless calculation replace the desperate love in his eyes.
The Moretti family always chose vengeance.
“Save Vanessa,” Dominic said, his voice completely dead.
Vanessa gasped in relief.
Evelyn’s face remained perfectly still, a mask of pure ice.
She gave him a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.
“Thank you,” she whispered over the roar of the ocean.
Dominic’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“For what?”
“For finally answering me.”
The masked man pulled the lever.
The wooden boards vanished instantly beneath Evelyn’s feet.
Dominic screamed her name, a horrifying sound of pure agony.
But he screamed it after she was already falling.
Evelyn plummeted toward the jagged, deadly rocks thirty feet below.
But she didn't hit them.
A massive, heavy-duty bungee cord snapped taut around her waist.
She bounced violently, the breath knocked completely out of her lungs, dangling precariously above the crashing waves.
She reached behind her back, producing the jagged piece of metal she had used to cut her ropes on the platform.
She sliced the bungee cord, dropping the remaining ten feet into the freezing, turbulent ocean.
The shock of the cold was paralyzing, but she fought through it, swimming furiously toward the hidden sea cave at the base of the cliffs.
Caleb was waiting for her in a small, motorized zodiac boat.
His head was bandaged, but he was alive.
He hauled her freezing, pregnant body out of the water and wrapped her in a thermal blanket.
“That was entirely too close,” Caleb gasped, throttling the engine and speeding away from the lighthouse.
Evelyn shivered violently, her teeth chattering.
“Did you record it?” she demanded.
Caleb patted a waterproof hard drive resting on the console.
“I recorded everything.”
“The masked man, the photo, and Dominic choosing vengeance over his wife.”
Evelyn looked back at the lighthouse, fading quickly into the morning fog.
“Good.”
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“Now we have the key, and we have proof of Dominic’s betrayal.”
“Next stop, Geneva.”
