Chapter 2

"Ruin this?" I stared through the thick glass at the faint warm glow emanating from inside the diving bell and let out a hoarse, cold laugh.

To make sure the black box captured the most damning evidence, I forced down the increasingly violent suffocation tearing through my chest. I deliberately made my voice sound weak and desperate.

"Summer...the oxygen line is broken, and the emergency reserve is gone, too. I can't swim up. For the sake of our newborn daughter, please just open the door. If I die, who's going to support Kendra? Who's going to cover her expensive daycare fees?"

When I mentioned Kendra, the comm fell silent for a brief moment.

Suddenly, Zachary burst into wild, unrestrained laughter. Even through the crushing pressure of the deep sea, his laughter came through the headset, sharp and grating.

"Carter, oh Carter, you really are the world's biggest idiot!"

Zachary laughed so hard he was almost out of breath, his voice dripping with malicious mockery. "You really think that little brat at home who calls you Daddy is actually yours?"

I clenched my fists so hard my knuckles cracked inside the pressure-resistant gloves. Even though I had suspected it in my past life, hearing it confirmed now made the humiliation of betrayal tear at my heart all over again.

"What do you mean?" I asked, deliberately making my voice tremble with disbelief.

Zachary dropped all pretense, his tone filled with a victor's gloating. "What do I mean? Well, Summer had my kid just to keep you around as her personal ATM! You spend months at a time stuck down in the deep sea. Of course, Summer gets lonely! Every time you're down here risking your life, I'm keeping her company in that bed you paid for!"

"And that's not all…" Summer's sweet, syrupy voice now sounded like pure venom as she added without any shame, saying, "All the money you've risked your life for over the years, those massive deep-sea bonuses and hazard pay? We've already used it for the down payment on a luxury condo downtown. And guess whose name is on the deed? Zachary's."

Her tone turned even more cutting. "Carter, have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror? A low-level diver who reeks of seawater like you? How could you ever be good enough for me? If it wasn't for your high salary and how easy you were to control, why would I have ever married you in the first place?"

The more Summer spoke, the more excited she became. "Oh, and I forgot to tell you... That 80-million-dollar accidental death policy that you signed with the company? I'm the beneficiary. As long as you die on livestream today like a good little accident, that money will be perfect for Kendra's future education fund, and it'll help Zachary lock in that director position, too.

"So, stop wasting our time and get out of the way! Carter, your life is honestly worth way more dead than alive! So stop wasting our time and get out of the way!"

So, in the eyes of this disgusting pair, I had been nothing more than a cash cow they could drain dry and toss aside.

I let out a bone-chilling laugh that echoed through the comm and made both of them go silent for a second. "What are you laughing at? Have you lost your mind?" Summer spat with disgust.

[Oxygen Remaining: 1 minute 20 seconds.]

Dark spots were already creeping into the edges of my vision from oxygen deprivation. I let out a bone-chilling laugh that echoed through the comm and made both of them go silent for a second.

"What are you laughing at? Have you lost your mind?" Summer spat with disgust.

I did not answer her. Instead, I turned around, my back to the bottomless trench, and reached for the heavy-duty tool belt at my waist. Clipped there was my highest-powered deep-sea plasma-cutting torch, the one I used for emergency pipeline repairs.

I yanked it free, expertly flipped off the safety, and aimed the torch's nozzle directly above the diving bell. It was right where the main load-bearing cable, the communication fiber, and the lifeline supplying power and oxygen to everything inside were.