Chapter 4

To repay the debt within a week, I took three jobs.

At dawn, I stocked shelves in a bakery. In the afternoon, I entered accounts for a small business. At night, I served drinks at a casino club aboard a private yacht.

After selling my laptop, camera, and remaining jewelry and adding five days’ wages, I had raised six thousand dollars.

I still needed twelve thousand.

Dad had forbidden every DeLuca-connected business from hiring me. This club belonged to an out-of-state organization, catered to high-stakes gamblers, and paid its staff daily. Four more nights might have been enough.

When I entered a VIP lounge carrying bourbon, Nick was seated at the center of the card table.

Camilla leaned against him, the DeLuca ruby bracelet glittering around her wrist.

It should have passed to me on my eighteenth birthday.

Nick stood the instant he saw me.

“Audrey? What are you doing here?”

“You ordered bourbon.”

I set down the tray and turned away. He caught my wrist.

“You disappeared for five days. Camilla has been worried sick, and you’ve been hiding here serving drinks to strangers?”

“Let go. I’m working.”

Only then did he notice my bloodless face and the stain spreading through the bandage around my leg.

“What happened to you?”

“It has nothing to do with you.”

“Audrey, why are you doing this to yourself?”

He still believed every hardship was self-inflicted. One apology to Camilla would restore my home, my engagement, and his affection. Whether I was guilty had never mattered.

I pulled my hand free.

Nick swept the tray from the table.

Bottles shattered across the floor.

The manager hurried over but did not dare confront the Marino heir.

“Charge it to her,” Nick said.

The manager hesitated. “The liquor and cleaning costs will come out of tonight’s wages and tips.”

That was three nights of work.

I crouched and began gathering the glass. A shard sliced my finger.

“Stop.” Nick stepped toward me. “You would rather bleed here than go home and apologize?”

“Because I did nothing wrong.”

He stared at me, then pulled out his checkbook. He wrote a check and tossed it onto the table.

“Eighteen thousand dollars. Take it and end this performance.”

I looked at the amount.

“What is the condition?”

“Come home and apologize to Camilla. Admit you failed to explain the accident because you wanted to ruin her birthday.”

Camilla touched his sleeve.

“Nick, don’t force her. Audrey must have her reasons.”

His expression softened as he looked at her.

When he turned back to me, only weary impatience remained.

“Camilla is still defending you. Why can’t you accept the way out I’m giving you?”

Because it was not a way out.

It was another debt.

I picked up the check.

Nick relaxed.

Then I tore it in half.

“Have you lost your mind?”

“This isn’t about money.” I placed the pieces on the table. “Every kindness you offer comes with a price. I’m done paying it.”

I removed my apron and handed it to the manager.

“I’ll replace what was deducted tonight. Once the final debt is paid, none of you will ever have to deal with me again.”

I headed for the exit.

Nick’s voice followed me.

“How many people in New York do you think will employ you once you leave the DeLuca family?”

I paused. “That’s my problem.”

“Don’t you still need twelve thousand dollars?”

Before I could answer, the captain’s warning sounded over the speakers.

[Sudden coastal squall. All guests must remain inside. Keep clear of the exterior decks.]

Rain swallowed the windows. The yacht rolled as deckhands rushed to secure the lifeboats. Furniture and glassware slid across the exposed deck.

Nick pointed outside.

“Bring in everything left on that deck, and I’ll give you the twelve thousand.”

The lounge fell silent.

He knew I was terrified of thunder. He knew my leg was injured.

But he never expected me to accept.

He expected fear to break me before he did.

I tied the apron around my waist.

“Deal.”

Nick’s expression changed.

“Audrey, I wasn’t actually telling you to—”

I opened the door and stepped into the storm.

Freezing rain struck my face. The deck pitched beneath me, and thunder made my hands shake.

When we were children, Nick used to slip into my room during storms and cover my ears. He had promised he would never leave me frightened and alone.

Now he stood inside the warm cabin, waiting for fear to send me back to him.

Holding the rail, I dragged the scattered objects toward the door one at a time.

The tablecloth.

The glasses.

An overturned service cart.

Only one chair remained.

I limped toward it.

Behind me, the cabin door flew open.

“Audrey, come back!” Nick shouted. “Forget the chair!”

Lightning split the sky.

A massive wave struck the yacht.

The deck tilted violently. My foot slipped, and my body crashed into the storm-weakened railing.

Metal shrieked.

Then it broke.

I fell backward into the black water.

“Audrey!”