Thousands (Dollar 4)

What on earth?

My gaze shot to the back wall where a small slope in the floor disappeared into nowhere. There weren’t windows, but the wall wasn’t just a wall. It was a door—a large exit ramp for the lifeboat.

“What is this place?” I blinked at staff members—some wired and awake, others blurry-eyed and napping on the uncomfortable couches.

A guy I’d seen tending to the helicopter said, “It’s the safe room.”

“Safe from what?”

“Pirates, of course.”

My mouth hung open. “There’s no such thing.”

“Not the typical ones in storybooks, no. But there are many rogue ships that board, rob, rape, and kill. It’s a maritime requirement to have a safe room with enough food and water for all souls on board. Normally, the protocol is to call for help and wait it out, or the pirates take what they want and leave. But Mr. Prest went one step further and ensured we had a way off the yacht in case something catastrophic happens.”

My heart was what turned catastrophic. Bombs detonated inside me, sending shrapnel ripping through my blood.

Why was Elder out there and not in here? Who would protect him and the men on the bridge?

The longer I stood in safety with food and escape at my fingertips, the more I couldn’t stand it. Elder. The captain. They were out there…fighting for us.

What the hell are we doing?

Why were our lives worth more than theirs? Why should we be out of danger when they faced it head on?

I-I can’t stay here.

I needed to be with him. If the Chinmoku were paying a visit, I couldn’t let him face them on his own.

I wouldn’t.

I didn’t care it was stupid to put myself in danger. I didn’t care that Elder would be livid at me for getting in the way.

I literally couldn’t stand here while he was out there facing who knew what.

A loud foghorn shattered the tense murmurings in the room, dragging our eyes to the ceiling. A loudhailer sounded, but the words were warbled and hard to hear.

“Oh, God. We’re being boarded,” the head cleaner said, pacing by the lifeboat.

Staff members forgot about me as another horn sounded—this time vibrating and echoing through the Phantom. The captain had replied with his own thundering call.

Was it a call to war or surrender?

Elder will never surrender.

I still didn’t know all his secrets, but if it was the Chinmoku, then he would kill or be killed. There were only two scenarios available, and I refused to stand here and let him face such terrible choices alone.

Pretending to keep my eyes on the ceiling like everyone else—waiting for another boom of gunfire or horn of retaliation, I inched toward the door. No one paid attention as I fumbled with the locking mechanism and unhooked multiple deadbolts.

Safety did that to people. The knowledge they were untouchable in their special bunker allowed them to focus on the way life had split. Them versus us. The soon-to-be extinct and the ones who would survive.

My hands worked faster at the thought of Elder being hurt.

Please let him be okay…

Another loudhailer bellowed, chopped and incomprehensible. Whatever they were telling Elder and his crew to do, I didn’t think he’d obey. My skin prickled for the first round of gunshots, already picturing carnage and hoping to God my over-active imagination never came true.

With shaking fingers, I finally managed to unlock the door. The damn thing weighed a ton. I struggled to pull it wide enough to slip through. Pushing my leg through first, I angled my hips and slinked past the gap.

At the last second, a young maid spotted me. She opened her mouth to say something, but I shook my head, pressing my fingers to my lips.

This was my decision. Not hers.

If I wanted to risk my life, it was my choice. I’d had far too many choices taken away to let her take that away from me, too.

She scowled but nodded, watching me wriggle my way through the gap.

The staff had to stay here. Their loyalty to their employer worked with service in exchange for money—nothing more, nothing less. My loyalty to Elder was something completely different. I offered my love hopefully in exchange for his. He would never make me face something horrific on my own. Therefore, I wouldn’t let him.

I’ll never forgive myself if I’m not there when—

I cut off those thoughts.

Slipping the final way to freedom, I swallowed my huff of frustration at being so slow and leaned on the massive blockade to slide it back into position.

I knew it was secure when the sound of deadbolts clicking into place echoed in the corridor.

I had no regrets. No second-guesses.

Hoisting up my pale pink nightgown, I took one last look at the safe room then flew down the corridor.

Hair flying.

Heart winging.

I soared up the stairs—up, up, up toward Elder and the Chinmoku.