Page 55 of Uncharted

Sam shakes his head. “Did either your ex-stepmom or Emily send you the crew talent show from two years ago?”

I’m shaking with laughter inside.

“No.” Easton’s face is scrunched up. “Well, maybe they sent me a lot of things.” His face drops.

“Well, if you’d watched it, you’d have to know that Anders couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag. Whatever that means.” Zane’s holding his side. “Do you remember when one of the stews shot him, and he had to fall to his death? For fuck’s sake, that man can’t act.”

Easton’s not convinced. It’s fine. I see the way Sam is looking at him. I’ll have to tell him later to cool it. The last thing we need is for Sam to waste time thinking that Easton did it. And if Easton points a finger at Anders, it makes him more guilty in Sam’s eyes for sure. I glare at Easton. I can see he wants to push back at Sam.

Instead, he says, “I suppose it doesn’t matter what happened—it matters what we’re going to do about it now. The crash patch? I can help mop up water. Taking it off will have to make it leak more.”

“Thanks, but we’ve got it for now. We’ll need help later, and every day after, keeping the engine room as dry as possible,” I say.

“I can do it.” Easton takes the extra napkins from the table and tosses them on the tray. “I’ll help wash up.” Easton, Dante, and Haley disappear into the main salon.

I look directly at Sam. “What else aren’t you telling me?”

Zane’s neck twists between the two of us like he’s at a tennis match. “Calvin?”

“What? There’s something he’s not telling us. There’s a reason he thinks Easton is guilty, and it’s not that Rockwell thinks Anders is a good actor.” Something was off with this entire season, even before we took possession from the shipyard. And it’s only now that I’ve put it together.

Sam scrubs his hand over his chin and glances at the open sliders that separate the main salon from the back deck. “Rocky wanted to get underway when we left port. He’d picked up a diamond necklace for Candy. His security team wanted to bring it back to the US, but Rocky wanted to give it to her on the trip. When he said no, they wanted to come on board. Rocky found that hysterical. What could happen to it in the middle of the ocean? Right. Fuck. I remember him laughing about it to me over the phone. It wasn’t until last week I went looking for it, thinking maybe this whole thing was a ploy to get it off the ship. Was someone supposed to pick up the rafts? In the chaos of being rescued, could the necklace have been passed off to the would-be rescuers? Was it done for the insurance? Was Easton mad about his father spending his inheritance?”

“Easton’s got his own money. And honestly, I don’t think he cares about money much.” Zane grips the back of the chair.

“He bought the damn diamond?” Easton’s standing in the salon, an empty tray in his hand. “I told him he was nuts. Emily and I were planning on talking him out of marrying Candy. Or at least reworking the prenup. That damn diamond... it’s cursed.” Easton flings the tray onto the counter, and it rings like a gong.

Chapter25

Crosscurrent

Easton

The tray rattles around in a circle on the counter. I don’t throw things. Letting my temper out isn’t something I allow. Not since I lost a spot on team USA for the Beijing Olympics. I was sixteen and thought I was hot stuff. I was, but that year there were twenty other guys faster than me. They also didn’t have the same temper I did. I watched most of the Olympics from the wide screen TV at my father’s Fort Lauderdale mansion. While swimming laps. A few Christmases ago, Emily did the calculations. I don’t know if I believe her math, but she said I’ve spent five years of my life in the pool or gym. Honestly, it was only ten months ago I decided my body wasn’t going to be able to rebound enough to make it to the 2024 Paris games. I’m a man now. Not going to Paris was hard, but I didn’t throw anything. Fuck, what headspace would I be in if I hadn’t already given up the idea of Paris? No, this trip was supposed to be the beginning of my future. Taking the bigger step into my father’s company. Something I didn’t want to do unless Candy had a harness on. The thought of having to deal with her on a daily basis... Damn. Now she’s gone, but I certainly didn’t want it to happen that way.

My eyes flick over to Sam. I get it. He didn’t want to tell me about the diamond. I’m sure my dad was adamant about what he wanted done and who he was supposed to tell. Things click together in my brain. Part of me wants to tell him to fuck off—this is my family’s boat, and withholding information from me isn’t going to fly. But that’s the sixteen-year-old kid scratching at my skin.

“Sam.” I clear my throat. “Captain, do you really think I would put the lives of everyone on board in danger? Fuck it. Forget everyone. Do you think I would put my sister in danger? Until recently, she’s been the only damn person on the planet I really gave two shits about.” I take a step toward him. “You’ve met her. How many summers?”

“Five or more.” His tone is low.

“And?” I ask. I feel Firefly come up behind me. I don’t stop, though. Anything I have to say, I can say in front of Haley.

“Emily’s a really nice girl. Her boyfriend, though?”

“Fucking Brick’s a piece of shit. He’s just as bad as Candy. He was pissed when Emily made a will, giving her portion of the Rockwell estate to charity. She did it as a test. I might have suggested that he wouldn’t stay with her if he didn’t have access to her money. Unfortunately, I was wrong. He was upset but didn’t leave her.” He probably thought he could get her to change her mind.

“I’ve never gotten a good feeling from him.” Sam crosses his arms over his chest.

“He’s cut from the same cloth as Candy. The first time I met him, he asked me how much my watch cost. After three drinks, he asked if I knew how much I could sell my gold medals for.” I shake my head. That’s the thing when you come from a wealthy family—it’s always hard to know who your friends are and who wants a seat at the table with bottle service. I was sure Brick was using Emily, but when she gave her money away—something she’d planned to do since she was little—he didn’t vanish. “Tell me everything. Because I had nothing to do with any of this. I loved—love—my sister, and I would never want to harm her.” It’s been driving me crazy. When I close my eyes, I see her in the other raft. I’m a good open water swimmer. But they were right, trying to get to the other raft would have been foolish.

Sam nods. “Getting the Rock Candy from the shipyard was part of your father’s idea. An excuse to have the yacht in the South Pacific. At first, he said he had something to pick up, something he would feel better about having his yacht bring back?—”

“And bringing the Pink Phoenix back into the States without anyone knowing it... Fucking hell. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. No wonder he didn’t tell me or Emily. They were planning to fly back, but I’m guessing the crew was going to bring the Rock Candy back to?—”

“We were going to sail her all the way to South Africa, where they would have met back up with us for three weeks, and then again when we got to the Med, and then a skeleton crew was going to take her home to port in Fort Lauderdale.”

“Sorry, Pink Phoenix?” Zane asks.

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