He Betrayed Me, I Let My Brother Punish Him

Chapter 4

The sea rolled me without warning. Pain from my foot and the choking burn of salt water hit at the same time.

Every instinct I had screamed at me to fight, but every stroke felt like tearing the wound wide open.

"Help! Help!"

I screamed with everything I had left.

The people on the yacht finally seemed to notice something was wrong.

"Oh no, Nina's in the water!"

"Do something! Somebody help her!"

Through the chaos, I saw that Zane had not jumped in. Instead, he had grabbed Blake by the arm just as Blake was pulling off his shirt to dive.

"Don't. She's an incredible swimmer. This is her latest act, she wants you feeling sorry for her."

His voice reached me clearly above the waves.

My eyes went wide. Consciousness was already blurring at the edges. My body grew heavier with every second.

Just as I was about to stop fighting, Chloe jumped into the water and swam straight toward me.

For a moment I thought she had found a conscience. Then I looked into her eyes and saw the cold, calculating gleam there, and I knew I was wrong.

She grabbed a fistful of my hair and forced my head down.

"Stop fighting, Neen. Zane is mine. Everything the Shaws have will be mine someday too. Just let go."

Ice-cold water poured into my mouth and nose. My lungs felt like they were splitting apart.

'She wasn't here to save me. She was trying to kill me.'

With the last shred of strength I had, I sank my teeth into her arm.

"Ow!"

Chloe screamed and released her grip. I broke the surface, gasping.

She clutched her arm where I'd drawn blood and shrieked across the water toward Zane. "Zane! Help! She's lost her mind, she's trying to drown me!"

Zane saw the blood and his eyes went red. He dove in without a second thought.

But he didn't swim toward me, even though I was closer. He swam straight to Chloe.

He wrapped her in his arms and checked the wound, his face tight with concern.

"You vicious woman. Chloe went in there to help you and you bit her? Nina, I'm going to show you exactly what it means to get what you deserve."

He held Chloe against him and swam back to the yacht without a backward glance, leaving me to sink behind them.

I closed my eyes and waited for it to be over.

Then a deafening roar of engines tore through the sound of the waves, growing louder fast.

A bank of floodlights swept across the water and turned the whole stretch of sea bright as daylight.

A black speedboat, dwarfing the yacht, cut through the water and stopped hard right beside me.

The wake from its propellers nearly capsized Zane's vessel.

A figure in black tactical gear leaped from the deck directly into the sea, moving like a predator.

It was my brother, Marcus Shaw.

"Nina!"

He hauled me out of the water and held me tightly against him.

His arms were the only warmth left in the world.

"Marcus..."

I managed to say his name. Then everything went dark.

When I came to, the private medic on board was dressing my wounds, an antibiotic drip already running.

I found Marcus standing on the deck.

He had binoculars in his hand and was watching Zane's yacht with cold, expressionless eyes.

Zane, Chloe, and the rest of them were visibly shaking.

"Marcus." I tried to push myself upright.

"Don't move." He set down the binoculars, came to my side, and tucked a blanket tightly around me. "It's over now."

His voice was calm. He picked up the radio and issued his orders in a tone that left no room for argument.

"Send a signal. Get the Maritime Authority out here.

"Tell them we have a suspected attempted murder. Pull the registration on that vessel and run the identities of everyone on board.

"And." He paused. "Seize every Hartley Shipping vessel currently in port. All of them."