I nodded frantically, tears of terror and relief finally overflowing my cheeks.
“They were looking for me,” I sobbed, unable to stem the torrent of emotions. “Some men… a very powerful man. If he finds me, he’ll kill me. Or take the only thing I care about. Please, sir, don’t turn the boat around. If we go back to that port, my life is over.”
The old fisherman watched me silently for what seemed like hours. His gaze assessed my condition: my lips purple with cold, my uncontrollable trembling, the overturned bucket a few feet away, and finally, the way my hands clutched my stomach as if it were a shield of flesh and blood. The sea teaches you to read people better than any book, and he saw the naked truth in my terror.
“The sea is no place for a woman in your condition, girl,” he finally
