Chapter 7 - The Mask Drops
""You clumsy bitch,"" Julian snarled, the polished facade shattering in an instant.
He lunged forward, grabbing her by the wrist and yanking her upward with bruising force. The tenderness was gone; his jaw was locked in raw, vicious rage.
""Julian, you're hurting me!"" she cried out, deliberately playing the helpless victim as she fell against his chest, her free hand surreptitiously reaching for the small glass vial Mateo had given her.
""Shut up,"" Julian hissed, dragging her toward the glass sliding doors leading out to the howling darkness of the aft deck. ""You're done playing the fragile heiress. You were supposed to drink it, go to sleep peacefully, and drift away. But if you want to do this the hard way, the sea doesn't care whether you're conscious or not.""
Marcus stepped to the door, peering through the glass into the torrential rain that had begun lashing the vessel. ""Julian, the storm is worsening. If we toss her now, we won't be able to turn the boat around to make the fake search-and-rescue runs.""
""We don't need a search run,"" Julian barked, dragging Naomi across the saloon carpet. ""We just tell the coast guard the rogue wave hit us broadside while she was on the swim platform. Take her legs.""
Marcus hesitated for a split second, his conscience flickering in his eyes. ""Julian, this wasn't the plan. We were going to drug her—""
""Take her legs, Marcus, or your name stays on the Swiss bank transfer records right beside mine!""
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Marcus swore under his breath and lunged forward to grab Naomi’s ankles.
As Marcus bent down, Naomi pulled the small vial from her sarong, smashed it against the edge of the glass table, and drove the jagged glass tube directly into the side of Julian’s neck.
