On my honeymoon cruise, I went below deck for seasick pills and heard my husband rehearsing how he'd push me overboard.

Navarro was on the satellite phone for eleven minutes. I counted. It was the only thing I could do while the yacht rolled and the storm leaned on the hull like something trying to shoulder its way inside.

When he set the phone down, his face had changed — not softer. Settled. The way a man looks when the decision's made and there's no walking it back.

"Maritime authorities," he said. "Not coast guard. Interpol-linked. They've got jurisdiction out here, and Bennett has no reach with them." He paused. "They're four hours out."

"Bennett moves at midnight."

"I know."

"That's three hours."

"I know that too." He stood. "So we keep you invisible for three hours, and we make sure Bennett doesn't figure out that anything's changed."

"He'll come to the suite."

"Yes. He'll expect to find you in the bed."

I looked at him. "Then somebody has to be in the bed."

Navarro shook his head slowly. "Rosa. My stewardess. Eight years with your father." He moved toward the door, then stopped. "The pills in the nightstand — leave them. The document in the safe — leave it. Everything stays exactly where it is until the authorities are on board."

"And my parents?"

He turned back. His expression didn't move, but something behind it did.

"I already sent a second message," he said. "To the security team at your father's house. They'll stop the Tahoe trip before it starts." He held my eyes. "Your parents are not getting on that road."

I pressed my hand over my mouth and nodded.

He left.

I sat alone in the captain's cabin for twenty minutes. The storm was building into something with real muscle now, the kind that makes a big boat feel like a toy. I thought about Bennett up top, checking his watch. Roland and Marguerite in their stateroom, comfortable, patient, sure of themselves.

I pulled out my phone and looked at the photo of the document again. The signature was mine — no question, the C, the run of the last letters. But the date at the top was three weeks before the wedding.

I'd been in Milan that week. A bachelorette trip Marguerite had planned herself. She'd filled every hour — fittings, dinners, a spa day, a private gallery tour. Never once left me alone.

She hadn't been spoiling me. She'd been keeping me away from my own lawyer while Bennett signed my name to things.

The door opened. Navarro came back with a young woman behind him — early thirties, dark hair pulled back tight, crew whites. She looked at me with zero surprise on her face.

"Rosa," Navarro said. "She knows."

"Your father called me two months ago," Rosa said quietly. "Asked me to watch. I didn't think it would come to this." She glanced at Navarro. "What do you need?"

"Stateroom 6. The bed. Bennett will check on her before midnight."

Rosa nodded once. No hesitation.

"He can't know anything's different," I said. "The room has to look exactly—"

"I know what a sleeping woman looks like," Rosa said. Not unkind. "Go."

She left. Navarro turned to me. "Now we wait."

We didn't wait long.

Forty minutes later, a knock at the cabin door. Three sharp raps — not a crew knock. Navarro and I both went still.

"Captain." Bennett's voice, smooth and unhurried. "Have you seen my wife? She's not in the suite."

Navarro looked at me. I pressed back against the wall beside the desk, out of the doorway's line.

Navarro opened the door six inches. "Mr. Bennett. I haven't been up top since the storm warning. Is something wrong?"

"She was restless earlier. Probably just wandering around." A pause. "You'd tell me if anything looked off, wouldn't you, Captain?"

"Of course. That's the job."

Silence. Long enough to be a test.

"Good man," Bennett said finally. His footsteps moved off down the hall.

Navarro closed the door. He didn't turn around right away.

"He's checking," I whispered.

"Yes."

"He doesn't trust the plan anymore."

"No." Navarro turned. "Which means he might move before midnight."

He picked the satellite phone back up. "I'm going to ask them to push the intercept up. There's a risk — come in too early and Bennett's coast guard contact has time to interfere." He looked at me steadily. "But if he moves early, we've got nothing ready."

"Call them," I said.