Ruby can feel the storm winning, the boat’s engine straining under her feet. There are no lights on the pitching sea, except from Kitto’s boat, which is drawing closer all the time. If only she’d managed to kill him, her work would be complete. It doesn’t matter what happens to her now. The wind screams as it passes overhead. Rain falls in hard pellets that batter her face whenever she glances back, and Joe is wrestling the wheel.
‘That crazy bastard shot at me,’ she says. ‘I had to run through the woods.’
‘He won’t hurt you now, I promise.’
‘Go faster, Joe, please.’
‘This is top speed. My boat’s not built for water this rough.’
Ruby’s feelings overwhelm her when she looks at him again. There’s determination as well as naked fear on his face. He’s risking his life to save hers. They might have stayed together for years if things had been different.
‘I’m sorry, Joe. You don’t deserve this.’
He shakes his head. ‘Don’t apologise. We’re in it together.’
‘You’ll hear about my past. It’ll change how you feel.’
‘Nothing could.’
‘You won’t believe it at first. Then you’ll grow to hate me.’
‘How could I, Chloe? It was love at first sight.’
The other boat’s lamps look brighter as a huge wave lifts them above the breakers, like they’re riding a roller coaster. Ruby presses her lips to his, taking comfort from his words, but her enemy is so close, they’ll soon be overtaken. She’s not prepared to languish in jail, her decision made in a split second. Before Joe can stop her, she dives overboard.
The shock of freezing cold water is followed by terror. A wave crashes over her head as the sea’s raw symphony throbs in her ears. When she resurfaces, Joe’s boat looks tiny as the current drags her away. She can hear his voice in the distance, yelling her name. The next wave knocks her under again, yet instinct makes her keep on fighting back to the surface.
A breaker rolls her onto her back and she’s granted a last moment of peace. The sky’s glitter seems endless, and her father’s words reach her again. We’re the stars and the moon, Ruby, looking down on them all. But what if he was wrong? She could have loved someone and been loved in return. The question haunts her as currents swirl in a vortex, dragging her under, into water that’s far blacker than the sky.