Chapter 6 - The Performance
I closed the video call before Gregory could see Claire’s face.
He leaned back in the café chair.
“How did you get off the ship?”
“I walked.”
“I disabled your card.”
“Apparently not very well.”
His smile faded.
Then he noticed my phone.
“New phone?”
“Old one.”
“You’ve been hiding it.”
“Yes.”
Gregory stared at me.
For the first time since the wedding, I stopped pretending not to understand him.
“You lied about Claire.”
His jaw tightened.
“She contacted you.”
“You locked her in a psychiatric clinic.”
“She was dangerous.”
“You said she moved overseas.”
“She did eventually.”
“After you institutionalized her.”
People around us laughed over breakfast.
A waiter carried coffee past our table.
Tourists took photographs on the sidewalk.
The normal world continued around us while the man I married quietly tried to rewrite reality.
Gregory leaned forward.
“You don’t know what happened.”
“I know enough.”
“No.”
His voice dropped.
“You know what Claire wants you to believe.”
“What about your mother?”
That landed.
His entire body changed.
“Don’t.”
“Is Margaret alive?”
“I said don’t.”
“You told me she died.”
“She is dead to this family.”
There it was.
Not dead.
Gone.
Gregory stood.
“You’re coming back to the ship.”
“No.”
His hand reached toward my wrist.
I looked at it.
He stopped.
My voice remained calm.
“Touch me and everyone in this café sees what happens next.”
He glanced around.
Then smiled.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
I raised my phone.
The camera was already recording.
Gregory froze.
“That’s the difference between us.”
I stood.
“You think strength is making someone afraid.”
I slipped the phone into my purse.
“I think strength is making sure they cannot lie afterward.”
His face reddened.
Then he stepped aside.
“Enjoy Nassau.”
“I will.”
“You’ll have to return eventually.”
“I know.”
“That ship leaves at five.”
“I know.”
Gregory smiled.
“And when it does, you’ll be my wife in international waters.”
I walked away.
What he did not know was that Claire had already sent Margaret’s letter to Naomi.
An hour later, Naomi forwarded photographs of every page.
Most of it described years of abuse, coercion, and financial control.
But the last paragraph contained something else.
A name.
Dr. Samuel Voss.
And beneath it, an address in Key West.
Margaret had written one final sentence.
If Howard ever tells my children I abandoned them, Samuel knows where I really went.
The Pacific Empress was scheduled to reach Key West in two days.
For the first time, I wanted to remain aboard.
Because Gregory thought the cruise was his cage.
May you like
I was beginning to see it as a trail.
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