Chapter 7
When I returned to the marina, Theo was asleep.
Lucas was not.
He sat on the padded bench with both elbows on his knees.
Briana stood farther away under guard, furious enough to stay awake for days.
I did not speak to her first.
That surprised everyone.
I sat beside my son.
“What did Malcolm promise you besides debt relief?”
Lucas looked at me.
“Nothing.”
“Try again.”
He closed his eyes.
“A position.”
There.
Of course.
“What position?”
“Eastern harbor liaison.”
I almost smiled.
“After I reopened it.”
“Yes.”
So Malcolm had promised Lucas the very authority Malcolm needed me to restore.
Debt created desperation.
Desperation created betrayal.
Betrayal supposedly created promotion.
A complete little circle.
“And Briana?”
Lucas looked toward his wife.
“She’d run the marina events.”
Briana’s face tightened.
Another promise.
Malcolm rented ambition cheaply.
Then I asked:
“Why Theo?”
Lucas started crying.
Not dramatically.
He simply covered his face.
“I thought because he loved him.”
That surprised me.
“What?”
“Malcolm always gave Theo presents.”
True.
I remembered.
Christmas train.
Birthday books.
A small wooden boat.
I had interpreted it as an old man being unusually kind to a child.
Apparently Lucas did too.
“He said Theo would enjoy the island.”
I stared.
“You needed to believe that.”
“Yes.”
“Because the alternative was?”
His voice broke.
“That I handed my son to someone who wanted to use him.”
Theo shifted in Daniel’s arms.
Lucas looked over.
His face collapsed.
Good.
Not because suffering is noble.
Because he had finally removed every euphemism.
Temporary.
Guest.
Pledge.
Comfortable.
Thirty days.
All decoration.
One fact remained.
His son had begged him not to send him away.
Lucas still stood beside the gangplank.
I leaned back.
“What did Theo do when you packed the bag?”
Lucas whispered:
“He asked if we were going on vacation.”
My jaw tightened.
“What did you say?”
“Yes.”
There.
May you like
The betrayal began before the dock.
It began when a father used a happy word to move a frightened child toward something he would never have agreed to.
