At a certain point on the spectrum of desperation, people adrift at sea often resort to drinking sea water. This would usually be the last mistake they'd make before the saltwater, quite opposite to their intentions, dehydrated them, eventually shutting down their entire system. You didn't need to drown to die in the ocean. It could poison you to death as well. As the world fell away from Jasper, as he and Aiden slipped below the water, he wondered which death he'd wish for this man. Drowning seemed almost too peaceful. Too quiet. Death by saltwater he deemed more fitting, but also more complicated to pull off.

In the end, it didn't matter. If he could push Aiden under the waves and hold him there, the result would be the same. Tam might disapprove, and he might go to jail for it, but Tam wouldn't suffer the same fate. She'd be freed by his actions. Aiden would be accused posthumously of Goldie's death and Tam could live the rest of her life however she wanted.

This fantasy lasted the length of time Jasper could hold his breath. He came up for air, positive he'd kept a grip on Aiden, but in the confusion of falling and flailing and gasping for breath, he'd surfaced with empty hands. He swiveled, orientating himself. Aiden's yacht with Tam at its edge screaming down at him. Movement, that red t-shirt, as Aiden swam back to the dock. Water and boats and far off people popping heads over boat rails to see what the commotion was.

He headed towards Aiden, calculating if he'd be able to reach him, push him under, keep him submerged until he stopped squirming.

He closed the space, but Aiden swam fast. It wasn't more than thirty feet between where they'd crashed into the water and the ladder that would save him from Jasper's wrath. Aiden climbed his way out of the water and Jasper followed. He was like an astronaut coming back to earth after spending a month in zero gravity, the weight of his waterlogged clothing and sneakers giving him grief as he pulled himself out. He wouldn't stop. Aiden assumed he could get away with what he'd done. The anger of such entitlement fueled him forward.

He wasn't more than ten seconds behind Aiden, but ten seconds was an advantage that Aiden didn't take for granted. Back on the boat, an empty deck led Jasper to the main cabin, and there he found Aiden standing behind Tam, a gun pressed to her head.

Fear surpassed anger and it ground him to a halt.

"Let's talk," Aiden said.

Tam studied Jasper with those deep, mournful eyes that he'd been trying without success to stop seeing every time he closed his own for the past three months. "He took the gun from me." The tremor in her voice matched the emotion in her eyes. "I'm sorry Jasper."

She'd tried to defend him, he realized. She'd grabbed Aiden's gun when they both went overboard and pointing it at Aiden when he'd gotten back on the boat. "It's not your fault." He nodded at Aiden. "I'm not going to talk to you while you have a gun pointed at her head."

Aiden lowered it a few inches. "I don't want to hurt either of you. Jesus, I'm trying to get the fuck out of here. It's not my fault you assholes showed up."

"Are we supposed to feel bad for you?" He held out his hand towards Tam. "Seriously, let her go and then if you want to talk, fine. That's what we came here for too. You're the one who pulled out a weapon."

Aiden lowered the gun to his side and Tam rushed towards Jasper, pressing herself against his chest. Her warmth sent a tingle up and down his spine. He let himself go so far as to rest his chin against the top of her head and then turned his attention back to Aiden, who had a perplexed look on his face.

"I wouldn't have thought you'd be so friendly with the person who murdered Goldie."

Tam turned to face him. "Excuse me?"

Jasper stepped forward so he was evenly placed next to her. "Don't gaslight us. Tam and I both know it was you."

"I don't really," Tam whispered.

"Me?" Aiden waved his gun at the floor. "If you two are here to play private eye and that's what you came up with, consider finding another career. I was nowhere near her penthouse the night she died. I've never even been inside her building. Do you realized what I lost because of her death?"

"Why?" Tam asked. "You aren't Lucre. You only contracted with them. Your slice of the pie couldn't have been that substantial."

"No?" Aiden used his gun-free hand to gesture to the luxury cabin with its first-class amenities and décor. "Look around. That girl made me millions. And there were millions more to come."

"But how?" Jasper stepped forward, then stopped as Aiden lifted his gun as though he were an outlaw about to shoot from his hip. "What did you get my stepsister involved in?"

"We were at the beginning of something great. She would have gotten everything she ever wanted. We all would have."

"Was it you?" Tam asked. "Was Goldie seeing you? Did she spend that night and day with you in the Maldives?"

"I was with her in the Maldives. We spent time together, sure. There was nothing sexual between us, though. Not for lack of trying on my part. She definitely was a fine piece of ass."

Jasper's muscles tensed, the urge to kill resurfacing.

Tam placed her hand on his chest. "You're saying it was purely business between you?"

"I'm saying I didn't kill her or fuck her."

"Maybe not," Jasper growled, "but you fucked her over."

"No, she fucked me over when she died. And you too, you fucked me over too!" He poised his gun again.

"You aren't making any sense," Jasper said. "We haven't done anything to you. You're the one who attacked Tam and tried to murder her. And as for Goldie, it's not like she threw herself off her balcony. Are you seriously blaming a victim for her own murder?"

"I didn't try to kill Tam," Aiden said, ignoring Jasper's question. "I swear, I was just trying to scare her. I didn't want her to tell the cops anything."

"There's nothing to tell. I don't know anything."

His quizzical grin returned. "Right. But you don't understand the people I work for, they're pretty pissed when I told them about what happened when I attacked you in the alley."

"Maybe they're slightly less shitty than you are, then."

"No, they're way shittier. They're pissed at the way I did it, that I wasn't more careful and that I drew attention. It was sloppy. If you think it wasn't their idea to rough you up, you don't understand who you're dealing with."

"That's the point," Jasper said. "We don't realized who we're dealing with, other than the rich asshole standing in front of us."

"I'm the rich asshole? How supremely hypocritical of you, Jasper DeAngelis. As if you haven't already benefited from Goldie's life. From the choices she made, including the one she made with me."

"I earned my money on the up and up."

"You believe anything about Goldie's world is on the up and up? I'm a bridge too far for your sense of moral superiority, maybe, but let's face it. You've compromised your integrity more times than you can count to stay in her good graces. And why? She signed your paychecks and there were too many zeroes in them to say no."

Jasper had to end this guy. Blood pumped through him, screaming for him to move, to take his hands and press them around his neck. To squeeze and squeeze. "I loved her. I would have done anything for her. My integrity has always been rooted in that fact."

Aiden took a deep breath, lowering his gun again. "If the two of you don't get off my boat soon, someone is going to end up dead, and as lowly as your opinion is of me, I don't want that to happen. I'm being hunted." He glanced at Tam. "You know what that's like, don't you?"

"Thanks to you, I do."

"No, not thanks to me. You're the number one suspect and I'm still not sure you aren't the one who killed Goldie."

"Funny," Tam said, "I feel the same about you."

"Her death ruined everything for me! My crew will be back any moment and as soon as we can, we set sail. If I don't get the fuck out of here, I'm screwed."

"We can only hope. The cops will catch up with you eventually."

"It's not the cops I'm afraid of. It's people way worse than them. I may have... I may have bought Knot Yours using some of the money that wasn't quite mine."

"Jesus, you're biting the hand that feeds you?"

"She wasn't supposed to die! There was a lot more money headed our way, and I would have given them everything I owed and then some. But now..."

"Okay, this is the part where I ask you one final time. And if you want us off your luxurious dick stroker, you'll tell us the truth. What shady business are you involved in?"

Aiden chuckled. "Why do you even need me to tell you. Your girlfriend there... she already knows."

_____

Well, well, well... there's a lot to unpack in this little chapter. Do you believe Aiden's claim that he didn't kill Goldie? Just what sort of shady business do you think Aiden is involved in, and was Goldie wrapped up in it too? And perhaps most importantly, does Tam know about it?

Can't wait to hear what you think!