Chapter 364
KESTER.
Saint didn’t even turn his head. He just said, “What is it?”
Kyrie rotated his laptop to face the table and paused the video on a frame I’d already seen too many goddamn times.
But this time, he did something different.
He tweaked the sound levels. Stripped it layer by layer like he was cutting flesh from bone.
“You hear that?” he asked, dragging the slider higher.
Everyone leaned in. A low creaking sound came through the speakers. It was barely audible, but… There
“That’s not the chair. It’s background resonance,” Kyrie said, tapping the screen. “Rhythmic and subtle. Like a steady sway.”
I frowned. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means,” he said without looking at me, “this room is in motion. The whole structure is shifting slightly every three seconds. I matched the frequency. It’s not an earthquake, it’s too consistent. It’s water movement. They’re on something afloat.”
Saint finally turned, just enough to flick his cold gaze to Kyrie. “A ship,” he said.
“Exactly,” Kyrie nodded. “Mid–sized. Single engine. Something they could keep off–grid, no radar signature.”
I clenched my jaw. It made sense. The video didn’t show windows. No natural light. Just those dim, flat lights above her.
Saint reached for his laptop again, and this time he zoomed in on something I hadn’t even paid attention to… a metal tray set behind Nagel.
He stilled the frame and enhanced it.
“You see this?” he said.
There was a faint blur in the tray’s reflection. A circular outline. Thin, bolted. I squinted.
“That’s a fucking porthole,” Saint said. “Marine grade. Small ship design. It’s facing east – based on the way the light filtered during the start of
the video.”
I stared, breath caught somewhere between a curse and a scream. “You’re telling me…”
“They’re at sea,” Saint interrupted coldly, like it wasn’t the most important thing I’d heard all fucking week.
He zoomed in again.
“That metal chain hanging from the ceiling…” he tapped the screen. “It’s not for torture. It’s an anchor latch. These models are welded in emergency rooms of military boats. That puts us in the twenty–to–fifty–ton category. Could be an old naval vessel, repurposed.”
“Jesus… someone muttered.
Then came the voice I hadn’t expected to hear… Soft. Crisp. Female.
“They’re using artificial skylight panels,” she said, barely above a whisper, but every head turned.
1/3
Chapter 364
The girl had been sitting at the far end of the room this whole time. She’s been quiet, focused, and tapping away on her tereen or looked like one of those people who never raised their voice unless the planet was cracking.
Pretty, Annoyingly so. Dark hair in a tight ponytail, eyes like polished glass. I’d caught Norlan stealing glances at her all damn day, the locker thought I wouldn’t notice.
Just like now. He was already standing before her, instinctively, waiting to hear what she had to say.
“What’s that?” Norlan exclaimed and I swear to fuck, I almost laughed out loud.
If there was anyone else in this room who understood what these men were saying, it was Norlan. This was a branch of his own job. He knew all these. But, guess who was feigning ignorance just because of a woman he just met…? My shit head bestfriend.
I’ll tease him about this when this is all over.
She looked up at Norlan and then at Saint. “Circadian panels. Meant to mimic sunlight in closed–off quarters. It’s designed to trick the body into thinking it’s daytime. That’s why Kasmine didn’t show signs of jet lag or disorientation – the ship is compensating. That system is expensive. Black market tech. Very few people use it.”
Saint stared at her for a second. Nodded once.
And somehow, that one nod from him was more praise than a speech.
I could bet my own balls this time around that Norlan was already falling for this girl. She was damn intelligent. His kind of woman.
Thank God. Now I’d be able to kill June in peace.
The room went silent again, and I… I didn’t know what to feel.
I’d been ready to kill them all ten seconds ago. But now? They were fucking decoding hell from mere shadows and sounds.
I hated how fucking efficient they were.
Thank God Norlan hired them.
They were getting me closer to Kasmine. That was all that mattered.
Even if I had to burn through every ounce of pride to accept it.
“They’re not on land,” Saint confirmed. “He’s moving her across the sea.”
“Which sea?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“We’ll find out,” Kyrie said, already pulling up a digital maritime map. “But we just narrowed the search radius by ninety percent.”
Saint’s eyes were still on the screen.
“Now,” he said, in a voice lower than before, “we make the sea bleed.”
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
Synopsis : My Stepbrother
