Chapter 4 - Shadows on the Water
The Sea Star cut through the mounting Pacific swells, its wooden hull slamming hard against the water. Rafael brought the fishing vessel alongside the drowning billionaire, shifting the transmission into neutral just as a large wave threatened to push Michael into the stern.
"Grab the line!" Rafael shouted, throwing a heavy orange life buoy directly over Michael's head.
Michael, shivering violently and fading fast from hypothermia, reached out with cold, numb fingers. On his third desperate attempt, he managed to loop his arms through the center of the ring.
Mateo leaned far over the low transom, his small hands grabbing Michael's soaked blazer collar with all his strength. "I've got you, Mr. Vance! Don't let go! Dad, help me pull!"
Rafael rushed to the stern and engaged the small hydraulic winch normally used for heavy commercial crab traps. He wrapped the buoy line around the drum and pulled. With a loud mechanical groan, the winch hauled Michael's heavy, waterlogged body out of the ocean and onto the wooden deck.
Michael collapsed on his side near the bait tanks, coughing up seawater and shaking uncontrollably. Rafael immediately covered him in heavy wool thermal blankets and handed him an insulated flask of warm black tea.
"You're safe now, sir," Rafael said softly, kneeling beside him. "Take slow breaths."
Michael slowly opened his eyes, looking up into Mateo's wide, terrified face. "You... you came," Michael rasped, his voice raw from saltwater. "You actually followed me."
"I told you she was going to do it!" Mateo said, tears mixing with the salt spray on his cheeks. "Nobody at the police station believed me, so my dad said we had to follow your yacht just in case!"
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Michael closed his eyes, a single tear slipping down his cold cheek. "She had a gun, Mateo... She gave me no choice. I had to jump."
Rafael picked up the VHF radio microphone in the wheelhouse. "Coast Guard Sector San Diego, this is motor vessel Sea Star. Emergency broadcast! We have recovered a man-overboard from the mega-yacht Titan's Horizon. The victim is alive. He reports he was pushed and forced off his vessel at gunpoint by his wife!"
