A Fortunate Accident – Chapter 6

The videos would be in her inbox.

The videos. Her inbox.

What did Dom mean when he said that?

I arrive at the Amagi an hour before we’re set to leave, so I can settle in and prepare for the journey to Rio. I have two duffel bags full of survival gear and a giant piece of baggage on my shoulders from dealing with Mom’s betrayal and the upcoming legal action. I figure, if I’m in the jungles of Rio, she can’t serve me with a summons, right? Might as well jump into this new career with both feet.

But the memories of my last birthday just over two decades ago bounce around in my head. Dominic knew ahead of time what he was willing to do to take total authority of the family and me. That’s the only excuse I can think of to explain why he crossed the family room to my cake and destroyed it so quickly. With Mom at home, he wormed his way into the caretaker role by proving, in person, that I was out of control.

He planned that, didn’t he?

I drag my duffel bags to my room and drop them on the floor. My wristlet buzzes with a message from Saif. “I’m on my way. Be there soon. I have dinner.”

I text him back, “Great. I can’t wait to see you!”

And it’s true. My entire life may be fucked up, but at least things with Saif are going well enough. I haven’t pushed him away, though my instincts tell me to keep him at a distance so he can’t hurt me and I can’t hurt him. I’m learning to trust that he’s a man of his word, and he wants to be around. Each new time we’re given peaceful moments together, I enjoy his quiet and helpful nature. It’s not bad at all.

I’m sure it’s all going to crumble around me soon enough.

Instead of relaxing in my room, I cross the hall to Carlos’s den of technology. As usual, he has some kind of pop music playing, and a bowl of popcorn sits next to all of his keyboards. He tosses a popped kernel into the air and catches it in his mouth.

“Nice,” I say, sliding in. “You’ve got skills.”

“Thanks, boss.” He pushes the popcorn bowl to me, so I grab a few. “Just got here?” He tips back and looks out at the hall. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Because I’m like a ninja. Quiet as a mouse.”

“Ha! Nothing could be further from the truth. Usually, your boots announce you way before anyone sees you.”

“Good to know.” I poke him in the shoulder and sit down next to him. “So, I have a favor to ask.”

“A favor? What kind of favor?” Carlos turns away from whatever he’s working on and places the bowl on his knees so we can both reach it.

I lick the salt from my lips and consider again how deep I want others in my shitty life. Things were much easier when I was the lone pilot, and Carlos was a sulky teen.

But Carlos has been with me for a long time, and involving him is the right thing to do.

I explain the lawsuit from my mother and the possible loss of the Amagi, and his jaw drops.

“Skylar, what the fuck? Why would your family do this?” he whispers.

“It’s a long story. I mean, I’ve mentioned a few times how my childhood was a little rough” — he raises his eyebrows — “but I’ve never gone into the details. Right now, I need you to go into the details.”

He sets the bowl of popcorn aside and gives me his full attention. “Okay, shoot. What do you need?”

“Well, first of all, I want you to break into the family’s Hecate system.”

He waves his hand and blows air between his lips. “Did. Done. Like five years ago.”

“Really?” I pull away. “You’ve never said anything.”

“A good hacker never kisses and tells.” He points his finger guns at me, and I laugh. “I hacked in almost immediately after meeting your family. I set myself up as a superuser, and I scrub the logs regularly to hide my presence.”

“What do you do in there?” It never occurred to me that Carlos already had access to everything.

“Nothing really,” he says, shrugging. “I honestly haven’t even checked the system in a while. I was making sure Dominic was using encryption and taking care of the backups.” Carlos shakes his head. “He’s a terrible systems administrator. Sloppy as hell. But he gets the job done, I suppose.”

My heartbeat races as I consider that Dominic has been destroying the evidence over the years, and maybe even Carlos can’t find it. I try to imagine telling Carlos about what happened to me without going into too many details. But each time I picture the scene in my head, I break into a sweat. Carlos may be my friend, but he’s also my employee.

Do I really want to burden him with this?

I may not want to, but I have to.

“Carlos,” I say, reaching out to lay my hand on his knee, “Dominic abused me, psychologically and physically, for years.” I drop my head and gather strength to look him in the eyes. When I lift my head, Carlos is frozen. “I’m betting there’s evidence in the family’s databases and archives to back this up. We had cameras in several places on the ship, and I remember… I remember a time when he said he would give video files to my mom. Footage of my bad behavior.”

“Your bad behavior?” he asks, his voice caught in his throat.

“Lies,” I say, sitting back. “Dominic always instigated things and then turned it around to be my fault. If he was delivering evidence of my ‘unacceptable behavior’ to Mom, then he altered the videos somehow.”

It’s the only other explanation. Well, besides that I’m crazy, and my memory is poor. Because I know I’m not crazy. Ana and everyone else saw how Dominic treated me. They may not want to back me up right now, but they witnessed it.

Carlos nods slowly. “I see. Yeah. With a little help from some friends, Dominic could make the videos look like you were the bad party, not him. Hmmm.” His eyes focus far off, heading down the hacker rabbit hole he loves so much. “There’s a remote backup facility he’s been using on Laguna to store the family’s historical data. I checked it too at some point, and there were files there pre-dating your birth.” He shrugs again. “I’m not sure how neat or sloppy his data retention policies are, though. The data has been lifted and shifted more than once because Dominic found cheaper storage a few times in the last ten years.”

I smile at Carlos. “You know a lot more about this than I figured you would.”

He inhales through his nose and brings his attention to the present. “You’re my family, Sky. I just wanted to make sure these people were being careful.” He frowns. “Abused? Really?” When I nod, he shakes his head. “I’ll never understand some people. Kids are our greatest treasure. You’re an amazing person. I’m… I’m sorry I didn’t know this.”

My heartbeat slows, and my chest lightens with pride for this young, capable man. He’ll make a great father someday. And he just called me his family.

Tears prickle the backs of my eyes, and I need to glance away from him again. He’s not just an employee or friend. He’s family.

I clear my throat and soften my tone.

“Look, you didn’t know because I didn’t tell anyone. And only a few people know about this now. But I need to warn you that you may see some things that disturb you once you start digging. Please just remember that I’m here and alive, and I need revenge.” I tighten my hand in a fist. “Be careful. Back up everything you find. Get every video and message verified by someone you trust, someone who can testify in court. No incident is too small, okay? If Dominic looked at me wrong, I want the footage. Got it?”

He nods. “Got it, boss. No problem. I’ll get you everything you need.”

I sigh as a new message lands in my priority inbox. What now? Oh, look. It’s a message from some law firm, someone named Chase Montes, Esquire. A quick scan of the letter makes my insides boil with rage. They want me to stay on Ossun while we all resolve the question of the legal owner of the Amagi.

How about hell no?

Because hell no. I’ll go wherever I want to.

Carlos’s eyes flicker to the ship-wide monitors. “Looks like Saif is here.”

I glance up at the screen and see Saif approaching the ship via the spaceport gangway. Good. I swipe the lawyer’s message away and put it out of my mind for now.

“I’m going to go take care of Saif,” I say, pointing at the monitor. “And I know you and Lia spend a lot of time together, but please don’t say anything to her yet. I’m going to talk to her tonight after we’re through the jump ring.”

“Understood, Captain.” He salutes, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

With Carlos on the case, I may just have a chance.

—-

The airlock door opens, and Saif shuffles through with two suitcases and a bag of carryout food.

“Hey, let me help.” I lunge forward to grab the bag of food. A whiff of spices passes my nose, and my stomach grumbles. “Oh wow. What did you get?”

I eye his giant bags as he drops them inside the ship. He carried that through the spaceport? Looking at the time on my Estrela ocular implant, we’re only five minutes away from leaving. He was cutting it close.

“That,” he says, sweeping towards me and wrapping his arm around my waist. I squeak as he leans me back. “That is several curries, heaps of rice, and plenty of hot naan bread. You won’t regret it.”

I work to shed the anxiety that covers my body as he holds me close. Being held by men is not a simple thing for me. Besides the quick roll in the hay, men have shown me little affection in my life. Just look at Dominic and my father.

Saif smiles as he leans in slowly to kiss me. I may not be getting used to being held, but I am used to the kissing. That was an easier hangup to get over. I let his lips draw me in, consume me. Mmmm, he’s an fantastic kisser. He shows me I’m the only thing he’s thinking of as his lips meld with mine. He nips at my lower lip as he pulls away.

“Maybe I should just have you for dinner,” he whispers.

I laugh as I try to bring my body temperature down a few degrees. “I’m pretty sure I’m calorie-free.”

“Oh no. You are definitely akin to a giant hot fudge sundae. Decadent and indulgent at the same time.”

“You know all the right things to say.” I would love to take a hot fudge sundae and eat it off his gorgeous body.

His lips quirk into a sardonic grin as he grabs his giant bags.

“What’s with all the baggage? Are you bringing gifts home to your family? You know, I heard they can afford to go back and forth between the major planets without delay.”

“Ha, ha. Yes, but this is not a bag of gifts. It’s more survival gear for Rio. I want to be prepared for the jungles too.”

My good mood cools swiftly. “Wait.” I place my hand on his arm. “You’re not going into the jungles with me. You’re staying in your nice, clean, dry, safe family home.”

“Skylar, I told you that I go where you go. I wasn’t joking around.” His face flattens. “You thought I was joking?”

I cross my arms over my chest and drum my fingers.

“I… I thought you were exaggerating, yes.”

I try to imagine hiking through the jungles of Rio with Saif. Saif, who is usually dressed to impress with his thick wild hair and actual jewelry that’s worth more than my ship.

“Nope. Not exaggerating. If you’re going into the jungles, I’m going too. Besides, I’m your ticket to getting in past the blockades.”

“You are? Since when?” No one tells me anything.

“Since I called up India Dellis yesterday and told her that one of the Bhaat gemstone mines is coming up on its annual inspection, and I heard it’s close to her newest base.”

I open my mouth, and nothing comes out but a laugh. “Are you fucking with me?”

“Nope!” His smile is infectious, and I smile back. “It’s one-hundred percent true.”

I point at him. “But you’re leaving something out.”

He shrugs. “Well, maybe India Dellis actually contacted me and suggested it, but those details aren’t important.”

“Saif,” I say, sighing and shaking my head, “this is a bad idea. Your family will kill you, then they’ll kill me too while they’re at it.”

“Are you calling my family murderers?” he asks, mock seriously.

“If the shoe fits.” I look down at my feet and the old trusty sneakers I wore today. They weren’t my usual boots, so Carlos didn’t hear me coming. Maybe being silent and sneaky is better than brazen and loud. I’ve always been loud outside of my family because they kept me so meek and obedient at home.

“Hey, Cinderella, try not to worry so much.”

I draw in a quick breath at the Cinderella reference. Am I?

I probably am.

“I’m worried about a lot right now.” I sigh as I run my fingers through my hair. “Some lawyer is trying to get me to stay on Ossun, so I don’t fly away with the Amagi and not come back.”

Saif’s face turns into a frown. “That sounds serious. Maybe we should stay?”

I wave my hand. “No. This ship is mine. I’ll go where I please with it.”

“Skylar,” he says, his voice severe. “You don’t want to make the lawsuit worse. We should stay.”

“We’re going,” I say to him. We lock eyes, and I swear he’s trying to make me blink first. But I’m not budging. I will not listen to some two-bit lawyers who think they know me and my ship.

Not happening. I’m going to Rio whether they like it or not.

“Skylar.” Marcelo’s voice knocks me out of my stare down with Saif. Damn. I blinked first. He rushes across the cargo bay to me, and his face is clouded with concern. “Uh, we’re about to have company.”

I sweep out my hand to Saif. “Yeah, Saif is already on board, and the gangway is retracting in a minute.”

Pounding comes from the airlock door, so I turn from Marcelo to narrow my eyes at it. Everyone who’s supposed to be here is here already. Lia’s in her room. Nisrine is in the engine room. I left Carlos in his den, and Marcelo stands behind me.

“Captain, I beg your pardon,” Nanci, the ship’s AI, says, coming over the internal speakers, “but there is a young man at the airlock door. His wristlet scan indicates his name is Kalvin Vidal.”

I gasp, and the blood in my head sinks so fast the world spins for a moment.

Saif raises his eyebrows. “Kalvin is here?”

I enter a zombie-like state, pass the bag of food to Saif, and cross the cargo bay with measured steps. Kalvin, who I haven’t seen in several weeks, since we last parted on Sonoma after almost dying in the Novato Desert, is outside?

I round the corner into the airlock, and Kalvin’s face is pressed against the tiny airlock window. His lips curl up in a cocky smile.

I take one step back and turn off the lights. His face drops, and his lips form the words, “Oh, come on, Skylar!”

I fold my arms over my chest.

“Pleeeeeease!” he begs. He disappears for a moment, and two bottles of expensive whisky appear in the window instead. I break into a laugh and turn the lights on.

Dogging the airlock connection, I swing the door open as the gangway retraction alarms and lights start. The flashing white and yellow lights illuminate Kalvin from behind and remind me of why I always thought he was a pretty boy before he became the handsome rogue who held my hand in the desert.

“Hey, Princess,” he says. “Did you miss me?”