May clapped her hands, still grinning. The door opened, and a line of familiar faces filed in.
My shareholders. All of them.
"What is this?" I demanded. "What are you doing?"
"Isn't it obvious?" one of them sneered. "We're backing her now. You're done."
"May." My voice shook with barely contained rage. "How dare you. When your family was ruined, who saved you? I did. The Gilberts pulled you out of nothing. And now you betray me—for him? For this worthless kept man?"
If I weren't tied to this chair, I would have launched myself at them. I would have beaten them both to death with my bare hands.
The fury churned inside me, rising and rising, impossible to suppress.
And the more I raged, the more May and Mark reveled in it. Their eyes glittered with sick satisfaction.
"Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention." May leaned forward, her smile sharpening. "We're in international waters. There's no law here. No police. No rescue." She tilted her head. "So if you want to save your nosy, meddlesome mother... you'll have to gamble for her. Against us. To the bitter end."
2
I stared at the woman I had once cherished with everything I had, and a wave of bitter self-mockery washed through me.