Chapter 2

“This is the so-called chief expert at the National Joint Search and Rescue Center?”

Adrianna turned her head and gave Mason a cold look.

“My son has been missing underwater for two hours, and she’s still here putting on airs, waiting for us to beg?”

“Ms. Crowe, she isn’t—”

“I’m speaking to her.”

Adrianna cut Mason off and turned back to me.

“Five hundred thousand isn’t enough? One million.”

A wave of sharp breaths swept through the hallway.

I only stared at the medal pinned to her chest.

Two hands rose from silver waves, holding a child aloft.

How ironic.

When Adrianna noticed where I was looking, she straightened her shoulders.

“Recognize it?”

“This is the Gray Falcon Bay Medal of Valor. Not everyone in a wetsuit is worthy of one.”

She tapped the medal with one knuckle, her voice arrogant.

“Ten years ago, right here in Gray Falcon Bay, my husband and I searched for forty minutes in near-zero visibility. We nearly died down there ourselves.”

“Unlike you, standing here and deliberately making us beg just because you have a little talent.”

I looked up.

“Did you save that child?”

The smugness on Adrianna’s face froze for an instant.

“The conditions were dangerous. No one could guarantee—”

“So you failed to bring her back alive, but still accepted a medal for her death.”

I gave a faint, humorless smile.

Her expression darkened. She seized me by the collar.

“You won’t even get in the water. What gives you the right to judge me?”

I stared at the medal on her chest and gave a cold laugh.

“At least I never used a falsified report to steal a medal.”

The hallway went silent.

The next second, a man stumbled into the corridor.

His cashmere coat was soaked through, and the sea wind had left his black hair in disarray.

Cyrus.

After ten years apart, he did not recognize me.

It was hardly surprising. After my sister died, I took my mother’s surname, Hale, and never showed my face to the media.

As far as he knew, Leona Moore had vanished long ago.

But I recognized him at once.

This was the man who had promised to bring Eilara back alive, then personally unclipped her rescue line.

My fingers slowly curled into fists.

Cyrus caught Adrianna by the arm and pulled her back a step. Then he looked at me.

“Please.”

His voice was hoarse, and he could barely stand.

“Mason said you’re the only person who can save my son. If you’ll go down, I’ll agree to any condition.”

“Callum is only ten. He’s afraid of the dark. He still sleeps with the hallway light on.”

“Today was his beginner diving lesson. He was supposed to stay within the instructor’s tethered area, but the guide rope suddenly snapped...”

He reached toward me with a trembling hand.

“Bring him back, and I’ll pay anything. Property, shares—just name it.”

I looked at him as ten years of hatred churned inside my chest.

Any condition.

Would he still say it so easily once he learned the real price?

I pulled my hand away from his.

“I’ll go to the site.”

Hope flared in Cyrus’s eyes.

“Thank you! Ms. Hale, thank you! My wife and I will spend the rest of our lives—”

“Don’t thank me yet.”

I cut him off.

“I only agreed to go to the site. I never said I would dive.”