Chapter 2
The wind didn't let me breathe right. It came through that open door in solid sheets and pulled at my coat and my hair, and under it I could hear the ocean.
Richard was right behind me. He hadn't moved since I said it. I changed everything three months ago. His hand was still near my wrist but not gripping yet, and that pause was the only thing keeping me inside the cabin.
I shifted my weight. I pressed my left palm flat against the vertical frame of the doorway and locked my elbow. My other hand stayed low on my belly. I turned my shoulder into the metal so the wind had less of me to take. The trench coat snapped hard against my legs. My hair whipped across my eyes and I didn't push it away because I needed both points of contact.
"Move closer," he said again. His voice was lower now.
I didn't.
He reached for my arm. I felt his fingers close around my wrist and pull. I dug my shoulder harder into the frame and bent my knees just enough to lower my center of gravity. The rubber seal under my shoe gripped. The rivets on the frame bit into my palm.
"Richard, stop," I said. It came out thin because the wind took half of it.
He leaned in. His white shirt pulled at his shoulders. "You're going to fall if you keep fighting me," he said. He said it like he was helping.
In my headset the wind cracked and then a third voice cut in.
"Sir, I need hands off," the pilot said. His voice was flat and loud through the intercom. "Ma'am, are you secure back there? Sir, release her now."
Richard didn't let go right away. He looked toward the front of the helicopter. I couldn't see the pilot's face, just the back of his helmet and the headset boom. The overhead panel above us rattled. That red placard stayed in my line of sight.
"Sir," the pilot said again. "I see a struggle in my mirror. If there's a problem I'm putting us down. You need to let her go and sit back."
For a second Richard's grip tightened. My wrist burned. Then he let go and lifted both hands a few inches, palms out, like the pilot could see that gesture and be satisfied.
"She's fine," Richard said into his mic. He smiled, and I heard the smile in his voice. "My wife got scared by the wind. Olivia, tell him you're fine."
I kept my hand on the frame. My belly was tight under my coat. The wind kept coming.
The pilot didn't answer Richard. He talked to me. "Ma'am, I need a verbal. Are you okay to continue?"
I swallowed. My throat was dry from the cold air.
"No," I said. "I need us to land."
Richard's smile dropped. "Olivia."
"I love you, Olivia," he said quickly, too loud, talking over me. He reached again but didn't grab, his hand hovering near my jaw like he might steady me for the pilot to see. "You know I love you. You're confused. Just hold my hand."
I turned my face away from his hand and kept my eyes on the pilot's mirror. I could see a small rectangle of his eyes reflected there.
"He keeps telling me to move closer to the edge," I said. I made sure the mic caught it. "I don't want to be near the door."
That changed the air in the cabin more than the wind had.
The pilot's voice came back immediately. "Copy that. We're diverting. I'm taking us inland to the coastal pad. Five minutes out. Both of you need to be seated and belted now. Sir, move away from the door and sit down."
Richard stared at me. I saw him calculate. He couldn't pull me now with a witness listening. His whole plan needed it to look like an accident, and the accident needed no one watching.
He slid back toward the bench seat behind the pilot and kept his eyes on me the whole time. "You're making a mistake," he said quietly, not into the mic, but I caught it. "Whatever you think you changed, we can fix it. Just tell him you misspoke. Tell him you want to stay up."
He was trying to get me to retract it voluntarily. Move closer without him having to force me.
"You really think killing me makes you rich?" I said. My voice shook but I got it out. "Everything becomes mine. Not anymore."
The mic picked that up too. I meant it to.
The pilot cut the power slightly and the helicopter banked. The ocean tilted away and I saw cliffs, then a stretch of scrub and a flat pad near a highway. The wind changed direction as we turned and for a moment it pushed me back into the cabin instead of out. I used that moment to shuffle my feet away from the edge and get my back against the interior wall. My hand never left that frame until I had the wall behind me.
Richard sat with his hands on his knees, his jaw tight. He wasn't done. He was just waiting for ground where the pilot wouldn't be between us.
"Ma'am, stay seated," the pilot said. "We're almost down. You're safe until we're on the ground."
May you like
I nodded even though he couldn't see me well. I kept one hand on my belly and one on the nylon strap bolted to the wall, and I held both like they were the only things keeping me from being taken.
The helicopter descended, and the noise grew thicker as we left the open water.
