I Caught My Billionaire Fiancé Kissing Another Woman While Carrying His Baby—Then Found Out The Horrifying Truth About Why He Did It

Nora didn't wait for Sabine to pull the trigger.

From her crouch behind Cassian's frame, she reached down to the boat's emergency hoist control box bolted to the gunwale. With all the force in her body, she slammed her fist down onto the manual drop lever.

The heavy steel cables holding the Sovereign Star screamed through their iron pulleys.

The ten-ton mahogany hull dropped five feet straight down into the water slip with an explosive roar, displacing hundreds of gallons of freezing harbor water.

A massive tidal wave surged over the wooden walkways, knocking two of Sabine’s mercenaries off their feet and sending their rifles clattering into the dark, filthy water below.

"Cassian, move!" Nora screamed.

Cassian fired two shots into the walkway floor, forcing Sabine to dive behind an iron support column.

He grabbed Nora's arm and pulled her over the opposite side of the hull, dropping into the secondary escape dory that was tethered beneath the boathouse floorboards.

"Cut the line!" Cassian shouted.

Nora drew her heavy rigging knife and slashed the hemp mooring rope in a single clean sweep.

The small outboard motor caught on the second pull, sputtering into life with a furious cloud of blue exhaust. Cassian threw the throttle forward, steering the small wooden craft out through the rotted water gates of the boathouse just as shotgun pellets ripped through the timber transom behind them.

They burst out into the freezing expanse of High Head Cove.

The coastal fog was thick as cotton, swallowing them within seconds. The sound of shouting and gunfire faded behind the rhythmic slap of waves against the hull.

Nora huddled in the bow, her hands wrapped tightly around the steel strongbox containing the red ledger.

She was shivering uncontrollably, her clothes soaked with freezing sea spray. Cassian steered with one hand on the tiller, his other hand reaching out to pull his heavy wool overcoat off his shoulders and drape it around her trembling frame.

"Keep warm," he said, his voice raw and ragged. "The baby needs you warm."

"You're bleeding, Cassian," she said, her voice shaking.

A dark stain was spreading across his right side, soaking through his white shirt and dripping onto the floorboards. A stray pellet had caught him beneath the ribs during the escape.

"It's nothing," he lied, pressing his elbow against the wound to slow the bleeding. "We're heading for the Coast Guard cutter stationed outside the breakwater. My team alerted them ten minutes ago."

Through the dense wall of fog ahead, the sharp silhouette of a modern patrol cutter began to emerge.

Its blue and red emergency beacons cut through the gray mist like brilliant blades of light. Over the cutter's loudspeaker, a clear naval voice boomed across the water:

"Unidentified vessel, cut your engines and prepare to be boarded."

Cassian cut the throttle, letting the small boat drift into the searchlight's brilliant white glare.

He turned to Nora, his face pale from blood loss, but his eyes were clearer than she had ever seen them. He reached out and touched her face, his thumb gently wiping away a mix of sea salt and tears.