Prologue
“Sam, why does it have to be tonight?” I whined to my brand-new husband, my fingers clutching desperately at the lapels of his heavy wool coat.
Was I really asking for too much? I had left my entire life, my home, and my family back in South Carolina just to be with the man I loved. The absolute least the Universe—or his superiors—could do was grant us our wedding night.
“I’m sorry, Elaine,” Sam sighed, his voice thick with a regret that matched the tempest brewing outside. “I know this isn’t the honeymoon we’d planned on. But The Captain gave strict orders. I have to take this wretched treasure off our lighthouse before the gale hits its peak.”
He didn’t look any happier about the task than I was. But Samuel was a good man—honorable to a fault. He followed his orders to the letter, and if his Commander told him he had to set sail on his wedding night, he would obey, no matter how much it tore his heart in two.
I could feel the hot, traitorous prickle of tears pushing behind my eyes. This is not what I wanted at all. We were supposed to have the next two weeks to ourselves, wrapped up in each other. Why did this have to happen now? The man I loved was being torn away from me, leaving for who knew how long, and I was to be left entirely alone on this desolate rock, miles from civilization.
“We’ve only been married for two hours, and he is pulling you away from me!” I choked out, my voice breaking under the weight of the panic settling in my chest.
Is this how the rest of our lives will be? Whenever duty calls, he vanishes, and I am left stranded in the dark? I didn’t even have my family here to comfort me, nor any way to contact the outside world.
Samuel pulled me into his big, strong arms, drawing me flush against his chest and letting me sob into his coat. He was so good at comforting me—it was one of the thousand reasons I had married him. He was caring, compassionate, and fiercely protective. I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he loved me and wanted to stay just as desperately as I wanted him to. He gently rocked me in his arms, silently mourning our bitter separation right along with me.
“I’m sorry, my darling wife,” he whispered into my hair. “I promise to return as soon as I can. It shouldn’t take longer than a week or two. Then you are all mine!” he teased softly, attempting to coax a smile onto my face before sealing his promise with a deep, lingering kiss.
Is there a more perfect man in existence? I had waited what felt like a lifetime for him to make me his. Now that I finally belonged to him, I was expected to just stand by and wait even longer. Why? Why couldn’t someone else haul that damned treasure?!
I held on to that kiss for minutes, anchoring myself to him and refusing to let him step into the dark. I had traded everything comfortable in South Carolina to follow my handsome sailor to his new post as Lighthouse Keeper on a nameless scrap of stone somewhere deep inside the infamous Bermuda Triangle. A place so remote that no one ever set foot on the island except Sam and me.
“I love you, Elaine. And I will always come back for you,” he promised again, gently unspooling my arms from around his neck.
As he stepped back, I caught the glint of tears welling in his own dark eyes. Was there truly no pity in the universe for us?
He turned away, hauling the iron-bound chest out through the narrow front door of our little cottage, which was attached to the towering stone wall of the main lighthouse. The treasure was unnaturally heavy; I knew because I’d tried to nudge the iron box myself earlier, and it hadn’t budged an inch. I had no idea how he managed to carry it across the slick, salt-sprayed rocks without losing his footing and tumbling into the black abyss below.
A violent crash of heavy waves smashed against the base of the lighthouse, sending a shudder through the foundation that made me shriek.
It wasn’t safe out there. How could anyone expect me to stay behind while everyone else sailed away?
“I’m coming with you!” I demanded, striding out onto the threshold after him.
It was the most logical decision I had ever made. If they were leaving this hellish rock, I was getting off it, too. I didn’t belong here without my husband.
“No, sweetheart! Someone must watch the lighthouse, warn passing vessels, and guide them home to safety while I’m away!” he shouted back in a rush of panic, his voice straining against the rising howl of the wind. A brutal blast of freezing sea mist sprayed across the threshold, soaking my dress and wetting the hardwood floor of my new living room. “Elaine, this is the safest place for you with the storm almost upon us!”
A deep, suffocating sense of foreboding prickled across my skin. This wasn’t going to end the way they had planned. Nature was furious tonight, and Mother Nature did not like to be tested.
A sudden flash of blue-white lightning struck the water dangerously close to our rock—a jagged piece of stone barely large enough to be called an island. A split second later, a deafening crack of thunder shook the sky, while the tumultuous ocean waves swelled high, competing with the heavens for ultimate dominance.
“Then stay here!” I screamed over the storm.
If I couldn’t go with him, why couldn’t he just stay with me? I couldn’t live without him—my heart would shatter right in two. Didn’t he understand that by now? I wasn’t too proud to admit the sheer, unadulterated panic laced into my demand. I couldn’t stay here without him. I don’t want to be all alone!
“I’m sorry, Elaine! I WILL COME BACK!” he shouted, stepping onto the slippery wooden gangplank.
I watched him cross the narrow, swaying plank, praying with every fiber of my being that he wouldn’t fall overboard. But his footing was sure and his strength was true; he made it safely onto the deck of the old schooner—the vessel determined to steal my love away.
Horror and sorrow warred violently within my chest as a monstrous wave crashed over the ship’s upper deck, nearly sweeping the crew off their feet. I couldn’t bear to just stand there and watch. I wanted to run out onto the slippy rocks to him... but I couldn’t risk hindering him.
Not sure what else to do, I did the only thing left. I spun on my heel and bolted into the lighthouse tower, scrambling up the narrow, winding iron staircase.
My legs burned in fierce noncompliance, but I ignored them. My body was already freezing from the wind and spray, causing my muscles to spasm violently, but I didn’t care. I had a single mission: reach the catwalk.
I ignored my burning lungs, which screamed that I could no longer pull enough air into my body. I ignored the terrifying black spots blooming at the edges of my vision as dizziness washed over me, threatening to knock me off my feet. I just dug deep and pushed harder, spiraling up into the darkness.
With a final, ragged gasp, I stumbled out the upper hatch and onto the icy exterior catwalk. The lighthouse beam swept overhead, slicing through the tempest. Below, the old schooner was just pulling away from our tiny rock, its deck lanterns swaying frantically in the blackness. Out on the deck, my handsome husband had his face turned upward, his eyes locked directly onto mine.
Then, time seemed to slow to an agonizing crawl.
Shock paralyzed my limbs as an unnatural, monstrous wave rose up out of the black depths—a wall of water so massive it swallowed the horizon. I reached out toward Samuel, an instinctive, hopeless attempt to save him from afar, but the tsunami-sized wave crashed brutally over the starboard side.
In a fraction of a second, the old ship was crushed and capsized right before my eyes.
“NO!” I screeched, the raw sound tearing from my throat as I watched my husband taken by the sea, breathing his last breath beneath the churning foam.
I wailed like a banshee into the raging storm, my heart splintering into a million jagged pieces. But right in that instant of absolute destruction, the heavens split wide open above me. A searing, blinding flash of divine light plunged down from the clouds, striking straight through the iron tower and landing directly upon my heart.
It was the last thing I ever saw.
