Chapter 20 - Calm Waters (The Conclusion)
The late summer sun was beginning to dip below the Olympic Mountains, painting the sky over Puget Sound in breathtaking shades of deep crimson, gold, and vibrant violet.
I sat alone on the upper flybridge of the Valkyrie, idling the vessel’s twin engines at a quiet, gentle purr three miles off the coast of Bainbridge Island. The water around the hull was glass-calm, reflecting the sunset like a vast, endless mirror of light.
On the navigation console in front of me sat a framed, faded black-and-white photograph of my father in his US Navy dress uniform, smiling proudly on the deck of a destroyer forty years ago. Beside it rested my old, battered Marine Corps dog tags and the freshly minted brass master key to the Lin-Vance Holdings Group headquarters in downtown Seattle.
I reached into my pocket, pulling out a small, heavy object wrapped in a clean linen cloth.
I unwrapped the fabric, exposing the platinum diamond wedding ring Julian had placed on my finger during our elaborate, counterfeit wedding ceremony at the country club one year ago today. The diamond caught the crimson light of the sunset, glittering with cold, sterile perfection.
I didn't feel any sadness looking at it anymore. I didn't feel any bitterness toward Julian, or toward Marcus sitting in his federal prison cell in California. They were simply historical data points—lessons learned in the ongoing, continuous evolution of my survival and growth.
I stood up from the helm chair, walking out to the edge of the flybridge railing, overlooking the deep, black water of the sound—the exact same waters where I had once floated in the fog, fighting hypothermia and betrayal with bare fists and willpower.
I held the platinum ring out over the water between my thumb and forefinger.
“Lesson three,” I whispered to the quiet, peaceful sea breeze blowing off the Pacific. “Never carry weight that doesn't serve your journey.”
I opened my fingers.
The diamond ring fell through the golden evening air, hitting the calm surface of Puget Sound with a tiny, insignificant plink. A single, small ripple circled outward across the water as the heavy platinum sank beneath the surface, spiraling down into the dark, freezing depths of the ocean, gone forever.
I took a deep, clean breath of the salt air, feeling the cool wind against my face and the steady, powerful vibration of the ship’s engines beneath my boots.
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My heart was steady. My mind was sharp. My perimeter was secure.
I walked back to the helm station, pushed the twin throttle levers forward with a smooth, decisive motion, and turned the wheel toward the bright, glittering lights of Seattle shining across the water. The Valkyrie surged forward into the twilight, cutting a clean, straight wake through the calm waters, steering a course entirely of my own making into the limitless, open horizon of tomorrow.
