Malinov took a gulp of champagne and rested his hand on the rail looking out to sea. His father had once been a submarine captain in the Navy and the sea was in his blood. It always made him feel content and at peace with himself and the world when he got the chance to take out his own small yacht moored in Christchurch in the UK. Maybe someday he would get to take Antonia out on it. Perhaps she would find her own peace out amongst the waves.
He felt the touch of her hand on his own and looked down. She smiled sweetly and allowed him to hold it. If this was all the intimate contact he could have with her right now until she felt safe enough to allow him closer, he would take it. He desperately wanted to spank her and assert his authority again to ensure she respected his boundaries on her safety but it would have to wait.
The first night on the ship was a formal evening requiring black tie and a ball gown for Antonia. Gabriel inserted his cufflinks in his shirt sleeves then pulled on his black evening jacket before fastening his bow tie in the mirror downstairs. He heard a creak on the stairs and turned around to see Antonia coming down them. She took his breath away.
Her dress was black silk and high around the neck with Swarovski crystals around the neckline. It was cut away over the shoulders and almost backless apart from the sweeping bands of crystals crossing the top and lower parts of her back. A black skirt brushed the floor. Her hand lifted it as she walked down the steps to reveal black and silver heels.
“You look stunning,” the words were out of his mouth before he could even think of them.
“You think so?” she questioned unsure, a small blush lighting her cheeks as she did all she could to hide her embarrassment at the scars from the cuts she made to her arm while self-harming. She quickly placed the wrap she carried around her shoulders and arms to hide them.
“Yes, I most definitely do,” he said walking towards her sweeping the wrap off her shoulders to pull it from her.
“Don’t hide them,” he whispered, lifting her arm to stroke his fingers over the small scars. “Consider them war wounds and don’t be ashamed.”
Antonia blushed and glanced away still embarrassed.
Quickly, she turned around and looked at the back of the dress in the long mirror next to the stairs. “I have never been in a dress that is so revealing,” she said touching the exposed part of her slender back determined not to speak to him about her self-harming.
Gabriel let it go. He stood next to her and touched her bare back lightly skimming his fingertips across her satin skin.
“You look beautiful in it,” he whispered close to her ear.
Surprisingly, she did not object to his caress or pull away from it. Encouraged he moved closer and swept his lips across the nape of her neck unhampered by her hair that was once more piled up on top of her head and dressed with small crystals woven through it. She let out a satisfied purr of pleasure but the moment was to be cut short when there was a knock at the door.
Malinov wanted to ignore it but when their Butler Vikktor told them it was him, he reluctantly broke away and went to answer it. Gabriel didn’t like the way Vikktor’s eyes lecherously assessed Antonia in the dress.
“Take a look at this photo, Antonia,” Vikktor instructed handing her a photograph. “Command has flagged this person. The British authorities have him marked as a person of interest with online links to suspected terrorist accounts on Twitter and other social media in the last few days.”
Antonia studied the photo.
“He does look vaguely familiar. It could be Laraib’s twenty-three-year-old brother but I can’t be sure. His hair is cut far too short and he has no beard. It could be Fayyaad but I am not sure.”
“We will watch him. They are on this ship, I can feel it,” Vikktor told them. “Keep your eyes peeled on everyone tonight especially on the bar staff and any passengers acting strangely,” he told them.
Malinov gave him an impatient look.
“I know, I know. I shouldn’t tell you how to do your job,” he grinned. “But with you on Malinov’s arm in that dress, Antonia, he just might forget how to do his job,” Vikktor joked.
Gabriel led Antonia to the exclusive dining room where they enjoyed a meal together away from the crowds of people in evening dress milling about the ship. When they were finished they decided to walk along the deck and check out the passengers. Strolling hand in hand they walked along the promenade deck in the warm evening sunshine just like a newly married couple. Up ahead a woman was carrying a small child and leading an Arabic girl wearing a hijab through a door back inside the ship. The older girl turned her head to look down towards them. Her haunted brown eyes widened in acknowledgement when she rested them on the journalist. She started to walk forward but the woman took her arm and pulled her through the door.
“Nazila, Qaifa.” Malinov heard Antonia whisper the names.
He shot a look at her for confirmation but she was already breaking away from his hand and running through the door nearest to them. He took off after her.
She’d briefly stopped to take off her heels and was running barefoot to catch up with the woman and the two children. Antonia ran through the sports bar and out onto some stairs but
