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Tyler shook his head, and flames dancing on the surface of the ocean several feet away shimmered in his blue eyes. “I can’t. It’s evidence. It could be the key to everything.”
Anger boiled through me. “I’ve just lost fucking everything, and all you care about is your stupid case.”
“That’s not true.” He swam to me and gripped my wrist. “You are much more important to me.”
I yanked my hand free.
He captured my wrist once more. “I promise I’ll do everything I can to save you. And I’m going to catch the bastards who did this to you and your father. I’ll make them pay, Indy. I promise you that.”
“Yeah, well, your promises are pointless. We’ll probably die out here.”
His grip hardened on my flesh. “We can’t give up now.”
His words were meant to anchor me, but they slipped through my mind like sand. Determination filled his eyes with that unwavering sense of duty that fueled him. But what did I have left to fuel me? The jagged scar on my forehead throbbed like a cruel reminder of the worst day of my life. Today was equal to that. Maybe worse because when Mom was murdered, I still had Dad and Rhino. Now, I had nobody and absolutely nothing.
“Hey, listen to me.” Tyler cupped my cheek. “We’re fighters, you and me. We don’t quit.”
Fighters. The word echoed in my mind, but the fight in me had drowned along with my shattered life below us. I was nothing without Rhino and my salvage career. Dad was the only person I cared about. I didn’t even have a best friend. My dreams were haunted by my mother’s ghost and what I should have done differently before she was murdered. Dad’s murder would add to those nightmares. I would forever live with what I should have done differently to save him, too. I didn’t know if I could take any more.
Tyler brushed wet hair away from my temple. “Talk to me.”
The incessant beeping was driving me nuts. “There’s nothing to talk about. We’re fucked.”
“Indy.” His tone was bruised with failure. “We’re not dying. We just need to get through the night. Aria and the others will come looking for us.”
“Or the bastards who want that fucking beeping hard drive.”
Tyler’s arms sliced through the water, creating a small swell, and he searched the sky again.
“You need to ditch it, Tyler.”
“What about if we lowered it on a rope to ten feet below?” he asked.
“It will float in that plastic bag.”
The moon shimmered off the ocean as if it were a beacon mocking us.
“If we scuba dived down to eleven feet, how long can we stay underwater?”
“I’m not hovering underwater like a fucking fool, Tyler. If those bastards show up again, then we’ll dive.” I smacked my lips together, trying to remember when I’d last had a drink of water.
“You have to live, Indy. I promised your father.”
“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“And I told you—you don’t know me. I’ll keep that promise.”
I squinted at him. “We’re floating in the middle of nowhere. There’s no chance of being rescued.”
He growled. “I thought you were a fighter.”
“Yeah, well, that was when I had something to fight for.”
“Then do it for your father. You know he’d want you to live. Do it for me. For justice.” He leveled his gaze at me. “For us.”
“Us?” I chuckled.
He swam closer and cupped my cheek again. “When you kissed me, you said there was more of that when we could breathe again. We’re breathing now.”
