Chapter 13 - THE MAN WHO STOOD BESIDE ME
Through everything, one person remained unexpectedly constant.
Lucas Bennett.
Thirty-eight.
A maritime safety engineer.
And the young man who had warned Cassandra to stop before she tore my dress.
I had barely noticed him that night.
Later, he contacted my office.
Not to ask for money.
Not to request publicity.
But because he'd witnessed the incident and wanted to provide a statement.
We met at a café near the harbor.
Lucas arrived carrying a folder.
He wore a simple white shirt and dark trousers.
No expensive watch.
No entourage.
He smiled.
"Elena."
"Lucas."
He sat opposite me.
"I thought this might help."
He handed me a written account of what he'd witnessed.
I looked at him.
"Why are you doing this?"
He seemed surprised.
"Because I saw what happened."
"Most people saw what happened."
He nodded.
"Not everyone wanted to get involved."
I studied him.
"You're different."
He smiled faintly.
"I try to be."
Over the following months, Lucas and I became friends.
He told me about his work designing rescue equipment.
I told him about my father's maritime safety foundation.
He helped me understand the practical consequences of the stolen funds.
Training programs delayed.
Equipment never delivered.
Coastal communities left without resources they'd been promised.
The fraud became more than numbers on a spreadsheet.
It became personal.
One afternoon, Lucas took me to a rescue training center in southern France.
Young volunteers practiced emergency drills.
A woman demonstrated how to operate a rescue winch.
A group of teenagers learned basic navigation.
I watched them.
Then looked at Lucas.
"My father would have loved this."
He smiled.
"Then let's make sure it survives."
May you like
For the first time in months, I felt something other than grief or anger.
Hope.
