Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 1323

Salt water burned Penny’s wound so badly she could barely keep from passing out. But she clamped her jaw shut and forced herself to keep moving, kicking with everything she had to swim to Emmy. Emmy had slipped out of the life ring and was starting to disappear beneath the waves.

Penny threw one arm around Emmy’s neck and used all the strength left in her other arm to push them both toward the yacht. The distance closed, slowly, painfully—five meters, three, one…

Her vision was going dark. Her limbs felt like they weighed a ton.

At last, her hand brushed the lower rung of the ladder. With a final burst of energy, she pushed Emmy up onto the swim platform until most of Emmy’s body was out of the water. Only when she knew Emmy was safe did Penny’s strength give out. Her fingers slipped and, completely spent, she slid down and began to sink into the deep below.

…

Suddenly, the thundering noise of helicopter blades tore through the stillness over the sea. James had finally arrived.

Below, there was just one empty yacht drifting among the waves, surrounded by several bodies in wetsuits floating on the surface.

The helicopter barely started to lower before the door flew open. James stood at the edge, wind whipping through his short hair, but nothing could blow away the wild panic in his eyes. He spotted Emmy draped over the yacht’s ladder in an instant.

“Emmy!”

His heart stopped. For a second, he didn’t care about protocol or safety or even that the chopper hadn’t properly hovered. He grabbed the rope, slid down fast, and dove straight into the ocean.

The moment he hit the water, he powered through, swimming like mad toward the yacht. He scrambled up the ladder and turned Emmy over. Her face was ghostly white, so pale she looked fragile, nearly see-through. Only the slow, tiny rise and fall of her chest said she was still alive.

James’s hands shook as he leaned in to check for her breath.

She was still breathing.

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