The rest of the night was spent making slow, passionate love to my wife.
The woman of my dreams.
The reason I took each and every breath.
My life.
My future.
THE SUN FELT AMAZING ON my face as I lay in the lounge chair and let out a contented sigh. Emmit and I had been in the Bahamas for five days and it was utter bliss. The little villa we were staying at was perfect. It had a full kitchen, so we stocked up on food and stayed in every night but one.
Smiling, I touched my lips as I thought back to last night. It had been the most romantic night yet. Emmit and I lay in the hammock and stared up at the star-filled sky. One soft kiss from Emmit and it turned into a make-out session. We did nothing but kiss and touch each other as we both came at the same time from one another’s touch. My swollen lips were a reminder of how passionate things turned.
“Mrs. Lewis?”
I opened my eyes to see one of the girls from the resort office standing there smiling at me. “Hi, Landy, how are you?”
Giving me a slight nod, she smiled and said, “I’m so very sorry for bothering you. It’s just this package came marked for you and the courier said it was important, so I thought I should bring it to you right away.”
I swung my legs around and stood up as I reached for the small package. “Thank you so much, Landy.”
With a smile, she turned and headed back to the resort office. I quickly sat down and opened the package. Emmit must have sent something for me. He knew how much I loved surprises.
A padded envelope was enclosed in the larger envelope. Opening it, I pulled out a phone that had a note attached to it. Who in the hell is this from? I read the note and swallowed hard.
Watch the video.
This is who you married.
Swallowing hard, I stared down at the phone. My hand shook as I swiped it open. The only thing on the phone was the photo app. Opening it, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I hit play and opened my eyes again.
The video showed Emmit at what looked like a club. He was sitting alone, but then a girl walked up. My hand came up to mouth as I recognized the girl. It was Ashley’s friend, Cookie. You couldn’t make out what they were saying because of the music in the club. I couldn't pull my eyes away as I watched Emmit push her hair behind her ear. He grabbed her by the neck and pulled her to his lips. Taking out his wallet, he pulled out a condom and tossed it onto the table. My heart pounded in my chest as I continued to watch. It was obvious Cookie had Emmit’s dick in her hand. It appeared she was about to climb on top of Emmit when the video stopped.
I quickly stood up and dropped the phone as I walked toward the water. My heart felt as if someone was squeezing it and I couldn’t breathe.
When was that taken?
Was it before we got back together or after?
Pressing my hands onto my face, I let out a frustrated cry. No! It was not taken after we were together. I knew in my heart Emmit would never cheat on me. Dropping my hands, I looked out over the crystal-clear turquoise water.
How in the hell did Stephanie find us? No one knew we were here besides Todd and Ashley. Emmit had sent them both text with the information the day after we arrived.
As I spun around, I walked back to the phone. Reaching down, I grabbed my dress and pulled it over my head and then snagged the phone and headed back to the resort.
Landy smiled when I walked up to her. I tried my best to not act like a crazy, jealous wife. “Landy, who gave you that package?”
“A courier. She said it was important that you got it right away.”
A lump formed in my throat. “It was . . . a woman?”
“Yes, it was.”
I looked all around as fear raced through my body. “W-what did she look like?”
“Oh, I didn’t really pay that much attention, Mrs. Lewis.”
My head snapped back to Landy as I glared at her. “Did she have blonde hair? Dark hair?”
“She um, well it was blonde. It was pulled up in a baseball cap, but I could see blonde peaking through.”
My hands came up to my mouth as tears formed. I quickly spun around as I looked at everyone.
“Stephanie . . .”
“Mrs. Lewis, are you okay?”
I slowly shook my head as I wrapped my arms around my body and cried.
My body flinched as Emmit hurled a vase across the room and it shattered in a million pieces.
“Tell me how in the fuck she found out where we were Todd!” Emmit screamed into his phone.
Chris had already called Emmit back to say he was trying to get the local police to check video footage at the airport, but as far as they were concerned, someone giving me a phone was not a crime.
“No, that’s not a good enough answer. I want you to figure out if she hacked into your email and found out. Fuck, for all I know she has a fucking tracking device on my goddamn phone.”
I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face. The image of the video played over and over in my mind, even though I tried to like hell to remove it. Emmit told me everything. It was the night of the dinner party, the day before the race at Texas Motor speedway last April. Emmit and I weren’t together then, and he assured me nothing happened. I believed him and figured that was why the video stopped when it did. Just seeing another woman on him and touching him made me sick to my stomach. I needed to forget it and realize none of that mattered.
“Addie?”
My head lifted as I was met with the most caring gray eyes ever. “Baby, I’m so sorry this is happening. Do you want to go home?”
Pressing my lips tightly together, I attempted to hold back my tears, but they finally broke free. I threw myself into Emmit’s arms as he held onto me. “I swear to you, pumpkin, we are going to find her. I swear to you.”
Emmit’s phone rang, and I wanted to tell him to ignore it. Wrapping my legs around him, I held onto him as he walked over and picked up my phone.
“Chris, talk to me bro. Give me something.”
I could hear Chris talking through the phone, but I pushed it away and focused on Emmit and his cologne. My mind drifted back to last night in the hammock. I thought about how I had stopped talking my pills the day after Emmit said he wanted a baby.
With a quick glance down to my belly, I smiled at the idea of little baby growing in there.
Emmit walked over and sat me down on the sofa and then he dropped down next to me. “What do you mean she’s in North Carolina? Are you sure?”
I watched as Emmit’s hand pushed through his hair while he closed his eyes and shook his head. “But if she was there . . . who gave the phone to the front desk?”
My heart started beating so loud I could hear it in my ears, drowning out Emmit’s words.
As I stood up, I turned to look at Emmit. He held up his finger as if telling me to hang on. “Find out for sure and then call me back.”
Dropping the phone to the side of him onto the sofa, Emmit stood up and looked at me. There was nothing but confusion swimming in his eyes.
“Stephanie has been in North Carolina this whole time. She’s working for the city as an administrative assistant. Every day for the last three weeks, she reported to work.”
My eyes widened in horror. “What?”
Emmit shook his head. “This doesn’t make sense. She must have hired someone to do all of this so it appeared she was completely innocent. How else would anyone know about where we were getting married or have my credit card number?”
Thoughts raced through my mind. Emmit had to be right. Stephanie must have sent someone to do all of this to make herself look innocent.