Chapter 2

My legs felt like they belonged to someone else as I made my way back across the ballroom, the phone—his phone—clutched in my trembling hand. The marble floor seemed to shift beneath my feet, each step echoing the shattering of seven years of marriage.

Marcus stood near our table, his head thrown back in laughter at something Tom was saying. His smile was radiant, genuine, the same smile that had charmed me into falling in love with him. The same smile he'd been giving Zoe in those photos.

He spotted me approaching and his expression shifted to one of warm concern. "There you are. I was worried."

Worried. The word tasted bitter in my mouth. I forced my voice to remain steady, professional—the same tone I used in board meetings when delivering devastating quarterly reports.

"Can I talk to you? Privately."

Something in my voice must have penetrated his facade because his smile faltered. His eyes searched my face, and I watched the exact moment he registered that something was very, very wrong.

"Sure. Is everything okay?"

I didn't answer. Instead, I turned and walked toward the ballroom's French doors that led to the beach, trusting he would follow. The ocean breeze hit my face as we stepped onto the sand, carrying the same plumeria scent that had seemed so romantic this morning. Now it felt cloying, suffocating.

The beach was empty except for the distant glow of tiki torches marking the resort's perimeter. The music from the ballroom faded to a muffled backdrop as we walked far enough away to ensure privacy. My heels sank into the sand with each step, but I didn't care about ruining my expensive shoes. Nothing seemed to matter anymore.

When we were far enough from the resort, I stopped and turned to face him. The moonlight cast his features in sharp relief, highlighting the confusion and growing dread in his dark eyes.

"You left this," I said, extending his phone toward him.

Marcus reached for it automatically, his fingers brushing mine in a contact that once would have sent warmth through my entire body. Now it felt like ice. The screen was still lit, still displaying the photo of him and Zoe locked in their passionate kiss.

I watched his face drain of all color, watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed hard. For a moment, he just stared at the image, and I could see him calculating, trying to find an explanation that might salvage this moment.

"So," I said, my voice eerily calm. "Bathroom break?"

"Alex—"

"Don't." The word came out sharp enough to cut glass. "Don't you dare lie to me. Not now. Not after I've seen everything."

The slap came without conscious thought, my palm connecting with his cheek with a crack that echoed across the empty beach. The force of it sent a shock up my arm, and Marcus's head snapped to the side. When he looked back at me, a red handprint was already blooming across his skin.

"Seven years," I said, my voice rising with each word. "SEVEN YEARS, Marcus. Seven years of marriage, of building a life together, of me trusting you completely."

He raised his hand to his cheek, his eyes wide with shock and something that might have been regret. "Let me explain—"

"Where is she?" I cut him off.

"What?"

"Zoe. Where is she? Still here at the retreat?"

Marcus's silence was answer enough. I could see the truth written across his face, in the way his shoulders sagged, in how he couldn't meet my eyes.

A laugh bubbled up from somewhere deep in my chest, bitter and hollow. "Of course. Of course she's here. Probably in her room right now, waiting for you to come back from your little performance as the devoted husband."

I studied his face in the moonlight, this man I thought I knew better than anyone. "Go. Go to her."

"I don't want her," he said quickly, desperately. "I want you. Alex, please—"

"Liar." The word came out flat, emotionless. "If you wanted me, you wouldn't have been fucking her in our bed. You wouldn't have been taking pictures of her sleeping on my pillow like some kind of trophy."

I turned to walk away, but his hand shot out and grabbed my arm, his fingers digging into my skin.

"Please, we can work this out. It doesn't have to end like this. I made a mistake, but we can—"

I turned back to face him, and whatever he saw in my expression made him take a step back. My voice, when I spoke, was deadly quiet.

"Let go. Or I scream and tell everyone at this retreat exactly what kind of man you really are. I'll make sure every single colleague, every client, every person who thinks we're the perfect power couple knows that Marcus Chen is a cheating bastard who brings his mistress to company retreats."

His hand dropped from my arm as if I'd burned him. For a moment, we stood there in the sand, the ocean waves providing a soundtrack to the death of our marriage.

Without another word, I turned and walked back toward the resort, my heels clicking against the wooden boardwalk as I left the beach behind. The ballroom's golden light spilled across the path, and I could hear the continued sounds of celebration—laughter, music, the clink of champagne glasses.

I bypassed the ballroom entirely and headed straight for the lobby, my mind racing. I needed to leave. I needed to get away from this place, from him, from the suffocating pretense of our perfect life. But as I approached the concierge desk, reality crashed over me like a cold wave.

The flights back to the mainland didn't leave until tomorrow evening. I was trapped here, in this paradise that had become my personal hell, with the man who had just destroyed everything I thought I knew about my life.

The irony wasn't lost on me. Here I was, surrounded by luxury and beauty, with nowhere to run and twenty-four hours stretching ahead of me like an eternity.