Chapter 22 The Honeymoon
Sean had arranged for a private villa on a neighboring island for their honeymoon. The villa was perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with an infinity pool that seemed to blend seamlessly with the water beyond. There were seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms and a kitchen large enough to feed a small army. It was beautiful and secluded and completely isolated from the rest of the world.
For the first week, Molly felt like she had entered a fairy tale. She and Sean spent their days swimming and reading and talking about their dreams for the future. In the evenings, they made love with a tenderness that surprised Molly. She had expected Sean to be aggressive or demanding based on the stories she had heard about wealthy men, but he was gentle and considerate and completely focused on her pleasure.
The children had remained on Marinara Island with a professional nanny that Sean had hired. They were enjoying the resort's activities and making friends with other children. They would join their parents after a week.
During that first week alone together, Sean and Molly talked about their plans. They discussed whether they wanted to live at the coastal property or if they should find somewhere new to begin their married life. They talked about Molly's career and what she wanted to do with her life now that she did not have to work constantly to survive.
"I want to finish my education," Molly said. They were lying in bed after making love, her head on his chest, his fingers running through her hair.
"You were not able to finish school?" Sean asked.
"I finished high school," Molly said. "But I never went to university. My parents... the Mays were not interested in paying for my education. They wanted me to get a job and start contributing to the household financially as soon as possible."
"What would you study if you could study anything?" Sean asked.
"Psychology," Molly said without hesitation. "I have always been interested in understanding why people do what they do. Why they make the choices they make. Why they hurt each other."
"Then you will go to university," Sean said. "I will pay for it. You can attend any school you want."
"That is very generous," Molly said.
"It is not generous," Sean said. "It is the bare minimum. I should have been supporting your dreams from the beginning. Instead, I made you spend six years surviving. The least I can do now is help you thrive."
On the sixth day of their honeymoon, the phone that Sean had been mostly ignoring began to ring insistently. He finally answered it, and his face changed as he listened to whoever was calling. When he hung up, he looked troubled.
"That was James," he said. "There is a situation with the company that I need to handle."
"What kind of situation?" Molly asked.
"The new CEO that I appointed has been making decisions that are going to damage the company's long-term viability," Sean said. "The board is asking me to come back and advise them on how to proceed. I do not want to leave, but I feel like I should go."
"Then go," Molly said. "I can handle things here. The children will arrive tomorrow anyway. I can manage."
"I do not want to leave you alone on our honeymoon," Sean said.
"Our honeymoon is about us," Molly said. "But the company is about your legacy and your employees. Those things matter too. Go. Handle what you need to handle. I will be fine."
Sean left that afternoon, taking a private jet back to the coast. Molly was alone in the villa for the evening, but she did not feel lonely. She was becoming more comfortable with solitude. She was realizing that she did not need constant companionship to feel fulfilled.
The next day, the children arrived with the nanny. They were excited and full of stories about their week on Marinara Island. They had made friends. They had learned to paddleboard. They had eaten ice cream every single day.
Molly spent the day playing with them and listening to their adventures. They played in the infinity pool. They built sand castles on the beach. They laughed together in a way that felt completely free of worry or concern.
That evening, after the children were asleep, Molly received a call from Sean. His voice sounded strained.
"I need to stay here for a few more days," he said. "The situation with the company is worse than I thought. Someone has been embezzling money. Someone on the board."
"Which board member?" Molly asked.
"I cannot tell you," Sean said. "It is confidential until we make a formal announcement. But it is someone I trusted. Someone I have known for a long time."
Molly understood that this was part of Sean's life now. She was married to a man who was constantly dealing with business crises and corporate drama. She was learning that marrying Sean meant accepting the complications that came with his position and his wealth.
"How long will you be gone?" she asked.
"At least a week," Sean said. "Maybe longer. I am sorry. I know this is not how we planned for our honeymoon to go."
"Life rarely goes the way we plan," Molly said. "Handle what you need to handle. We will be fine."
But when she hung up the phone, Molly felt a sense of unease that she could not quite explain. It was as though something was shifting beneath the surface of her life, something she could not see but could definitely feel. It was like being in the ocean and feeling the current begin to pull you out toward deeper water.
The next morning, one of the household staff found a letter that had been slipped under the villa's front door. It was addressed to Sean, but it bore no postage and no official marking. The staff member brought it to Molly.
Molly opened the letter and began to read. As she read, her heart began to race. Her hands began to shake. The letter was written in precise, careful handwriting, and it contained information that made her blood run cold.
It was information about Sean's past. Information that he had not told her about. Information that suggested he was not the man she thought he was.
And it ended with a single sentence that chilled her completely: "Your wife deserves to know the truth about who you really are."