I opened the door to the bathroom and came out, dressed in a modest bikini, but I had a cover-up on. I was going to spend a little time at the pool to think of my plan now that I was married. Jonathan glanced at me from his desktop and raised his eyebrows.
I showed him the brochure I'd seen of the hotel that had mentioned the swimming pool would still be open. "I want to swim a little."
He nodded. "Sure." and went back to his work.
I grabbed my Kindle, a journal and a pen. I had a plan to think about my life now in more detail. In reality, it was more like escaping the room for a few hours.
We'd landed in Greece and all had been perfect, right up till we'd gotten to the hotel. The hotel owners had just happened to be leaving as we were entering, and they'd recognized Jonathan and me from the articles that had already been released of our wedding. It didn't take anything for them to find out we were here on a honeymoon, and they'd sponsored our room as a wedding gift. A single room. To say I was disappointed would have been an understatement. I'd really been looking forward to feeling comfortable, at least in the hotel room, but that had been taken away from us.
The sounds Jonathan's laptop were also making as he worked had helped foster my decision to go to the pool. I didn't want to be a distraction and I didn't feel like sleeping even with the jet lag after sleeping for that long, so here I was, entering the pool door.
I surveyed the pool, glad it was empty, and entered, applying sunscreen on myself. There weren't many sports I liked, but I loved swimming. Had loved it since I was a kid. It was the perfect spot that resonated the most with running away from my problems. I was in terrible shape and hated running, so short distance swimming had been perfect.
I sat down on one of the pool chairs and placed my hand behind my head, thinking about my life and my next plan of action.
Manipulate him to marry me, check. Get married, check. Move in together, check. Now I had to figure out how to live a year with him and find out what he was hiding.
Ever since I'd seen the pen in his office, I hadn't been able to enter his office to search again and so far, in the kitchen, living room and my room, there had been nothing suspicious. It wasn't really like I was accusing him of murdering my father, after all, he had just been a year older than I was, but, I couldn't deny the relationship that pen had with the murder and I knew the pen would be the perfect place to start from. I should have asked him straight out where and how he had gotten it or why it hadn't been in an opened place, as opposed to the other pens on his table, but I just wasn't able to. Funny that I had enough confidence to get married to a man I knew nothing about, but wasn't able to ask him just one question.
I opened my calendar and my heart dropped. No wonder I'd been feeling down and weary of recent, it was my father's death anniversary tomorrow. And I wasn't going to be able to see my mother. Since he had died and even after I moved out of the house, I'd always spent the day with my mother. We never spoke about him, but we comforted each other with our presence. I'd not forgotten, but the sudden honeymoon had ruined that plan as well.
I picked my phone and dialed her number. Would it show that I was calling from a different location?
"Hello." Mum answered on the third ring, and a smile automatically came to my face. The voice that had picked the call had been different, which hinted that my mom was in a good mood and was trying to mess with me.
"Hi mum." I greeted, sitting straighter on the chair.
She laughed. "Hi baby. Did you wonder who had picked? Even for a little?"
"Nope. I know all your voices. You can't fool me anymore."
She laughed again. "Sounds like that. How are you doing?"
"I'm great. Still at the shop?" I closed my mouth, I'd forgotten I was in a different country, as it was almost 4pm here. "I mean, have you gotten to the shop?"
"Yes. Just getting here." She sounded distracted. "How about you? Won't you be late for work?"
"I just parked my car. I'll soon go up." I lied.
"Alright baby. I can see my first customer. Have a great day at work. We'll be seeing tomorrow, right?"
I breathed out. "Mom." I called in a small voice.
I heard her stop. "You will be busy tomorrow, right? I almost forgot, I'm also fully booked tomorrow and I wanted to mention that we spend tomorrow separately. We can always talk on the phone."
I bit my lip, feeling very bad and seeing her lie for the lie it was. She had known what I wanted to say, just from my tone. "I'm sorry mom. I promise when I'm less busy, I'll come down, and we'll go on that date. I'll also call you tomorrow."
"It's okay, baby. I'm also going to be quite occupied tomorrow. Enjoy your day, okay?"
"Okay. You too" I said slowly, not wanting to end the call just like that, thankfully, she came to my aid.
"That's true. Remember that your friend I said I saw the other day. I saw him last week again on my way to work. But he may not have been the one, though."
I nodded. "He probably wasn't the one since he also has to go to work."
"Maybe. Thanks for calling, baby. My customer just came in."
"Alright mom. Have a great day as well and don't stress yourself too much. I love you." I said and blew her a loud kiss.
She did the same. "I love you too, my girl." and dropped the call, but I thought I heard her saying something about really seeing him before the call dropped. I took a deep breath and kissed my phone. I really loved my mom and the fact that we won't be together tomorrow, the first for us, was feeling me with pressure. How would my mother handle the day and how would I, most importantly, cope?
LUCAS' POV
"Come on babe. I've been waiting for forever."
I glanced at my girlfriend, who was lying on the bed in a lingerie. She was pouting, but even with that, she wasn't who I wanted. She was never going to be her.
"I'm busy." I replied halfheartedly, returning to the game I was playing. Just five more minutes and I will win the game.
My eyes saw red as the screen turned off. I turned towards Lillian, who was now kneeling on the bed with a remote in her hand, a triumphant smile on her lips.
"What is wrong with you?" I yelled at the dimwit. "I almost had the guy."
She threw the remote towards me. "And I've been waiting for the past hour and a half. This isn't about any stupid game. You think I didn't notice that you've not looked at me since?"
I got up, my fists clenched. "I'm not in the mood for your rubbish right now." I grabbed the remote and turned on the screen, but she shuffled quickly until she was standing in front of it and started sniffing.
"Get lost." I said with clenched teeth.
She shook her head and tears came to her face. "Lucas, I can't do this anymore." She suddenly switched back to anger, probably realizing her fake tears were never going to move me. "I'm so tired of you treating me like garbage over that slut."
I stood up and slapped her, hard. "Don't ever call her that again. You agreed, didn't you? If you knew how I would treat you, why did you bother agreeing to me?"
She was still holding her cheek, looking shocked, but I didn't feel anything. I never have and I never would. She could never be Danielle.
"I'm going to call her and tell her everything. What you think of her and everything you do to me because of her. You think she's going to accept you then, or even ever want to relate with you again, you abuser." She screamed back at me and a ringing sound started ringing in my ears. I moved closer and grabbed her neck, not caring as she fought for breath.
"Do that, and I'll make sure you will never be able to speak again." Fear flashed in her eyes as her struggles became weaker. " I don't have to threaten you, right. You know what I'm capable of doing." I dropped her to the floor and left the room, leaving her coughing.
Danielle was mine, and I was going to make sure I got her. I never should have given her this much leeway from the beginning giving that she had not just considered but got married to a different man. I was going to ruin that man's life, or die trying.