Chapter 1
Nora’s POV:-
“Nora, wake up. It’s 11:30 now.” Derek whispers gently.
“It’s 11:30? Seriously?” Groggy with sleep, I try rolling out of bed and nearly fall to the floor, except powerful arms catch me, and I’m hauled straight onto Derek’s lap.
“Easy there.” He kisses the top of my head.
“I didn’t want to spend the first morning of our honeymoon sleeping.” I groan.
“It’s OK. We have all the time in the world.”
“No, we don’t. You’re such a workaholic. It’s only a matter of time till you announce we’re going back because you have something to deal with at the company.” He chuckles.
“I’ve told everyone at the office that I’ll be handling things remotely. I’d have taken a complete holiday if it hadn’t been for what happened at the factory.” Suddenly, I feel guilty.
“Derek, if they need you back home, then we can cancel the honeymoon. We can always come back here later. I don’t want your work to suffer because of me.”
“I’ve got everything handled, Nora. Now I want you to get ready, and we’ll have breakfast or maybe lunch since you’ve woken up so late.”
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Like all the villas here, the restaurant also resembles a shack with a thatched roof and tree trunks as pillars. Suspended in the middle of the place is a centuries-old anchor pulled from the sea.
“The food here’s delicious. This place must be full when it’s open to visitors.” I say, taking a bite out of my tacos. They’re stuffed with caviar, gourmet beef, truffle brie, and some other exotic ingredients that I can’t identify.
“Not really. There are only thirteen villas on this island, and dozens of other restaurants and places to hang out. The guests rarely run into each other, and the staff also tries to keep out of their way. The whole place is designed to give the guests maximum privacy.”
“My sister told me only the top one percent come here. I guess it’s one of the few places in the world where they can unwind without fearing someone photographing them.”
“That’s what I had in mind. My great-grandfather had bought it way back in the 1930s. Darius was considering selling it because he didn’t see its value. It was barely habitable, and it would cost millions just to make it livable. I came up with the idea of turning it into a resort. It cost me a literal fortune, but the returns are worth it. And I’m not just talking about the profits.” There’s a wicked glint in his eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say I get a lot of info about the important guests who come here. Knowledge with the potential to be useful.”
“What? You mean you spy on them?”
“I don’t have cameras or hidden recorders in their villas. That would be too obvious, and if anyone were to find them, it would cost me my entire business. But the staff, just by quietly observing the guests, learn a lot that’s hidden from the public eye. Rich men come here with their mistresses, celebrities dealing with a nervous breakdown, etc, all thinking what happens here stays here.”
“You’re so Machiavellian it’s scaring me.”
“You have no reason to be scared. You know I’ll never hurt you.” He covers my hand with his.
“You never talk much about your dad. What was he like?”
“Broken.” He remains quiet for a while before continuing.
“His entire purpose in life was trying to protect himself and his mother from my grandfather. He wasn’t very successful in that. They could never completely escape Darius’s influence.” He takes a sip of his drink. “He didn’t have the guts to do what he should’ve done a long time ago: kill Darius.”
My first instinct was to change the topic because I didn’t want to upset him. Yet I want to know more, and maybe sharing his past with me would make him feel better.
“Do you know why he even had me? He made a deal with Darius that if he sired an heir for him, he would allow Taylor to live separately from him. Darius wanted an entire tribe of grandchildren. But Marcella, my mother, refused to have more than one child. Luckily for Darius, she died.”
“Then, your father married Evelyn.”
“My dad made another deal with him. Darius would divorce my grandmother, and he would marry Evelyn, and give him a spare. Darius agreed. But he had one condition he wouldn’t budge on: Taylor couldn’t remarry.”
“But she fell in love with someone, right?”
“Yeah, but it didn’t end too well for her or my dad.” I want to know more, but this was our honeymoon, not the time to dredge up painful memories from his past. Now I’m wishing I’d never asked about his dad.
“Please don’t tell me you’re feeling sorry for me. Yes, my parents couldn’t give a damn about me, and the only parent figure I had shot herself. But I have you.” He leans in to stare into my eyes.
“And you have Diana.”
“But you’re the only one who willingly chose me. My parents didn’t want me, and Diana has no choice but to love me cause I’m the only family she has, unfortunately.”
He seems so vulnerable in that moment that I get up and hug him. He’s so broad that I almost can’t wrap my arms completely around him. He tugs me down onto his lap, and I lay my head on his chest.
“By the way, I have good news for you.” He pulls back to look at me.
“What?”
“Let’s just say Ruth’s going through an extraordinarily bad time. Authorities took her brother into custody for coercing underage girls into having sex with him. And someone planted a bomb on her private jet. Luckily for her, it exploded without her inside.”
“And you’re responsible for all of this?”
“Not the bomb in her plane. When I order an assassination, it’s when I’m 100 percent sure it’d be successful. This was definitely Mancuso’s son. Ruth made an extremely stupid move ordering that attack on Mancuso’s mansion. I simply informed Giovanni Mancuso about the location of her plane. And maybe I provided the prosecutor’s office with some useful evidence about Ruth’s brother’s ‘extracurricular activities’.” He drawls.
“In short, Ruth has her hands full right now. So, it’s unlikely she’ll do something for the next several days. We can spend our honeymoon in peace.”
“Wow, someone’s been busy. Is it wrong that I feel so proud of you?”
“I’m not the person you should be asking about what’s right or wrong.” He chuckles.
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We spend the rest of the day cruising on his yacht around the island. The sea shimmers beneath the sunlight, almost blinding me, and seagulls fly above us. I even manage to spot a sperm whale swimming away.
In the evening, Derek shows me around the cavernous wine cellar on the island. We drink from a bottle encrusted with diamonds. I can’t pronounce the name, but according to Derek, it costs millions of dollars and is the most expensive liquor in the world. The only other person who has it is some sheikh from Saudi Arabia.
“Have you thought of what you’ll do once we get back, now that you’re no longer working at Theo Georges?’’ Derek swirls the wine in his goblet.
For a while, I’m dumbfounded. The thought of depending on anyone financially is kind of scary to me after the last couple of years of working to support myself and my family. But I had nothing figured out.
“You once said you wanted to travel the world, explore new cultures. Once I have dealt with the Millers for good, we could do that. Go anywhere you wanted to.”
“Oh.” Relief dawns on me.
“I guess you’re wondering if that day would ever come, considering how cunning and resourceful Ruth is,” Derek says with a wry smile.
“No. I thought you were going to ask me to get a job.”
“I can support you for the rest of your life. Besides, you never mentioned having a career in mind or even wanting to attend college. But if that’s what you want, I’ve already told you I’ll support you in that too.”
“I honestly don’t know what I want.” I fidget uneasily.
“Don’t tell me you’re feeling guilty about depending on me.” Derek frowns.
“Tell you something? Before my parents died, I felt kind of useless. I used to envy kids who knew who they wanted to be when they grew up; the ambitious kind. When I started working to support my family, it was really tough. But for the first time, I felt like I had a purpose. During the times when I was unemployed, I used to feel horrible. I can’t describe how depressed I used to feel, like I had no future—nothing to look forward to.”
“What about your hobbies? You could turn that into a career if staying home isn’t enough for you.”
“My hobbies are buying clothes when I can afford them, watching rom-coms, and sometimes watching celebrity gossip channels on YouTube. I don’t know how I can turn that into a career.” I pause.
“Though I once went through a phase where I took up sewing. I had Grandma teach me some basics. Thought I was gonna be a big fashion designer when I grew up. Then I got bored with that too.” I laugh wryly.
“Maybe if you had someone teach you properly, you’d still be in love with it.”
“No, the problem is me.”
“Why not take some courses? See if you want to pursue it further?”“You wouldn’t think I don’t have enough time for you?” I tease him.
“No, as long as you’re happy and don’t overwork yourself.’’
“Alright then. I’ll take you up on your offer.” I lay my head on his chest. We quietly sip our wine and watch the gorgeous night sky with its unobstructed view of the stars.
For once, I’m living in the present and not wondering if this is all too good to be true. Or when life would decide to punish me for being happy again.
