Tessa reached out and touched his arm with a level of comfort that made my blood run cold, and she didn’t pull away when I approached.

Margot looked me up and down with her usual expression of thinly veiled disgust, adjusting her expensive sun hat as I walked toward them.

“It is about time you arrived, Lydia, especially since I invited my parents and Tessa because she has been going through such a difficult time lately,” Caleb said with a shrug.

I felt my throat tighten as I looked at the woman who had been a constant shadow over our marriage.

“You invited your ex-girlfriend to our private anniversary trip without even asking me?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

He sighed and rolled his eyes as if I were being incredibly unreasonable.

“Do not start with your typical CEO drama, Lydia, because you can just focus on taking care of the food and making sure the villa stays tidy while we enjoy ourselves,” he stated firmly.

He adjusted his collar and looked at the pilot, ignoring the shock on my face.

“It will do you some good to do something useful with your hands for once instead of just barking orders at your employees,” he added.

Margot then stepped forward and uttered the sentence that finally snapped the last thread of my patience.

“It is truly the very least you can do considering you are living off my son’s hard-earned money and status,” she said with a smug smile.

I looked at Caleb, waiting for him to defend me or at least correct the blatant lie his mother had just told.

He did neither, choosing instead to adjust his sunglasses and offer a satisfied smirk to his father.

I found myself smiling back at them, but it was no longer the soft smile of a wife trying to please her husband.

It was the expression of a woman who had finally woken up from a long and expensive nightmare.

None of the people standing on that dock had any idea what was about to happen next.

Continued on the next page