I quickly stood up and dropped the phone as I walked toward the water. My heart felt as if someone was squeezing it and I couldn’t breathe.

When was that taken?

Was it before we got back together or after?

Pressing my hands onto my face, I let out a frustrated cry. No! It was not taken after we were together. I knew in my heart Emmit would never cheat on me. Dropping my hands, I looked out over the crystal-clear turquoise water.

How in the hell did Stephanie find us? No one knew we were here besides Todd and Ashley. Emmit had sent them both text with the information the day after we arrived.

As I spun around, I walked back to the phone. Reaching down, I grabbed my dress and pulled it over my head and then snagged the phone and headed back to the resort.

Landy smiled when I walked up to her. I tried my best to not act like a crazy, jealous wife. “Landy, who gave you that package?”

“A courier. She said it was important that you got it right away.”

A lump formed in my throat. “It was . . . a woman?”

“Yes, it was.”

I looked all around as fear raced through my body. “W-what did she look like?”

“Oh, I didn’t really pay that much attention, Mrs. Lewis.”

My head snapped back to Landy as I glared at her. “Did she have blonde hair? Dark hair?”

“She um, well it was blonde. It was pulled up in a baseball cap, but I could see blonde peaking through.”

My hands came up to my mouth as tears formed. I quickly spun around as I looked at everyone.

“Stephanie . . .”

“Mrs. Lewis, are you okay?”

I slowly shook my head as I wrapped my arms around my body and cried.

My body flinched as Emmit hurled a vase across the room and it shattered in a million pieces.

“Tell me how in the fuck she found out where we were Todd!” Emmit screamed into his phone.

Chris had already called Emmit back to say he was trying to get the local police to check video footage at the airport, but as far as they were concerned, someone giving me a phone was not a crime.

“No, that’s not a good enough answer. I want you to figure out if she hacked into your email and found out. Fuck, for all I know she has a fucking tracking device on my goddamn phone.”

I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face. The image of the video played over and over in my mind, even though I tried to like hell to remove it. Emmit told me everything. It was the night of the dinner party, the day before the race at Texas Motor speedway last April. Emmit and I weren’t together then, and he assured me nothing happened. I believed him and figured that was why the video stopped when it did. Just seeing another woman on him and touching him made me sick to my stomach. I needed to forget it and realize none of that mattered.

“Addie?”

My head lifted as I was met with the most caring gray eyes ever. “Baby, I’m so sorry this is happening. Do you want to go home?”

Pressing my lips tightly together, I attempted to hold back my tears, but they finally broke free. I threw myself into Emmit’s arms as he held onto me. “I swear to you, pumpkin, we are going to find her. I swear to you.”

Emmit’s phone rang, and I wanted to tell him to ignore it. Wrapping my legs around him, I held onto him as he walked over and picked up my phone.

“Chris, talk to me bro. Give me something.”

I could hear Chris talking through the phone, but I pushed it away and focused on Emmit and his cologne. My mind drifted back to last night in the hammock. I thought about how I had stopped talking my pills the day after Emmit said he wanted a baby.

With a quick glance down to my belly, I smiled at the idea of little baby growing in there.

Emmit walked over and sat me down on the sofa and then he dropped down next to me. “What do you mean she’s in North Carolina? Are you sure?”

I watched as Emmit’s hand pushed through his hair while he closed his eyes and shook his head. “But if she was there . . . who gave the phone to the front desk?”

My heart started beating so loud I could hear it in my ears, drowning out Emmit’s words.

As I stood up, I turned to look at Emmit. He held up his finger as if telling me to hang on. “Find out for sure and then call me back.”

Dropping the phone to the side of him onto the sofa, Emmit stood up and looked at me. There was nothing but confusion swimming in his eyes.

“Stephanie has been in North Carolina this whole time. She’s working for the city as an administrative assistant. Every day for the last three weeks, she reported to work.”

My eyes widened in horror. “What?”

Emmit shook his head. “This doesn’t make sense. She must have hired someone to do all of this so it appeared she was completely innocent. How else would anyone know about where we were getting married or have my credit card number?”

Thoughts raced through my mind. Emmit had to be right. Stephanie must have sent someone to do all of this to make herself look innocent.

“Has anyone talked to her?” I asked as I watched Emmit quickly head to the bedroom.

“Chris has. He said she seemed nervous, like she was for sure hiding something. When he asked her about the phone and the video, she stood up and told him to leave her house. Chris said Stephanie’s husband practically punched the living hell out of him.”

Emmit grabbed both of our suitcases and motioned for me to take mine. “Are we leaving?”

“Yeah, I’ll feel better when we are home and you’re safe.”

My body shivered as I rubbed my hands down my arms. “You don’t think we’re safe? Do you think someone will try something?”

Emmit sighed and turned to me. “Addie, someone shredded your wedding dress with a knife. They tracked us down here in the Bahamas’ and they sent you a fucking video of me trying to cause problems. Yes. I wouldn’t put it past them to try something else.”

“But if it’s Stephanie, maybe she’ll stop knowing we are so close to her trail and—”

“Damn it, Addie!” My body jumped when Emmit slammed the dresser drawer shut. “Will you just pack, please. The sooner we get out of here the better.”

“Don’t raise your voice at me, Emmit Jerome Lewis. Don’t ever do that to me.”

Emmit turned to look at me as I stood there with my arms wrapped around my trembling body. “I’m scared enough as it is.”

It only took him two steps to get to me as he cupped my face within his hands. The color was drained from his cheeks as his eyes captured mine.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I would never ever hurt you.”

My hands rested on his arms. “I know that.”

Emmit closed his eyes and shook his head as he softly spoke, “I’m sorry, Addie. I would never ever do anything to scare you. I just want you safe.”

I squeezed his arms and he opened his eyes. “I’m safe as long as I’m with you. You’re the only place I feel safe.”

Emmit’s eyes searched my face before they fell to my lips as I instinctively licked them.

We were both stressed and scared. This whole thing had thrown both of us, and I could see it in Emmit’s eyes that he needed something different from me. This whole week had been about Emmit showering me with attention and loving me so sweetly. We had made love so many different times in so many romantic ways. Now he needed something more.

He needed something raw.

I needed something raw.

This was not the time to make sweet love.

With a step back away from him, I lifted my dress up over my head, revealing the teal two-piece bathing suit I still had on.

“Take me,” I whispered as I slipped my top off. His breathing picked up and his eyes exploded with the need to do just that. He hesitated and I knew he was worried he was too worked up and he might be rough, but that was what we both needed, to get lost in the passion of our love.