After glancing at the clock, Sadie did a quick scan of her room to see if she’d forgotten anything. Computer and charger; check. All five pairs of heels; check. Makeup, perfume, and the beautiful collection of bath amenities that Grace had sent her from the spa; check, check, and check. Her pride and self-respect; oh, wait. Those were buried under a whole pile of lies and the deceptively peaceful pool at the Sunset Villa.

Sadie hauled in a shaky breath and willed herself not to cry again. She’d already taken enough ibuprofen to knock out a three-hundred-pound linebacker and her head was still throbbing. If she let the tears return she was worried her headache would get so bad it’d do permanent damage.

Despite the fact that it was Saturday, Lizzie had answered her call on the second ring and had booked her a new flight and a car from the airport, no questions asked. For that alone Sadie was going to treat her to a particularly indulgent pair of shoes. Add to it that Lizzie didn’t even hint at a “told you so,” despite Sadie’s tear-strained voice. When it was all said and done, Sadie might just have to fill Lizzie’s closet sky-high with designer shoes. And she wouldn’t begrudge her a single pair.

Sadie cast another anxious glance at the damned clock. One more hour. Peter was driving her to the airport and she just had to survive this place for one more hour. Which was turning out to be much harder than she’d expected. Obviously, she had to steer clear of the bed, visions of Jack sprawled across it a gash to the heart. And also that ridiculous white bench. Not to mention the wall he’d pressed her against so ardently just the morning before.

Those weren’t the things tripping her up. No, the most painful memories lived in the benign corners of the room. Like the room service menu, still open to the page of breakfast selections they should’ve been enjoying together. Or the bathroom, where Sadie could practically feel the steam from his shower the day before still clouding the air.  And, god help her, her fucking phone. Which would typically provide the perfect distraction, but she could still see Grace’s text clearly, even though she’d deleted it without responding.

Help! A Christina Avery is trying to check into Mr. Avery’s villa but she isn’t on the reservation. She’s insisting that I give her a key but I can’t without approval from either you or Mr. Avery. He’s not answering his phone. Call me! (she looks cra-zy, I don’t want her tearing the lobby – or me – apart. Need reinforcements ASAP).

That had been bad enough. But the one that had made Sadie want to throw her phone – and potentially herself – into the ocean, was the text that had come five minutes later.

Crisis averted, no need to worry. She’s his wife. Mr. Avery met her in the lobby, brought her to his room himself. All sorted.

Hearing it from Jasper had been awful, learning of the woman’s existence through his foul words. But there’d been a chance that it was some wretched trick. A desperate, insane ploy to convince her to betray Jack, to drive her further into Jasper’s grasp with anger.

But Grace’s texts, seeing the woman’s name irrefutably typed out? That was when Sadie felt all of her foolish hope crack open and bleed out of her.

Another fifty-seven minutes. You can do this, Sadie. Just one minute at a time…. Sadie pressed her hands to the glass patio door, resting her head between them and letting her eyes wander to the blue waves cresting in the ocean beyond. Up and down, back and forth. In and out, Sadie reminded herself. Just breathe. In and out.

It worked for a few minutes, the constant reminder of how her lungs should function. Of how to keep herself from crumbling to the floor. Just one breath at a time, one minute at a time. Hoping that the end of the tortuous hour was rapidly approaching, Sadie pushed herself up, risking another glance at the clock. Catching a glimpse of the room behind her in the door’s reflection, Sadie screamed, slamming her hand into her chest as she whirled around.

“Out. NOW!” Sadie refused to meet Jack’s eyes, glaring at the door to her room, her finger thrust in the same direction.  

“Sadie, please, let me…,” Jack reached out his hands, palms up, his voice wavering.

“No. Christ. How did you even GET in here? Did you kick the door down?” Sadie scanned the floor for signs that he’d broken in. Splintered wood. Shattered frame. But everything was perfectly neat, tidy. Oh, if only.

“Ahh….”

“Jack, so help me god, tell me how you got in here or I’m calling hotel security.”

“Your friend, Grace. She gave me a key.” He held up the small plastic card as proof.

“You have to be fucking KIDDING ME! Is this some sort of insane conspiracy, you guys colluding to drive me out of my ever loving mind?” Sadie was seething, her shouts bouncing around the room.

Jack took one step towards her, hands raised, as if he was approaching a wild animal who might tear his head off at any moment. Which wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility.

“Grace,” Jack started calmly, “she was there when she…, Grace was with Mark when he found out what was happening. Who had arrived. And after Mark found you at the villa, with that man,” Jack paused, inhaling a breath, his palms now curled into fists. “Well, after you left Mark found Grace, told her what happened. She wanted to check on you. But Mark convinced her to give him the key. And I convinced him to give it to me.”

“That is the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard,” Sadie swore at him.

“No, Sadie,” Jack shook his head in defeat. “Grace’s just worried about you. So is Mark.” His voice fell, the sadness curling around every word. “So am I.”

“You are worried about me,” Sadie gulped in air, desperate to keep herself from flying at him “You are worried about me? So you came here and snuck into my room to make sure I’m okay. Is that what you’re trying to say, Jack? Because if it is, I still call bullshit.”

Jack made a move to speak but Sadie ignored him, the words falling unbidden from her mouth. “The reason it is complete and utter bullshit, Jack, is because whatever it is you all are worried about – you are the one responsible. For all of it, Jack. But, gee, thanks for stopping by. Making sure I’m still standing. As you can see,” Sadie waved her hands up and down, “doing just fine. Alive and well. Your conscious satisfied?” Sadie didn’t give him a chance to respond. “Good, now get the fuck out. Your wife is waiting for you.”

Sadie’s chest was heaving, every single nerve shaking in rage. And heartbreak. As she stared at Jack, Sadie’s vision began to blur and no matter how hard she tried she could not hold back the tears. And before she dropped her head, hiding her pain from the man who caused it, Sadie thought she saw an answering brightness in Jack’s eyes.

“God, Sadie…I am so sorry.”

If there had been any pieces left to break, whatever remained of Sadie’s heart would have crumbled under the agony in Jack’s voice. Instead she felt hollow, the tears draining her rage drop by drop, the soul left behind dry and brittle.

“What is her name, Jack?” She needed to hear it. If this was it, if everything she and Jack had shared was going to be abandoned and buried on the island, she needed to hear it from his mouth.

“Christina,” he choked out. “Her name is Christina.”

“Where is she?”

“Gone.”

“Gone?”

“Gone, Sadie. I didn’t invite here here. I don’t want her here. I don’t want her at all.”

“But she is your wife?”

Jack stayed silent, his eyes tracing Sadie’s face as if he knew he might never see her again. Without a word he took a step towards her, but stopped when Sadie retreated. “Don’t make me ask you again, Jack. Please.”

“Yes. We are married. But….”

Until Jack caught her in his arms, Sadie didn’t realize she’d fallen. But in the breath it took him to utter those five little words, Sadie’s legs gave out and her head spun as she tried to drag air into her lungs. Only as Jack rubbed his hands up and down her back did feeling return to her body. But by then it was too late, because Sadie was exactly where she wanted to be. Despite the lies and the pain and the betrayal and his wife, Sadie wanted nothing more than to stay pressed into the welcome heat of Jack’s chest and let him hold her as she completely fell apart.    

“I hate you, Jack. I hate you, I hate you so, so much…,” Sadie sobbed against him, her small fists pounding against him in desperate marks of punctuation.

“I know, Sadie. I know,” Jack murmured, his voice low and gentle against her temple.

As her sobs subsided into hiccups, Sadie let herself relax into Jack. Just for a few more minutes, she told herself. If you don’t think, don’t talk, you can survive your final minutes here, just like this. Because once you leave him, you’ll never feel anything like this. Never again.

So, ignoring the despair threatening to crush her chest, Sadie angled her head against Jack’s broad body and let her arms fall to her sides. For one brief moment she let herself remember everything she’d felt with him on the patio that morning. The joy, the peace. The love. Everything that vanished the second Jasper had opened his horrible mouth. What Sadie didn’t realize, however, was that as she basked in her willful forgetfulness for one final minute, Jack had a clear view of her neck and arm. And the marks Jasper had made on them.

Sadie felt Jack tense at the same time he inhaled a sharp breath. Before his fingers touched her skin, Sadie knew exactly what Jack was seeing. Five distinct finger prints pressed into her upper arm. And matching dark bruises just below her jaw where Jasper had gripped her.

“Jesus, Sadie. He did this to you.” Jack’s voice was lethal, tremors of anger tightening the wide bands of muscle under his shirt.  “At my villa. He did this to you. When I wasn’t there. When I had to go….”

“When you had to meet…her.” Sadie tried to say her name, but her mouth refused to cooperate. “Yes, Jack. Jasper is responsible for this.” She broke away from his grasp and took several steps back.

“I’m going to fucking kill him.” His eyes fixed on her bruises, Jack seemed to be talking more to himself than to Sadie. But she shook her head, the fleeting comfort of their embrace replaced by cold, hard loss.

“No, Jack. You aren’t. And not just because you’d be more likely to end up in jail than he would, which is all kinds of fucked up. But,” Sadie sighed, “you aren’t going to touch him because I,” she tapped a shaky finger to her chest, “am not yours to protect. To defend. Because as of this morning I am nothing to you but a woman you knew once, you betrayed once.” Rage licking at the memory of Jasper’s hands on her skin, Sadie’s voice trembled. “Because now, to you, I am nothing more than a woman you seduced, used, and then left alone for Jasper to find. But I am not yours to save, Jack. I am perfectly capable of doing that myself.

“But, the real reason you won’t touch him, Jack, is because despite what you see, these bruises? They are nothing compared to the damage you’ve done. In a few days these will be gone. But the ones you put here,” Sadie pressed a hand above her heart, “those are indelible, Jack. I will have them forever. And that makes you far worse than he could ever be.”

Before Sadie was finished speaking Jack was shaking his head, his mouth forming the word no over and over again. From the tremors wrecking his body, Jack looked like he was on the verge of splintering, anger, sadness, pain and frustration warring for dominance. Sadie tried to turn away, the sight of him breaking apart unbearable, but Jack stalled her with a light touch to her arm. His fingers were cold where they glanced across her skin. 

“That is not true, Sadie. That is not what you are. I fucked up. Don’t for one second think I don’t know how badly. I should have told you from the beginning. But I was such a fucking coward, I couldn’t bear to talk about it. About her. Goddamn it!” Jack gripped the back of his neck, fingers digging into the rigid ropes of muscle. “For a long time I’ve felt it, Sadie. Not just my love for you, but your hesitancy to give me – us – a chance. And I didn’t want to risk it. We were together, at last. And it was – is – beyond anything I’ve ever hoped for. So good, so right. And you,” Jack stared at her, every beat of his heart echoing in his eyes, “you have me, Sadie. Completely. And I couldn’t bring myself to tell you about Christina until you realized that I had you too.”

“Jack,” Sadie stared at him in disbelief. “Do you have any idea how insane that sounds? How entirely fucked up? Because you’re standing there telling me that you wanted to be sure I was in love with you before you told me you are married.”

“NO! Shit,” Jack stepped forward on a burst of energy, “We’re separated, Sadie. Christina and I are separated. Have been for ages. I haven’t thought of her as my wife for years. We don’t live together. The only time I see her is when we have meetings with our lawyers. But she’s fighting the divorce every single fucking step of the way. It has been bloody, Sadie. Prolonged and painful. And for a few days, with you, it felt like it was all over. My life with her gone and buried. And my life with you finally, finally starting.”

Sadie didn’t know how to process everything Jack was telling her, anger, disbelief, and the tiniest speck of hope all playing a part in her labored breathing. Closing the distance between them, Jack carefully reached out to touch a wisp of hair curling around her arm. He never touched her skin but Sadie felt the electricity jump between them as if they were connected by a live wire.

“I should have told you. From the beginning. I was wrong, Sadie, so wrong. And so scared. Because I thought if you knew, you’d never give us the chance we needed. Not with our work relationship already standing in the way. But not telling you, that was my own cowardice. My own lack of faith in you. And instead of protecting you – us – all I’ve done is hurt you. Which is the last thing I ever want to do. There are not enough words in the English language, Sadie, for me to explain how incredibly sorry I am. But if you give me a chance, one last chance, I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

Jack wound his hand into her hair and gave it a light tug, drawing Sadie to look into his face. Only inches apart, she couldn’t ignore every drop of sorrow and every ounce of love filling his hazel eyes. “I love you, Sadie. Thoroughly, completely. With every bone in my body and every breath in my lungs. And I will prove it to you, every minute of every day for as long as I’m alive. If you’ll just give me the chance. Please,” Jack’s plea fell across her lips. “I’ll do whatever you ask, Sadie. Please just give me the chance.”

For a moment everything stilled. Jack’s face was open and vulnerable, hope for forgiveness and redemption straining the corners of eyes. Sadie allowed herself to absorb the topography of his face. The bold strength of his jaw, the sharp angle of his cheeks, the decadent slope of his mouth. The mouth that had brought her so much pleasure, so much happiness. Yet was responsible for keeping so many secrets tucked away. Jack’s confession lingering in the air, Sadie felt herself lean towards him, seeking comfort in those lips. But as his fingers slipped from her hair to cradle her face, the bruises under her jaw throbbed and, simple as that, all of the day’s betrayals come crashing down.

“Thank you for telling me,” Sadie dampened her dry lips as she pulled herself from his grasp. “And for the apology. But, right now….” Sadie gave the clock one more glance, mildly surprised to see that her time on the island was up. “I need to go, Jack.”

He started to protest, but stopped when Sadie gripped his hand quickly before heading for the door.

“Is that all you’re going to say?” Jack’s voice shook but Sadie was too exhausted to tell if it was from anger or defeat.

Pausing at the door, Sadie looked at him over her shoulder. Standing at the foot of the bed, Jack was in roughly the same place she’d been the first night she’d welcomed him to her room. And Sadie was in his place, eyes greedy for every inch, every detail of the man standing in front of her. But no amount of wanting could cut through the jumble of emotions clogging her heart. So she gave Jack the only answer she could.

“You said you’ll do anything I ask?”

Jack nodded once.

“Then let me go, Jack. Let me go and give me time. For both our sakes. Please.”

Sadie didn’t wait for his reply. Because if she stood there any longer she knew she’d never leave. So without another look at the man she was now certain was the love of her life, Sadie grabbed her suitcase and slipped out her room, letting the door close with a soft click behind her.

Through her tears, Sadie could see Peter standing patiently at the top of the path, waiting to tuck her into the car and take her to the airport. Propelled by an urgency she had never felt before, Sadie ignored the salt-water raining against her chest and ran towards the drive, her suitcase bouncing haphazardly behind her.

If she’d stood in front of the door for one moment longer, however, she would have learned the answer to an age-old question: what sound does the heart make when it breaks? 

It isn’t loud or startling, or even sudden. No, it is the soft crumble of a body collapsing to its knees. Of arms wrapping around themselves, trying to hold everything in place. Of lungs gasping for breath and eyes so blank that they wouldn’t see through the tears even if they tried.