Chapter 2
Caroline's POV
"Vamos voltar," Luis said. "As pessoas vão estranhar se a gente ficar aqui muito tempo."
Let's go back. People will think it's weird if we stay here too long.
Their footsteps moved away toward the cabin. I waited until I was sure they were gone before I turned around.
The yacht rocked gently under my feet. My tears had stopped completely.
I left the yacht right away and headed home. Now that I know Gavin is alive, I have to find out why he pretended to die.
I opened my laptop. Made coffee that went cold on my desk. Stared at the login screen for a full minute before I could make myself type.
Gavin's iCloud account. I knew the password because he'd made me set up his backup system six months ago. He was too lazy to figure it out himself.
My hands were shaking when I logged in.
His photo library loaded. Thousands of pictures. I scrolled past all the ones of us together. Birthday dinners. Beach trips. That weekend in Key West where he got down on one knee.
Then I saw a shared album I'd never noticed before.
Party S.
I clicked on it and my coffee cup slipped out of my hand. It didn't break but coffee spread all over my papers. I couldn't look away from the screen.
Gavin with a blonde woman on a beach. His hands on her waist. Her mouth on his neck. Both of them laughing.
I kept scrolling because I had to see everything.
More photos. Her on his boat in a tiny bikini. Him kissing her bare shoulder. A selfie of them in bed together, sheets everywhere, her hand showing off a diamond bracelet I'd never seen.
Then I saw the dates.
Six months ago. Five months ago. Four months ago.
My eyes were burning but I couldn't stop. I found their WhatsApp messages next.
Gavin: Missing you already baby. Caroline's driving me insane with all this wedding shit.
Sienna: Poor baby 😘 Want me to make you feel better when you come over?
Gavin: You know I do. Send me something to think about.
I pressed my hand over my mouth so hard my teeth cut into my lip.
The messages kept going. Photos she'd sent him that made me feel sick. Long conversations about how boring I was, how demanding, how he couldn't wait to get away from the wedding planning.
At the very bottom there was a voice message. Sent three days ago.
I made myself click play.
Gavin's voice came through my laptop speakers.
"Hey baby, just checking in. Everything's going perfectly. Coast Guard totally bought it. My parents are selling the grief thing really well, especially my mom." He laughed. He actually laughed. "Caroline's completely falling apart, which is kind of the whole point. When I come back she'll be so grateful she'll forget about all the wedding drama. Diego says we just need another week or two until you're settled in the Bahamas, then I'll do my big resurrection moment. After that I'll marry Caroline to unlock my trust fund and keep my parents off my back, but you and I can keep doing our thing. She won't suspect anything. I already found that beach house you wanted. Diego's taking care of the paperwork. Miss you, babe."
The message ended.
I played it again.
And again.
Every time I heard something worse. The way he said my name like I was an item on his to-do list. How he called his own mother's tears a performance. That casual phrase: marry Caroline to unlock my trust fund.
Marry me. Like I was a bank transaction. Like signing paperwork. Something he had to do to get his money and buy his girlfriend a vacation house.
I barely made it to the bathroom before I threw up. My stomach was empty but I kept heaving over the toilet. When nothing else came up I sat on the cold tile floor with my arms around my knees.
Marry Caroline to unlock my trust fund.
Four years of thinking he loved me. That we were building a life together. That I mattered to him.
I don't know how long I sat there on the bathroom floor. Eventually I stood up. Washed my face. Looked at myself in the mirror with my red swollen eyes.
Then I went back to my laptop and I saved everything. Every photo. Every message. Every voice memo. I made an encrypted folder and backed it all up three separate times.
When the last file saved, I wasn't crying anymore.
I opened a new tab and searched for Sienna's Instagram.
Her profile came up immediately. Half a million followers. Every single photo was perfect. Yoga poses on tropical beaches. Smoothie bowls. Sunset meditation bullshit.
Her most recent post was from yesterday. Her in a white bikini on white sand with her arms up toward a blue sky. The location said Paradise Island, Bahamas.
The caption: "Sometimes the universe takes us exactly where we need to be. 🙏✨ #HealingJourney #NewBeginnings #TrustTheProcess"
Three thousand comments. Mostly guys telling her she was hot. Some girls asking about her mysterious boyfriend.
She'd replied to one: "Some stories aren't meant to have endings ❤️🩹 Just grateful for the journey."
I took a screenshot.
Then I scrolled back through her older posts and found one from two months ago. Her holding champagne next to a man's hand. I recognized Gavin's watch. She'd cropped out his face but I knew that yacht.
Another screenshot.
I made a fake account called MiamiSunseeker with a generic sunset photo. Started following her.
"Healing journey," I said. "You're going to fucking need one."
