ELENI #2
The photos … Though she’d known what was coming, seeing the explicit images turned Eleni’s stomach.
She might have hated the way he treated her, but a part of her still loved him.
She’d even tried, over the years, to make things better between them in bed.
She’d given in to his pressure for sex even when she was exhausted, or ill, or simply didn’t want to – even here, on the yacht, when she knew what he was doing with Talia, she’d gone along with his desires last night. It was just easier that way.
With the women before Talia, he’d actually managed to convince Eleni it was her fault.
But her boss’s wife was a bridge too far.
This was it: the final, final straw. No more wishing and hoping and waiting for him to change.
No more believing that they could have their happily ever after.
No more trusting him when he said it would never, ever happen again.
This man didn’t love her. If you loved someone, you didn’t hurt them over and over.
She was leaving him, and taking the boys with her.
She just needed a proper plan this time.
And then there was the issue of the bonus trip.
When Eleni had discovered Nick and Talia’s texts, she’d wanted to back straight out of it.
Knowingly giving her husband the chance to spend a week in paradise with the other woman he was fucking – with their spouses right there – was too much humiliation to bear.
But then she wondered: what if this was the perfect opportunity to expose them?
If Rory discovered the affair while they were on the superyacht, there was no way Nick wouldn’t react: he’d lose his shit.
He’d get nasty. Nick would be revealed, publicly, as a cheater and an aggressive man; people would get a glimpse of who he really was.
Even his friends on the force couldn’t fob her off again, if someone as powerful as Rory was a character witness.
Nick might even leave Eleni, or she’d come away with the support and the vindication she needed to finally leave him. Which was exactly what she wanted.
So she’d arranged for her mum and sister to help her and the boys move out, in anticipation.
And she’d started planting seeds in Rory’s mind, even before the trip.
She’d commented on how attractive Talia was, mentioned how well she and Nick had seemed to get on at the event; asking whether Rory had, perhaps, noticed that too?
And so wouldn’t it be lovely for them all to get together on holiday?
Once they’d got here, she’d tried her best to bring her plans to fruition.
She’d tried to find any opportunity she could to spend time together, the four of them, hoping the two lovers would slip up and expose their relationship.
She’d tried to anticipate when Nick and Talia might be meeting up in secret, so she could send Rory to stumble across them.
None of that had worked; instead, the cheating couple had arranged a get-together that turned violent and deadly.
Her stomach twisted with guilt; she’d never wanted Talia to get hurt.
She’d tried to warn her on the first night of the trip, with that hastily scribbled note shoved in Talia’s handbag. What more could I have done?
Eleni hadn’t anticipated that Nick’s violence would explode so quickly with another woman.
She’d thought he only showed the worst of his cruelty to her – his wife.
She’d thought abusing Eleni satisfied him, seeing as it was happening almost daily these last few months.
Even here on the yacht, only yesterday morning, he’d squeezed her arm so tight when she accidentally woke him that she’d cried out in pain – the cry Sam had overheard, no doubt.
She hadn’t thought he’d unleash his true nature with the woman he was having an affair with.
That was stupid – she saw that now. If Nick spent enough time with Talia – or any other woman – his patterns would always have emerged in exactly the same way.
Eleni watched Sam struggle off the Lusso and into the police tender, his hands bound behind him. Soon it would be their turn: they’d make their way back to Papeete and, no doubt, be questioned in detail about what exactly had happened, and how.
She briefly locked eyes with Lucy, then Talia. They’d been so careful; they had their story straight. There was too much evidence against Sam for anyone but him to fully take the fall.
Eleni breathed in the fresh, salty air. Four days ago, she could never have imagined Nick would end up dead here; that she’d end up killing him – but in truth, this outcome was far better for her than exposing his affair.
If they’d just split up, he’d always have been there, lurking, probably trying to get custody of the boys.
She’d read stories of ex-partners of abusive police officers who’d spent years living under surveillance, followed by unmarked cars and spied on in their own home.
She might never have been free of him – or at least, not free enough.
But now, she was free.
She had been granted a new life. A different life; a peaceful one.
A cycle broken.
A future of love and safety and joy – for herself and for her children.