807 A.M.
ANTONIA
Antonia’s cell phone sat on her thigh, on vibrate mode so she would know the moment Enid wrote back.
She was seated in the exact same spot as the first dinner on the yacht, only this morning she was wearing dark sunglasses to hide her puffy red eyes.
Ted, the traitor, sat to her left, so she found herself instinctively leaning to her right, which must have felt somewhat intrusive to Winslow.
Miguel was sleeping in, and obviously so was Travis, even though Mercy was pretending a work emergency came up.
It wouldn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out the man was hungover and likely had sunstroke.
Charlotte, the other traitor, was on one of the chairs across from Ted (both of them obviously trying to ignore each other).
Was this part of the thrill for them? To fornicate, then pretend they barely knew each other when she was around? She brushed off the torturous questions, knowing that her mind was going to do this for months to come if she let it. She glanced down at her phone, willing Enid to contact her already.
The breakfast spread was laid out on the bar top, buffet-style, and Antonia, who was ravenous even though she was also sick with grief, had already managed to put away a large slice of quiche, a bowl of cut up honeydew, and some bacon.
She was just pulling off a piece of croissant to pop in her mouth when Mercy, who was sitting next to Charlotte, held up a jar of marmalade.
“Ooh, try this on your croissant. It’s divine. ”
Antonia took it from her. “Thank you,” she said in a low tone.
Mercy tilted her head. “Are you all right this morning?”
No, Mercy, I am not. I’ve never felt worse. “I’m good. Just…a little jet lag I think.”
Jet lag and a night spent curled up on her side silently crying.
Ted had come back to their suite just after two a.m. She laid awake facing the window, tears soaking her pillow while she listened to him shower, then felt him get into bed.
Her body immediately filled with a deep, throbbing rage, her mind shouting at her to turn over and start kicking him with everything she had (and at that point, it would’ve been a lot).
But Enid’s words were a mantra in her head: Do nothing. Act normal.
And so, she had done nothing, except listen to him sleep, fought the urge to cover his face with a pillow, and tried to think of the best way to play this.
The conversation around her was warm and light.
Charlotte and Ted were talking about one of the more memorable episodes of their show—two women, a mother and daughter, each pregnant with twins by the same man.
Winslow and Mercy were laughing along as the two of them tag-teamed their way through the sordid story.
Mercy shook her head and asked the questions that were on the minds of the audience members.
How had they not known he was sleeping with both of them?
Their bedrooms were right next to each other and he literally impregnated them on the same night!
Antonia watched her husband and their employee play off each other so effortlessly, pausing at just the right moment for the other person to take over.
And the look on Ted’s face was pure bliss.
How had she not seen it? She, who had spent the last several years embroiled in other people’s affairs?
She had been impossibly stupid. Or perhaps willfully ignorant.
Digging her fingernails into her palms, she smiled and nodded, laughing quietly when the others did, pretending she was hearing everything even though her mind whirred so loudly that she was completely disconnected from anything happening at the table.
Flashes of Charlotte yanking Ted into her room followed by her imagination filling in the two of them naked and sweaty and smiling.
Her veins filled with adrenaline. Then the unbearable weight of grief on her chest, threatened to suffocate her.
She forced herself to run through her routine of stopping herself from crying.
Press tongue into back of front teeth. Breathe slowly.
Name five things you can see. Four things you can hear. Three things you can touch…
Only this time, she imagined she could see Charlotte going down on Ted, and hear him crying out her name, and the touch would be her punching him in the throat. Whhoopppa!
Ted put his hand on hers. “Toni? You okay?”
She flinched, pulling her hand away before she could stop herself. “What?”
Ted let out an easy laugh to cover up for what had just happened. “My goodness. You’re jumpy this morning, and you’ve been so quiet.” That was his way of telling her she wasn’t keeping up her end of being half of the charming, happy couple.
He had dark circles under his eyes, which she could imagine him telling Charlotte were ‘totally worth it.’ “I must have had a bad dream I can’t shake off.”
Letting out a yawn, he said, “Maybe a nice dip in the pool would help. It’s going to be a scorcher today.”
She curved her lips upward. “That’s a good idea. Would you care to join me?”
How had she managed to get the words out, when the thought of it made her want to vomit?
“I might get caught up on my sleep,” he said. He turned to Mercy. “Do you think I’d have time for a quick nap before Travis finishes his business?”
She nodded. “Absolutely. When I left the suite, he was completely wrapped up in what he was doing. If I had to guess, I’d say he’ll be tied up until close to ten.”
Antonia’s phone buzzed, and she quickly reached down to silence it. “Charlotte, would you like to go for a swim with me?”
“I wish. I have a bunch of emails I should answer. In fact, I better get to it or I’m going to be fired,” she said with a wink.
Antonia laughed too loudly at her joke and could feel her husband staring at her. “Let me know if you need anything.”
Pointing a finger gun at her, Charlotte said, “I know where to find you.”
“Haha!” Antonia answered, pronouncing each ‘ha’ in lieu of actually laughing.
Ted got up, giving her a perplexed look before announcing he was off to nap. He yawned. “Enjoy your swim, Toni. Mercy, please tell Travis to just knock and I’ll be up and ready to go fishing in under five minutes.”
As soon as Ted and Charlotte left, Antonia grabbed her phone and swiped, revealing Enid’s message: Get somewhere you can talk and call me.
I’m available for the next couple of hours.
She slid off the bench seat. “Mercy, is there a quiet place I can make a quick work call? I don’t want to disturb Ted. ”
“Why don’t you use the library?”
“Thanks.”
“How are you holding up?” Enid asked instead of saying hello.
Antonia glanced around the rather masculine room. For a library, it held few books. “I’m holding it together, but not by much.”
“I spoke with Danielle Updike this morning. She’s my go-to divorce attorney,” Enid told her.
“She said you need to think of this first and foremost as a breakup of your business partnership. He didn’t just screw Charlotte; he screwed up your brand.
He’s opened up the network, himself—and you—to a massive liability.
If word gets out about this, your value will be bottom-feeder low.
Obviously the timing couldn’t be worse, given where you are and that you’re about to sign a new contract. ”
“Oh God,” Antonia said, fumbling around to sit down. She doubled over at the waist, taking it all in.
“I know. This sucks droopy balls, but it’s the hand you’ve been dealt, so you gotta play it. The most important thing to keep in mind right now is that the whole perfect marriage brand is dead in the water. The only question remaining is whether you die too.”
She closed her eyes and sighed. “Part of me doesn’t even care right now.”
“That’s just the lack of sleep and grief talking. Trust me, you care. And if you play this right, you can come out on top here, which is what I want for you. You’ll be like the phoenix rising from the ashes of his cold, dead corpse.”
“You’re full of metaphors today.”
“I’ve been drinking Red Bull all evening while I worked on this. It tends to make me a little dramatic.”
Sitting up, she lifted her chin, trying to gather her strength. “All right. How do I…rise from the ashes?”
“First thing is to continue pretending everything’s fine.
You don’t have a clue about the affair while we look for anything we can use to prove it, okay?
If he realizes what’s happening, he’ll try to control the narrative.
The goal is to cut him off from any source of power he’ll have over the outcome. ”
“I’d like to cut him off from his flow of oxygen.”
“I’m sure you would. And I know it’s gotta be tempting to scream in their faces, but that’ll only make you look crazy. It’ll also tell Travis that the two of you are no longer to be trusted. You’ll get dropped immediately. No compensation.”
“You don’t actually think I’m going to sign on to do the show again?!”
“Yes, you will. You’re going to need the money now more than ever.
The two of you sign, then we force him to step back, citing health issues.
You carry on by yourself, or better yet, I find you a hot young shrink to partner with.
It’ll be a huge ratings-boost,” she said, already sounding excited about the next chapter of Antonia’s career.
“Eventually, you break down on television and announce your divorce, crying into hot doctor’s shirt.
You shift to being the face of surviving betrayal.
You write a book about it—it’ll sell like fidget spinners at an ADHD convention.
Then you either carry on with the show or take a bow and go live the good life.
And he spends the rest of his days filled with regret for screwing up both your lives and his career. ”
“Holy shit,” Antonia muttered.
“I work fast, which is why you pay me what you do.” Antonia heard the sound of Enid lighting a cigarette, then blowing out a puff of air before she continued.
“Now, if you think you can manage it, you need to get Charlotte on your side before Ted knows anything. Play the nurturing boss, the wounded woman who believes she’s as much of a victim as you are. ”
“Ha! As if.”
“Well…maybe?” Enid answered. “I mean, he does have a lot of power over her career, and he has the training to allow him to manipulate the shit out of people.”
Antonia felt those words in her gut. Just like he did to me.
When she didn’t answer, Enid continued. “Only do it if you can stop yourself from wringing her skinny neck. Remember, if you lose it on her, you lose everything.” She blew out more air. “Do you think you can handle that?”
Shutting her eyes tightly, Antonia said, “Maybe. I already survived lying awake last night while they were at it, and a breakfast with them laughing away with each other in their post-coital bliss.”
“Yes, you did. And you’ll survive whatever else is coming. Draw on all your shrink knowledge to get through this,” Enid told her. “And Danielle said if we can get proof of the affair, you’ll be golden.”
Antonia nodded. “Proof, right. They’re probably doing it right now.” Her eyes filled with tears and her voice cracked. Clearing her throat, she told herself this was just a business call. “But it’s not like I can get into the room without them knowing.”
“So we go back in time. Get a hold of your IT department. Tell them there’s been a possible security breach and you need everything backed up on external hard drives—emails, security footage at the office, everything.”
“Right, okay. That sounds smart. All our phones are paid for by the network, so maybe IT can find a way to get all their texts and photos.”
“Perfect. If you can do that, he’ll be sunk.”