Chapter 2

Ethan' s touch had once been a comfort, a promise.

Now, in Amelia' s memory, it felt like a brand.

She remembered the weeks leading up to Galveston, his sudden attentiveness after months of cool distance.

His hand on her arm, a little too tight. "You' ve been working too hard on that New Orleans project, Amy. You look tired."

A lie. She' d been energized by it, until she saw the discrepancies.

His concern was a performance, she realized now, watching the rain lash against the cheap motel window in a dusty Texas town she didn' t know, two years later.

Two years of being Anna Smith, of meticulously, quietly gathering threads.

She' d stopped wearing the Cartier watch Ethan had given her for their fifth anniversary long before the "accident."

It felt heavy, a manacle.

She' d told him the clasp was loose. He' d promised to get it fixed, then forgot.

Like he forgot their dinner reservations, her birthday one year, the way she took her coffee.

Small things. Or were they?

When did his ambition curdle into greed? When did his insecurity about his father, Lawrence Bishop, and his older, more successful brother, make him so desperate?

Was it before Savi? Or was Savi just a symptom, a tool?

Amelia, now Anna, sifted through data on a secure laptop, her face illuminated by the screen' s glow.

Bishop Oil & Gas was a sprawling, declining empire. Ethan was desperate to be its savior.

Her family' s New Orleans money, a relatively modest fortune by Bishop standards but significant to her, must have seemed like low-hanging fruit.

She remembered a charity gala a year before her "death."

Ethan had been charming, working the room. Then, he' d frozen.

His eyes fixed on someone across the ballroom. Savi Carter, in a dress too expensive for a PR assistant.

He' d made a flimsy excuse about a sudden headache and practically fled, leaving Amelia to field confused questions.

Later, he' d said it was a bout of food poisoning.

She' d seen him take an antacid from his pocket. But his pallor wasn' t from nausea. It was guilt.

She knew he was lying. The way his jaw tightened, the slight shift in his eyes.

A week later, acting on a gnawing suspicion, she' d driven by a trendy new restaurant he claimed he' d never been to.

His car was parked outside.

She' d waited. An hour later, he emerged, laughing, with Savi on his arm.

They didn' t see her parked across the street in the shadows.

Savi had stumbled slightly, and Ethan had caught her, his arm lingering around her waist.

They' d paused under a streetlamp. He' d leaned in, said something that made Savi throw her head back and laugh.

Then he' d kissed her. A long, lingering kiss that wasn' t a friendly goodbye.

Amelia had driven home, her heart a cold stone in her chest.

That night, he' d come home late, smelling of wine and Savi' s perfume, claiming a "client dinner ran over."

She recalled other nights, other unexplained absences, other flimsy excuses. A pattern of deceit, laid bare.

One afternoon, searching for a misplaced file in his home office – a space she rarely entered – she' d found a hidden compartment in his desk.

Inside, a burner phone.

The messages were explicit. Not just lust, but conversations about "the Amy problem."

Savi: "She' ll never agree to give you full control of her trust, Ethan. She' s too independent."

Ethan: "I' m working on it. She needs to be... managed. Or removed from the equation."

Removed. The word had chilled Amelia to the bone.

This was before Galveston. This was when the first seeds of her own survival plan had taken root.

She' d copied the data, then put the phone back, her hands shaking.

Her love for him, already dying, had withered completely.

She remembered all his promises, their shared dreams of designing and building, of a life filled with creativity and partnership.

All of it, a carefully constructed lie.

The decision to fake her own demise, if she survived what she increasingly suspected would be an "accident," wasn' t just revenge. It was escape. It was the only way to get free from a man capable of such profound betrayal.

The memory of his scent, the expensive cologne he favored, now made her physically recoil.

After she' d confronted him, calmly, about the burner phone – not revealing she' d seen the messages, just that she' d found it – he' d tried to gaslight her.

"It' s for a sensitive business deal, Amy. You' re being paranoid."

His eyes, however, had flickered with something she now recognized as fear.

She' d pretended to believe him, but the charade was exhausting.

The evidence was mounting. Credit card statements hidden in his golf bag showed lavish gifts, hotel stays.

A new diamond tennis bracelet for Savi, a weekend at a spa in Napa.

Amelia thought of the career she' d put on hold for him, the endless networking events she' d endured, the support she' d given his fragile ego.

She' d been a fool. A willing, loving fool.

Then came the incident with Councilman Alistair Finch.

A public event, a fundraiser for the city library. Finch, a long-time Bishop family crony, was being honored.

Savi was there, of course, hovering near Ethan.

A protestor, an environmental activist angry about a Bishop Oil & Gas pipeline, had thrown a drink. It was meant for Ethan, but it hit Savi.

Red wine, staining her white dress.

Ethan had exploded. Not with concern for the disruption, but with a white-hot rage directed at the protestor.

He' d lunged, shoving past security, and landed a punch. It was brutal, animalistic.

A side of him she' d seen once before, years ago, in a college bar fight. Protective, yes, but terrifyingly so.

Now, that protection was for Savi.

Amelia had tried to intervene, to pull him back. "Ethan, stop! It' s not worth it!"

He' d whirled on her, his face contorted. "Stay out of this, Amy! You don' t understand!"

He' d turned back to Savi, fussing over her, his voice dripping with concern, while the protestor was dragged away by security.

Ethan left Amelia standing alone to deal with the shocked whispers, the embarrassed apologies to the event organizers, the photographers whose flashes were going off like fireworks.

He' d abandoned her to clean up his mess, his public display of aggression.

The stress of it all, the constant vigilance, the emotional toll, had been immense.

A few days after the Finch incident, she' d collapsed at the architectural firm she' d recently started consulting for again, a small step back into her own career.

Just crumpled onto the floor, overwhelmed.

Lying in the ambulance, she' d had a vivid flashback. Not to the boat, but to something older.

Her father. The boating accident that had taken him when she was twelve. The sudden, gaping loss.

The ocean had always been a place of solace and sorrow for her.

Ethan knew that. He knew her history with the sea.

And still, he' d chosen Galveston. He' d chosen a boat.

When she' d woken in the hospital, diagnosed with severe exhaustion and dehydration, Ethan hadn' t been there.

He' d called, hours later. "So sorry, darling. Savi had a... a bit of a scare after that awful business with the protestor. Stress, you know. I had to make sure she was alright."

His concern, so clearly misplaced, was another twist of the knife.

That was when she started to systematically divest.

She' d quietly moved personal items, family heirlooms, important documents to a secure storage unit her mother helped arrange.

She was erasing Amelia Hayes Bishop, piece by piece.

Ethan, when he was home, noticed nothing.

He' d seen her packing some boxes one day. "Spring cleaning, darling?" he' d asked, distracted, scrolling through his phone.

"Something like that," she' d replied, her voice carefully neutral.

He' d tried to explain away his increasing absences with elaborate lies about new international deals, meetings that ran late, troubleshooting at remote sites.

She' d listened, nodded, pretended to accept it all.

He sometimes looked at her then, a flicker of unease in his eyes. Her unquestioning trust seemed to make him more uncomfortable than her accusations would have.

He continued his affair with Savi, oblivious or uncaring that Amelia knew.

Savi, Amelia learned from a discreet investigator Caroline had hired, was actively poisoning Ethan against her.

Whispering about Amelia' s "instability," her "lack of support" for his ambitions, her "obsession" with the New Orleans project.

Ethan tried to smooth things over with Amelia occasionally, a bouquet of flowers, a vague promise of a trip "once things settle down."

She remained indifferent. She' d moved past caring about his lies.

Her thirty-fifth birthday. Just weeks before Galveston.

Ethan threw a surprise party. All their friends, champagne, a string quartet.

A public display of the "perfect" marriage.

Friends toasted them, recounted fond memories of their college romance, their beautiful wedding.

"To Amy and Ethan! Ten years and still so in love!"

Amelia smiled, raised her glass, played her part.

Inside, she felt like a hollow shell. The contrast between the public facade and her private agony was a torment.

Then, Savi Carter walked in. Uninvited.

Dressed in a stunning, figure-hugging red dress, she made a beeline for Ethan.

The music faltered. Conversations died.

Ethan' s face, initially surprised, quickly morphed into overt concern. He rushed to Savi' s side.

"Savi! What' s wrong? Are you okay?" He completely ignored Amelia, his own wife, the birthday girl.

Savi looked pale, distressed. She whispered something to Ethan, clutching his arm.

Bystanders began to murmur. Whispers of "Who is she?" and "Isn' t that his assistant?"

Amelia' s carefully constructed composure began to crack.

Ethan, his arm around Savi, turned to Amelia, his voice harsh. "Savi' s not feeling well. I need to get her home. Something she ate at lunch, she thinks." He didn' t even look at Amelia' s face.

Then he added, his voice laced with accusation, "You could at least try to look concerned, Amy."

He steered a now theatrically weak Savi out of the party, leaving Amelia standing alone amidst the wreckage of her own celebration, the eyes of all their friends burning into her.

Public humiliation, sharp and brutal.

She maintained her smile until the last guest left.

Then, in the silence of their large, empty house, she sank to the floor and wept, releasing months of pent-up grief and rage.

The next day, Ethan tried to make amends with a gift. A diamond necklace.

It was beautiful. And it was identical to one she' d seen Savi wearing in a candid photo an acquaintance had posted online from a recent Bishop Oil & Gas event.

He' d probably bought them in bulk.

He tried to justify his actions from the party. "Savi' s very vulnerable, Amy. She' s had a tough life. You come from privilege, you don' t understand."

His skewed perception, his utter lack of empathy for her, was staggering.

She thought of all her sacrifices, her unwavering support, now dismissed, forgotten.

That was the moment she made the firm decision. Ethan had to be stopped. Not just for what he' d done to her, but for what he was.

A few days later, hiding in the pantry, ostensibly looking for a specific spice, she overheard Ethan on the phone in the kitchen. His back was to her.

It was Savi. He was speaking in low tones.

"The Galveston trip is set. The boat' s ready... Yes, the weather forecast looks... promising for a sudden squall... Don' t worry, it' ll look like a tragic accident. She' ll be out of our hair for good. Then everything will be ours."

A tragic accident. Her blood ran cold. He wasn' t just going to leave her. He was going to kill her.

The casual cruelty in his voice, the calculated malice, was terrifying.

She slipped out, unseen, her heart hammering.

Her mother, Caroline, was already making arrangements for "Anna Smith." A new identity, a new life, if Amelia could survive what Ethan had planned.

"Everything is in place, darling," Caroline had told her over a secure line, her voice grim but resolute. "Just get through this weekend."

The evening before they were due to leave for Galveston, Ethan found her in their bedroom, staring out the window.

He came up behind her, put his hands on her shoulders.

"You seem... distant, Amy. Is everything alright?"

His voice was soft, feigning concern. She could feel the tension in his hands. He sensed something.

Before she could answer, his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, his expression shifting.

"I have to take this. It' s about the... the new rig in the Gulf. Urgent."

He stepped away, his voice dropping as he answered. "Savi? What' s wrong now?"

Amelia heard snippets. Savi, hysterical about something. A threat? A problem with her apartment?

Ethan' s attention was completely diverted.

He ended the call, his face tight with anger. He turned to Amelia.

"That was Savi. Apparently, her apartment was broken into. She thinks it was that activist from the library fundraiser. She' s terrified."

He paused, then his eyes narrowed at Amelia. "You wouldn' t happen to know anything about that, would you, Amy? You seemed quite friendly with some of those protestor types back in college."

The accusation, so baseless, so cruel, hung in the air.

"Of course not, Ethan," she said, her voice dangerously calm. "Why would I do something like that?"

"I don' t know," he sneered. "Maybe to cause trouble for her? For me?"

He took a step closer. "If I find out you had anything to do with this, Amy, anything at all, you' ll regret it. I swear to God, you will regret it."

His threat was ugly, visceral.

The next morning, as they were about to leave for Galveston, a story broke online.

Anonymous sources had leaked details of Amy' s "minor scandal" from years ago – the one Councilman Finch had helped spin.

But this new version was uglier, twisted, filled with innuendo about her mental stability, her "erratic behavior."

Photographs from her college days, taken out of context, were plastered alongside the article.

It was a vicious, public smear campaign. Orchestrated by Ethan, she had no doubt. This was his retaliation.

He was trying to discredit her, to paint her as unstable, perhaps to lay the groundwork for her "accidental" death.

She looked at him, standing by the car, impatient to leave. He avoided her gaze.

That was the final, absolute limit.

A single tear traced a path down her cheek. A tear for the man she had once loved, for the life they were supposed to have.

Then, she wiped it away. Her resolve hardened into something unbreakable.

She would go to Galveston. She would play her part. And she would survive.

Ethan, she knew, expected her to break, to apologize, to crumble.

He had no idea who he was dealing with anymore.

He thought she was fragile. He was about to find out she was forged steel.

As they drove towards the coast, towards the waiting boat and the staged squall, Amelia felt a strange calm.

The news of her "death" would shock him. He' d probably feel a moment of triumph.

Then, the slow, dawning realization that he had unleashed something he could never control.