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His lips thinned. “I’ve got to head to the mainland; my father has summoned me.”

“Is he still pushing for the post-nup?”

As predicted, Jacob had returned to our hotel room, furious that his father had once again tried to talk him into signing a post-nuptial agreement stating that I wasn’t entitled to any money should we separate.

“No, he wants to discuss the business, but I’m sure he’ll bring it up again; he can’t help himself.” His brows furrowed. “Truthfully, I’m this close to walking away from the business; it’s not like we don’t have enough money to live on for the rest of our lives, and then Edward can take on all the responsibilities like he’s always wanted.”

“What would you do all day if you didn’t work?” I replied, instead of encouraging him to quit his job so he never had to leave the island again.

Jacob’s hands moved to my hips, gripping them tight as he pulled me against him. “I would spend my days watching you.”

I scoffed. “I think you’d soon get bored.”

“Angel, I spend most nights awake just watching you breathe. I could spend every minute of my day watching every single thing you do, and I would never get bored of it.”

My lips pull into a beaming smile. I didn’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the line I’d grown to love Jacob’s obsession with me. Perhaps it was the little girl inside of me who never got her parents’ attention that couldn’t help but bathe in Jacob’s love and adoration.

Jacob started saying something else, only to be silenced by his phone beeping. Pulling it out, he sighed. “Johnston is here with the boat. Come to the dock with me so I can kiss you goodbye.”

He took my hand, leading me through the house and out to the boat, telling me that he hoped he wouldn’t be more than a few hours, and when he got home, he was going to ravish me. Reaching the boat, Johnston greeted Jacob but didn’t even glance in my direction, despite me waving at him.

With a possessive kiss, Jacob boarded the speedboat, and I waved him goodbye, watching from the dock until the boat was out of sight. Missing him already, I figured I would lose myself in my current piece of art, knowing that the time would fly by, and Jacob would be home before I knew it.

Climbing the stairs to the first floor, I smiled to myself at the picture hanging on the wall that Jacob had purchased from the Italian gallery. Every time I walked past it, I let the good memories of our honeymoon play in my mind and refused to acknowledge the bad ones.

I couldn’t say I was happy about the tattoo inked into my skin, but I’d made peace with it. The more time I spent with Jacob, the more I understood him. Underneath his confident and dominant exterior was a man terrified of losing something he’d never had before: the one person who loved him for who he was. So, if branding me with his name gave him the reassurance he needed to know that I wasn’t going anywhere, then so be it. Besides, my name was branded on him. He belonged to me as much as I belonged to him.

Lost in thought, I passed Jacob’s office when my attention snagged on the door, or more specifically, the sliver of a gap between the door and the jamb where Jacob hadn’t shut it properly.

A pang of curiosity shot through me as I hovered outside. Jacob was always private about his office. With the exception of the time I confronted him about my clothes, I hadn’t been inside it, and he always kept it locked.

But why did I feel the sudden urge to peek inside? It wasn’t like I’d find anything but his computer and work stuff. Shaking my head, I crossed to my studio, pushing the door open to be greeted by the oil painting I was working on: the Italian church Jacob and I had visited.

Pulling my paint-covered apron over my cute butterfly dress, I set up the tiny tins of colors I would need, pouring two into a separate pot. Distracted by the perfect shade of orange I was creating, my elbow banged against something, and I muttered a curse when the glass of water I’d been using to clean my brushes wobbled.

I rushed to grab it before it fell and splashed my painting, gasping when I knocked the tray of oil paints onto the floor, the lids coming off as the various colors leaked over the floor, merging into a dark purple.

But the mess wasn’t what my gaze landed on. It was the USB stick that had skidded across the floor and was lying several feet away. Edward’s words rang in my head, telling me to look at the files on it when Jacob wasn’t around and that it contained information that would prove he was lying to me.

The room around me disappeared, my vision tunneled on the stick, and like an out-of-body moment, my feet moved on their own. I bent down, my fingers reaching out to snag the stick up, tingles of anticipation traveling the lengths of my arms.

The stick was only light, yet it felt like I was holding a ten-ton weight in the palm of my hands as I gaped down it with the sudden overwhelming fear that maybe Edward had been right all along.

Before my brain caught up to what I was doing, I had crept out of my studio, peering left and right along the hallway to make sure Wallace was nowhere to be seen. Confident the coast was clear, I tiptoed across to Jacob’s office, tentatively pushing the door open and hoping like hell it didn’t creak.

With my heart in my throat and the USB stick clutched in my hand, I darted inside, pressing the door closed as quietly as possible before spinning around to face Jacob’s office, hoping I wouldn’t regret what I was about to do.

Chapter 34

With my heart pounding like a bass drum, I gazed around the office, my jaw dropping open at finding my wedding dress hanging on a hook from the ceiling opposite Jacob’s desk, a dark red patch of blood staining the material.

Momentarily forgetting why I had come into his office, I crept toward it, a million thoughts racing through my head as to why he had it.

I didn’t know what had happened to the dress after our wedding; I thought Wallace had thrown it away after it had been damaged with the evidence of Jacob taking my virginity, so why was it hanging in Jacob’s office? It was almost as if he’d kept it as a memento of the night he claimed me, but that would be crazy.

Bile rose in my throat, and I tore my gaze away, hurrying around to his desk and taking the seat in front of the computer. I’d figure out the bizarreness of my dress another day; if I was going to find out what was on the USB, I needed to be quick in case Wallace was lurking nearby.

Knocking the computer mouse, the screen flickered on, but my heart sank when a box flashed up requesting a password. I internally cursed at my stupidity. Of course his computer was going to be password-protected; he kept all of his work information on it. Wondering if he may have the password written down somewhere, I tugged open a desk drawer.