“Oh wow,” I hear Kat whisper behind me as we stop.
I get out of the car and open the back door for them before the driver can, and I tell him that I will call when we need a ride back to the hotel. Once we exit the car, he drives around the fountain and back down the way we came.
“This is so beautiful,” Zoey says as she takes in the secluded beach, the waves rippling gently and the gardens that surround the path leading to the sand which have been tended to and are a lush green.
“Come on,” I say as I take Kat’s hand and pull her towards the house, Zoey following us.
I reach into my pocket and fist the key that has been burning a hole in my pocket for the last twenty-four hours. They have no idea what I have been up to, and I managed to do all of this whilst they were sleeping or catching a few rays of sunshine. It’s amazing how much you can do and how quickly things can be accomplished when you have a shitload of money to flash in peoples faces.
We walk up the four steps to the property and I put the key in the lock, turning it and opening the door to––what can only be described as––paradise.
High ceilings, a sweeping staircase in the middle of the grand entrance hall, rooms off to the sides, a kitchen and dining space which takes up the back of the house, six bedrooms upstairs––all with an ensuite––and then there’s the games room and office space which is built in the back garden and to the side. Not to mention the patio area with a built-in stone barbecue, a large stone table to match, and the infinity pool which looks onto the beach below. A little walk down gets you to the sand, the path having lights either side of it that come to life when it starts to get dark.
“Oh my God, Nate, what is this?” Kat says after her and Zoey have had a good look around the place, checked out all the rooms and made their way outside to join me on the patio.
I pour both of them a glass of champagne and hand it to them.
“You like it?” I ask as I sip a beer straight from the bottle. I don’t do champagne, so a cold beer it is.
“Like it? It’s fucking stunning,” Zoey says as she walks over to the path to the beach and makes her way down it.
Kat is just looking at me with so many questions in her eyes. I wanted to tell them both together, but Zoey has made her way onto the sand, and I can tell her when she comes back.
“What is this?” Kat asks me, and I place my beer down on the glass table that is central to the seating area before I put my hands in my pockets and hope that I have done the right thing.
“Well… this is home, baby. Our home.”
“Our what?” she whispers, and I suddenly feel a little nervous, like I jumped the gun here.
“Our home, if you want it to be.”
She remains silent for a moment, just staring at me, and I can’t get a read on her thoughts right now. Shit. I should have talked to her about it before coming here.
“But… but what about our life back in the UK?” she says quietly.
“What life?” I say with a shrug. “My life is wherever you are.”
“You know what I mean, Nate. You have a business to run, you have obligations, you––”
“My obligations are you and my sister. Nothing else even comes close. And as for ‘business,’ I want out.”
Her eyes widen and she gasps in shock. “You what?”
I take a step towards her, taking her glass from her and placing it beside my beer bottle before taking her hands in mine. “I want out. I don’t want that life anymore. I’m done.”
Her eyes fill with tears, and I don’t know if they are the good kind or the bad kind.
“Really?” she says, like she can’t believe what I’m saying.
“Really,” I confirm with a nod of my head. “I want our life to be stress free. I want us to be able to do as we please, no threats following us around. We can’t do that back in the UK, too many people know who I am. But here… here, no one knows me, no one knows my past, and we can just be free to live our lives as we see fit.”
It’s the truth.
I want the quiet life. Something I never entertained before Kat came along.
“And what if Zoey doesn’t want this?” Kat asks, and dear God she is always thinking about someone else above her own needs.
“Well, she’s free to make her own choice, I won’t stop her, and I will make sure she is protected wherever she goes, but I think she’s ready to leave it all behind,” I say truthfully. It will kill me not having my sister close because I need to make up for the shitty times I’ve not been there for her like I should have been, but I would deal with it. I would live with whatever choice she made because it’s time I started putting mine and Kat’s happiness first.
