"Trust is earned, respect is given and loyalty is demonstrated. Betrayal of any one of those is to lose all three."
-Ziad Abdelnour-
***
Sofia was laying down in a deckchair of the pool. The warm sun touched her rosy cheek and she had to put on her shade since it was getting brighter as the minutes passed by.
“Here you go, a glass of cherry cocktail for you.” Her husband, Christian walked over to her and placed the drink on the table beside them. Sofia smiled and removed her sunglasses before turning to him.
“Thank you so much, my love. You’re very attentive.” She complimented him as she took a sip of the drink. Christian smiled back at her and responded with a sweet voice.
“Anything for you, my love.” He took her hand and kissed the back of it.
“This evening, we’re going to the yacht ride. I can’t wait to have some alone time with you in the middle of the ocean, it’s going to be an amazing experience.” He kissed her and she chuckled.
“Yes, I can’t wait for it as well. It’s going to be so romantic. Goodness, what time is it? I think I have spent too much time sunbathing. Let’s get inside the villa, my love. I feel like having a spa treatment before our yacht trip this evening.” Sofia walked into the villa without waiting for Christian.
The man was watching her from behind and the smile disappeared from his face.
At this point, Sofia didn’t know that her husband was actually planning something behind the scene, something she never expected him to ever do.
The two of them were newlywed couple. They were initially living in UK, Sofia De Laurent was a Parisian beauty and heiress to De Laurent fashion business in Paris who met Christian during her trip to the UK.
The two of them had an intense chemistry in the beginning and started doing long distance relationship where she would go back and forth between Paris and London just to meet him.
Then, after two years of dating, they finally got married and Christian decided to settle in Paris along with her. They already purchased their own home in advance and was currently on their honeymoon trip.
Initially Sofia wanted to have their honeymoon in Cape Town but after discussing it with her husband, Santorini was closer to both Paris and London compared to Cape Town so they went there and booked a villa for a whole week and one night at a yacht.
So far everything seemed perfect, until it was no longer.
That evening, Sofia dressed herself in a beautiful ruby mermaid evening grown that complimented her skin tone really well.
She was also wearing her favorite pair of ruby earrings and matching ring, a pair of Louboutin and sprayed herself with intoxicating amber and vanilla perfume.
“We are going to go on a private yacht, my dear, no one is going to see you there except for me, what are you getting so dressed up for?” Christian asked, seemingly displeased with her choice of attire.
“Hm, we are going to have dinner over there, no? Let me do what I want, Christian. Besides, I have brought some change of clothes, I can always get changed after I am done with the dinner.”
One thing about Sofia, as the daughter of a fashion mogul and the heiress to Paris upcoming fashion business, she always paid meticulous attention to the way she was dressed.
This flamboyant style of hers sometimes clashed with Christian who had a more casual approach in life. Sometimes when he was walking alongside with her, he felt more like her employee or a guard compared to her husband.
The disparity of status between the two of them were quite clear. People could easily tell which one of them actually had taste.
Christian was not poor, actually. He was a successful engineer who had worked for some of the biggest tech companies, so he had quite a bit of fortune of his own, but it was still incomparable to Sofia who was wealthy since she was born.
Yes, Sofia was one of those lucky soul who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth while he had to make his way from the bottom.
“Okay, anything you want.” He placed both of his hands on her shoulder and went to kiss her neck. Sofia smiled and turned around before giving him a proper kiss.
“I wish we can continue this kiss all night long but it’s time to head out, my love.” Sofia reminded him.
“Well, I couldn’t agree more.” He replied and the two of them headed out of the room, got into the car and headed for the yacht.
“Wow, this is probably the nicest private yacht I have been to. I mean me and my family had gone to a cruise ship before, but it didn’t count since it wasn’t a yacht.” She said as she slowly climbed up the stairs and he followed her from behind.
“Look at this place, it’s unbelievable, can you believe we are going to spend an entire night in this place? My goodness.” Sofia was excited. She was like a child being brought to a candy shop.
“Yes, it’s nice indeed.” He replied back.
One of the staff welcomed them at the entry and gave them a brief tour of the yacht. It wasn’t the biggest yacht ever but since they had it all to themselves, it was still quite spacious.
The place had two master bedroom, a lounge, a dining room, kitchen and bathroom for each of the room as well as an external bathroom.
“Looks like we are going to have a lot of fun tonight.” She said as she put down her bag on the bedroom and looked outside of the window.
The view of the ocean was absolutely breath taking. She had always liked being around the water since it calmed her down and made her realize that all of her problems were insignificant compared to the vast wonder of the universe.
“I’m going to go and get myself some welcome drink, do you want to come along?” She asked him.
“No, I am good. I’ll just stay in the room and rest for a bit before dinner.” Christian told her. Sofia didn’t think much of it, but during this time, he was actually preparing something for later.
“Okay, suit yourself.”
Around an hour later, the two of them were having candlelit dinner. Everything was absolutely perfect. Soft, classical music was playing in the background.
The ambience was warm and perfect. Sofia was sipping a glass of wine before slicing her steak and placed it gently in her mouth.
“Delicious, I absolutely love this place, we should do it again sometimes.” She delightfully told him. Christian was smiling as her response, but his eyes weren’t smiling along. Sofia was too drowned in the moment to notice it.
However, after fifteen minutes, she started to notice how quiet he had been since they got on the yacht and started to get curious.
“Christian, are you okay? Do you feel seasick or something?” The question brought his attention back and he shook his head.
“No, why would you think that?” He asked as he gulped down a glass of water.
“It’s just, you aren’t as talkative as usual. Is there anything wrong?” She repeated her question just to make sure.
“I’m fine, my love, just wondering if this is real.” He replied as he forced a smile. Sofia was not entirely convinced, but she didn’t want to seem nosy by asking him more question.
“I’ll give you some medicine later in case you feel sick.”
Oh, little did she know it would be a different type of sickness.
After they had their dinner, both of them was walking back toward their room. In order to reach their room from the dining room, they had to pass by the deck and the moment the two of them were in the deck, Christian suddenly stopped her and made a strange request.
“Sofia, I have this idea, why don’t we recreate that scene from Titanic?” Sofia wondered why he would do that since he wasn’t always the biggest fan of movies, but she thought it was pretty interesting so she agreed to it.
“Sure, let’s do that, let me remove these heels for a moment.” She removed her shoes and climbed to the deck, with her front facing the ocean.
She waited for him to come from behind her and placed his arm around her waist like the man did in Titanic.
However, when Sofia wasn’t watching, Christian pulled a gun from the back of his suit and shot her right in the shoulder. Sofia who was shot quickly turned around in disbelief as she placed her hand on her bleeding shoulder.
“Christian, why?” She asked amid the shock and with a stoic face, he replied.
“I’m sorry, Sofia, but I have never loved you.” With that, he climbed on top of the deck and looked at her one last time.
“Goodbye, Sofia, you must die so I can live forward, a life I have always wanted.” With that, he pushed her off the deck and she fell straight to the ocean.
"Objective reality, otherwise known as truth, matters."-Justin Raimondo-***As she fell to the ocean, Sofia could see Christian’s cold expression and at that moment, she realized everything she had known all along was nothing but a mere lie.It was the biggest form of betrayal she had ever experienced from anyone.Sofia was a sweet and vibrant woman who always tried to see the best in people, she had overlooked all of the signs within him. Tears fell down from her eyes right before she splashed into the ocean.“Am I going to die like this?” She asked herself. The pain on her shoulder was becoming overbearing. She was doing her best to reach the surface, but it was very difficult.Eventually, she lost all of her strength and slowly closed her eyes, feeling the darkness overwhelmed her.They said when someone was about to die from drowning, they would feel like their body’s pierced by a thousand ice cold needles.In the beginning, Sofia felt the same way as well. Until she suddenly fe
"When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to be your friend."-William Blake-***“Baby, are you okay?” Christian snapped out of his own thoughts and turned around to see Layla’s concerned face.The woman wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder with a look of concern on her face.“Yes, I’m fine, baby. I just, I just couldn’t believe this is really happening.” He was still in a state of shock and disbelief himself after his action.He actually shot his wife and threw her to the ocean. For an entire day after he did that, he was panicking.When he got off the yacht, no one noticed her missing because he was very smooth about the way he handled it and no one heard the gunshot as well.No notice was made to the local authority as well until he had left Santorini.He received the news that they were searching for her everywhere, but after three days, she was nowhere to be found.It was a miracle for him to be able to fly back to Londo
"There is no need to suffer silently and there is no shame in seeking help."-Catherine Zeta Jones-***After almost an hour flight from Santorini to Athens, Sofia got off the airplane, walked out of the airport and went straight to find a taxi. She gave the driver an address and asked to be driven there. Her heart was beating really loudly.She couldn’t believe she was doing it for real. One might argue it would be easier for her to contact her parents and had them involved in her plan, but she knew those two. They were good lawful folks.Surely they wouldn’t agree with her plan and chose to bring Christian to jail instead. It would be too easy for him, she needed to do this so she could be satisfied at the end of the day.Almost half an hour later, she arrived in front of an old style mansion which she once visited when she was a child. She paid the driver and got out, walking toward the gate and started pressing the bell.She could hear a man’s voice in Greek but she didn’t underst
"It is impossible to unsign a contract, so do all your thinking before you sign."-Warren Buffet-***Dion was reading a book when he heard a knock. It was the maid who informed him that it was time for him to have dinner. He nodded and dismissed her.Since Sofia’s arrival in the place, he found it difficult to concentrate on anything because he kept on thinking about his decision earlier.It was time for him to meet her again and he needed to be firm about it.When he entered the dining room, he saw her with the lilac dress he assigned to her and she looked so much better after getting all cleaned and dressed up.It made her look less like a sad golden retriever and more like the charming angelic beauty that she was.“You look so much better.” He said as he took a seat right across her.“Thank you, now I feel somewhat like a human again.” She replied with a small s
"You have the power to change your beliefs about yourself. Your identity is not set in stone. You have a choice in every moment."-James Clear-***“You need to change your name temporarily. If you use the name Sofia, it will be easier for people to find out about who you are and it will get in the way of your revenge plan.” He advised Sofia.The thought has also crossed her mind before. She knew she needed to change her identity completely for this plan to succeed, she just didn’t know how she could do that without getting caught.“I know some people who can create new documents for you. New ID, licenses, passport, everything. All you need to do is to give me a new name and a new identity that you want to create and I can help you to fabricate your entire background and identity.” He told her.Sofia raised her brow. Just what kind of man was Dion, exactly?Why did he have these
"There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage."-Martin Luther-***The sound of church bell rang in the air as Sofia was walking toward the altar, holding a bouquet of Calla lilies in her hand.It felt strange walking on a wedding carpet again so soon after her first one but this time, she didn’t feel nervous at all.She looked straight toward Dion who was already waiting for her on the other side and he reached out his hand to help her get up the stairs.Once she was on the altar, he gently removed her veil, revealing her face. She was not smiling or frowned. The only expression on her face was that of a stoic woman.He had a similar look on his face that anyone who saw them at the moment would have guessed that these two were not having a wedding out of love.Fortunately for them, the only people who attended their private wedding were
"Concern should drive us into actions, not into a depression."-Karen Horney-***“How did that man get away with it?”Ines wasn’t pleased when he found out that after a little over a week, her daughter had not been found and Christian officially escaped the suspicion list of the Greek police along with the French authority.“We tried finding anything that might prove that he was the perpetrator in this case but him and his lawyer created a strong alibi.""At the time being we do not have any proof of his involvement beside the fact that they were on honeymoon together and got on the same yacht.” The private investigator told them.“I don’t care, you must keep looking. We need to find her and we need to hold someone responsible for this case!” Bernard shouted.He was usually a rather calm man who didn’t lose his temper that much but when it came to
"Approach the enemy with the attitude of defeating him without delay."-Miyamoto Musashi-***“Are you nervous?” Dion asked her as they were getting ready for Michel Louise’s birthday party.“Hm, not really. It’s the opposite, I am eager to start the plan.”Sofia replied as she applied a bold red lipstick that complimented her really well. Just like the night when she almost died, she chose to wear a ruby red dress with matching ruby earrings and necklace.They were different in style, but these should be enough to act as subtle hints for Christian and a reminder of what he did.When she was about to put on her necklace, Dion approached her and gently placed his hand on her hand which was holding the necklace.“Let me help you put it on.” He picked it up and helped her put on the necklace. He was standing so close behind her she could feel his suit touchi