Page 75 of One Night in Hawaii

“I told you?” she repeated. “I didn’t even know she was cheating. I couldn’t have possibly told you.”

He took a deep breath. “Remember when you told me you thought Matthew might be cheating?”

“Yes.”

“You mentioned one of his trips to LA,” Archer explained.

I was listening to every word. I didn’t know if it was any of my business, but it didn’t seem like they were trying to hide their conversation. And dammit, I was nosey.

“Yes. Several trips,” she said.

“Yeah, well, when you mentioned the LA trip it reminded me of something. I checked my calendar and that is when Ashley had an emergency shopping trip—to LA. You said Matthew was taking weekend trips and acting differently. So was Ashley. They were together. They’ve been messing around for a while.”

Penelope’s eyes widened. “No way!”

“Damn, that’s some fucked up shit,” Ryder said. “Talk about keeping it in the family.”

Even though it benefited me and Ryder, I felt terrible for Penelope and Archer. It was horrible.

“You’re sure?” Penelope asked.

“As sure as I can be,” Archer said. “I casually mentioned to her I knew she was cheating, which would mean she breached the contract.”

“Did she admit to it?” I asked, inserting myself into the conversation.

Archer laughed. “No, but the look on her face told me I was right. When I started thinking about little things, it all added up. I never noticed it before because I guess I didn’t care. But when you told me Matthew was cheating, something just kind of clicked inside me.”

“Wow,” Penelope said. “Right under our noses. How did I not know it was her?”

“They did a good job hiding it,” I said. “I think this was always their plan.”

“Whose plan?” I asked.

“If Ashley married me, she would have been very wealthy. If Matthew married Pip, he would be rich and it would save his failing company. I don’t know the details about your marriage contracts, Penelope, but Ashley gained a lot if I broke the contract. She set me up. She took off, knowing it would sour me on the idea of our marriage. Then she came back because she knew I would never marry her. She would get the money and the shares of my company, which would make her wealthier in the long run. That would have saved Matthew. You and I were the backup plans.”

“Holy shit,” Penelope said with a shake of her head. “I can’t believe we almost got saddled with those two. Why didn’t you tell me you knew about them?”

“I wanted to make sure,” he said. “But then you dumped his ass and ran. That’s when I knew there was no way Ashley would marry me. She wanted to be with him but needed my money. With you out of the picture, she could have him all to herself.”

“I’m so glad I left,” Penelope said.

“You are going to have to eventually talk to Mom and Dad,” he said.

She groaned. “I don’t want to.”

As they talked, I realized their lives weren’t quite as shiny and pretty as they looked from the outside. They dealt with a lot of things I didn’t have to. I looked at Ryder, who slowly shook his head. We were both living modestly. We’d grown up with very little but we had good families. I felt guilty for all the times I snarled at the rich people that visited the island, blowing money like there was no end to their supply. They needed the money to fill the empty holes in their lives.

“Well, enough of this,” Penelope said and got to her feet. “Shiloh, let’s go swimming.”

We stripped down to our bikinis and walked down to the shore. “I truly love it here,” Penelope said. “I never want to leave.”

“Do you have the freedom to live where you want?” I asked.

I understood why Archer wasn’t truly free. He had a business to run.

“Yes and no,” she said.

“What does that mean?”

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