CJ, Cree and Joe were eyeing Astrid weirdly. She hadn't said much since they'd left the spa, and she hadn't said anything since they'd sat down for dinner. It wouldn't have bothered them much, if it wasn't for the fact that the woman was clearly thinking about different things.

Her facial expressions were changing like the seasons every few minutes.

"This isn't supposed to be normal, right?" Joe whispered. CJ kicked him under the table as Ursula approached them.

"Hey guys! How are we doing this evening?" she asked them.

"We're doing fine. We're just not sure if Astrid is," Cree replied, which snapped Astrid out of thought.

"I'm fine," she said, faking a smile.

CJ raised an eyebrow at her. "Really?"

"Why would you think otherwise?" Astrid questioned.

"You've barely said anything since we've left the spa," Joe told her.

She shrugged. "I'm just thinking about stuff."

"There's thinking about stuff, and then there's what you've been doing. You remembering stuff if anything," Cree said knowingly.

Astrid blushed at the very thought of how she'd spent her time at the spa.

"What the hell? Look at that blush! Where did that come from?" CJ asked.

"Nowhere. Are we eating or not?" Astrid asked.

"Miss Thang, are you hiding something from us?" Joe asked her.

She smirked. "Maybe."

"Ooh, this is good! I love solving mysteries," Cree said excitedly.

"This isn't one that you're going to be able to easily solve. Trust me," Astrid said. She was only confident in her words because she'd made up her mind.

Being around that man was a bad idea.

He blew her mind in more ways than one, and from past experiences, she knew that this path was one that would either end up with her getting her heart broken, or with her hurt in one way or the other.

She was already suffering enough by being married to Raymond.

So there was no need to add any unnecessary drama and pain to her life.

"How come?" Cree asked.

"Because the mystery is closed now. We're leaving tomorrow morning," Astrid informed.

"Aaaaw," CJ and Cree whined, making Astrid laugh.

"Should I process everything just after you leave?" Ursula asked her.

Astrid nodded. "Please and thank you."

"Alright! I'll add everything up after you check out," Ursula replied.

"Thank you for a wonderful time here Ursula. It felt good to live like the rich for once," Cree joked, making them laugh.

They placed their dinner orders and chatted about their time at the resort. Astrid was giving nothing away about her encounter with the man whose name she realized she still didn't know. He just consumed her to the point where knowing his name wasn't the most important thing every time she was with him.

And it was probably better that way.

Without knowing his name, he could remain a fantasy for her when she returned to her miserable reality. Not knowing his name provided a sense of distance from the situation, one that she appreciated because it would make it easier to forget.

Even if a big part of her already knew that there was no way she'd ever forget.

They were walking back to their rooms, having called it a night, when someone noticed Astrid. "Astrid?"

She froze, knowing exactly who that voice belonged to. "Mrs Watson."

"I thought that was you. What are you doing here?" Mrs Watson asked her.

"I'm here for a weekend away with my best friends," Astrid informed.

Raymond's mother looked at the three with disdain, before returning the same look to her daughter in law. "Typical! Your marriage is in trouble, and what are you doing? Partying with lower class people."

Astrid stopped CJ from saying anything. "Excuse me Mrs Watson, but please refrain from being rude to my friends. They did nothing to you."

"Just as well. I still don't know what my son saw in you, but it would seem that even he's tired of you. I always knew that this day would come," the lady said arrogantly.

Astrid couldn't let her have one up on her, so she smiled sweetly. "Who's to say I'm not the one who finally saw him for the trash that he is?"

"How dare you call my son trash? He took you from nothing and made you something!" Mrs Watson shouted.

"Funny! Last I checked, he wouldn't be who he is without me. Good night Mrs Watson," Astrid said before walking away.

Her friends glared at the woman for a few seconds longer before following after her. They all followed her back to her room and she went straight to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. They waited until she looked calm before anyone spoke.

"I take it that was Raymond's mother," Cree commented.

Astrid nodded. "I hate her so much."

"I can get why. I'm guessing she's racist?" CJ asked, to which Astrid nodded once more.

"She's racist, classist, fascist; you name it, she's probably it," Astrid replied.

"What did you mean when you told her that Raymond wouldn't be who he is without you?" Joe asked her.

She sighed. "I'm not proud of it, but he used me to close a lot of the deals that made him rich. I didn't sleep with the men or anything like that, but most of these men are pretty sick people, and Raymond used me to get them to play along. He only stopped after he made his first million."

"Hun, that's so twisted," Cree commented.

"Tell me something I don't know. I've become so accustomed to this life that I don't bother fighting it anymore because what's the use? It's not like I can remember any other kind of life in any case," Astrid pointed out.

"Girl, we're going to try and make you happy somehow ok? We'll figure it out when we get back home," CJ promised her.

Scott was confused as they drove to their new place. He couldn't understand why they'd left the resort, if the plan had been for them to stay the night. All he knew was that his best friend seemed to be a million miles away.

"That's it! What the hell is going on with you?" Scott asked him.

"What are you talking about?" Thor asked in return.

"This moping around that you're doing; what's up with that?" Scott elaborated.

"I'm not moping," Thor denied.

"Then explain to me why hours ago, you were pretty excited about heading to Palm Springs, made me get a room, and then made me cancel that room so that we leave immediately and not spend the night after all. What the hell happened?" Scott asked.

Thor sighed. "Let's just say that you were right."

"It's not very often that you admit that I was right, so please do share what I was right about," Scott requested.

"You were right about Astrid. It's a situation I should stay far away from," Thor replied.

Scott frowned. "And what exactly changed your mind?"

"We had sex again, except this time was different from the first time," Thor informed.

Scott sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Before I completely lose it, how was it different?"

"It was intimate, like sex between two people who really love each other. If I'd stayed, who knows what other bad decisions I would've ended up making?" Thor pointed out.

"Thor, please tell me that you're not in love with this woman. You don't even really know her," Scott reminded.

"I'm not in love with her, but if I spend any more time around her, I might just fall. That's why I'm getting out now before it gets too real," Thor explained.

"That's the first sensible thing I've heard you say in days and I have just the right thing to take your mind off of this," Scott told him.

"And that is?" Thor asked.

"We've just received four huge contracts, and you're pretty much going to have to come up with some of the best designs for these contracts. They want to start building in three months, so we need to have figured everything out by then," Scott informed.

"How huge is huge?" Thor asked.

"Like we could retire right now and the next three generations of our families would still be rich kind of huge," Scott replied.

That was really huge.

It had taken them a long time to get to where they were, and it hadn't been an easy journey either. They both refused to partake in any shady business deals, which meant losing some business and making some enemies down the line, but it was proving to be worth the trouble.

They were officially the owners of the top construction company in the country.

They also own a security firm that's also top in its industry. They are both equally involved in that company, while their responsibilities in the construction company differ. Scott is the businessman between them, while Thor is the architect and designer.

"Are we settling?" Thor asked.

"I wanted to actually talk to you about that. I know you hate it, but we need head offices. Ivy conducted research, and the best place for us to set up is San Diego," Scott informed.

Thor sighed. "Which is where Astrid lives."

"That's why I wanted to talk to you about it, especially now that you want to avoid her," Scott said.

"It's a big city. I'm sure I'll be able to avoid her just fine. Besides, I'm on site more often than I would be in an office," Thor argued.

"Are you saying that we can go ahead with looking for a building?" Scott asked.

"Sure. Just make sure it's a cool building. We can't offer architectural services from a shitty building," Thor joked.

Scott laughed. "You've got it buddy."

The following morning, the four friends had breakfast before heading to the reception area. Their luggage had already been fetched from their rooms, and it was just a case of them checking out and leaving.

"You need to stop being so distant," Ursula told Astrid as she hugged her.

"I promise I'll call more," Astrid replied, hugging her back.

"The payment will probably go through to Raymond within the next six hours or so. It should give you enough time to make it back home and set up the ultimate dinner for him," Ursula suggested.

"Ooh, I like that! You can get all dressed up and look sexy as hell, and then when he arrives, you'll act like nothing happened," Cree jumped at the idea.

"It would be even better if you only got dressed up in lingerie," CJ added.

"Y'all are just devious," Joe said, making them laugh.

"I'll think about it. I still have to see if he'll actually care," Astrid pointed out.

"Oh, he will. He was probably expecting you to be depressed over him and Vienna, so finding out that you instead spoiled yourself while he was away should be enough to make him think twice about screwing you over like that," Ursula commented.

"I agree with that," Cree said, nodding.

"Well, we'll see. Let's head out so that we can do a late lunch and then I can get back to that empty house," Astrid said.

It didn't sit well with them that she was so accepting of the misery, but they knew that there was nothing that they could do about it, so they didn't bother. Instead they just let her be and did whatever she needed them to.

It took them a little over three hours to get back home. They went straight to a restaurant to have lunch, which Astrid once again paid for, before she dropped them off at the salon. She told her driver to then take her back home, and Yuna was the first person to greet her when she arrived.

"You left to see your friends for three days," she joked.

Astrid laughed. "Sorry about that. The idea hit me on the way there and I just really needed to forget about Raymond."

"Oh, I completely understand. Based on the pictures I saw, I take it you had fun?" Yuna asked.

"The best time! I didn't even worry about Raymond," Astrid replied.

"And he was happy paying for everything?" Yuna questioned.

Astrid giggled. "Oh, he's probably only getting the bill in a couple of hours. The manager is a friend of mine, who also happens to be a cousin of his, who doesn't agree with the way he treats me. Anyway, she held off processing any payments until after we'd left, so he's about to get a big fat bill from that place. We did almost everything, had the most expensive meals and we bought all our clothing there."

"Oh my word! Look at that smile on your face. Are you sure he won't kill you?" Yuna asked worriedly.

Astrid shrugged. "I can't say I know. I can only wait and see. Right now I'm exhausted though, so I think I'm going to call it a night, and we'll see where the day takes me tomorrow."

"Alright, but I want to hear details tomorrow," Yuna said.

"We'll talk over breakfast," Astrid promised before heading to bed.

Raymond was sitting at the dinner table and Vienna was droning on about something he didn't care enough to pay attention to. He was staring at the menu and he couldn't help but miss his wife. At least he knew he could have decent conversations with her because she understood him better than anyone else.

Vienna was oblivious to the fact that she was being ignored as Raymond's thoughts travelled back to the months before he and Astrid got married. He was his happiest then, and he enjoyed wooing her. He enjoyed spending time with her, and he knew that she'd felt the same back then.

He just couldn't understand how they'd reached the point that they had.

He knew that it had a lot to do with him, and he also knew that his mother had affected a lot of the decisions he'd made. He'd spent so long trying to prove to her that Astrid was a good woman and the kind of woman he needed to get ahead.

Except even with his millions, his mother still disapproved.

He was brought out of thought by an alert on his phone. Vienna was still going on about some shoot in Australia as he opened the email. He frowned when he realized that it was from the resort he likes to go to for business meetings, but the shock truly settled in when he opened the bill attached to the email.

He couldn't understand why they were billing him almost ten times what he spends when he's there.

"Are you seriously about to make a phone call while I'm talking to you?" Vienna asked him disbelievingly.

He ignored her and waited for the line to be picked up. "Hello cousin."

"Sixty grand Ursula? What the fuck are you billing me sixty grand for?" he asked angrily.

"For services used with your account," Ursula replied.

"This is fucking fraud Ursula. I'm in the Bahamas. There's no way I racked up that bill!" he snapped.

"I never said you did," Ursula played back.

"What the fuck are you going on about?" he asked.

"Check the internet Raymond," she said before hanging up.

He felt a little anxious as he did just that. Vienna was complaining about how she feels ignored, and he wasn't particularly concerned. He went straight to the gossip blogs, knowing that he'd probably find his answer there.

And he didn't expect what he ended up finding.

There were pictures of his wife everywhere, looking happy and sexier than he'd seen her in a while. In almost every photo he saw, she was either smiling or laughing. He read one of the articles and found out why he'd been billed so much money and at first he was furious.

But then the panic settled in.

He knew that he'd been a shitty husband to her, but she'd accepted it for so long that he never thought she'd retaliate or leave him for that matter. The Astrid he'd seen in the pictures was the same headstrong and confident woman he'd fallen in love with to begin with.

And if she was remembering that side of herself, he knew he would lose her.

"We're leaving," he told Vienna.

"What? We've only been here for four days. We haven't even eaten yet. You promised me two weeks Raymond!" Vienna snapped.

"Fine then, stay! I'm leaving," he told her as he got up. He threw some notes on the table for the bill before heading up to their room.

She followed behind him, but she was not happy about them having to leave at all. He was even more irritated by not being able to find a flight that was leaving sooner rather than later. He booked the first one that he could find that would get them out of there as quickly as possible.

"I understand Mr Watson," Yuna said on the phone as Astrid walked into the kitchen the next morning.

"What was that about?" Astrid asked once Yuna had hung up.

Yuna laughed. "I don't think you'll believe me if I tell you."

"Tell me," Astrid said excitedly.

"That was Raymond. He's at the airport right now and he's flying back. He said he should be back by tonight," Yuna said.

"Really? Did he say why he was coming back?" Astrid asked nervously.

Yuna shook her head. "He didn't, but that's not even the best part. I could hear Vienna complaining in the background about how short their vacation was, and instead he asked me to make you your favourite breakfast and order your favourite flowers. He basically asked me to make sure that you're spoiled the whole day. He also asked me to make a reservation at your favourite restaurant tonight for dinner."

"You're kidding!" Astrid said, wide eyed.

"I told you, you wouldn't believe me," Yuna reminded, laughing.

"That's insane! What do you think it means?" Astrid asked.

"I think the man is smart enough to know that he messed up. Either that, or he thinks this is the way to get you back under his control," Yuna replied.

Astrid was in thought. "I could have some fun with this."

"What are you thinking?" Yuna asked.

"I mean, I didn't know that this whole Palm Springs thing would rattle him as much as it clearly has, so I could go with the whole not caring thing and see how far he goes with this," Astrid explained.

"Wouldn't that mean that you're actually giving him a chance? I mean, do you really want to?" Yuna questioned.

"I don't know. There was a time when I really loved Raymond, and a part of me still does, so who knows? Maybe this could get us back to where we used to be," Astrid replied.

"Just be careful Astrid. I've watched what that man has done to you over the years, and the last thing I want is for him to shatter you completely," Yuna warned.

"I promise I won't do anything stupid," Astrid said.

Yuna made the breakfast as she'd said she would, even after Astrid insisted that she didn't have to. Instead, Yuna requested that she tell her about her Palm Springs vacation as she'd promised, which she did.

Astrid knew that she didn't want to spend the whole day in the house. Her senses were a bit off and she needed to talk to someone, which is how she found herself outside the apartment door. She knocked, and when the person opened the door, they were shocked to see her.

"Miss Thang? What are you doing here of all places?" he asked her.

"I need to talk and talking to CJ or Cree about this didn't feel right," she said.

He opened the door wider. "Come in. You look stressed."

"I am. Raymond is coming back tonight," she informed.

"Is that a good or bad thing?" he asked after closing the door.

"You see that's the thing; I don't know. Yuna said he told her that I should be spoiled today, from my favourite breakfast to my favourite flowers. He even asked her to make a reservation at my favourite restaurant for dinner," she said.

"Which means the man is either panicking about potentially losing you or he wants to control you again," he noted.

She nodded. "Yuna made the same observation."

"So what has your nerves so shot?" he asked.

"Not knowing if I want to use this to my advantage or not," she replied.

"You mean you're not sure if you want to make him work to get you back because you're not sure if you want him back," he decrypted.

She nodded once more. "This is why I needed to talk to you. You understand and I didn't even have to say much."

He sighed. "Miss Thang, I still wish I knew how the hell you ended up in this situation to begin with, but I won't push you. I'll only ask you one thing. Do you really think you could be happy with Raymond?"

"I mean, we were happy once. Maybe this scared him enough to remind him of those days? It might push him to do and be better," she argued.

"I'm not going to tell you what you must and must not do, which I know is what you wanted me to do. What I'm going to tell you is to follow your heart. You know I'll always be here for you, so do what you think is right, and we'll figure the rest out later," he told her.

"I think I want to at least give it a try, but he'll have to work for it, starting tonight," she admitted.

"Then give it a try you shall. What did you have in mind?" he asked.

He's friends with the owner of her favourite restaurant, so she told him her plan. He gave his ideas here and there before agreeing to doing his part of the plan. She hugged him, grateful for not only his assistance, but his friendship too.

She left his apartment and left to go shopping. She needed to for her plan to come together. A part of her was excited, while a part of her was scolding her for that. She truly wanted to believe that this was Raymond panicking, but she knew that it could also be him being extra furious with her.

She was just taking a chance to find out.

Raymond was impatient the whole flight back, and it didn't help that Vienna was still complaining beside him. He couldn't understand how he'd put up with the complaining and the whining for so long, until he remembered why he was impatient in the first place.

Vienna was a whole lot more tolerable when he didn't stand to lose his wife.

They finally landed in the early evening and he had two hours before dinner with Astrid. He was hoping that Yuna had managed to make things happen for him. He needed to head to a hotel and get ready for the dinner in any case.

"Aren't you coming in?" Vienna asked him when they reached her apartment building. He'd told his driver to take them there.

But only to drop her off.

"No," he replied.

"What? Why not?" she asked.

"I will call you tomorrow Vienna," he dismissed before closing the door and locking it.

She was losing her mind outside, cursing him, while his driver took her luggage out from the back. He put it next to her before he got into the car and drove away. Raymond gave him the next destination, which he drove them to.

Raymond quickly got himself checked into the hotel and went to get ready. He got dressed in one of his best suits, and he'd asked his driver to go and buy red roses while he was getting ready. On the way to the restaurant, he was a bundle of nerves, which took his thoughts to the first time he had a date with Astrid.

That was the last time he'd been so nervous to see her.

He pulled up to the restaurant and had hoped to wait outside for her, except he was shocked to arrive and find that the restaurant lights were off. There was no else in sight, and he panicked, rushing into the dark restaurant to question why they weren't open.

And that's when the lights flipped on.

"Hello Raymond."