Page 60 of Escape To Paradise
“Oh no,” Kathleen said.
Kathleen and Zofia hugged me.
Maverick gave me a cocktail. “It’s on the house,” he said.
I told the crew what happened. Kathleen started browsing on her phone. After a few minutes, she gave me her phone and showed me an Instagram page of the girl that looked like the one I saw at Julian’s home. Her name was Nikki, and she came from a rich family. I saw her wedding pictures. She was hand in hand with Julian. Except his name wasn’t Julian. It was Michael Julian.
“No wonder we can’t find anything on his social media. But in his wife’s though, she has him all over her social media feed,” Zofia said.
I handed Kathleen her phone back.
“I’m sorry this happened to you, Harper. This is just terrible,” she said.
“It’s okay. Thanks for researching him.”
We drank and chatted until closing time.
“You coming with us, Harper?” Kathleen asked.
“I don’t know. I want to talk to Maverick first. He warned me about Julian. You guys go on ahead.”
“Okay.”
The group left without me, and I walked over to where Maverick stood.
“Harper, are you okay now?”
“Not quite, Maverick. I’m sorry for not believing you before.”
“It’s okay. My approach was not the best approach. I should have not approached you that way. What’s your plan now?”
“I’m staying on the island for a few days to regroup. I just need to take a break from work for now. And I may go back to the States to sort out some legal matters. In the meantime, do you know a place where I can rent a space?”
“You can stay with me.”
I grew quiet.
“That’s not what I meant,” Maverick said, embarrassed. “I rent out spaces. That’s why I wanted to invest in Julian. I thought we shared the same interest. We became friends when I had this place, He started frequenting the bar. But he did bring many women here. I wanted to warn you about that as well.”
“It’s okay. It’s all in the past.” I was still hurting inside. In the six months I’d been with Julian, I had developed strong feelings for him. I just couldn’t tell Maverick that.
“It’s okay, Harper. He hurt you. He lied to you, and he hurt you. Don’t repress it.”
Deep inside, I couldn’t believe this was happening to me again. First with Benoit, then with Julian. I seemed to pick the wrong guys. But I cared for both of them. Julian’s betrayal tonight brought up the pain of what Benoit did. I tried to hold it down, but when Maverick said it was okay to feel this way, I started bawling. I was good at compartmentalizing work and my personal life because I felt I had no one else to rely on. But I felt so at ease with Maverick that I let it all out.
My heart hurt so much and my eyes were blurry with tears. And I was breathing hard. Maverick came closer to me and hugged me.
“Just let it go, Harper. I’m here for you.”
Then he did the sweetest thing; he kissed the top of my head. I felt so safe with him. Maverick took me to his home. We got in his car, and by then, I was already tired of crying so I had stopped. But I didn’t feel like talking.
Maverick’s car was an older model of a silver Porsche. We drove for twenty minutes, reaching a long driveway in a wooded area. There was an automatic gate that led to the driveway. After parking, we walked through a courtyard with a fountain. Maverick led me through a pathway illuminated by small solar-powered lamps. I could hear the sound of the ocean, but there was a long pool surrounded by tall palm trees. There were several outdoor chairs surrounding it as well. It looked like we were at a resort.
I saw several small buildings to my right and to my left. I followed Maverick to one of the smaller buildings. Did Maverick live at a resort? He took out his keycard to open the door. The building was spacious. There was a living room, a small kitchen, and a bar with bar stools. He led me to one of the rooms.
“You’ll be staying in the guest room,” he said.
The room looked like a hotel room with a queen-sized bed covered by a crisp white linen.
