Ray blinked his eyes open the next morning, slowly coming to realise he'd been awoken by Liz kissing his cheek and stroking his chest. He turned his head to the side and looked her in the eyes.

'Good morning, beautiful'

'Good morning, handsome', Liz replied, grinning at him. 'You slept like the dead. And you snored like a zombie'.

Ray snorted before reaching over to pinch Liz's nose. 'Well, isn't that good to know, my dear. Do zombies snore, however?'

'Probably not. But if they did, it would sound like you'.

Ray smiled at Liz, too amused by her cheekiness to be embarrassed. He turned to kiss her but had to stop at once, pain making him grimace.

'Ray, are you okay?'

'Yeah', he managed to gasp out. 'I've just stiffened up. My back's not feeling too flexible right now'.

Liz sat up and bent over him to look at his bruises. They were even more widespread than when she'd seen them last night. Sighing to herself, she ducked down and kissed him carefully right in the middle of his back and then sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.

'You stay right there, I'm gonna go draw you a hot bath and find some kind of oils to help with muscle relaxation'.

'Thank you, sweetheart. Er, does that mean I'm gonna smell a tad more feminine than usual today?', Ray asked, raising his eyebrow playfully.

Liz just rolled her eyes and headed towards the bathroom door, 'It may well mean that, yes. Better than smelling like a zombie though'.

Ray picked up a pillow, intending to throw it after Liz before realising he couldn't do that without hurting his back further. 'Yeah, I really need to change my cologne it would appear' he called after her, grimacing as he lay back down gingerly.

Five minutes later, Liz reappeared and came to Ray's side of the bed. She reached her hands out and he allowed himself to be helped to stand up.

'Thank you', he said, smiling sheepishly. 'I'm sure this bath will help enormously. At least I hope so otherwise I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to do anything but lie on my back all day'.

'Oh, that would be terrible. I'm sure we'd both be bored silly if you were bed bound'.

'In different circumstances, maybe not, but bed bound and unable to move much may not be quite as entertaining'.

Liz led him into the bathroom by his hand and helped him into the tub. Once in he lay his head back and rested it on the bath pillow Liz had placed there. Ray immediately sighed in sheer bliss.

'Oh, this is heavenly. I can already feel it helping. And I'm gonna smell so damn good after'.

'That's more like it, mister tough guy. There's nothing too girly about lavender and whatever the hell else is in this oil', Liz said, smirking at the boyish look on Ray's face as he sank further into the water.

'Okay, I'm gonna go brew some coffee. Just yell if you need me'.

'Oh, before you go, could you get me my phone? I just wanna call the restaurant and get someone to bring me my paperwork over'.

'Will do', Liz called over her shoulder as she headed to the kitchen.

Amber Gordon woke up before Tom and got up without waking him. Despite the fact she'd only called Tom in order to enlist his help in breaking up Ray and Liz because she had her own sights set on nabbing Ray, she'd slept with Tom last night anyway. They'd briefly been an item before he'd gotten together with Liz and so when the champagne cork had popped last night in celebration of what they both thought had been a successful day, they'd easily fallen back into bed together. This morning, however, Amber wasn't feeling too great about it. She'd remembered now why she and Tom hadn't lasted long. The man was a terrible lover and completely selfish in bed. He had a fit body and great abs but now she was a bit older and wiser, such things really didn't seem so important anymore. Staring into the mirror in the bathroom, she wondered if she was doing the right thing. Was this even gonna work? She'd called Tom on a whim when she'd seen Ray get together with Liz, unsure if there was anything he could provide that would help split them up. But she hadn't really thought there would be anything. However, Tom had jumped at the opportunity to come and make his ex-wife's life hell. His motivation remained unclear to her. And he was a lot scarier than she remembered.

'Babe'

'Yeah?'

'Could you make me some coffee?'

Amber sighed and rolled her eyes, reminding herself this was only temporary, 'Yeah, I'll get right on that'.

Ten minutes later, she returned to the bedroom and gave Tom his coffee.

'So, what's the plan for today?'

'Well, I'm gonna have to keep a lower profile now I guess. Ray will be looking out for me. Plus I'm sure he'd have gone to the cops like the little bitch he is. However, I think I've got just the thing to up the ante here', he said, smiling cruelly at Amber.

'What's that?'

'Oh, just some photos I have of Liz from our honeymoon. And a recording we made. The kinda thing I'm pretty sure would devastate her were it to make its way into general knowledge round here'.

Amber looked at Tom, unable to refrain from asking him any longer, 'Okay…. So you're gonna blackmail her? What, for money? How does that help me get Ray?'

'I don't know what you see in that guy anyway, he's an ass. But yeah, this'll help. I'm gonna tell her I'll be decorating the town with the pictures and putting the recording on Facebook or whatever, sending it to everyone she knows, unless she breaks up with that phoney and gives me fifty grand'.

'Will she?'

'She's a coward so yeah, I bet she will'.

'Is that all you want from this? Revenge and some money?'

'Are you kidding me? That bitch ruined my life! Divorcing me, leaving me with nothing. The apartment was hers before we married so I didn't even get a say in that. I've been broke as shit since she threw me out. This is the perfect opportunity for me to get what I'm owed. And to make her miserable for once in her perfect little life'.

Amber smiled at Tom although she felt a bit nervous. This wasn't really going the way she'd hoped. However, if she left the dirty work to him from now on, maybe she could still benefit from his craziness without having to get her own hands mucky.

Four hours later and Ray had had enough of paperwork for now. He promised himself he'd do a couple more hours later. Glancing over at Liz, who was sitting on the couch, staring intently at her iPad, he scrunched up a piece of paper and gently lobbed it at her. His aim was perfect and it landed right on her head, making her jump.

'Ray!', she shouted in shock, looking up at him reproachfully. However, he just laughed and winked back. 'That's for the zombie comments, my dear'.

Liz got up from the couch and walked right up next to him, hands on hips. 'It's lucky you're so bruised and battered right now that I can't do what I wanna do to you'.

Ray reached out and grabbed hold of Liz's arms, pulling her onto his lap. 'Oh, and what would that be, sweet girl?'

She laughed and cupped his cheeks, kissing him firmly before pulling away.

'I see your back's a little better then?'

'It is, yeah. That bath worked a treat. It's still sore but the stiffness has gone. In fact I was gonna suggest maybe we went out for lunch?'

A shadow fell over Liz's face and she looked away from Ray's gaze.

'What's wrong? Are you worried about going out in case we see Tom?'

Liz nodded, unable to bring herself to say the words.

'It'll be okay, Lizzy. We just need to get in the car, drive to some nice busy restaurant and have lunch. We'll come straight back. And we'll be together every second we're out. Even if we have to go to the bathroom together'.

Liz narrowed her eyes at Ray and frowned, 'Yeah, not so sure I want you to be arrested for being caught in a ladies' bathroom'.

'Okay, well you come into the men's…..'

Liz laughed at him and stood up, 'Okay, you're right. We can't hide away here all day. And I'm gonna need to go to work tomorrow so I'd better get used to going outside like a normal person'.

'Tell you what, why don't we go to my restaurant? Lots of friends there. And there's no way Tom would show his face there anyway'.

Liz's face lit up, 'Great plan! And it's been way too long since I had my favourite pizza anyway'.

The two of them quickly got ready to go out and within minutes they were in the car heading into town, both feeling a lot happier than they had all day.

As soon as their car turned the corner, Tom stood up from where he'd been crouched in the bushes on the other side of the street, straightening his back and stretching as he did so. He'd been in there for over two hours and had started to think they weren't going to be going anywhere today. He cursed them for the stiffness in his knees and made his way over to the apartment block's front door. Ringing on a few of the doorbells there, he smiled to himself when someone bought his story about being the brother of one of the residents who'd forgotten his key and swung open the door, heading straight on up the stairs.

Ray and Liz seated themselves at a table at the back of the restaurant, right next to the kitchen door. They sat together on one of the padded bench seats and chatted happily, both eager to forget their current troubles and just enjoy having a meal together. Liz ordered her favourite pizza and Ray some pasta he'd recently added to the menu, wanting Liz to try it so she could give him her thoughts. Although both of them felt like having a drink, neither of them did as they didn't want to let their guard down whilst they were out. Instead, they decided they'd take a couple of bottles back to the apartment with them for later.

After a delicious meal, Ray thanked his deputy manager and took the bag from him that contained their dinner for tonight, along with the wine. He then made to stand up, sighing loudly as he did so.

'Are you okay? Is your back hurting again?'

'No, no, I just ate too much', Ray said, groaning slightly.

Liz snorted and poked him in his belly. 'Yeah, you did put away quite a lot there I noticed'.

Ray smiled ruefully and straightened up. 'I can't help it. When it comes to pasta, I'm like a Labrador confronted with endless cuts of beef'.

Liz laughed at the image and took the bag from him, 'Let me carry this. You shouldn't put any more strain on your back. Especially not with that huge lunch to carry now too'.

Ray slapped Liz on her ass as she turned away from him and she turned back and stuck her tongue out at him, leading the way to the door.

Once they got back to her address, they parked up and headed up the stairs. Liz headed straight into the bathroom, leaving Ray to put their dinner and the wine in the fridge. After he had done that, he turned back to the lounge area and saw a piece of paper had been stuck to the TV. He frowned and headed over there. It simply said 'Press play'.

'Lizzy, are you okay?', he called out loudly.

'Yeah, I'll just be a moment….'

He turned the TV on and hit play on the DVD player. Immediately the screen was filled with an image of Liz having sex with another guy. A guy Ray instantly recognised as Tom. As he was watching Tom take Liz doggy style, Tom turned to the camera and grinned in a filthy way, whilst pounding himself into Liz. Ray heard the bathroom door open and reached out to hit stop on the player but it was too late.

'What was that?'

Ray allowed Liz to draw level with him before answering. 'Tom's been in here. And he left this in your DVD player'.

'What is it?', Liz asked, her voice trembling slightly.

'Nothing you need to see, sweetheart', Ray said, attempting to steer Liz away from the TV.

'I need to know, Ray. No matter what it is'.

Ray sighed and knew this was not a battle he would win. He stood by her side as she turned the disc back on and took a hold of her shoulders, pulling her towards him, offering his silent support.

Liz gasped when she saw what was on there and after only a few seconds she reached out and turned the TV off, absolutely mortified.

'That…. That was our honeymoon. I had no idea he took a recording of us. Oh, God….'. She was shaking now and Ray wrapped her in his arms, pulling her in tight. 'You must be disgusted with me', Liz managed to squeeze out through her constricted throat, trying desperately not to cry again.

'Not in the slightest. I'm reserving my disgust for that piece of shit'. Ray was close to losing all self-control but he held it together so that he could be strong for Liz.

Looking down at her, he took her hand and led her towards the bedroom, intending to just lay down with her in her bed and hold her tight in its safe warmth. However, when they got there and he opened the door, they both looked up and saw something equally as bad as the DVD recording. Every wall of the room was covered in pictures of Liz naked and fully exposed. Some of the pictures featuring Tom, some not. In a lot of the pictures, Tom was pulling faces at the camera which Liz couldn't have seen. He'd clearly taken many of them when Liz hadn't even been aware of it.

They both stood still in utter shock, neither quite knowing what to do or say next.

'Why…..? Why is he doing this?'

Ray just held Liz closer, unable to think of an answer.

'I know he took some pictures on our honeymoon but I never wanted to see them. I just thought it was him wanting to capture the moment because he was so happy. I didn't think they'd be like this…..'

Liz's voice trailed off and she felt her knees buckle. Ray caught her at once but his back couldn't hold them both up and they slumped together to the floor.

Ray pulled his cell out of his pocket and dialled the number of one of the police officers from yesterday. Liz caught onto what he was doing and reached out to still his hand.

'Please Ray, no. Please? I can't have anyone seeing these. Or the DVD. Please…..'

Ray ended the call and nodded silently to her. He would try to persuade her later but he realised she'd had enough for now. He pulled her into his arms and they sat there together, just holding each other. Neither could think of a single thing to say so they just gently rocked back and forth, offering each other their love and support.

Tom waltzed back into Amber's house, a shit-eating grin on his face. Amber glanced up from the kitchen table and was almost nervous about asking what he'd done. However, he was so eager to tell her that she didn't need to.

'Worked a treat. Right now Ray is probably packing his bags and getting ready to dump that whore's ass so fast', he laughed to himself as he helped himself to a beer from Amber's fridge.

'You really think this is gonna work?'

'Hell yeah. Why would he wanna stay with a slut like her when he sees how easy she is. Man, I was laughing so hard when I put some of those pictures up in her bedroom. There's one where she's got my dick in her mouth and she's…'

Amber tuned out. She really didn't want to hear the details. Although she was desperate for Ray and Liz to split up so she could nab her man, this whole thing was starting to give her a very uneasy feeling.

After sitting together in the doorway for twenty minutes, Ray eventually managed to convince Liz to get up and come with him to the lounge. He led her to the sofa and they sat down together, both still clinging to each other.

'I'm so ashamed'

Ray reached over with both hands and framed Liz's face, 'Don't you dare say that. You've done nothing wrong. You were on your honeymoon, you were just fooling around like any newlyweds would. He's the one who's done something shameful. Not you, Lizzy, never you'.

As he finished speaking he leant in and kissed her deeply and lovingly, holding her as close as he could. He pulled back then, looking into her eyes the whole time and smiling at her. Just as he turned his head forwards again, he spotted an envelope on the table he'd not noticed before. Leaving Liz's side for just a moment he went to the kitchen and grabbed her washing up gloves before picking up the envelope and opening it. Inside was a typed page of A4. Frowning, he read it: 'Fifty grand or the whole town gets to see what a filthy slut Liz is'.

Ray had to resist the urge to screw the note up but he couldn't suppress his rage any longer. He had to do something and right now. Turning back to Liz, he smiled at her as gently as he could as vengeful thoughts started to form in his mind.