She finished breakfast, eating more for sustenance than enjoyment. As if to match her mood, stormclouds rolled fast and frantic over the horizon, throwing dark shadows over the villa within minutes.
Torn between awaiting Zak’s return and retreating, she lingered until heavy raindrops began to hammer the pavestones. Then, restless, anxious and more than a little horrified at the sheer depths of a loss she hadn’t even suffered yet, she went up to her suite and opened her laptop.
There was still no word from her mother but her boss back in the UK had emailed, asking for a tentative date for her return.
The need to inform Zak of her decision resurged, propelling her from the room. As she’d done so many times since her arrival, she entered his domain via the library, a habit that drew a small smile.
The sound of Zak’s deep voice stopped her short. She didn’t want to interrupt his conversation with his brother. Deciding to wait rather than return to her suite, Violet froze as a painfully familiar voice answered Zak’s crisp query via speakerphone.
Zak was talking to her mother?
She barely registered moving closer to the study door, pressing her ear against the cool wood. The dulcet tones that announced her mother’s excitement contained another much-too-familiar pitch, one that spelled absolute triumph, a coup she couldn’t wait to crow about. A chill swept over her skin, seeping ice into Violet’s soul. Decades of shame lashed her as her mother continued, ‘You have my word, Zak. The interview will be tasteful and any that follow will be arranged in consultation with your people.’
‘And the nondisclosure agreement?’
Violet pressed her fist to her mouth to prevent an anguished gasp from escaping.
‘My lawyer looked it over yesterday and all is well. Your lawyers should have the signed copies by now. But it really wasn’t necessary. You’re going to be family soon enough,’ her mother gushed, ‘and you’ve already been so generous, paying off my debts and gifting me a house in Montegova for when my grandchild arrives. I should be offended that you’d even feel the need for a non-disclosure agreement.’ She laughed off the insult.
Violet couldn’t see it but well imagined Zak’s arrogant shrug. ‘I’m sure your sensibilities will recover from my need to ensure no loopholes are left in securing what’s mine.’
Violet’s soul shrivelled to dust.
‘Of course,’ Margot gushed even more. ‘The crew is arriving shortly. May I be excused?’
‘You may,’ Zach answered, his voice containing that edge Violet had heard at the breakfast table. ‘I look forward to seeing the outcome.’
‘You won’t be disappointed, Your Highness.’
Her mother’s voice was cut off abruptly, leaving only the sound of the blood rushing through Violet’s ears as the ominous death knell of the foolish dreams she’d harboured.
She stumbled back from the door, glad for the Aubusson rug that hid her footfalls, even while she prayed she wouldn’t be discovered, granting Zak the excuse to keep her here, devise another cold, calculated strategy to claim his child.
She didn’t take a breath until she reached the kitchen.
Geraldine took one look at her and went into mother hen mode, the exact reaction she wanted.
‘I’m not feeling great. I think the storm disturbed me more than I thought,’ Violet said.
‘Oh, don’t worry, miss. They tend to pass quickly here.’
Violet nodded abstractly. ‘I’m going to lie down. Can you make sure I’m not disturbed by anyone, including Zak?’
The housekeeper frowned but nodded. ‘Of course, miss.’
She fled, feeling a twinge of guilt at using her pregnancy as an excuse. A sob clogged her throat as she hurried up the steps. She held it in until she reached her suite.
Then the torrent came.
He’d used the truce to pull the wool over her eyes, while orchestrating her mother’s co-operation with financial incentives and the limelight Margot adored so much. He’d made Violet believe they had a foundation to build a relationship on. And she’d fallen wholesale for the illusion. Given her body, soul, mind and one vital part she desperately feared would never be reclaimed.
She’d given Zak Montegova her heart.
And he’d shattered it.
CHAPTER TEN
VIOLET FEARED SHE would never be whole again.