Violet wanted to laugh but she daren’t, fearing she’d most likely dissolve into more sobs. She’d cried enough already.
His face turned into a cold mask. ‘You should really reconsider. You don’t know what you’re inviting on yourself with this course of action.’
‘I have. You may have wealth, but I have the power and I suspect you won’t want to drag your brother and his sparkling new reign through the dirt, all in the name of taking my child away from me. Try it and I’ll tell the world everything you’ve done to me in the last three weeks.’
Stark shock mingled with the fury. ‘How did I fool myself into thinking you were different?’ he rasped.
Violet allowed herself a small, stiff smile and no more. ‘Go easy on yourself, Zak. After all, I fooled myself into thinking the very same of you.’
He stiffened with rigid affront, thunderclouds rolling over his face as he stared at her.
Unable to stand it any longer, she pivoted away from him.
‘I’m happy to leave by speedboat if that gets me off this island quicker. I’ll be in the living room when it’s ready to leave. Goodbye, Zak.’
He didn’t respond. And with every step she took away from him, Violet felt his ferocious gaze boring into her skin. She prayed that he wouldn’t follow even as her shockingly traitorous heart prayed he would.
When he didn’t...when all she received was a message from the butler to say his plane would arrive in three hours to take her off the island, she cursed the silent, defiant tears that poured out of her broken heart.
Zak stood at his study window, eyes fixed on the plane poised at the start of the runway. The intermittent thunderstorms that had pummelled the villa throughout the day had finally receded and his pilot had been cleared for take-off.
His fingers clenched hard, shooting pain up his arms. He ignored it, the strain of remaining in control demanding every ounce of his willpower.
He couldn’t believe he’d spent the past week with an illusion. That Violet had taken exactly she’d wanted and then left him.
What he had offered her, the inner voice insisted.
He snarled under his breath, wishing with every bone in his body that he could move from the window, wrench his gaze from the plane taking her away from him.
She never belonged to you.
He’d taken steps to protect his family, his child, and it’d backfired. That was all.
No, that wasn’t all. At this exact moment she was taking his heart away from him and he didn’t mean the child she carried.
Her beautiful smile.
Her laughter.
Her intelligence, vitality and passion.
Everything he hadn’t known was essential to him until the moment he’d seen her in that blasted gown, clutching that godforsaken weekend bag. She’d walked away with everything he feared he would need to be able to breathe again.
Because somewhere between New York and Tanzania and the Caribbean, he’d fallen in love with Violet Barringhall. And once again he’d experienced the true depths of betrayal and shattered dreams.
But...had she really betrayed him?
She’d promised him nothing save the pleasure of the body she’d given selflessly.
In his supreme arrogance he’d believed he could sway her with his royal pedigree and the title of Princess, when the only thing that brought her truly alive was her work.
The irony of it, he reflected bitterly, that he’d thrown a proposal at the feet of the only woman who would reject him so resoundingly. What did Violet want that he lacked? The question echoed in his mind as he watched the plane gather speed.
Fingers unclenched, he braced them against the cool glass window, a deep rumble erupting from his chest, gaining momentum as the plane’s engines grew louder, forcefully announcing that he’d failed, that he’d gambled and lost, his very heart torn from his chest.
The pain grew. Unable to contain it, Zak released it in a loud bellow, both hands clenching in his hair as the aircraft lifted into the air and banked steeply. Its sleek wings caught the sunlight, delivering a mocking wink before righting itself again.
He barely registered stumbling to his desk, blinded by the overwhelming sense of loss hollowing his insides. Every sinew strained for action, specifically one that involved calling his pilot, ordering the plane back to the island. But what Violet didn’t know was that all his excuses for his actions were no longer valid.