There was no alternative – none. No matter how long she spent analyzing the problem, nothing would fix this. She didn’t know how long she sat there, but at some point, she stood, and dusted her clothes off.
She had to leave. And immediately, before she did something foolish like break down and tell Raffa the truth. She had to go. For if she told him, and he asked her to stay regardless, she would. And that would be so very wrong, for both of them.
“Aysha?” She called from the door to her room, looking for her servant. She appeared after a few moments.
“What is it, your highness? Are you well?” Aysha asked with a slight frown.
“I’ve just had some news about a friend. I have to leave for America – at once. Would you have a jet prepared and send word to my husband?” Her voice cracked. “I’ll only be gone a few days; I’d appreciate it if you would let him know.”
“His highness might wish…”
“His highness had a busy day of meetings,” she demurred. “There’s no sense bothering him over something so trivial.”
“Very well,” Aysha bowed low. “I’ll pack a suitcase and then we’ll leave.”
“Thank you.”
True to her word, Aysha took care of the practicalities, and then they were off, a limousine ride to the airport, and a smooth flight to Seattle via a refueling stop in London.
Chloe had lived in close proximity to Aysha for almost three years, and she hated knowing that she would never see the woman again, as she hated the necessity of lying to her. She told herself, again and again, This is the right thing to do, repeating the incantation inside her mind until those words were all she heard, all she could focus on.
“I need to use the restroom,” Chloe murmured, nodding towards a toilet stall in the busy airport. “I won’t be long.” She walked away before Aysha could say something. And though her security detail was following her, Chloe had the advantage. She’d used this airport many times, and she knew that the bathrooms had two access points. She walked in, and before they entered to see which stall she chose, she slipped out the other doors.
The airport was frantic; it was not hard to be lost in the commotion. None of it was very hard, in the end. In one day, Chloe had ended her marriage – but her heart would never be the same again.
*
Raffa nodded at something the German ambassador had said, and the intrusion of Fahir was unwelcome.
“I said I am not to be disturbed,” he said, without looking up.
But when his eyes met Fahir’s something like apprehension began to unfurl inside of him. For his servant’s face was very pale, his expression taut.
“Excuse me,” he said to the ambassador, standing and crossing the room. In hushed tones, he implored Fahir: “Is it my father?”
“No, sir. His excellency’s condition is unchanged. But…”
“What?” Raffa had a sixth sense that something was badly, badly wrong, and he needed it to be assuaged.
“It’s Her Highness, sir.”
Raffa’s chest caved inwards. He felt as though he’d been winded. “What is it? Is she hurt?”
Fahir’s expression was stricken.
“Damn it,” Raffa demanded. “Tell me at once.”
“She is not hurt. At least, not that I know of. Sir, she’s…”
“Yes? For God’s sake, Fahir, tell me.”
The servant nodded. “She’s missing.”
Raffa began to relax, to calm, just a little. “Missing? Unlikely. She is more well-guarded than a palace…”
“No, sir. Her security detail lost sight of her, and she cannot be found.”
Raffa’s whole world tilted. Nothing made sense. Chloe? Missing? He thought back to the note he’d received that morning, that she was going to America. There had been nothing in that to alarm him – she’d taken to disappearing each month, and he understood her reasons for needing to be alone. He accepted that she took this time to accept that they hadn’t achieved their goal. Though he’d wished, for many months now, that she would turn to him instead, that she would lean on him when she needed support, when she needed to be told that everything would be okay.