“Where do you think you’re taking her?” he demanded then, so loud and firm that I could hear him through the window.
Kate didn’t flinch, her arms crossed as she planted herself firmly between him and car. “That’s none of your business.”
“It is my business,” he retorted, taking another step forward. “Sheis my business, Kate. Stay out of it.”
“No,” she said, just as quickly and just as firmly. “You’ve lost that right. In fact, I’m not convinced you ever even had it.”
Will’s eyes widened, then narrowed. His head started shaking just as Nate stepped in with his hands up, turning toward each of them. “Okay, everyone just relax. We need to take this inside. You’re causing a scene on the sidewalk outside of HQ. If anyone snaps a?—”
“I don’t care,” Will said, his voice laced with aggravation.
“Yeah, well, the rest of us do,” Nate replied dryly. “Let’s maybe not make this worse than it already is.”
Worse. I let out a quiet, hollow breath. I wasn’t sure that was possible.
The driver shifted in the front seat, glancing at me in the rearview mirror. “Ma’am, would you like a bottle of water?”
I blinked hard, the question taking a second too long to register.Water. Right. Normal things.
“No.” I shook my head. “Thank you.”
My voice sounded distant all of a sudden, like it belonged to someone else entirely. Meanwhile, the argument continued outside, filtering in as faintly as if it was happening in some other realm.
“I just want to talk to her,” Will was saying, his voice lower but no less intense. “That’s all. I just need to explain.”
“And I’m telling you that’s not happening right now,” Kate replied. “Look at her, Will. She needs time and space to process all this.”
“Eliza,” he tried again, his gaze flicking to the car.
I froze. Even though he couldn’t see me properly through the tinted glass, it felt like he could. Like he knew exactly where I was. But the first thing I felt wasn’t anger or indignation.
It was recognition. A draw I’d never felt to anyone else and that I hadn’t thought I would ever feel again. I swallowed hard, forcing my gaze to my lap.
I can’t think about him like that. Not anymore.
Nate sighed and dragged a hand along his jaw. “Will, man, give her a second to breathe.”
“I will. I’m just not letting her disappear.”
“She’s not disappearing,” Kate cut in. “She’s leaving. It’s what she needs right now, Will.”
“What do you want me to do?” he asked after a brief pause, his voice rougher and less controlled now. “Just let her walk away?”
Kate didn’t soften, nodding firmly as she held his gaze. “Yes. That’s exactly what I want you to do.”
The confirmation seemed to hit him where it hurt. I saw it in the way he reacted, his shoulders dropping and the expression on his face suddenly falling, like he’d been defeated.
My chest ached at seeing him like that, everything in me longing to climb out of the car and pull him into my arms. Assure him that somehow, we’d work all this out. But I didn’t move a muscle.
Kate slid into the seat beside me a few seconds later, pulling the door shut behind her with a quiet finality. She glanced at the driver. “Go.”
“Where to, ma’am?”
“My condo.”
The car started moving and I lifted my gaze to the window before I could stop myself, catching one last glimpse of him standing on the pavement, watching the car like he could stop it if he just tried hard enough.
Bloody hell, he looks as broken as a I feel, but that can’t be right.He’d lied to me. He’d lured me to a different continent under false pretenses. He’d taken me to his bed?—
