Page 58 of Forbidden Forget-Me-Not

“Did Father know that you loved someone else?”

Mom nodded again. “I pleaded with him not to accept the match. But here we are.” She reached across the table and took my hand. “I want you to understand that despite everything, I do not regret my children. I love all of you fiercely, and I would not go back and change my life, because then I would not have all of you.”

“Mom…I don’t know what to say.”

She picked up her toast and nibbled on it before finishing off her mimosa.

“I’m telling you this so you understand that your father knows what you’re going through. It was his anger at your uncle that drove him to help Yuliana. She ran and hid. She hated her father for what he did to her.” She held my gaze. “Be very careful how you use this information. But now you know.”

I forced myself to eat as my mind spun. Not even the exquisite eggs Benedict could distract me from the truth. Vadin had upended all of their lives because he chose himself.

“Mom, you said there were three things I could do. What is the third?”

Mom leaned closer, her eyes deadly serious.

“The last way,” she said after a long pause, her voice barely above a whisper, “is that he doesn’t survive long enough to make the choice for you.”

It was a good thing I had nothing in my mouth, because I would have spit it across the table.

She stood smoothly. “I have some errands to run, so I’m going to get going. Can you get a ride home?”

I nodded, still in shock.

She touched my shoulder. When I looked up at her, I didn’t see my mother anymore. I saw a woman who had survived her own war and understood the costs. Worse, she knew there was no way to shield me. She could only arm me with the truth.

“I love you. Call me if you need me. No matter the hour, I’ll always be there.”

“I know.”

I watched her leave, then sat there with the weight of her words pushing down on me. Cave to his whims. Battle with strategy and violence. Remove him from the board. Those were my options.

“Would you like more coffee or anything else today,” the server asked, jerking me out of my thoughts.

“No, thank you. It was delicious, but I’m done,” I replied automatically.

I walked back through the elite club, past familiar faces and quiet greetings, my mother’s words echoing with every step.

When I pulled out my phone, and there were no new messages, something inside me cracked.

I wasn’t angry, but it felt as if my world was imploding. The bubble I had been hiding in for all these years had finally burst, and the one person I wanted to be with was forced to pretend I was nothing more than a job.

My hand tightened around my phone.

I texted Fiona. A girls’ night was exactly what I needed.

Chapter

Eighteen

GORAN

By the time I clocked in at the club, my control was already hanging by a thread.

Dropping Nathaniel at the airfield should have been the perfect time to talk to him. My plan had been simple. Drop the bomb before he boarded the plane. That gave him a few days to think about it before he killed me for sleeping with his sister.

Instead, he was on the phone the entire drive. His voice, sharp enough to slice through the engine noise, restless and dangerous. Like a man backed into a corner.

You never backed Nathaniel into a corner.