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Sarai had been expecting us to reappear for dinner, but I knew I couldn’t face that. How on Earth could I face her and Richard after all this?
As I thought about how much this had messed up, the first few tears slipped down my cheeks. I had been so happy here, even if the work had been difficult. Sarai and Richard were a wonderful couple and I’d felt like I was beginning to live in my own fairy tale with Lukas.
But it had all been fake. He didn’t want a partner. All he wanted was a woman to do as she was told, stay close and let him control her every move and feeling. To submit to his every desire. But there was no care in his domination of me. Not really. He’d wanted to be as cruel or kind as he felt like and have a woman suck it up. No wonder he was still single.
With these thoughts came anger, and my tears dried up. I wasn’t the sort of woman to let a man treat me like crap. Not for any reason, and definitely not because he felt like he could get away with it and expect me to put up with it.
I could only assume it was because of the money. Maybe other women were okay with it because he came with money. But I wasn’t. The money didn’t matter to me more than safety and being cared for.
Every time I thought about having to go back or go to dinner, my eyes teared up again. I didn’t know what I was going to do.
After a little longer, I received a message from Sarai. One word.
Dinner?
I didn’t want to respond, but I knew she would persist, and she knew what room we were supposed to be in together. Ihad to reply or she would come looking for us and realize that something was wrong.
Not tonight. I’m exhausted. Something disagreed with me earlier. Going to get some sleep.
I’d considered my options beyond that. With Lukas gone somewhere else, I didn’t know if he would go down for food, or if he would stay in another room somewhere. If Sarai was messaging me, there was a good chance that she had already tried to get hold of Lukas and he’d rejected her plans as well.
She responded to let me know she hoped I felt better soon and left it at that. It was enough for me to relax and at least feel one problem had been averted. The tears flowed thick and fast after that for a while. I let them come. My chest ached as I thought about everything I had hoped for.
I knew I must have been hoping for something that wasn’t possible. Lukas had appeared to be a man he wasn’t. I wasn’t grieving a real relationship, but a fake one. It didn’t make it hurt any less, however.
As I calmed, I tried to decide what to do next. I had done a lot for Sarai and made plenty of money from the project already. She had been paying me a little every week, even though there was a balloon payment waiting for me at the end. It was still more than I’d made in several years.
If I wanted to, I could go home and not even have to be here in the morning. After wiping the tears from my face, I hurried over to my pack and my laptop. I would be able to look for flights easier on that and see if I could get one any time in the next four to five hours. I knew that I would need to pack up, but I didn’t know how far it was from the nearest airport.
There were lots of flights if I was willing to pay for business class, but I hesitated before booking any of them. I knew my friends weren’t expecting me back. There wouldn’t be a car forme this time. I would need to sort a ride back from the airport to my apartment.
Could I just get a cab? I sighed. No. Not when I was this much of an emotional wreck. I needed a friend. And that meant I needed to call one of them to talk it through.
I picked up my phone and tried to decide who to call. It needed to be the right person for them to not only be able to pick me up, but to still be awake. It was almost midnight in the UK.
In the end, I couldn’t get through to anyone. Not a single one of them. I tried every friend I had in the UK twice and still nothing. They were all busy or asleep, and it gave me no way out that didn’t involve relying on some kind of public transport. And I was so tired.
More tears flowed as I went to pack my bags. If nothing else, at least I could make sure I was ready to leave as soon as I had a decent plan in place.
I was only halfway through when there was a knock on the door. Once more, I tried to dry my eyes and figure out if I could handle the interruption. Despite feeling a little hungry, I hadn’t ordered room service. So this could only be Lukas or one of the few other people who knew of our room.
Almost hoping it was the man who had just broken up with me, I barely even wiped the last of my tears away before I opened the door. Sarai stood there with a bottle of wine under her arm and an array of bags of snacks in the other hand.
She took one look at me, her gaze swiftly absorbing what she saw.
“Richard thought there might be more to this than not feeling well. Come on, my dear. Tell me everything.” She came toward me so fast, all I could do was fall back and let her into the room.
I didn’t know what to say as she went straight to the sofa and put all her offerings down on the coffee table. Although I had no idea where she had gotten it from, she had some Britishchocolate and several other snacks I recognized. It was like she had been preparing for this moment.
“Some of these were supposed to be for celebration purposes. I’ve been hoping things between you and Lukas might progress. Or we’d get some incentive this weekend to all work together on something else. It seems it will have to be a commiseration gift, instead.”
Her words broke through my fog and I managed to shut the door behind me and walk toward her.
“He broke up with you, didn’t he?” Sarai asked, patting the sofa beside her.
My tears were all the answer she needed.
CHAPTER EIGHTY
