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No member of the Samaras family would ever struggle financially while Andreas was alive.

Five hours later, her hands cramped, hot pains shooting up her arms, she stopped, exhausted, and burst into tears.

For the first time she admitted to herself what she had thrown away.

She hadn’t meant to cast him in the same torrid light as those other rich men who had abused their power. She had been long past that, had long accepted Andreas was nothing like those men.

His proposal, his idea they should marry for keeps, hadn’t just taken her by surprise but terrified her. She’d already been feeling raw after spilling her soul to him and had panicked.

He’d never said that one word she’d longed to hear from his lips, the same word that also would probably have made her dive out of the window.

At no point had he mentioned love.

But she had never given him the chance. She had said no without even having to think.

No, I will not marry you properly. No, I will not take the chance of us finding happiness together because I’m a big scared, distrustful baby who requires proof.

What proof could he give her that their marriage would last and that he would never cheat or break her heart? None, because that proof didn’t exist! He had no crystal ball or time portal.

And neither did she.

All she could do was trust her instincts and her heart, and both were telling her—screaming at her—that she had made the biggest mistake of her life.

Andreas had offered her his world but she’d been too scared to take it from him.

And now it was too late.

Shoving her laptop so hard it fell off her desk, Carrie buried her face in her hands and wept.

It was too late.

Too, too late.

* * *

Andreas banged hard on the blue front door for the third time.

Still no response.

Pushing the letterbox open, he crouched down. ‘Carrie? Please. Open the door. Please.’

‘She’s gone out.’

He spun round to find an elderly woman walking a small dog up the neighbouring front path.

‘Did she say where she was going?’

The woman shook her head as she rummaged in her pocket for her keys. ‘She went out when Trixie and I went for our walk. Half an hour ago or so.’

‘Did she say when she was coming back?’

‘No. She was all dressed up so I wouldn’t think she’ll be back soon.’ The woman opened her door then looked at him one last time. ‘If you’re thinking of robbing her place, I’d be very careful. She has a very noisy burglar alarm.’

Despite the situation, he couldn’t help but grin. ‘Noted.’

The door slammed shut.

With a heavy, defeated sigh, he slumped down onto Carrie’s front door step and cradled his head in his hands.

He would just have to wait until she came back from wherever she’d gone all dressed up.

Carrie rarely dressed up. She was always, always elegant, but never noticeably dressed up. The only occasion she had properly dressed up for had been his cousin’s wedding, the day everything had imploded between them.

That had been a week ago.

He looked at his watch. Half past one. Their wedding was supposed to take place in half an hour…

His brain began to tick.

Had Carrie cancelled the registry office? Because he hadn’t…

And just like that, he was on his feet, racing past his idling driver, pounding the ground to the nearest Tube station, racing down the stairs, yanking his bank card out and waving it at the turnstile, pausing only to check which line he needed to take before racing to the platform.

People of all shapes and sizes were clambering onto a train and he joined the throng.

He hadn’t used the Tube in years but this was one occasion where speed trumped luxury. He hardly noticed the people jostling into him. He certainly didn’t care.

Four minutes later and he was in Chelsea, following his nose to the registry office, checking his watch constantly until, with five minutes to spare, he was there and racing up the stairs to the waiting room outside the room he’d booked for their service.

The waiting room was empty.

He doubled over, partly from exertion but mostly from grief.

The cramp in his stomach spread to his chest and clenched around his heart.

The pain was indescribable.

What a fool he was.

He’d allowed hope to override common sense. What on earth had he been thinking?

Why would Carrie have come here? She’d made her feelings perfectly clear but he, egotistical fool that he was, had been unable to accept the truth and had…

‘Andreas?’

He froze.

Slowly he straightened before turning around.

The door to the officiating room had opened. Standing at the threshold, clearly on her way out, stood Carrie, the registrar hovering behind her.

She stared at him as if she’d seen a ghost.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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