Page 179 of Forbidden Forget-Me-Not

“May have?”

“Yes. May have,” he repeated, winking at me. “Let me know when you’d like to go for your afternoon walk. I’ll be right outside the door.”

Then he slipped out.

Mother would go straight to Nathaniel. Goran most likely already had done that, but her knowing just made me feel better. Relief nearly made my knees buckle. I could only pray that my brother acted quickly. I didn’t want to think of what might happen if Julian struck first.

My hand went to my throat and the mark on my skin, before tracing the ring hanging from my necklace.

Help was coming. I could feel it.

Chapter

Forty-Six

KAYLANI

The air inside the limo reeked of expensive cologne. Masculine to the point of suffocating, it wrapped around the five of us like a blanket no one wanted.

My father sat across from me, staring out the window, his eyes never once meeting mine. Julian sat beside him while I was wedged between Sven and one of the Harrington guards, as if I were the dangerous one.

City lights blurred past the tinted windows. Mallorca glowed at night. Streetlamps bathed the stone streets in soft gold. Bougainvillea spilled over white walls in bright fuchsia cascades. The harbor lights flickered like distant stars across the black water.

In any other circumstance, it would have been romantic. Instead, it felt like a farewell to the life I loved.

I still clung to hope that Nathaniel and Goran would find me, but I also needed to be realistic. They could be too late. Or perhaps, my brother didn’t have the power to change the course of my fate.

A million scenarios had run through my mind, and I always returned to the same conclusion. Alone with no money was manageable. Being hunted, while trying to stay hidden, I could handle.

But if something went wrong and I lost my baby, and possibly the last tie to the man I loved, I wouldn’t survive that.

Scaling twenty-foot walls, clinging to the bottom of trucks, or sneaking away in a boat that I had no idea how to operate might look great on a movie screen. But in real life, I didn’t have those skills, and pretending I did was far more dangerous than Julian.

“You look lovely this evening, Kaylani.”

Julian held a crystal tumbler between his fingers, rotating it slowly. The sound of the ice clinking against the glass was unusually annoying.

“It’s what you asked for, is it not?”

“Yes, you’re right. You’ve been very cooperative since our little chat.” He glanced at the giant rock on my finger. I instantly wanted to cut my finger off so I’d never have to wear it again.

I swallowed the sarcastic retort and went back to staring out the window.

“But ignoring me is disrespectful.”

He just couldn’t leave well enough alone. The faint grin on his face revealed that he was purposely goading me. Why, I couldn’t fathom.

“You really like that word, Julian. Respect. But I was raised to respect those who have earned it. So far, you have done nothing to warrant my respect, despite what my father believes.”

Julain’s eyes narrowed, and the glass stilled. Sven went rigid beside me. He shifted just enough that I knew he was ready to grab his weapon if needed. I’d felt Goran do the same thing many times. Only recently had I recognized it for what it was, instinct in the presence of danger.

Father adjusted his cufflinks and finally acknowledged my presence.

“Tonight is important, Kaylani. For one night, can you remember that you’re a princess with manners?”

I inched forward in my seat and fixed him with a glare.

“Important for who?”