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CHAPTER 18

CILLIAN

I stand alone in my room, my eyes swollen from crying all night and my forehead pressed against the door.Dramatic? Maybe.

But I feel so empty inside that I don’t even know what to do with myself.

Yesterday, right after finishing the Rembrandt inspection, I went looking for Knox.

I wanted to take him for a walk to my favorite place on the island under the excuse of a security check.

I knew he would’ve loved that place; it’s tucked away in the trees, with a secret mini waterfall and the best part… with zero guests around.

But instead of pulling off the ultimate date in my mission to make Knox like me enough to stay after the stalker is caught, I got my heart broken.

Again.

I don’t know why I keep doing this…

Why am I so pathetically desperate to make people like me?

To make people stay.

Fuck…

I close my eyes, trying to calm down, but that only makes it worse, because now all I see is Knox talking to Tae, telling him how disgusting it is that I, a fucking rich brat, expected Knox to sleep with me just because I have money, without caring for what he wanted.

It broke me.

God… every look I’d given Knox since we left that cabin, every touch, every desperate attempt to draw him back to me… it all meant nothing to him.

Worse, it disgusted him.

I am so stupid.

But… the show must go on.

So I lift my head, take a deep breath, and open the door to find Tae sitting in the lounge area outside my suite.

“Tae?”

He lifts his eyes from his Spanish textbook, silently staring at me as he waits for whatever I’m going to say next.

“Um… can you ask Leif to come and shadow me today?”

Tae double-taps his earpiece. “Viking hippie, the primary wants you to shadow him today.” He stays quiet for a moment, his eyes fixed on me.

Oh, my God…

How the hell can someone who looks that angelic be so freaking intimidating?

“He’s on his way,” he says, turning back to his book.

“Oh. Okay… thanks.”

I retreat into my room and shut the door, because there is no way I’m staying out there with Mr. Stares.

…Or risking running into Knox.