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“It’s no big deal. I just don’t want to take you away from your celebrations.” Doing her best to appear nonchalant, she lifted up onto the tips of her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. It was a chaste kiss, like one might offer an acquaintance on the street, nothing more, but Gabe turned his face, his mouth finding hers, demanding more from her, as though he sought the truth through the kiss.

Anger flared in her belly. She kissed him back but it was a kiss of resentment now, of fury in fact. She wanted to shove him with her hands, to push him against the wall and throw her feelings in his face; to tell him she loved him and he damn well didn’t want her, just like everyone else in her life. But damn it, she had too much self-respect, and she loved him too much to burden him with any more guilt. It wasn’t his fault that she’d fallen for him. In fact, he’d all but spelled it out to her that she shouldn’t.

She’d shrugged off the likelihood back then, but he’d been right.

Biting back a sob, she pulled away from him, her eyes holding a silent warning.

She stared up at Gabe, his face already etched into her memory, her soul withering in a way she suspected might be permanent, and then she walked towards the door.

“Goodbye, Gabe.” She wrenched it open, the warning look still heavy in her eyes.

He looked as though he wanted to say something. She hesitated a moment, just in case, but when he remained silent, she turned and left, walking the whole way to the gate as though she didn’t have a care in the world. It was only when she was slumped into the privacy of the car’s back seat that she gave into the tears that had been cloying at her throat

. Then, they ran down her cheeks unchecked.

15

“YOU’RE IN A VILE mood.”

Gabe stared at Nico. “I’m fine.”

“Bullshit.” Max came and straddled a backwards facing chair, reaching for a crisp and crunching down on it. “I don’t suppose your storm cloud has anything to do with a certain blonde cook and her recent departure?”

Max was closer to the money than Gabe wanted to admit. He hadn’t stopped thinking about Isabella since she’d left two days earlier. But that had less to do with Isabella and more to do with the abruptness of it all.

Her mood had been off from the minute she arrived in the salon and announced she had to leave. It hadn’t made any sense.

Right up until she walked out the door, something had been different about her. He’d felt like the real Isabella was there, but not there, buried deep inside a stranger.

But these were personal reflections. Gabe was used to keeping the world out of his head and heart, so it was easy to push back against Max’s observation. “For the hundredth time, she meant nothing to me. Just let it go, for God’s sake.”

Max and Nico shared a look.

Frustrated, Gabe stood up. “I know you mean well, but I wish you’d all butt out.”

She’d been fine on Christmas morning. Better than fine. He could tell she’d been living out a fantasy, and he’d been glad he could give that to her – the exact Christmas she’d fantasised about so often. It was why he’d brought her to Villa Fortune.

He’d got caught up talking to Nico by the pool, and when he’d come back in, Isabella was gone. She was missing for a long time – over an hour – then she’d walked in with Lauren.

Across the room, Lauren was reading a book. Clenching his teeth, he moved to her, not giving himself a chance to second guess his intentions.

She looked up as he approached. “Hey, Gabe. How’s it going?”

He nodded in answer. “Was Isabella upset?”

Lauren frowned, closing her book. “When?”

“You came into this room together, then she announced she was leaving. Had anything happened…?”

“I don’t think so,” Lauren mused. “She did seem a bit quiet when I found her, but only for a moment. I think she was just distracted by her meeting. Have you heard how it went?”

He thought of the email address she’d saved in his phone. Not even a personal one – it was [email protected] , probably monitored by a staff member. The fact he had no easy way to contact her tightened his gut until it hurt. He felt like he’d been filled up with gravel.

“I haven’t heard. But knowing Isabella, I’m sure it was a success.” It was true. He had no doubt that she would have charmed whoever it was she’d been meeting with.

The jealousy caught him completely unawares, ripping through him, so he almost stumbled backwards. The idea of Isabella being out in the world, meeting new people, men, being flirted with, asked out on dates, charmed by whoever the hell she came across made him want to claw at the bricks with his bare hands. What the hell?

“I’m sure it was,” Lauren smiled as though Gabe wasn’t having some kind of emotional breakdown. He couldn’t fathom what was going on, but he felt a nauseating need to be completely alone. Il Nido flashed into his mind.

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