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‘Drac—Dad!’ she amended as her father faced her.
‘Hello, Arabella.’
‘What are you doing here?’ The question emerged like an accusation.
She was happy to see him, of course she was, but the scything disappointment of not finding Draco here raked her raw without the numbness to protect her.
‘I’m sorry for the cloak-and-dagger stuff. But I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me. Not after the way we parted.’
Pain she’d thought she’d grappled under control fired through her. ‘You were the one who didn’t want to see me any more, remember?’
He sighed. ‘I should never have said that.’
‘Why not, if you meant it?’
‘I didn’t mean it. It was wrong, but that was just my grief talking.’
Weariness weighted her shoulders. ‘It’s okay, Dad. I get it now.’
His light blue eyes widened. ‘You do?’
‘Yes, I do.’
* * *
We need to talk.
Draco had lost count of the number of ways he’d dissected those four words, hoping to disembowel every worst-case scenario they might represent. Each time, a new one had reared up stronger, more venomous than before.
What good thing had ever come from those words? Hell, weren’t those same words his own lead-in to a break-up with a girlfriend who suddenly grew too clingy? Or an underperforming employee who needed to be kicked into touch or kicked out? He’d never been at the receiving end of them, of course.
Until now.
He read the box numbers as they flashed past, the location Greg had given him stuck in his brain. He wanted to reach his destination yet he dreaded what would happen when he got there. That dread was partly why he’d stayed away. Sure, Olivio Nardozzi had finally wised up to the fact that the daughter he’d viewed as little more than an asset he’d kept too tight a grip on was in danger of slipping away from him and had begged for Draco’s help. But everything he’d done for them could’ve been done from his Verbier chalet, within touching distance of Arabella.
Except he hadn’t been sure Arabella would wish to be at his side.
The not knowing had finally got to him. He needed to know where he stood, whether her request to talk was a precursor to her walking away from him.
He neared box sixteen and flashed his Access All Areas card at the stout woman guarding the hallway. A few steps away from the door he froze at the sound of Arabella’s voice.
‘You lost the love of your life because of me.’
‘Arabella, don’t—’
‘No. Don’t try to mince your words. If I hadn’t disobeyed you both and gone out skiing on my own, she’d still be alive today. She’d be here with you and we’d still be a family.’
Horror clawed up Draco’s spine.
‘We tell everyone it was an accident, but it wasn’t, Dad, and we both know it. I rebelled against my parents. You warned me not to go skiing when there was a blizzard warning. I waited until you’d gone to the village to do the grocery shopping, then snuck out. I wanted what I wanted and it ended up killing her.’
A ragged breath echoed out into the hallway. ‘You’ll never know what coming back to see the note that she’d gone after you did to me. To have never got the chance to say goodbye...’
‘Because of me. I know, Dad. You’ll never know how much I wish I hadn’t—’
Draco didn’t realise his feet had moved until he was standing in the room. Twin pairs of blue eyes swung his way, one narrowing in wary dislike, and the other rounding with the same horror spiralling through him.
‘You had a direct hand in your mother’s accident?’ he rasped, blinding rage eclipsing everything else.
She swallowed, her eyes pools of dark horror. ‘Draco... I...’
‘After agreeing we’d be up front with each other, you didn’t think to tell me you selfishly and irresponsibly put your own mother’s life in danger?’
‘Draco—’
He waved her silent, her voice a bleak implication he didn’t want ringing in his ears. Shaking his head, he laughed. ‘But then you didn’t exactly agree to the up-front part, did you? I was too caught up in...other things to recognise that you avoided that particular stipulation.’
She stepped towards him. ‘I wanted to tell you. Draco, please believe me—’
He silenced her with a slash of his hand. ‘I let you into Maria’s life. She already thinks you’re the most incredible woman to walk the earth. And you’ve turned out to be no better than the man who put her in the wheelchair.’
She gasped.
Nathan Daniels stepped forward. ‘Now hang on there, Angelis—’
