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The smile fades from his face as he reads mine. He knows it will be a big ask before I even make the plea.
“I hate to put you in this position after all you’ve done to make me feel welcomed.” Hearing my tone, he looks away, knowing I’m not asking for more baked goods. I take a deep breath, stealing my nerves. “I need to talk to my family.”
Staring at the floor, he shakes his head. “I can’t help you with that. We’re under strict instructions to have no contact with any members of your family right now?—"
Desperation leaks into my tone. “I need to hear my mother’s voice.”
Gian relents after what feels like fifteen minutes but can only have been a long moment. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Don’t get yourself into any trouble, but if there’s any way to make it possible?—”
He holds up his hand, stopping me. “I’ll see what I can do.”
I feel a flutter of hope. “Thanks.”
“Moving on,” he says. “Now, let’s get back to that essay.”
“Great.” I pull out a clean sheet of paper and stare at the blank lines.
Gian prompts me, and I attempt to explain how urbanization causes habitat loss, but my only thought is of contacting my family…
And what will Haze do to me if he finds out I tried?
CHAPTER 14
Haze
He wants his answer,and he wants it now.
Don’t run your hand through your hair, Haze. It’s your tell.I take a deep breath and steel my nerves.
Clearing my throat, I attempt to compensate for my earlier poor manners of turning down his wife’s hospitality by offering gratitude. “Thank you for arranging last night with Ophelia’s family. Everything went smoothly on my end.” And hopefully I will avoid the topic of the ring I’m missing from my left ring finger. “How did things go here? I’m guessing Emilia hasn’t been filled in?”
“The mom and grandfather were exuberant that she’d been chosen for the study abroad program. The grandmother is shrewd. Sharp. She looked a little less convinced. Emilia doesn’t need to know just yet.”
“Okay. Why?—”
He moves on quickly before I can bring up he’s not told his wife I’m getting married. Narrowing his gaze, he demands again, “Where is your ring?”
“I picked Ophelia up last night while you distracted her family. Then I brought her back to my house. Woke up this morning and came straight here.” I hope my lie comes out smoother than the shaky hand I run through my hair. “There wasn’t time for a wedding.”
There’s a sliver of truth in my statement; my obsession with doing sexy things with my naive virgin did take up most of my time.
He counters with the truth. “Charlie came into town for this. She even dragged the Beast out of his lair to help her, which, as you can imagine, he was NOT happy with.”
Ah yes, Nikolaos Bachman, the Beast from Greece. He walks around with his massive biceps peeking out of his olive-green shirt and heavy black boots on his feet, worthy of his military background. He’s grouchy and hates leaving the mansion on Dark Island, once his bachelor cave, but turned into a beautiful bed and breakfast by his flowery, feminine wife, Charlie, to host the family.
I’m going to owe him Cuban cigars after this.
“Charlie had everything prepared for a ceremony. She and the Beast spent hours decorating the pool house with fresh flowers. She even had two slices of cake waiting for you.” He gives a shameful groan. “Which I ended up stress eating for breakfast.”
Liam never eats sugar… this is bad.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
He says, “I can’t tell you how disappointed she was when Father Thomas called her to tell her you’d canceled at the last minute.”
“It's true,” I admit. “I called Father Thomas on the way to Ophelia’s house last night. I told him the wedding was off, but I’d be in touch.”