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N odding numbly, Dani allowed Sadie to guide her away from the restaurant. They walked in silence along the beach until they reached a secluded spot shaded by palm trees.

"Okay, spill," Sadie said gently. "What's really going on with you and Zack?"

Where did she even start?

She took a shaky breath. "I thought... I thought we were starting over. I guess I had some romantic notion that he came here for me, and the excuse about updating the mainframe was just a cover. It never did make any sense that someone like Zack would come here to do that. He’s a damn venture capitalist, not an IT lackey.

And now I find out he's been lying about why he's here all along. I was right. It was nothing to do with the mainframe… and it was nothing to do with me, either.” She laughed bitterly. "God, I'm such an idiot."

Sadie's eyes widened. "Oh honey, no. He really didn’t lie to you.” She bit her lip. “No more than I did, anyway.”

Dani looked at her friend in shock. “What does that mean?”

Dragging her fingers through her hair, Sadie huffed out a breath.

“There were things I couldn’t tell you… that I still can’t tell you.

” She shook her head and laughed humorlessly.

“God, that sounds shit. But it’s the truth.

Things about Saul that could put his life in danger.

Hell, he was in danger. That’s why Zack was here.

Neither of us were at liberty to talk about it.

The only person who knew what was going on was Luca. ”

“So, my best friend, my cousin, and my lover all knew the score, but not me.” Dani knew she sounded snippy, but she couldn’t help it. She felt betrayed. Again.

Sadie stopped walking and turned to face her.

“Dani, I know you’re feeling shut out, but none of this was about you…

and I mean that in the best possible way,” she added when she saw Dani’s expression crumble.

“Saul had a target on his back. I can’t say more than that, but the threat against him was massive, and it was real. ”

And now she felt like an asshole for bitching about it.

“All I’m saying is, don’t read stuff into it that isn’t there.”

Dani felt herself deflate. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m just so torn and confused. I promised Zack we’d give things another go, but in all truth, I still have so many reservations, and the situation with his wife doesn't help.”

She winced, knowing she’d have to explain herself a bit more on that score, but Sadie surprised her.

“As it happens, I know a bit about Zack’s situation.

” She hurried on, maybe knowing Dani was hanging by a thread.

“It just so happened that Saul thought he had a lead on Zack’s child bride.

I refuse to call her his wife, because she really isn’t, and I think, deep down, regardless of your insecurities, you know that.

They were children, Dani. Minors whose parents had no business doing such a thing to them. ”

“I understand that logically, Sadie. Honestly, I do. But it doesn’t change the fact that Zack’s married…

making me the ‘other woman’, regardless of the circumstances.

” She said it using her fingers as quotation marks.

“That’s something that has real triggers for me, and I’m struggling to keep them under control. ”

Sadie's expression softened with understanding. "Oh Dani, you're not the other woman. Not in any real sense. That sham of a marriage was forced on Zack when he was just a kid. He never chose it or wanted it. You're the one he's chosen as an adult."

Dani shook her head, unconvinced. "But legally..."

"Legally nothing," Sadie interrupted firmly. "Zack was underage when that 'marriage' happened and he's been trying to get it officially terminated for years. As soon as he manages to track Emylyah down, it’ll be a couple of quick signatures and all of it will be in the past.”

Dani felt a glimmer of hope but doubt still gnawed at her. "I just wish he'd been upfront about everything from the start, then maybe I wouldn’t have been so blindsided, and reacted so badly."

"I know, sweetie, but you said yourself that your previous relationship only took the form of scening at a club. That’s not exactly the kind of environment where you share deep life stories. And I have a feeling Zack kept it that way purposefully.”

Dani thought back on the times she and Zack had spent together and couldn’t deny Sadie’s words. “It felt like so much more though,” she admitted. “I wanted it to be more.”

Sadie squeezed her hand. “I know that. And as soon as you put that out there, Zack came clean with you. He never led you on. I think you should give him a little bit of credit for that.”

Sadie sighed and shook her head. “This may not be what you want to hear, Dani, but I’m going for a bit of tough love here…

It was you who wouldn’t give him the opportunity to explain back then.

And I’m pretty sure Zack probably has as many doubts as you do since for him, it probably seemed like you didn't care enough to hear him out.”

Ouch. Yeah, tough love indeed.

“Hurt works both ways,” Sadie continued, not letting go of Dani’s hand.

“You don’t spend so much time together in such intimate circumstances - not even if it was only at a kink club - without building a certain amount of trust and faith in the other person.

You have to have that as both a dominant and a submissive, to be able to enjoy the kind of exclusive relationship you did.

To have it torn away so suddenly and painfully is going to leave scars on both of you, and the only way to get around that now is to be completely transparent with each other.

But also, you need to remember neither of you are entirely without fault. ”

Well, that sucked big donkey balls… but it was exactly what Dani needed to hear. Sadie was right. Zack had never led her on, and he had been honest as soon as she suggested taking things further.

It was Dani herself who ran, just like she always did when things got tough. She didn’t bother waiting around to listen then. But now, that was exactly what she needed to do.

And if she didn’t like the answers… Well, then she could run.