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S he’d been sidelined yet again. Stood up. Pushed aside. Passed over in favor of someone else.

Story of her life. Every time she considered something other than putting her career first, this was what happened.

This is what had happened to her mother. Memories of Concetta bombarded her mind. Waiting. Disappointed. Giddy that her father had finally made time for her. Dani refused to be like her mother. No way was she debasing herself that way.

Dani checked her phone… six minutes past the time Zack was supposed to meet her and there was still no sign of him.

Again.

No message either.

Well, she wasn’t going to wait around a second time for him to make a fool out of her.

Climbing to her feet, Dani headed towards the door and told the hostess the table wouldn’t be needed, then set off at a fast pace towards her cabana.

That’s when she saw them.

Zack, and a woman Dani didn’t recognize, one she assumed must be the mysterious Emylyah.

This was Zack’s wife?

She was beautiful… and everything Dani wasn’t.

She was also clinging to Zack in an obviously intimate embrace.

The two of them were wrapped around each other.

Dani didn’t wait to see any more. She didn’t want to watch her dreams go up in smoke and turn to ashes right in front of her eyes. Better to cut and run than to watch them burn.

Tears stung Dani’s eyes as she hurried back to her cabana, her heart pounding.

How could she have been so stupid? Of course Zack would choose his wife over her.

Wasn’t that what men always did? Wasn’t that what her father had done; treating her like she was invisible except on the rare occasions he could bother to make time for her?

Or rather her mother. And just like Concetta, Dani was, and always had been, the other woman.

Once inside, she slammed the door and leaned against it, letting out a shaky breath. She should have known better than to give Zack a second chance, no matter how convincing his story was. No matter that he professed to love her.

She wiped angrily at her eyes. No more crying over him, she was better off by herself. Hadn’t she always known that? When did she lose sight of the harsh realities of life?

She’d just poured herself a large glass of wine when there was a sharp knock at the door. She froze, knowing it would be Zack. How did he get here so fast?

"Dani? Are you in there?" Zack's voice called out, a hint of frustration in his tone. Somehow that just fueled her anger. What right did he have to sound annoyed?

Dani's jaw clenched, and as much as she wanted to play possum, it was time to tell Zack he should leave Elysium. She marched to the door and yanked it open.

"What do you want, Zack?" she snapped, her voice cold and brittle.

Zack's brow furrowed in confusion. "What's going on? I was looking for you at the restaurant."

"Oh, were you? You must have missed me while you were wrapped around another woman," Dani retorted, her words dripping with sarcasm.

Zack's eyes widened - probably with guilt, she thought uncharitably - then morphed into a frown. "Dani, that's not…"

"Save it." She cut him off. "I don't want to hear your excuses. This was a mistake. You should go back to your wife and leave the island. We're done here."

Zack dragged his fingers through his hair, leaving it standing on end. “Dani, you don’t mean that,” he cajoled, taking a step over the threshold. “Let’s talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about, Zack. And besides, talk is cheap. Actions speak far louder.”

Anger flashed across Zack's face, taking Dani by surprise at its vehemence.

"You're unbelievable, you know that? I thought you understood about Emylyah. I explained over and over. I told you how I feel about you, and I tried to show you by putting my life on hold and staying here with you. By tackling the barriers standing between us and removing them. Everything I’ve done, I did for us, so we could have a future together.”

Dani scoffed, her jealousy and rage clashing together to make her bitter and bitchy. “Sure, it looked like that was the case when you were all over her.”

Zack's eyes flashed dangerously as he stepped fully into the cabana, slamming the door behind him.

"You want to talk about actions speaking louder than words?

Fine. Let's talk about how you didn't even bother to wait a measly ten minutes for me.

How you jumped to conclusions without giving me a chance to explain.

Again! How you're ready to throw away everything we've built here because you’re busy getting pissy about things you can’t even be bothered to ask about. "

He advanced on her, his tall frame crowding her space. Dani stumbled back, her anger warring with a sudden spark of arousal at his commanding presence.

"You always do this, don't you?" Zack growled. “You jump to conclusions, then cut and run at the first sign of trouble. Push people away before they can hurt you.”

"You're the one who stood me up to be with your wife!"

"I just divorced my wife!” he bellowed, surprising her with his ferocity.

“I was saying goodbye to Emylyah. I was trying to comfort and reassure her after I pretty much fucked up her life by tracking her down to terminate our association. I caused all kinds of problems with her relationship because she didn’t know about our marriage.

Our child marriage, Dani. One neither she nor I understood or agreed to.

And I did all that for you! So we could be together without it in our way.

And this is what I get in return? You willing to throw it all away because you can’t see past your own insecurities for five goddamn minutes? "

Dani flinched at the raw anger in his voice, but her own temper flared in response. "Oh, so I'm supposed to just trust you blindly? After everything that's happened between us?"

"Yes!" Zack roared, closing the distance between them until they were nose to nose.

"That's exactly what you're supposed to do, because what happened in our past was nothing more than a misunderstanding - as you’d have known way back then if you’d bothered to stick around and listen instead of turning tail.

Because I love you, you stubborn, infuriating woman.

I've done everything I can to try to prove it to you, but you refuse to see it. "

His words hit Dani like a physical blow, stealing her breath. She stared up at him, her heart pounding. The intensity in his eyes was scorching, a mix of fury and passion that might have scared her if it had been anyone but Zack.

His next words did scare her, despite her decision to push him away.

"I can't do this anymore, Dani. It’s tearing me apart inside.

" Zack said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl, laced with defeat.

"I can't keep chasing you, trying to convince you of my feelings.

Either you trust me, or you don't. Either you want this - want us - or you don't. And honestly, it seems like you don’t.”

He gripped her upper arms, not painfully but firmly enough to hold her in place.

“Maybe you're right, and we can’t ever make this work, because God knows I can’t do it on my own.”

Dani's breath caught in her throat, her mind reeling. The finality in Zack's tone sent ice through her veins. This was it - the moment of truth. She thought she’d been prepared to push him away, to run and protect herself from the pain that always seemed to follow love. But now he’d given her an ultimatum, things didn’t seem quite so clear cut.

A horrible thought ran through her mind. Had she been testing him? Deliberately pushing him away to see how he’d react? To see if he’d run?

Had she finally gone a step too far?

She didn’t like the idea she was that person.

A woman who would deliberately hurt someone she cared about just to test their loyalty.

And she did care about him. She loved him, even though, in that moment, she realized she’d never said the words.

Never returned them all the times Zack had professed them to her.

The realization hit her like a punch to the gut - that's exactly what she'd been doing. Not only was she testing him, but for a little while, she’d also become the kind of woman she’d always hated.

Bitter and resentful, hating on others instead of celebrating them.

How had that happened? When had she turned into someone who cast blame on people who didn't deserve it? Someone who secretly wanted to stamp another woman down instead of lending them a hand up? Someone mean, and spiteful, and vindictive. That wasn’t who she thought she was, who she meant to be, but it was exactly how she'd acted.

She’d been so obsessed with what Zack’s reunion with his wife might mean, so blinded by her parents fucked up relationship, so scared, she’d been ready to lash out. Ready to hurt someone else just because she was hurting. And it wasn’t even the first time she’d done it.

Dani squeezed her eyes shut as she remembered just how many times she’d lashed out at Zack when he'd tried to reach out to her. How she’d acted when they ran into each other that first time at her office and she’d thought he was mocking her.

When he showed up at her cabana and she’d thought he was there to use her, so she’d used him first. Her heart clenched as she realized she hadn’t just been testing him.

She’d been waiting for him to fail. Expecting it because she was so convinced he would.

Expecting him to be like her father, because that’s how she’d grown up seeing a man behave.

No wonder Zack was ready to give up. Who could blame him?

As understanding began to dawn, Dani’s anger gave way to mind-numbing fear.

She didn't want to lose him. In fact, that was the last thing she wanted.

Her mouth fell open as she scrambled to find words, but before she could speak, Zack's grip on her arms loosened, his fingertips trailing away slowly, as though reluctant to let her go.

His eyes darkened with an unsettling mix of emotions, the intensity from moments before waning to something more subdued but no less devastating.

He took a deliberate step back, and Dani felt the chill of his withdrawal like a sudden gust of cold wind. The set of his jaw and the hard line of his mouth signaled a resolve she hadn't seen before, a shift that made her breath catch in her throat.

"I think I have my answer," he said quietly, his voice stripped of the fury that had electrified the air between them, leaving behind a sadness and resignation that chilled Dani to her core.

Then, before she could find the right words, he turned and walked away.