She hadn’t refused. But as she’d watched him leave, she already knew she would be gone when he came home.
Zandra closed her eyes, sighing heavily. Fatigue had settled between her shoulder blades, weighing her down. Spending a month on a tropical island would do her mind and body good. Her heart...well, her broken heart was a different ailment that only time could cure.
After wavering another moment, she scheduled the email to be delivered after she was safely on the plane. Out of reach.
Swallowing a hard lump that had lodged in her throat, she shut down the computer and grabbed her purse and attaché case.
She paused at the door, glancing around the office to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.
Then she turned off the light and walked out.
*
Remy sat behind his desk, the glow from the computer screen the room’s only illumination.
He’d never felt more acutely alone than he did that night.
Because Zandra was gone.
She’d left him.
Just walked out of his life with no warning.
Upon returning from Monterrey that afternoon, he’d intended to drive over to her apartment and talk to her, make her see that they belonged together and could get past any obstacle.
He’d needed to stop by the office first and take care of a few things. But an hour later, just as he was getting ready to leave, he’d received her email message.
And his world came crashing down.
Remy took a swig of beer, swallowed bitterly as his eyes returned to the glowing computer screen.
He read her letter again, each word carving deeper into his heart.
She’d asked him not to go to her. She might as well have told him to stop breathing. Even her closing salutation wounded him. Be well? How the fuck did she expect him to do that when she’d just jammed a stake through his heart?
You brought this on yourself, his conscience reminded him. You have no one but yourself to blame.
After settling the score with Kennedy last week, Remy had driven straight to Keegan’s office to get some answers. The commander had been deeply apologetic and incensed, explaining that Norwood had gone behind his back and asked one of his campaign staffers to spy on Zandra. Threatened by Kennedy’s growing popularity and promising poll numbers, Norwood then decided to preemptively leak the story about Zandra.
The mayor’s underhanded tactics, coupled with his obvious lack of trust in Keegan, had prompted the commander to resign in angry disgust. But this news brought Remy no consolation.
He’d tried to protect the woman he loved from scandal, and it had all blown up in his face. He’d deceived her and betrayed her trust, and that was something he’d have to live with for the rest of his life.
A life that Zandra had just walked out of. Possibly for good.
Remy gripped the beer bottle, then lifted and hurled it against the nearest wall.
As glass and foam exploded, he dropped his head into his hands and closed his eyes.
God, he prayed like never before, let her come back. Please let her come back to me.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“So when are you going to tell me the real reason you skipped town?” Skylar demanded.
Zandra sighed, glancing around the bustling terminal of the Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. She’d been flipping through the latest issue of Vogue while she waited out her layover when her cell phone rang.
She shouldn’t have answered it. She wasn’t in the mood to be grilled.
“Hello?” Skylar prompted. “Are you there?”
“Actually, the reception’s been kind of spotty. So if we get disconnected—”
“Nice try. You’re not getting off this phone until you tell me what’s really going on with you.”
Zandra frowned. “Why do I have to have a reason to visit St. Lucia? It’s a beautiful island—”
“That you already visited this summer,” Skylar interjected. “And you just returned from London not too long ago.”
“So what? I didn’t realize I had to justify the number of vacations I take every year.”