the airport.”
Leo motioned to Damian’s driver, and the Phantom moved forward.
“Isn’t Damian going with you?” Leo asked as I rushed to the limo.
“Not this time,” I babbled. “He has work, and this is…personal for me.”
Well, that wasn’t exactly a lie, but my explanation was probably about as clear as mud.
Luckily, Leo didn’t question me further. “Take care of yourself, Nicole. Damian can tell me the rest.”
I threw myself into his arms because I couldn’t let myself leave without saying goodbye to Leo. He’d been good to me, and I’d started to become silly enough to consider him the brother I’d never had. I’d call Bella later and thank her for everything she’d done for me. I wasn’t strong enough to talk to her right now without throwing myself in her maternal arms and sobbing like a five-year-old child.
“Oh, wait!” I said to Leo when I pulled myself away from him.
I pulled my earrings off, then the bracelet, and finally the necklace. “Please give these back to Damian. They were just a loan for tonight.” I pressed the diamonds into his hand before I jumped into the back seat of the Phantom.
“Be safe, Nicole,” Leo called out, and then he closed the car door.
“Where to, Ms. Ashworth?” the driver asked politely.
“Heathrow Airport please,” I said loudly as I started to search my purse for my phone.
I had no idea how I was going to get out of England tonight, but I’d search for flights and standby possibilities on my way to London.
Tears blurred my vision, and I quickly reached for the button to close the partition between me and the driver as we got in motion.
And then, finally, I let go of the sobs that had been screaming for release since the moment I’d found the man I loved in bed with another woman.
Maybe I didn’t have the right to be brokenhearted since Damian had never promised me anything more than what we’d had.
But I was.
I was devastated, and I sobbed halfway to London, whether I had the right to my pain or not.
CHAPTER 33
Damian
“I’D LIKE TO go find Nicole.” Mum had tried to drag me to another group of people I hadn’t seen for years, but I didn’t follow her this time.
Nicole had probably arrived back downstairs a long time ago, and I was tired of greeting people without her.
I was relieved when I saw Leo coming toward us. Maybe he could take over for me while I went in search of Nicole.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Leo told me. “I wanted to see if everything was all right with Nicole. I hate to say it, but she didn’t look good when she left.”
“Left?” I questioned. “Where in the hell did she go?”
Leo shot me a confused gaze. “I thought you knew. She said you did. She took off for Heathrow almost an hour ago. I put her in the Phantom myself. She was crying, Damian, and she looked pretty frantic. She said she had an emergency. Something bad happened, but she said that you already knew about it. For some reason, she took off the jewelry she was wearing and asked me to give it to you. I had Barnaby lock it up.”
Fuck! “I don’t know a damn thing. She went upstairs to use the loo, and I haven’t seen her since she came back downstairs. I assumed she was mingling until we caught up with each other. Why in the fuck was she crying?”
Every single one of my senses was starting to alarm as I strode toward the stairs, went under the chain, and took the steps two at a time.
I told myself not to panic as I entered the east wing, but my voice of reason wasn’t responding.
“Maybe she left a note then,” Leo said reasonably as he and Mum followed behind me. “Do you think she found out about Dylan?”
“Fuck! I hope not!”
“I doubt it,” Bella commented. “She’d be upset, but not that upset.”
The three of us made short work of searching the sitting room and the master suite she’d used when she’d been staying here in Hollingsworth House.
There was no sign of her anywhere.
Mum didn’t try to hide her concern. “She took her purse and the clothes she was wearing this morning.”
“Fuck!” I raked a frustrated hand through my hair. “Why in the bloody hell did she leave without saying anything? That’s not like her. She’s not the flighty or dramatic type, and she wouldn’t go without saying something.”
“Maybe she had a family emergency, Damian,”