Leo suggested.
I shook my head. “She’s an only child, and her parents are gone. She doesn’t have any close family anymore. Friends, yes. But not family.”
“She said it was personal,” Leo said thoughtfully. “So maybe something happened with one of her friends.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said in a raspy voice. “She would have talked to me first. No one can get her to America faster than I can in a private jet.”
“She wouldn’t tell you if she thought you were a total wanker,” a deep voice said from behind us.
I whirled around, and saw Dylan leaning nonchalantly against the doorjamb of the second master suite in the east wing. The room I’d used when I’d stayed here with Nicole.
“What in the fuck are you doing here?” I growled as I strode up to Dylan. “I thought you were in California.”
“Such a warm welcome from my twin brother,” Dylan said dryly. “It’s good to see you, too, Damian.”
“Now probably isn’t the time to fuck with him, Dylan,” Leo warned. “We’re looking for some sign of Nicole. Have you seen her?”
“Tall, beautiful blonde in a red dress, wearing Gran’s jewelry?” Dylan questioned.
“Yes,” I ground out. I needed to be civil with Dylan until he told me everything he knew.
He continued. “She barged into a…brief liaison I was having with an old girlfriend. I invited Nicole to join us, but I’m guessing she isn’t the type to play.” Dylan’s nonchalant tone was more than I could take.
I snapped, and fisted the T-shirt he was wearing. “She thought you were me, didn’t she? Nicole thought I was shagging another woman when she was right here in this house.”
The fact that Nicole had actually believed my twin was me was almost inconceivable, but what else was she supposed to think? She didn’t even have an inkling that I had an identical twin.
Dylan raised his brows. “Technically, we weren’t shagging. Just a little foreplay.” He hesitated before he added, “Apparently, this woman means something to you.”
“Yes, she means something to me, you bastard,” I snarled. “I fucking love her, and just the thought of her fleeing this house in tears, upset and alone, makes me completely insane.”
Dylan grabbed my hands, and I let him go because I wanted to do it. Maybe I did want to kill him, but I was more interested in getting to Nicole. I could deal with him later.
“She thought I was you,” Dylan confessed. “She said your name when she saw me. It was like she had no idea that you had an identical twin.”
“She doesn’t,” I rasped. “She has no idea. If I’d just fucking told her, she wouldn’t have run off that way. She would have known that it wasn’t me. But I didn’t tell her because of the goddamn promise I made to you.”
I had absolutely no doubt in my mind that if Nicole had known I had a twin, she would have instantly recognized the fact that it wasn’t me in that bed.
I hated myself for never telling her, for allowing her to think for one single bloody second that I’d be fucking another woman when all I’d ever wanted was her.
“Dylan, I want you to leave,” my mum said sternly. “Get your things, and get out of here before Damian tears you apart while we all cheer him on for doing it.”
Dylan scowled. “You invited me here.”
Mum shot him a disgusted look. “Not so you could cavort around with women. Or ruin the best thing that has ever happened to your brother.”
“You invited him here?” I glared at my mum.
“Yes, but he arrived earlier than I expected. I was hoping he was ready to come home. Obviously, he’s not. I’m sorry, Damian. I asked Dylan to stay out of sight.”
“I did,” Dylan snapped. “She walked into a private room.”
I ignored Dylan, and looked from my mum to Leo. “I have to find Nicole. She could be getting close to Heathrow by now. I’m not letting her leave England until she knows the whole truth, and exactly how I feel about her. Once she knows, she can make her own informed choice about whether she wants my sorry ass or not.”
“Let me call her,” Bella offered.
“I’m going to try to get in touch with her on the way to the airport,” I barked back at her as I headed toward the door.
“I’ll try to find out if she’s there, and if she has a flight out tonight,” Leo called after me. “You’ll have to drive. I