Everything inside her began to crumble. The second stretched out to eternity as Ian stared back at her, regret darkening his eyes. All sound muted within the room, all but the sound of her heart as she stared back at him, her gaze locked with his, her heart breaking as she watched the denial coming.
There was such regret in his eyes. Affection, yet, it was there, the same affection that had always been in his eyes for her. But there was no love, no realization.
“I’m sorry, Courtney…” His voice was soft, filled with apology. “Your father’s right. I should have denied you.”
She felt something crash inside her, fragmenting. A whimper passed her lips, though she had promised herself if this day ever came, she wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t regret.
Surely he just didn’t realize he loved her. That was all it was, she assured herself.
“That’s okay…” Her eyes were burning as she fought her tears, her sight cloudy as she fought to find a way, any way… “It can come…”
He was shaking his head, his expression closed, cold.
Oh God.
She felt her knees weakening. Felt her heart exploding in her chest.
“Go to your room while I talk to your father.” His voice was cold. Final. “Nothing lasts forever, Courtney. Not even the wind.”
She felt the blood leave her face. A horrible sense of unreality closed in on her, darkening the vision at the edge of her eyes, stealing the breath from her chest as she stared back at him in dazed, mind-numbing pain.
“Stupid bastard,” Khalid muttered, shaking his head at Ian’s response.
She turned, forced herself to tear her gaze from Ian’s and to face her father once again.
He was watching her, the fury of moments before replaced with something else. Regret? Realization?
“I love him,” she whispered again, feeling the single tear that escaped her control. “With everything inside me. I can forgive you this. But I won’t forgive anything further. You will leave this room with me.”
He opened his lips to speak.
“Please, Daddy. For me.”
They clamped shut as his gaze cut to Ian, brooding, filled with anger.
“Courtney.” Her mother moved forward slowly, reaching out to her, her expression twisting as Courtney flinched away.
“No.” She shook her head tightly as she turned to Ian. “I’m sorry.”
She was sorry her father had arrived. That she had destroyed one of the true friendships he had known. She was sorry she had pushed when she should have stayed clear. So many things she was now sorry for.
Her father was right, in so many ways. Only a child believed in fairy tales. And healing Ian, being with him, being loved by him, was the greatest of all dreams.
He stood still, staring back at her with a dark, forbidding frown.
“I’ll pack.” She tried to clear her throat of her tears. “I’m truly sorry, Ian.”
She moved past them all, determined to hold back the tears, to gather the broken fragments of her soul together until she could find the space she needed to repair them.
Her father cursed softly as she passed him, but other than that, not a word was spoken as she slowly left the room.
The door closed behind her, leaving Ian to endure the silence and the condemning stares of those now watching him.
No matter how many times he had taken Courtney, how depraved he and Khalid had gotten the night before, the innocence that was so much a part of her had remained. She had looked at him as she always had, her eyes filled with light, with purity. As though nothing could mar the untamed spirit inside her.
But in one brief second, he had watched it die. The pain from seeing that was more debilitating than the day he had found Melissa, staring back at him in empty accusation.
“Well, I hope the two of you are quite satisfied with yourselves.” Marguerita’s voice was cold, furious. “You remind me of two little boys on a playground, standing off over a favored toy that belongs to neither of you.”