With a flourish Julian fanned the eight by ten glossies out across his desk. Picture after picture, each one more gruesome than the next. Her father slumped over his desk, blood pooling around him on the leather top. Her mother on the dining room floor, her vacant stare reflected in the shattered mirrors that dangled from the wall. In that moment Allie realized this was no longer just a matter of protecting Hudson and Nick from possible prosecution. It was a matter of life and death. She hadn’t been able to protect her parents, but she could keep the man she loved safe from the fate displayed in graphic detail in front of her.

“Enough.” She reached for the phone and powered it on. Almost immediately it began to ping and vibrate with incoming texts, missed calls, and voice mails. As she watched them light up the screen, her vision began to blur. Damn it. She hated that she was crying in front of Julian, hated knowing the satisfaction it brought him. But the realization of what had happened to her parents combined with the reality of what she was about to do was too much, and tears streamed unbidden down her cheeks.

“Second thoughts already? Perhaps I need to come up with a more effective motivation.”

“No,” she snapped. “I’ve got this.” It would kill her to end her relationship with Hudson, but she had no choice. She had to go along with Julian’s charade, at least for the time being. It was the only way to ensure Hudson’s safety.

She wiped her face with the back of her hand and pressed the speed dial for Hudson’s cell phone. He answered on the first ring.

“Allie.” The desperation in his voice broke her heart. “Where are you?”

“I’m fine,” she assured him rather than answer his question.

“Why the hell did you agree to meet that asshole?”

He knew about Julian. But how?

“Tell me where you are and I’ll come get you.”

“Absolutely not,” she blurted out. She hadn’t meant the words to come out so harshly, but she needed to keep Hudson safe, and to do that she had to keep him as far away from Julian as possible. “I mean, that’s not necessary. I’m flying back to Chicago tonight. Alone.”

“What the fuck is going on?”

She took a deep breath in an attempt to steady her nerves. “I thought I could look past everything that happened, but I can’t. It guess it took getting away to realize that.” Pain lanced her heart as she prepared to deliver the final blow. “It’s over.”

“The hell it is.” His frustration was palpable, but she knew beneath the anger he was hurting.

“Please don’t make this harder than it has to be, Hudson.”

“You expect me to accept this bullshit without a fight? You know me better than that. I’ll trace your phone if I have to,” he threatened. “Now tell me where you are.”

Fuck. She needed to end the call and power off her cell.

“Let me talk to her,” a woman said.

“Is Harper there?”

“Yes, she’s with me. Were you just going to leave her here too?”

How the hell had he found Harper? “Put her on the phone, please.”

Hudson blew out an exasperated breath, but a moment later Harper was on the line, asking one question after another.

“What’s going on? Where have you been all day? Why haven’t you been answering your cell? Did that French sleazebag threaten you?” If Harper only knew how on-target she was.

“No, I just needed some time to think this afternoon, that’s all.”

“And this is what you came up with?”

“I don’t want to get into it right now.”

“Look, I don’t know what the hell is going through that head of yours, but you two need to work this out.” Harper wasn’t just Allie’s best friend, she was practically a sister. Convincing her that she’d had a change of heart was going to be almost as difficult as convincing Hudson.

“There’s nothing to discuss. I’m flying home.”

There was a long pause. Allie could picture the two of them, Harper chewing on her bottom lip, Hudson running a frustrated hand through his hair. “Fine,” she finally said. “I’ll meet you at the airport.”

“No, stay. Enjoy Paris; you just got here.”

“Are you kidding me? I’m flying home with you. Text me the flight info when we hang up.”

The look of smug satisfaction on Julian’s face when Allie ended the call was almost more than she could bear. Somehow Allie had to find a way out of this mess. And she only had a few weeks to do it.

Chapter Five

Allie settled into the leather seat and pulled the shade closed on the small window. She couldn’t wait to get out of France. The sooner she put some distance between her and Julian, the better. If she was honest, the same applied to Hudson Chase as well. Clearly he wasn’t buying what she’d told him on the phone. And if history was any indication, it was only a matter of time before he cornered her, demanding answers. After everything she’d been through already that day, she was nowhere near ready for a face-to-face confrontation with the man who knew her like no other.

“Would you like something to drink before takeoff?” the flight attendant asked. “A glass of champagne, perhaps?” A preflight cocktail was no doubt one of the many perks of traveling first class, but Allie didn’t feel much like celebrating. At the moment she should have been dancing with Hudson aboard a yacht on the River Thames, not flying home without him after being forced to break his heart.

“No, thank you. But a blanket and pillow would be nice.” With any luck she could manage to sleep the whole flight home, postponing the inevitable Harper Hayes inquisition until she’d had some time to get her story straight.

And speaking of her best friend, where the hell was she? The cabin was filling quickly and yet the seat next to her remained unoccupied. She glanced at her watch. Only a few more minutes until the flight was due to depart. Was Harper stuck in traffic? Or maybe customs?

Allie reached for her phone. If Harper was going to miss the flight, maybe she could at least help her rebook before they began to taxi. The call went straight to voice mail. She was about to leave her a message when a disembodied voice came over the plane’s PA system.

“Ladies and gentleman, welcome aboard flight two twelve with nonstop service to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. At this time please be sure your seat backs are in their full and upright positions and that your seat belt is securely fastened. All laptops must be stowed and all personal electronic devices should be switched to airplane mode.”

Shit. She didn’t even have time to fire off a quick text before the flight attendant reappeared.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to turn off your cell phone,” she said as she handed Allie a neatly folded blanket with a small pillow perched on top. “We’re about to push back from the gate.”

There was a commotion at the front of the plane just as the next announcement began. This time it was the pilot’s voice over the loudspeaker. “Flight attendants, prepare for departure. Doors on automatic. Cross check and report.”

Allie bent to tuck her phone into the carry-on stowed beneath the seat in front of her. A shiver of awareness swept over her skin and she stilled. Hudson. She felt his presence just as surely as if he’d touched her. But despite the brief moment she took to prepare herself, the sight of him still took her breath away. He was standing in the aisle, the muscles of his chest and arms flexing as he shrugged out of his wool coat and handed it to the flight attendant. His hair was damp, no doubt from the snow falling outside, and when he reached up to run his hand through the unruly mane, his sweater rode up, affording her a glimpse of his honed washboard abs and the trail of dark hair that disappeared beneath his belt.