“She’s in London doing a talk show.”
I curse. “Okay, don’t answer the phone, don’t talk to anyone, if it’s not me or Travis. Don’t go online. Try to get some sleep.”
“I’ll try.”
“I’ll call you back soon.”
I hang up and throw my phone onto the counter. Taking a deep breath, I brace myself and call my father. No answer. Of course. I’m glad he didn’t pick up. I don’t even know what I would say to him.
“Hey.” I turn to see Anya leaning against the kitchen door. “What’s wrong?”
The sight of her in my button down, with mussed hair and a puffy face, would normally start my heart back to beating.
Instead, I see my very disheveledassistant.
Horror slices through me like a knife and I clear my throat roughly. “I need to go.”
Anya straightens. “Now? I thought we could spend the day together.”
“I uh–I need to go back to my hotel.” I brush past her, carefully angling my body away from hers.
In the bedroom, I quickly pull my jeans on, grateful when my shirt appears on the bed so I don’t have to ask for it back.
“Will I see you later?” Any asks, tightening her robe and following me back to the kitchen.
“Uh—” I shove my phone in my pocket. “Yeah, sure.”
I fumble to the door, my mind unable to keep up with my body.
“Uhm, okay then,” Anya says, as she bites her bottom lip. I fight the urge to pull it away with my thumb and instead press a chaste kiss to her cheek. I mutter a quick goodbye before closing her door behind me.
I curse myself as soon as I land on the sunny street. I have no hat or sunglasses and no Jaques on call. The opposite of my instructions to lay low. I turn and march down the road, my footsteps heavy and strides long. I need to get away from here.
I reach the corner of the street where I once turned back and carry on. I don’t look up once on the long walk back to my hotel, only noting that I’ve arrived when the cobblestone path turns to the marble floor of my hotel. Which is when I see Callum McBride walking towards me.
As soon as he spots me his face light up with a gleeful expression as he walks towards me.
“Well hello stranger, thought you’d be hiding out with all the gossip swirling today.”
I clench my jaw and hold his gaze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
McBride chuckles. “Of course not. Say hello to Annie for me — the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree, eh?”
McBride moves to walk past me with a winning smile on his face but I step in his path.
“It’s tragic,” I say. “How desperate you are to get my attention. It’s pathetic, honestly. I’m sorry that you feel like you can’t get to where you want to be in your life without using me to do it.” His bright grin dims slightly. “Have a good one.”
I clap him on the shoulder before I walk away from him without looking back.
Chapter 35
ANYA
The apartment is empty without Danny in it.
It takes me less than an hour to clean the entire place, my frenzied mind making the process a blurred whirlwind.
Once I’m finished and standing in the middle of a pristine room, I check my phone to see if Danny has messaged. Nothing.
