Page 112 of The Reluctant Wife

I open my arms, and she rushes over to sit next to me and hug me. "I’m so sorry this happened Aura." She rubs my back. Hearing her concern prompts a fresh burst of tears. I bury my face in her neck and sob.

"There, there, honey, he’s going to be okay," she assures me.

I nod.He’s going to be fine.I keep telling myself that. And I want to believe it so badly. "Sorry you had to cut your holiday short," I murmur.

While Harper and Grace returned to London, Zoey opted to explore some of the countryside of Verenza.

She huffs. "There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than here with you."

Footsteps approach, then someone else sinks into the seat next to me. Someone else wraps an arm around my shoulder, and I look up. It’s Imelda. She’s been sitting with me almost since I arrived, only briefly leaving to take a break.

"Thank you for staying with me. I appreciate it." I manage a tremulous smile.

"Oh, hush, we’re family,” she squeezes my hand.

Then another thought strikes me. “I thought you flew back to London with Arthur?”

“When we heard the news, I asked Arthur to charter me a plane so I could get back here. You don’t think we’d leave you unsupported in a time like this, do you? He’d have come too, but the old man’s not as strong as he once was.”

The warmth in her words brings forth another bout of tears.

“Oh honey, don’t cry.” She offers me the paper cup filled with a brown liquid, but my stomach cramps at the thought of drinking it.

"I’m good," I shake my head.

"How about some water?" Tyler prowls up. He twists off the cap, hands me a bottle, and I take a sip.

"Any word?" I ask.

He shakes his head, expression grim. "They’re still in the operating room."

Tyler, Quentin, and the rest of their teams had discovered the bombs on their boats and managed to jump off before they’d detonated. A second chopper came along and fished them out of the sea. They survived with minimal injuries.

"Why is it taking so long?" I grip my fingers together.

"He’s going to be okay." Tyler sinks down on his haunches and takes my hands in his. "He's a fighter."

His features seem tortured.

I know he feels responsible for not being able to stop Veronica from shooting his brother. "It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault that she got to us. She had us all fooled. She’s been in my trusted circle for a year, and I didn’t suspect a thing.” I shake my head.

"We checked her background, and nothing came up.” His jaw hardens. "I should have been more vigilant. I should have been able to track her down before she got to the both of you."

“Weshould have been able to put her away much sooner than this." Quentin prowls over to stand next to Tyler. Despite my distress, I can’t help but notice how these Davenport men are uniformly large and forbidding-looking and yet, also, hot.

"If anyone is at fault it’s me." I lower my chin. "I'm the one who trusted her with the details of my location. If I hadn’t texted her from the island, she’d never have found us. But—" Tyler opens his mouth to speak, but I hold up my hand. "But I know better than to blame myself. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s Veronica’s. She betrayed me. Besides, I worked with her the closest, and I had no idea what she was up to."

A part of me does blame myself for it, but I push it aside. I can’t afford to think like that. I need to stay strong for myself. For my husband.

"We looked into her background but, except for the fact that she went to a disproportionately large number of schools on account of her parents moving around, there was nothing that indicated she could be capable of what she did." Tyler drags his fingers through his hair. "She had a university education and did a stint in the army before she joined you."

"Knowing she was trained in arms and defensive protocol is what made me recruit her." I nod.

"Her training should have made her an obvious suspect, but one of our security team reported seeing only a man so we were focused on that," Quentin says grimly.

"We’ve since found out that team member was working with Veronica." Tyler sets his jaw. "She was slim enough to dress in man’s clothes and since the person on our team was colluding with her, he reported her as such. It’s another reason we didn’t suspect her.” Tyler draws his mouth into a firm line.

"We also found a diary hidden in her room at the palace. Something we didn’t find the first time." Quentin locks his mouth in a grim expression.

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