Page 56 of Her Diamond Deal with the CEO

‘Is there anywhere else you’d like to go, Mrs Walcott?’

Her pulse quickened. There was one place left they hadn’t tried. ‘Could we go back to the apartment, please, Tom?’ she said quickly.

And then she offered up a prayer.Please let him be there. Let him be safe.

As the elevator doors opened she ran back into the apartment.

‘Jack? Jack—’ She called his name as she checked each room in turn. But the apartment was as still and silent as before.

She sat down on the sofa, her phone trembling in her hand. She had called him thirty times now, left as many messages, and it was obvious he didn’t want to talk to her. Remembering how he had pulled away from her, she felt as if she were drowning. Her hand reached instinctively to protect her stomach, and she forced herself to breathe. What mattered was finding Jack, making him safe. Only she couldn’t do that if he wouldn’t talk to her.

Her heart leapt to her throat as her phone rang shrilly. ‘Jack—’

There was a beat of silence. ‘Ondine, it’s John Walcott. I’m back in New York, and I was just calling to invite you both to lunch on Sunday.’ Another beat of silence. ‘Is everything all right, my dear?’

She pressed her hand against her mouth. ‘I don’t think it is—’

‘What’s happened?’ he said calmly. ‘Is Jack not there?’

His simple question was what made her finally unravel.

‘He left. And it’s my fault. I let him down. I made him think I don’t love him and I do. So much. Only he thinks I don’t care—’

Jack had finally stopped shivering but he was still walking. He hadn’t followed a particular route. In fact, half the time, he’d had no idea where he was. It was as if his limbs were acting of their own accord. His fingers too, he thought dully. He couldn’t stop checking his phone, even though he knew that he shouldn’t.

He couldn’t bear to hear or read any more excuses. There had been so many over the years. So many betrayals to forgive and forget dating back to before he was too young to even understand the concept of either of those things. And it would break his heart to hear Ondine’s voice repeat those same meaningless phrases, let alone have to read them in black and white.

Only why would his heart be affected? Ondine had clearly never seen their marriage as anything other than transactional.

His pulse stumbled, and, remembering the feel of her small, soft body in his arms as she told him about the misery of her first marriage, he felt his legs slow, then stop. People surged round him on the pavement, tutting and rolling their eyes, but he barely registered their irritation. He was too distracted by another memory, this time his grandfather talking about his grandmother.

‘I suppose you could say I shared my soul. And that’s when I realised I loved her. You see, that’s what love is, Jack, sharing your soul.’

He had shared his soul with Ondine. More than that, he had opened his heart to her and the baby growing inside her. To a future he had never imagined for himself. A future with a woman he loved and their baby. A baby that would swim like a fish.

His phone vibrated, and as he glanced at the screen some of the pain in his chest softened at the edges.

It was his grandfather.

He hesitated. He didn’t want to keep lying. But if he didn’t answer, his grandfather would worry. Only what could he say? How was he supposed to explain the tangle of lies he had spun with Ondine? Particularly now they turned out to be true—

There was only one thing he could do. Swiping the screen up, he said quickly, ‘Can I call you back, Grandpa? There’s someone I need to talk to.’

‘I know. Ondine called me. And you do need to talk to her.’ His grandfather’s voice was quiet but firm. ‘But first I need to talk to you.’

Pacing back across the living room, Ondine stared at her phone, willing it to ring. It was nearly an hour since John Walcott had called, and he still hadn’t rung back. She had no idea what that meant, but sitting down made her feel like a butterfly on the end of a pin. Maybe she would go back and wait outside the apartment building, see if anyone coming in had another idea of where Jack could be.

She snatched up her phone. Then if John called she could—

The elevator doors opened and she felt her legs go weak with relief as Jack walked into the entrance hall. He looked pale and tired, but he was here and he was safe.

‘You came back—’

There was a silence. He seemed almost stunned to see her and she wondered if he’d thought she had left. She felt suddenly close to tears as he nodded slowly. ‘I was walking around and I realised that I hadn’t said everything I wanted to say.’

She could hear the struggle to keep his voice even. He felt betrayed, and maybe he wouldn’t listen or believe her if he did, but she had to try and explain.

‘I have too,’ she said, hardly able to speak past the lump in her throat. ‘I’m so sorry that I hurt you. I didn’t mean to. I should have told Oli about us getting married, but I just couldn’t get my head round what we were doing. And then I found out I was pregnant and I was ill and I was scared that if I told him, he’d be worried and want to come back and he’s had so much to deal with. I didn’t want him to have to worry about me, as well.’

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