25

KAi'S POV

"Am I going to lose her?”

That was the thought my mind vulture kept circling back to all the way home. Liam's smug face kept flashing before me; his words twisted inside me like a knife. He was arrogant, for sure, but the worst was he was too confident-too sure that Zara would come running back to him. And that too-real certainty fed every doubt I'd managed to bury deep.

I drove up to the house, my head reeling from that conversation. Every step through those big front doors felt like dragging chains. The maids greeted me with usual politeness; I took no notice. Madam Tess said something, too; her voice fell into the distance. I couldn't stop, I didn't. I went directly into the study and swung the door shut behind me, as if somehow it could shut out the bedlam Liam had stirred.