Chapter Twenty

Had the penthouse always been this empty, this vacant? Where was the comfort, the serenity in the open space, the lightness, the expansive windows? None of those things soothed him now. How had he ended up here? After taking Hope to the spaceport, he'd intended to vap to the office to bury himself in work. He shook his head.

Don Juan strolled out. "Will you require breakfast?"

"No. I'm not staying."

"Will Hope Bennett—"

"She isn't here. She's not coming back." He'd lost control, and a temporary separation had spiraled into a divorce. Once the danger passed, he'd intended to bring her back. But when she'd refused to go, out of concern for her safety, he'd panicked. The situation had gone horribly awry, and he'd said things he couldn't take back.

The light atop Don Juan's head dimmed. "Hope Bennett must return. She promised to teach me how to bake sticky buns, which are sugary-sweet goodness, but also fattening. How will I make sticky buns if she is not here to augment my programming?"

"You're going to have to figure it out on your own."

The android pivoted and retreated to the kitchen while repeating Hope's name.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Krogan moved to the window. Had she gone to the original spaceport, he might have seen her ship streak across the sky. However, launching from the alternate one, the ship would not follow the same trajectory.

I need to go to work. Only by immersing himself in his responsibilities would he get through this.

But his feet led him into the hall and into her room. The expansive, white bedroom looked untouched, as if she'd never been here at all. Hanging in the closet were all the garments she'd acquired on Caradonia. She hadn't taken a single item with her.

He fingered the sleeve of the blue-green dress she'd worn to the wedding and the reception. She'd looked beautiful in that dress. She's beautiful, no matter what she wears. His chest tightened.

Sending her away is for the best. Best for her. What else could I have done ?

Still on the lam, Stervak continued to threaten her life and urge his followers to do her harm. Sending her away was the only way to ensure her safety. It would kill him if something happened to her. Just contemplating injury—or worse—befalling her caused him to break into a cold sweat of anxiety.

Love hurt.

It still hurt. Her departure hadn't eased the pain; it had increased it. She was safe now, but it felt like she had died. How was this better?

His gaze settled on a light-purple garment. She'd worn that one the night they consummated their marriage. The intimacy had been unexpected, unplanned. He'd been feeling like a failure after the stasis pod malfunction. Hope hadn't solved the problem, but she had fixed him . Her presence, her sympathy and concern, lifted him up and renewed his sagging spirits so he could fight another day. She had become his shelter in the storm. Not the empty, vacant penthouse. Her.

And that had terrified him. What if she became his anchor, and he came to depend on her steady, loving presence, and then a storm broke the lines and cast him adrift? He'd been abandoned once before. He couldn't survive it again. He would live, but inside he would die.

While he was still processing the change in their relationship, trying to master his fears, Stervak had fomented the rebellion, enflamed emotions, and issued a credible threat against her life. It wasn't some crazy person babbling nonsense—the menace had come from someone with a motive and the means to carry it out.

His worst fear was about to happen.

He'd pushed her away because he couldn't deal with the fear of losing her. He'd run from love rather than fight for it.

The separation wasn't best for her. It was best for me. He'd done it to protect himself as much as to save her. Rather than risk abandonment, he'd abandoned Hope. I did it for me. Not her. I can marshal the resources to protect her. I didn't need to reject her. He'd had options. He could have hired more guards, doubled the manpower searching for Stervak, addressed the citizens and requested their help in apprehending Stervak, but he hadn't.

I'm an idiot and a coward. He couldn't do anything about the former, but he could fix the latter. The ship hadn't left yet .

He sprinted from the suite. He tore through the apartment lobby and jumped into the vaporator. As soon as it opened at the spaceport, he leaped out and grabbed an accelerator.

Revving it to the max, he zoomed across the terminal. Hurry, hurry.

He got to the waiting room outside the dock in time to see the spaceship fade into the sky.