Page 31 of Bound in Paradise
Gabi pursed her lips. “You see, that’s where I’m confused,” she admitted. “Because I was under the impression Lyah’s married to a man named Nikolai Radaeva. I certainly never heard about her being married to anyone else.”
Zack digested that nugget of information. Shit, could this be another dead end after all? Digging in his pocket, he took out his wallet and unfolded the photocopy of his marriage certificate, pushing it across the table to Gabi.
She studied it carefully before passing it back to him, her expression troubled. “I can’t believe parents conspired to marry off their children so young. I don’t… I don’t think Lyah ever knew about this… or understood what happened that day.”
“That’s entirely possible,” Zack agreed with a nod. “I didn’t appreciate the situation myself until years later, and Emylyah’s even younger than me… So do you still think the girl I’m married to is your sister?”
“I believe so.” Gabi bit her lip. “I mean, we didn’t live in the same household, and of course I was only about ten years old at the time. But I came to understand the situation as soon as it affected me, and I made a point of trying to piece together the reasons why I was being targeted. Although I never knew how or why Emylyah’s mother got her off the hook, I knew she did since it affected me so catastrophically. Both the facts and circumstances sync too well to be coincidence. And this…” Gabi tapped a line on the paper in front of her. “Is her date of birth.”
The seed of hope Zack had buried sprouted and grew to magical beanstalk proportions. He leaned forward, eyes intense. "Do you know where I can find her, contact her?"
Gabi exchanged a glance with Marcus, who gave a slight nod. She turned back to Zack, her expression guarded. "I'm not sure…"
"I really need to get in touch with her," Zack insisted, cutting off the objection he could hear coming, his voice low and urgent. "This marriage, even if neither of us knew about it, is holding me back from..." He trailed off, thinking of Dani.
Marcus raised an eyebrow. "From what, exactly?"
Zack sighed, running a hand through his hair. "From moving on with my life. From being with the woman I love."
Gabi's eyes softened. Zack knew she was friendly with Dani. It was entirely possible she’d heard Dani’s version of their past relationship. "I understand, but I can’t just give out her details. Like I said, she’s married to someone else now, even if that’s technically bigamy. I can’t let you just barge into her life and destroy everything for her.”
“Gabi…”
She held up a hand to stop him.
“But I will contact her myself and see if I can…” She huffed out a frustrated breath. “See what I can find out, on both your behalves.”
Zack clenched his fists in frustration, then made a deliberate effort to relax. This was more than he’d had thirty minutes ago. As much as he wanted to take immediate action, he needed to focus on that.
He’d waited eighteen years after all. He could be patient a little longer.
And at least he now had some positive news to reassure Dani with.
17
“Damn, Dani. Who's made you look like they peed in your cornflakes?”
Dani jolted from her thoughts and let out a small squeak of surprise as she lifted her head from where she’d been staring unseeingly at the ground on the walk back to her cabana, after an unproductive afternoon in the office.
“Jeez, Beth, you scared me!” Dani exclaimed, pressing her palm to her racing heart.
“Girl, you were off with the fairies. Good job we’re on a nice secure island because you could have walked into anything and not even known it.”
Dani protested. “I’m not that bad!”
“Yes, girl, you are,” Beth countered, jamming her hand on her ample hip. She was the company accountant but normally worked from her home on the sister island of Syèl la, so she could be with her two young children. Dani didn’t see as much of her as the other girls, but they were still good friends. “If I hadn’t stepped out in front of you, you’d have face-planted that tree.” She moved to one side and gestured to the massive banana palm behind her. It was hard to miss.
“And if this was the city, you might have face-planted right into the back of some pervert’s van. Now what’s plaguing you?”
Dani shook her head and apologized. “Sorry, I’ve been looking for Zack Kincaid, and was just trying to work out where he might be.”
Beth’s eyes brightened and a wide smile lit up her face. “Oh, I’ve just seen him! I swung past the bar to see Sawyer.” Her eyes became dreamy and unfocussed as she mentioned the one of her three husbands who was the bar manager at the club. Her preoccupation masked the visceral pain Dani felt stab at her chest as Mia’s recent words came back to haunt her.
He could find someone with a lot less effort at Iniquity, if that’s all he wanted.
Was that what he’d done?
“Zack’s at Iniquity?” Dani asked, just to be certain, her voice slightly hoarse even to her own ears.
