“I’m going to go now.”

“Will you let me know when you’re ready to talk?” he asked quietly, his mind whirring as he tried to think how, when she was ready, he could repair the damage he had done.

What he didn’t realize until after spending the morning “leaving her alone,” as she had asked, was that not only had she backed out of his room, she had backed her way out of the hotel, out of the continent, and out of his life.

Dani called Leo on the way to the airport. She hated to interrupt his honeymoon, but it couldn’t be avoided. “Can you do me a favor and get a message to Mr. Benz?”

“What? Where are you? Are you okay?”

No. She was not okay. Her whole world had been upended, and she had lost her best friend. But she couldn’t say that to Leo, who was supposed to be her best friend.

She never should have allowed Max to displace him. The only way she could think to explain it was the lobster-in-a-pot analogy. Max was always there, and he was so warm. He’d kept her so safe and cozy that she didn’t notice the temperature rising to lethal levels until it was too late.

She considered lying, making up some reason she needed to talk to Mr. Benz, but Leo would find out soon enough. “I’m going home. I’m on my way to the airport. I’m taking a puddle jumper to Zurich and a taxi from there to the palace to pick up Max, then back to Zurich for a flight home. Could you ask Mr. Benz to round up Max? I should be there in about four hours.” She didn’t have a lot of time to spare, given the flights she’d hastily booked, and she wanted to make sure her dog wasn’t being taken on a mountain jaunt or something when she arrived to collect him.

“Hang on.” There was some murmuring, and Dani tried not to lose her cool. She would have preferred to make her exit with only Leo knowing about it, but there was no way that was happening. And it wasn’t like Max himself wouldn’t tell Marie. For all she knew, he already had. He had respected her desire for privacy this morning, but had it lasted? Eventually he would have knocked on the adjoining door and found her gone.

Leo came back on the line. “Marie says she’ll ask Mr. Benz to have someone drive Max to Zurich to meet you.”

She waited for more, but miraculously, that was it. “Thank you.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”