Volkan had allowed her to text with them again and then before he left, he allowed her to have a carefully orchestrated call with her parents. Hearing their voices was exactly what she needed, but it was difficult to listen to their disappointment and concern when she told them she had dropped out of the archeological internship to follow a man to Turkey.

Of course, their concern was natural, but it gutted her to know that they thought their daughter was throwing away her university degree to shack up with some guy she barely knew.

She’d been angry with Volkan and argued that she wouldn’t go along with his narrative, but he’d told her it was better than the alternative.

“And what’s that?” she’d asked angrily. “Tell them some asshole kidnapped me and forced me to move to Istanbul with him?”

He’d stood to his full height and faced her. “No, my love. It would have been much more traumatic for them had you simply disappeared without a word, which was my original plan.”

She’d paled at his words and calmed down enough to think straight. He was right. It was far better for her parents to think she was flighty than it was for them to believe she was dead.

After her conversation with her parents, she’d cried herself to sleep, rejecting Volkan when he tried to comfort her. She didn’t want his sympathy. She didn’t deserve to feel better after lying to the people who had raised her, provided for her, and supported her emotionally. As much as she knew it was for their benefit to lie to them, it didn’t sit well.

Once she’d calmed, Volkan had told her he would let her call her parents again in a few days to announce their engagement and to invite them to the wedding. She was nervous, but also excited. If they agreed to come, she would get to spend time with them and maybe show them around her new home.

It struck her that she was thinking of herself as a resident in Volkan’s home rather than a captive. He still didn’t trust her, and she couldn’t totally blame him. She wasn’t sure exactly what she would do if she had a clear path off the property when Henry was looking the other way. Would she try to escape?

She didn’t honestly know the answer and it made her question herself, which was why she found herself sitting in a bathtub full of water and bubbles, drinking a very large glass of red wine and sobbing.