Kristina woke slowly to find that his arms were still wrapped around her tightly, his breath warm against the back of her neck and she could tell by his respiration that he was still sleeping. Her heart ached knowing that after three months of being with him continuously that she would be leaving momentarily without so much as a viable explanation. Kristina had been gone from home long enough and knew that she would have hell to pay when she returned. To say that she was ‘scared’ was a gross understatement. She had already received word that she was being ‘hunted’ and that if she returned now she would have far less the consequences to pay than if she waited longer or simply refused. She knew that she had to break away on her own terms or she would inadvertently turn his life into the nightmare that she had been living for the last two years.

Escaping from underneath the weight of his loving arms, she slid out of the bed quietly and got dressed. With a heavy heart she sat at the table beside the bed and penned the letter that would prove to haunt her very soul the rest of her life. That is, providing she survived what lie ahead of her once she returned home. Her body shivered at the thought of what and who awaited her.

Laying the note on the pillow, she leaned over to kiss him one last time. His skin was smooth as silk beneath her lips; his long eyelashes reminding her of the way his chocolate eyes captured her heart when he gazed at her. In his sleep he whispered her name before rolling over to continue his sweet slumber and Kristina’s heart felt as though it had been ripped from her chest. The tears began to flow freely no matter how hard she willed them to remain within the tired sockets of her baby blue eyes. Taking one last mental picture of him, the sight of his muscular chest rising and falling with each breath he took, the way his dark tresses waited to be untangled as they lay against the satin pillowcase, she knew that she would never be the same. She would never escape the memories.

Running her fingers through her long dark hair, she knelt down to pick up her bags. As she opened the hotel door, she dared not to look back at his sleeping form for fear she would return to the bed they had shared. She knew that one last look might send her back to him, begging for his help to escape her tortured existence and therefore putting him in danger.

His bodyguard immediately reached for her bags as she exited the room. She looked up at him between the tears, shaking her head in resistance. Her expression told him everything he needed to know and yet didn’t want to know, his face reflecting sadness as he returned to his ‘on guard’ stance against the wall. She could feel his gaze searing a hole in her skin as she disappeared around the corner of the long hallway, a sob escaping her burning throat. Somehow she managed to leave the resort without drawing much attention to herself and she hailed a cab to take her to the airport, where she took the flight back to what she called ‘hell’. It was a flight that would change her life drastically, making her a stronger woman, yet one that hid in fear of the danger that might reach out to claim her when she least expected it.