That One Time Read Online Free PDF Page A

made him want to snarl. It was clear she knew what they had been doing and it was just as clear what she thought was the cause of Ayah’s exhaustion.
    Nic gazed at the woman with the kind of contempt that only someone born to a family whose lineage could be traced back for centuries and whose wealth had survived regimes and empires could pull off. She paled and scurried away at the sight.
    Nic looked back at Ayah. Wake up, lieverd.
    But her eyes remained closed to the possibility of the future that he wanted to share with her. His body taut with tension and ruthlessly suppressed emotions, Nic bent down and slowly pressed a kiss to her forehead.  
    He had gambled on fate, and he had lost.  
    Goodbye, Ayah.  
    And then he carefully extricated his arm from her. He walked away, not looking back.

 
    ~ Four ~  
     
    “Ma’am?” The flight attendant’s voice was cool, almost insultingly sharp. “You really need to go down now.”
    She nodded. She should move now. She really should. But she couldn’t. She kept gazing at the vacant seat next to her. It was almost like everything that had happened was a dream, and there wasn’t a single clue left to prove that it wasn’t. That he had been real.
    “Ma’am?”
    Swallowing, Ayah forced her shaking limbs to move. She accepted the tote bag the flight attendant handed to her, mumbling her thanks.
    She walked out of the plane without seeing anything. She passed through immigration successfully, going through the motions without being truly aware of her surroundings. Surely…surely he would be waiting for her?
    Ayah stopped moving.
    He had to be waiting for her.
    He had to.
    She looked up, tears slowly forming in her eyes. She could not believe it would end just like that between her and Luuk. The connection between them was special. She knew it, and she would bet everything she owned that he knew it, too.
    She closed her eyes.
    Her mom used to say that if she wished for something hard enough, that if she believed hard enough she would get her wish – she would.
    She squeezed her eyes as tightly shut as possible.  
    Please.  
    Please.
    Please don’t take him away from me, too.
    ****
    Nic watched her from afar, the same way hisown bodyguards watched him from a respectable distance. Move, lieverd. Leave me. Forget about me.
    But she remained a still figure in the middle of the busy airport crowd, all of them indifferent to her silent pain – all of them but him, who was the cause of it. She stood there, a symbol of hope and innocent childhood dreams lost. He knew everything about her, and she knew nothing about him. He had all the cards. She had none.
    He did not love her, but against all odds she loved him - the person he was and not Nicolaas de Koningh.
    With a curse, he swung away and walked out of the airport.
    She was not of his world, was not for him, and would never deserve someone as cynical as he was.
    Nic started drinking the moment he stepped inside his limousine, and by the time he arrived in the family’s palatial compound, liquor had numbed his senses, enough to bury the regret and pain deep inside him.
    It was over. He had to accept that.
    The main estate was ablaze with light when his limousine rolled down the paved driveway. It was a sure sign that Willem was once again performing his duty as the head of the Amsterdam side of the clan and hosting a party for one of their family members. Nic was tempted to turn away and drink himself into a stupor in his own estate, but years of hard-earned lessons in self-discipline prevented him.  
    Taking a deep breath, he strode inside, his handsome face wearing a courteous smile that revealed not a hint of the deep and clawing regret he felt inside him. All female guests, with or without partners, stopped to observe his entrance. Many stared at him with coy invitation in their eyes. Others openly gawked. Only those who were also part of the de Koningh clan were impartial to the air of brooding mystery and haughty