She felt empty and numb, but Reine wasn't able to confront her feelings. Every time she thought of Gabe, she forced herself to concentrate on something else, instead. She'd never truly lost anyone she loved - not like this, anyway. She had no experience with dealing with the type of pain she now felt.
Her drowning had separated her from Max and her family, but because she'd forgotten her past, they were the ones who had to mourn her. Before Noor, she never let herself get close enough to anyone else to truly care about losing them. That's why the feeling now was so foreign and overwhelming.
Max offered her use of his private jet back to Maryland, and he even arranged for a car to meet her at the airport. She didn't have the strength to refuse his generosity and was home in just a few hours.
After climbing the stairs to her room, the initial shock wore off and reality hit her hard. Until then, she hadn't been able to shed any tears, perhaps because she couldn't really allow herself to believe Gabe was gone. While packing her essentials into two large suitcases, however, her whole body began to shake uncontrollably. Leaning against her dresser, she slid to the floor and sobbed until she had no more tears left.
When she was finally able to regain control of her emotions, she wasted no time in heading straight back to the airport.
* * *
"Hey boss," Malik's voice said on the other end of the line. "I've found her. She's checking-in for the next flight to London."
Max already knew Reine was getting out of town. She'd left Anna a brief voicemail wisely requesting his company to indefinitely store the contents of her house. Until now, however, he didn't know her intended destination and had asked his right-hand man to find out. "Damn, she's heading straight into the lion's den."
"You mean Wescott?" he asked.
"Who else?" Max snapped.
Malik's chances were slipping away with every minute. "Should I follow her?"
Hesitating, Max mentally reviewed his options. When he spoke, he was confident.
"No. This may actually be in our favor. It'll make it easier to take care of things here. Plus she needs her space. I'll know how to find her when the time comes," he said.
"So you have a plan?" Malik asked.
Max smiled. "I always have a plan."