Page 42 of What Doesn't Kill You…

Violet cleared her throat. "Actually, he's Canadian."

"Yeah," Max drawled. "That's the pertinent part, honey."

He took her hand, threading their fingers together and she forced herself to smile at him. Weirdly, the more she did it, the more natural it became. Violet wondered if this was what brainwashing felt like.

Evan managed to look surprised when Violet spoke. Although, there was a touch of panic around his eyes. "Hey, what's a nice Scottish girl doing with a Canadian? Don't you know the rule? Go Scottish or go home." His grin was amusingly lecherous. He even waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Come with me, darling, I'll show you a proper Scottish time."

"Mr. Poole," Rodrigo said, sounding relaxed and reasonable. "This young man is obviously drunk. Why are you bothering us with this?"

As if on cue, Evan hiccupped. "Sorry," he said. "Sorry." His eyes fell on his drone again. "Hey, you found my drone. Thanks, man." Again, he reached for it and was hauled back. "Hoi," he snapped at the security guard. "Manners!"

"Damien, this is beginning to worry me," Max said. "Are you going to drag every security concern in front of us while we're here? Don't you think that's a little paranoid, even for you?"

"What I think is that this wedding is fake." Damien grabbed the drone and threw it at another guard. "Get rid of that."

"Hey! That's my property," Evan shouted. "You can't confiscate it. I have rights."

"Not on my island," Damien said in a threatening tone.

Thankfully Evan had the good sense to shut up.

"As for you," Damien turned to Max. "Pack up your fake wedding and get?—"

"Violet!" a voice called out, cutting Damien off mid threat. "Violet Lee!"

Violet turned and froze. Because walking toward them, was her family. Her whole family. Led by her very annoyed mother.

She stared at them as they made their way around the tables. Then she looked at Rodrigo. He seemed just as shocked. She glanced at Max, who was equally confused, then at Damien who was frowning at her family.

"Violet?" Max said.

She dropped his hand, forced a smile, and shot to her feet. "It's my family. They're here at last. For a minute there, I thought they were going to miss the ceremony."

The world had shifted, and she was now in an alternate universe.

One where her family took part in her undercover ops.

As Damien and his security team watched intently, Violet made her way toward her mother. Behind her, Evan did the best thing he could have done and provided a distraction.

"I want to talk to the police," he said loudly. "I have rights and you can't keep me or my drone on this island. So, we came here to have a little fun. All we wanted to do was play golf and sing our anthem. Do you guys have something against fun? Isn't that what we're supposed to do here on holiday island? I want to have fun!"

"Get him out of here," Damien ordered.

Violet let out a tense breath, because the last thing they needed was her mother saying hello to the triplet. As Evan was led away, making as much noise as possible, Violet wrapped her mother in a hug.

Her mum stiffened. "What's going on? Was that one of the triplets? And why are you hugging me of your own free will? Are you ill?" She leaned back and placed a hand on Violet's forehead, genuinely worried. "I don't feel a fever."

"I'm not ill, I'm stunned. What are you doing here?" Violet said.

"I'm here for your wedding," her mother snapped. "Not that you wanted any of us to attend. I'm so upset with you, Violet. How could you exclude us like this? What did I ever do to deserve such treatment?"

"Mum," Violet said through a tight smile. "How did you find out about the wedding?"

"I couldn't get you on your mobile phone, so I called your office and spoke to Logan. He told me you were on Wedding Island."

"Logan told you I was getting married?" She was going to strangle him.

"No, I called the office to remind you about your grandmother's eighty-fifth birthday party," her mum said, "and Logan told me you were in the Caribbean, at a wedding, and you’d left your cell phone in Houston. I asked him to pass on a message for you to call me, but, well, you know the triplets." She shook her head in disgust. "So, I called the resort to talk to you and they asked me if I was part of the Durant-Lee wedding party." Her voice went up a notch. "This is how I find out you're getting married? From strangers? I thought I raised you better."