He couldn’t even remember what he was wearing. He looked down. It was a white tuxedo jacket. He remembered now. Pairing it with a black bow-tie. He looked up. ‘Thank you.’
Lili frowned. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’
Cassian nodded. He was losing it. He took Lili’s hand. ‘We should go or we’ll be late.’
* * *
The charity event was being held in the Hotel de Paris—one of the world’s most glamorous and exclusive hotels. Iconic. Cassian had driven them the short distance in his open-top sports car and once people—passing tourists/racing fans/paparazzi had realised who he was, they’d gone wild.
Lili had clutched his hand tightly as they went into the hotel and were escorted to the space where the event was being held. She was happy to stand beside Cassian and bask in the sense of security and safety with his arm around her. Even when people crowded behind her, she didn’t feel panicky. Once he was there.
First they had drinks on the rooftop pool bar, the sky gradually turning dusky pink as the sun had set over Monaco, and now they were in a beautiful vast room—lavishly decorated—with a terrace that overlooked the road where the cars would be racing—first of all, to qualify, tomorrow and then the actual race the day after.
Lili shuddered delicately, the road looked so narrow to her. How could it be safe for cars going at impossible speeds?
‘Are you cold?’
Cassian handed Lili a glass of sparkling wine and she shook her head. ‘No, just wondering how on earth you do it…race on roads like this.’
‘It’s a rush,’ he admitted. ‘Like nothing else.’
Lili arched a brow. ‘Nothing else at all?’
He looked at her and smiled and it made Lili’s heart seem to expand in her chest. He said, ‘Well, now that you mention it, this afternoon came pretty close.’
‘Only close?’ Lili smiled. She’d never had this kind of teasing relationship with anyone. Her heart turned over. How could someone who she’d never met before, in such a short space of time, have become…her world. Words bubbled up from deep inside. Words that she wasn’t even sure what they were but they were falling out of her mouth before she could examine them or censor them, she was saying, ‘Cass, I think I—’
‘Corti? Is that you?’
Lili was almost surprised to find a whole vast room full of people with music playing from a dais in the corner. For a moment she’d forgotten they weren’t alone. And she’d almost told him—she went cold as panic gripped her and she realised that she’d almost told him she was falling for him.
Cassian was turning away now to greet the man who’d interrupted them. An older man. Lili looked at him and smiled as Cassian introduced them. But this man didn’t go back to ignoring her and talking to Cassian like most people, he stayed looking at her.
Lili felt her smile falter. Why was he looking at her so intensely? And then he said, ‘When I saw your wedding picture in the papers I thought you looked familiar but now I can really see it. You were the girl who was kidnapped, weren’t you?’
Lili’s hand tightened reflexively around the glass she was holding. She felt herself going numb and sounds got distorted. She shook her head, tried to speak. She could feel Cassian looking at her. And then as if someone snapped their fingers—actually the man had done exactly that—everything came back into focus and now the sounds were too clear and loud.
He said, ‘That’s it. Lara Bagiotti. Your father is the real estate mogul.’
Cassian’s voice. ‘You’re mistaken, Adam, my wife’s name was Spirenze and it’s Lili, not Lara.’
But the man was shaking his head. ‘No, I’m almost certain. I was fascinated by the case. You were kidnapped for what…three days? And then suddenly you appeared at a press conference with your parents…after they’d paid the ransom.’
Lili felt sick. Blindly, she put the glass of wine down on a nearby table. She looked at the man and said, ‘They never paid the ransom but they let everyone believe they did.’
The man looked confused. ‘Oh, but then how did you get away?’
Lili couldn’t look at Cassian. The most awful thing that had ever happened to her and the thing that had demonstrated so cruelly how little loved she was, was out in the open in all its ugliness.
She ignored the man’s question. ‘If you’ll excuse me please.’ She made her legs move, and somehow propelled herself through the crowd, pushing through people, hearing vague noises of,hey, watch where you’re goingand also, from behind her,Lili…but she couldn’t stop.
She got out to the foyer, blessedly quiet, and stopped. Her skin was clammy, her heart was pounding, her breathing was shallow and she was sure she was about to have her first panic attack in years but there was nothing she could do to stop it.
She saw the doors and took a step towards them but a voice sounded behind her like the crack of a whip. ‘Lili.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
LILI STOPPED. CASSIAN WALKEDaround to stand in front of her. She expected him to look angry but he looked confused.
