She ripped open the packaging. Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe she could somehow go back to the life she’d been living before Cassian had opened up her world. And her heart.
Lili went into the bathroom and hiked up her dress and did what was required to do the test. Then she sat on the closed toilet lid for a long few minutes.
When she picked up the test again and registered what was on it she swayed, feeling dizzy.It was too late.She stood up and kicked off the strappy sandals.
She went into the apartment and through the French doors to the terrace needing to get some air to her head. The lights of Monte Carlo twinkled at her benignly as if she wasn’t experiencing a personal earthquake.
She knew that even if she hadn’t just discovered she was pregnant, she couldn’t go back to her old life, hiding from the world. Cassian had changed her. She’d changed herself. She could only go forward. And she could choose to take Cassian at his word, or she could do the scariest thing she’d ever done in her life, and that included surviving the kidnapping.
She could ask to be loved.
* * *
Lili hadn’t returned to Como. Cassian knew because one of his assistants had told him that she’d politely refused assistance to return, saying she was staying in Monte Carlo for the weekend.
He was waiting to get on the track to qualify for the race the following day. This part of the race weekend was almost as important as the race. This is when he secured his pole position, which would ensure his success in the race.
He’d never not got pole position, or close to it. He could do this in his sleep. Which was good, because Lili’s words were echoing in his head on a loop.I’m already in love with you I’m already in love with you I’m already in love with you.
‘Cass?’
The voice in his ear. ‘Yes.’
‘Ready.’
‘Okay.’ Cassian brutally excised everything from his mind and went out onto the track.
* * *
Lili was wearing soft comfy leisure wear and curled up on a couch in the apartment watching the TV. She had a throw wrapped around her shoulders. She was aware she was reverting back to some form of shapeless comfort wear but she didn’t care. Right now she needed all the comfort she could get.
She was watching Cassian on the screen and could also hear the roar of the car far below in the streets. Surround sound.
The commentators were saying things like:So far so good, Corti is not disappointing us today, putting in his usual level of performance—
But then suddenly something happened and the car spun wildly on the track and bounced off the hoarding at the side, coming to a stop facing the wrong direction.
‘Ouch.’
Lili looked at Marcel who had come into the room to watch the TV too. She hadn’t even realised she’d stood up in agitation. ‘What is it? Is he okay?’ Panic gripped her insides, her legs felt suspiciously wobbly.
But Marcel pointed to the screen. ‘He’s fine, but he’s angry.’
Lili looked and could see Cassian pulling off his helmet. Every line in his body radiated anger.
‘What does this mean?’ she asked the housekeeper.
‘It means that Cassian will be having the worst start to a race in his career.’
Lili sat back down, guilt spreading through her body. This was her fault. She’d distracted him. It was all over the press today about her identity and who she’d been. The infamous kidnap heiress. They’d dredged up all those awful pictures of her looking like a rabbit in the headlights. Too plain, too big. She hadn’t fit the narrative people wanted of a damsel in distress and so people hadn’t really known what to do with her. And so when the time had come, it had been easy for her to leave and take another name and become anonymous.
But she wasn’t anonymous anymore. And she could never go back to that.
Race day
‘Corti! How are you feeling about starting at the back of the grid?’
‘Is the car going to be ready for the race?’
