We were the king and queen of our life. We made the rules. We couldn’t control everything, but we controlled how we reacted.
If she expected a sappy fucking answer out of me, she was wrong. “Sacrificing what we have doesn’t make you a champ, Mia. It makes you look like a scared child who shouldn’t be getting married to anyone. You still have growing up to do.”
Her mouth opened and closed. “You bastard!” she seethed, her hands fisting in her silk dance skirt. “I cut my heart out and hid it. I hid it so no one could hurtyou.” The car went dead silent after her outburst. Then she slapped at her eyes. Two tear drops slid down her cheek slowly. “I am not a child!”
I found a parking spot, and before I got out to open her door, I said, “Prove me wrong.”
She glared at me with bloodshot eyes as she got out of the car. She stood in front of me, her nose pink. “Even if I was childish,Macchiavello, it takes a child’s eyes to see the world clearly. I see this situation clearer than you ever could.”
Fuck me.The woman infuriated me like no one else ever could. My jaw tensed and I squeezed the metal, wishing I could fucking bend it, before I slammed it shut. She jumped a little, not expecting it.
I snatched her hand, leading her into the building. She went to resist me at first but then she relaxed, holding my hand even tighter than I’d been holding hers.
That one fucking move broke my heart beyond what she’d ever know or feel. When we let go, my heart felt severed from my chest.
She ran toward her troupe, glancing at me over her shoulder before she got lost in the fluff and glitter.
The mood at the theater felt more chaotic than usual. Dancers were rushing in all different directions, and a man was pointing at certain ones, selecting them for something. I watched with my arms crossed as they stood to the side. Mia came out twenty minutes later, dressed in a pale pink bodysuit, tutu, stockings and her pointes. A few of my men surrounded her.
“What’s going on?” I said.
“Magazine shoot,” she answered.
“I wasn’t aware.” We knew everyone who got close to Mia. If not, we would get to know them before they were allowed close to her.
She shrugged. “It’s for a spread. They want to recreate pictures that were taken years ago in the attic.”
“No doubt use you as the focus,” I said. She was always involved when someone wanted generational pictures done. Mia was the protege of two of the greatest. Mention her mamma’s name in front of some of the most enthusiastic ballet buffs, and they would faint. Those same critics would get into a debate about Mia, though. Some saw the same greatness; some didn’t.
She shrugged again. “All in a day’s work.”
I walked her up to the attic, where equipment was set up for the shoot. The photographer was one of the biggest names in the magazine game, their photos known for being the highest quality. One assistant was with him. The rest were dancers. I gave my men instructions to watch the route that we’d just taken to get to the attic.
Before I even arrived in Paris, I studied this place inside and out. I knew every hidden hideaway and the routes below the theater.
It was true. A city existed underneath it.
My eyes stayed glued to Mia. She was the focus of the entire spread. The photographer kept asking her questions about Maja and Scarlett.
“I didn’t know my great-grandmother,” Mia said at one point. “She died before I was born.”
“Would you ever consider doing a shoot like this with your mother?”
“I have,” she said. “She refuses to do them—for the public.”
“Interesting,” the photographer said. When he took her picture, it was like she was shocked that he had. Like she wasn’t ready for it. She had a deer in the headlights look.
I pushed away from the wall, not giving a fuck if I ruined the next shot or not. I took her by the arm. “Mia.”
It took her a second to focus on me, to answer. She touched my hand, but barely. “I’m okay. Just a little tired, I think.”
“Don’t lie to me,” I said.
Her eyes scanned the room. The dancers were talking amongst themselves, but the photographer’s eyes were glued to us.
Mia’s eyes met mine, and that same pleading was there. She didn’t want him to know anything.
“So ready to hide me from the world.”
