‘And it’s our brands, not my brands. You’re equal majority shareholder.’
If they weren’t surrounded by approximately two hundred people, she would have used the opportunity to make part of her confession, but they were and so she let the moment pass and swallowed back her guilt with a sip of the sparkling water she’d swiped from a waitress when they’d walked in, and as she sipped, Xavi noticed what was in her glass.
‘Why the water?’
Because she couldn’t tell him she was pregnant during a party, either, she smiled and told a partial truth. ‘I’m feeling a bit queasy.’
‘Still?’
She shrugged to show it didn’t matter. ‘It’ll pass. Oh look, Griselda’s over there.’
Griselda was a doyenne of the fashion world, a true original and one of the only creatives whose company Xavi enjoyed rather than pretended to enjoy.
Soon, they were chatting and mingling, and when Beth escaped to the ladies’, it was with Xavi fully relaxed and back to his usual charming self.
The club’s basement ladies’ toilets were as lavish and ornate as the ones she’d used in the club’s dining room all those years back. It smelled delicious, one of the many touches that made Club Giroud membership so sought after. Beth touched up her lipstick and eyeliner thinking she’d have to get Xavi to bring her for a meal here again. They could take a trip to Barcelona and try the Club Giroud there, too. Or Athens. Or Paris. Each one had its own distinct style and flavour, and she was keen…
Her thoughts slipped away when she left the ladies’ and spotted a bald, rotund man wearing a red cummerbund with his tuxedo approach Xavi. Her blood turned to ice before her brain connected what her eyes were seeing to the online picture she’d seen of him.
It was Paul Haldron.
Chapter Eleven
XAVI WAS GENERALLYhappy to play the schmoozing game at parties like this. It came with the job and was a necessary evil. He might be an apex predator at the top of the fashion food chain, but those lower down needed to eat, too, and if they weren’t fed, they died, and then he would be unable to feed. It was an analogy Raul had imparted many years ago. Occasionally at these parties, Xavi would come across a rival apex predator and engage in the mandatory pissing contest, but secure with his place in the world, his heart was rarely in it. It was only with arsehole predators like the shark Paul Haldron that he took enjoyment from metaphorically pissing all over them.
Far from being an actual shark, the Paul Haldrons of the world were more like annoying mosquitoes trying to land on the real apexes with the aim of biting and slowly killing them. Paul Haldron had tried to kill Xavi. He’d led a consortium of investors to overthrow him. It had been a badly misguided effort, mainly because they didn’t have the shares, brains or funding to make a success of it. Xavi had taken great pleasure in squashing them all, even if it had been an unwelcome reminder of how vulnerable his position would be without Raul’s shares.
Instead of arranging his face into the usual welcoming smile he gave when being approached, he hardened his stare and drew himself to his full, intimidating height.
‘What an unpleasant surprise to see you here,’ he said sardonically when Paul stood before him. ‘I wasn’t aware Gustav knew of your existence.’
‘He didn’t until twenty minutes ago.’
‘Then you shouldn’t be here. This is a private members’ club. Guests are only allowed if—’
‘I know how the guest list works. I got a note to Gustav of my reasons for being here. He read it and added me to the list.’
Xavi followed Paul’s gaze. Gustav was watching them from a distance. There was no mistaking his avid interest.
Trepidation snaked up his spine.
He looked back at the American. ‘Why are you here?’
‘Because I knew you were invited and I wanted to see if you had the balls to turn up given the new state of affairs, and offer my commiserations to you.’
The tension spreading through his veins, Xavi folded his arms across his chest. ‘What are you talking about?’
The mosquito smiled a shark’s smile. ‘Your wife becoming the majority shareholder of the Rosbel Group and kicking you into the dirt. I speak from experience when I say she paid good money for that privilege.’
A pulse was beating loudly in the back of Xavi’s head, the tension in his veins turning to ice.
The shark correctly read his expression and bared his teeth. ‘So it hasn’t happened yet? I did wonder—I’ve kept my earveryclose to the grapevine and not even heard white noise.’
His words had barely landed when he nodded over Xavi’s shoulders. ‘Oh, there she is. She’s as ravishing in the flesh as your wedding photos suggested. Still, they do say the most beautiful of the fairer sex are the most deadly. That one is lethal. Enjoy your downfall.’
Beth’s feet had rooted to the floor. She knew from Xavi’s ramrod stance and the triumphant smile Paul Haldron aimed at her as he sauntered away that he’d told him, and she fought desperately against the hot blood filling her head and the sensation that she was a heartbeat away from her legs collapsing beneath her.
He turned around slowly.
