Eyes as glassy and cold as marble fixed on her.
Completely incapable of moving, she fought even harder to keep control of her limbs as he moved towards her with the silent lethality of a tiger about to strike.
He took her clammy hand into his with a smile as cold as his stare and leaned down to brush a cold kiss on her trembling lips and whisper, ‘Smile,mi vida. This is a party.’
For the next two hours, her hand held tightly in Xavi’s, Beth smiled until her face ached. Not a single guest went unspoken to. Xavi laughed and joked as if he was having the best time with the best company, feigning ignorance of the curious eyes darting to them as Paul Haldron spread his poison amongst the party.
Beth did her best to act normally, but with the world spinning wildly around her and the undercurrent of ice flowing out of Xavi through their clasped hands, maintaining her smile was taking everything she had.
It was almost a relief when he murmured, ‘Time to go,’ before guiding her to Gustav so they could say goodbye.
‘Excellent party,’ he enthused, clasping Gustav’s hand as he shook it, then slapping him on the shoulder as he added, ‘I’ll be in touch about those quotes.’
She had no doubt that the moment the basement door closed behind them, the room would erupt. And she had no doubt that Xavi knew it, too. They would be lucky to make it until morning before the news leaked to the press.
She was too frightened to check her phone to see if it had leaked already.
Their car was ready for them. Gentleman that he was, Xavi let her get in first.
‘Xavi,’ she said as soon as they set off. ‘I—’
‘Wait until we get home,’ he interrupted tonelessly, turning his face out the window.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I was going to—’
‘Stop the car,’ he said abruptly into the intercom. ‘I want to walk.’
The car stopped.
He faced her.
His expression made her insides shrivel.
‘I will meet you at the apartment.’
He’d slipped into the night before she could scramble any form of response.
It could only have taken ten minutes to get back home, but they were the longest ten minutes of Beth’s life. The wait for the elevator was excruciating. The fact she had to call it down meant Xavi had beaten her back.
Diego rushed to greet her, but other than his welcome presence, the apartment was silent. She crouched down to stroke him and snatch at the needed comfort he gave, the coldness in her chest increasing with the certainty that Xavi had sent the staff to their quarters.
At first glance, their bedroom was empty. And then she heard noise coming from their dressing room.
The world spun on its axis to find three open suitcases on the long velvet dressing stool, and she pressed her back against the wall to stop herself swaying.
He didn’t break his stride at her appearance, pulling a load of summer dresses off a rack and folding them as one and placing them, coat hangers and all, in the nearest case.
‘When were you going to tell me?’ he asked silkily as he pulled more dresses off the rack.
She could hardly speak through the hammering of her heart. ‘Tonight.’
‘You don’t need to lie anymore, Bethany.’
She didn’t know what was worse, the way he was systematically packing her out of his life, that he’d called her by her full name or the normality of his tone.
‘I’m not lying.’
‘What percentage of the company do you own?’
