‘Are you okay?’ she asked.
His chest rose. Brushing his thumb down her cheek for what could be the last time, he nodded. ‘Come. Let us show my family exactly what you are made of.’
* * *
Beth could hardly believe the past four weeks of meticulous planning and hard work was coming to fruition.
A party for ten—twenty if you counted partners, which she did—had involved almost the same amount of work as for the masquerade ball’s four hundred guests.
The planning for this party had different challenges and intricacies, and far more complications than the ball, but she had loved every minute of it.
Yet now, when she should be suffering the nerves that normally took hold of her at this time, her attention was fixed solely on Alessio, whose own attention was fixed firmly on the view from his window seat of the helicopter.
She wished she could ask again what was wrong with him but sharing the cabin with them were Gina and Marcello. She was so concerned about her husband that she didn’t even bother to worry if Gina was having poisonous thoughts towards her.
Something was wrong. She was certain of it. It was a feeling that had been growing these past few weeks and had crystallised when she’d walked into the bedroom and found him sat on the sofa with an expression on his face she’d never seen before.
He’d looked ill.
The one thing she’d been able to rely on since they’d married was their mutual desire for each other but even in the bedroom she’d sensed changes happening. Alessio still made love with the same intensity but he’d stopped reaching for her in his sleep. That was, if he even slept. She was certain he was awake when she drifted off and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d woken to find him lying beside her. Dom’s birthday, maybe.
They hadn’t spent as much time together as they normally did either. He rarely dropped by her office.
Then there had been the many hours she’d spent at the facility itself, preparing for the party. She’d been touched when he’d suggested she take Dom there with her but it had pained her that Alessio had made excuses and stayed behind. While this further proof of his faith in her should delight her, all it did was trouble her. It felt as though he was slipping away.
There had been days when she’d hardly seen her husband.
Had he sensed her changed feelings towards him? Was that why he was being so distant with her?
Madness or not, she loved him. Denying it was pointless.
She loved him.
She’d tried desperately hard not to let her feelings show but there were times she ached to tell him the truth, to lay her cards out before him and see where it would lead.
And then the voice of sanity would prevail. Alessio would be horrified if he knew how deeply her feelings for him ran.
Wouldn’t he?
She didn’t dare believe that all the little things he did to put her needs first, such as insisting that she finish work at a decent time so she could be home for Dom’s dinner, as he’d done in recent weeks, actually meant something deeper to him.
She pushed her worries aside when she saw the lights of the monastery in the distance. With summer over and the early autumn nights drawing in, she’d timed it so the guests would arrive when the sky was dark. This meant she could use the theatricality of the location to its best advantage. She’d insisted on having white fairy lights installed along the perimeter of the roof and along the trees that traversed the entire complex, and white night lights running the length of the driveway to it, so their guests would see it in all its beauty when the helicopters brought them in to land.
‘It looks beautiful.’
The murmured compliment came from Gina.
When they landed, the first limousine drove up so they could enter it without hardly having to touch the earth with their feet.
Rather than get in, Beth hurried to the other limousines in the row and quickly checked each had the bottle of champagne on ice and champagne flutes that she’d ordered.
‘You are worried?’ Gina asked when she joined them in the waiting car for the half-mile journey to the complex itself.
‘A little,’ she admitted. ‘I always get like this before an event.’
She waited for the cutting remark that was sure to follow and was pleasantly surprised when Gina simply said, ‘Try and relax. Your preparations have been meticulous.’
When they entered the reception room, they stepped through the new walk-through electronic scanner purchased especially for the occasion. Beth had figured their guests, which included royalty, would not be impressed to have hand-held scanners checking their bodies for illicit technology.
The last-minute checks were done and then word came that the first helicopter had landed.
It was time for the show to begin.
* * *
Alessio had known that with Beth in charge of the planning the event was bound to be a success, but he had not envisaged quite how well it would go.
Their elite number of guests, puffed up with importance at being the select few, couldn’t quite hide that they felt like children in a chocolate factory.
Once the tour of the laboratories was over—and somehow his clever wife had arranged that to flow like a piece of performing art—they were settled in the meeting room which had been transformed beyond recognition.
Thick gold velvet drapes covered the walls, crystal chandeliers now hung on the ceiling and plump sofas lay strategically for weary feet to rest, giving the room a rich, sparkling intimacy. The abundance of canapés and free-flowing drinks were served by specially hired models who were the epitome of elegance, all wearing identical silver outfits and Palvetti jewellery. The string quartet played familiar classical tunes at just the right noise level to allow unhampered conversation.
A small scream suddenly resounded from the far corner, followed by the roar of laughter. One of the guests had not realised the beautiful gold statues in each corner were in fact real humans who changed their positions slightly, in time, every ten minutes.
And Beth played her part perfectly too, a gracious, welcoming hostess with the beauty to charm the men and an innate friendliness for the women to warm to. Right then, she was talking to his old friend Giannis Basinas’s date for the evening.
As if sensing Alessio’s gaze on her, Beth turned her head to look at him.
His heart thumped.
Their gazes held.
If he lived to be one hundred, he would never tire of looking at her.
After tonight there was a chance he would never see her again.
By the end of the night, it would all be over.
He’d been selfish, he knew, not setting her free sooner but he’d wanted her to have this night.
He hoped that, when time eventually healed the new hurts he was going to inflict on her, her abiding memory of their marriage would be of this night: her triumph.
* * *
‘Was the date Giannis brought tonight the woman he spent the night of the masquerade ball dancing with?’ Beth asked, even though she already knew the answer.
Since they’d got out of the helicopter and said goodbye to Gina and Marcello to take the drive to their respective homes in their own cars, Alessio hadn’t said one word to her.
He hadn’t looked at her.
‘She might have been.’ His lack of interest was obvious.
‘You never did tell me what the favour was you did all those years ago that was big enough that he agreed to hold the masquerade ball for you.’
She caught the tiniest quirk on his lips through the moonlight pouring through the car window.
‘He glued the headmaster’s office furniture to the floor. All of it. And all his stationery to his desk and all his books to the shelves of the cabinet. I provided the alibi that stopped him being expelled.’
She
laughed, not because she thought it funny—although on any other occasion she would have found it hilarious—but because she thought it an appropriate response. She’d spent the whole night thinking of appropriate responses when speaking to their elite guests and she had the same nerves in her stomach now as she did then. ‘Why did he do that?’
He gave a small shrug. ‘One of the other kids dared him.’
The driver slowed for the gates to their estate to open.
Beth couldn’t think of another thing to say to cut the tension for the last minute of this excruciating journey.
She was used to a lack of affection in their business life—that one mind-blowing, frantic coupling on her desk excepted—but he was never cold with her.
Right then she feared if she touched him she would get frostbite.
Thuds of dread hammered in her chest when she followed him up the winding staircase to their quarters.
‘I’m just going to check on Dom,’ she murmured when they reached their bedroom door.
‘Leave it for a minute,’ he commanded. ‘I have something to discuss with you.’
‘I’ll just be a—’
‘No. This cannot wait.’
He opened the door and waited for her to step into the bedroom.
The thuds of her heart had become so loud, they pounded through her bones.
He walked straight to his bureau and opened a drawer. From it he pulled a bottle of Scotch.
‘I thought you didn’t drink in the bedroom.’
‘I had this ready.’
‘It’s that bad, is it?’
‘No. It isn’t bad. Sit with me.’
He poured them both a measure and handed a glass to her, then they sat on the long sofa that ran the length of the wall beneath the windows. Beth noticed he kept a safe distance from her.
Her hands shook as she raised the glass to her lips.
His hands didn’t seem much more together.
Alessio took a large drink and grimaced.
It was time.
‘Beth, there is no easy way for me to say this, so I will get straight to the point.’
She flinched before he could go any further. ‘Have I done something wrong?’
How could she think that even for a second?
‘No. You have done your best, but I can’t see a viable role for you here any more. The party tonight was a one-off that will never be repeated.’ He hated lying to her. Only the knowledge that it had to be this way gave him the strength to continue. ‘I should never have allowed you to host it. I took a risk that seems to have paid off but I cannot risk it again—the security implications are too great.’
‘Then what do you envisage me doing?’
‘Nothing.’ His guts clenched at this second blatant lie.
Beth had the potential to be the greatest asset Palvetti had ever had. But she was not an asset. She was a woman of flesh and blood with a heart that deserved to love and be loved.
She deserved to find the love she so longed for.
‘Nothing? Are you firing me?’
Alessio kneaded his forehead. He’d gone over and over this moment in his mind so many times that the speech he’d prepared should have fallen from his tongue easily and left them both with their pride and dignity intact but it had already slipped away from him.
‘There is no role for you to play within the business. You are free to leave.’
He braced himself for her to jump to her feet and start dancing with glee.
‘That’s not funny.’
‘It’s not meant to be.’
Her nose wrinkled. ‘What am I supposed to do? Be a full-time mum? In theory that’s lovely but I’ve got used to working again. I’m not a fan of the long hours so I could do something part-time. That would give me the best of both worlds, wouldn’t it? Do you want me to work directly for you as an assistant—?’
‘You are not listening,’ he interrupted, his tone harsher than he wanted. ‘You will not be returning to work with me. I thought I could make it work and that I could mould you into a Palvetti but I was wrong. If there is no role for you to play within the business, then there is no role for you to play in my life. Our marriage is over.’
Silence rang out between them.
Her voice, when she finally responded, was quiet. ‘When you say over...do you mean divorce?’
‘Yes.’
Confusion was written all over her beautiful face. ‘But Palvettis don’t divorce.’
‘We don’t marry strangers into our family either, but I did with you.’
‘But...’ Her mouth opened and closed. She shook her head and blinked a number of times. ‘Are you serious?’
He strove to keep his tone neutral and matter-of-fact. ‘I’ve had the staff pack your possessions for you—they’ve been put in your old room by Dom’s nursery. You can sleep there tonight. In the morning you can take my jet and fly wherever you want. Your life is yours to live again as you see fit.’
‘But... I don’t understand. What have I done? I must have done something.’
‘You haven’t done anything wrong.’ He could not stress that enough. He would not have her think she was in any way to blame for this whole rotten mess. ‘You have many great qualities but I’ve never made any pretence over what I need in a wife. I need a business partner. You are not that woman.’
Not a wife for whom he played games of risk with his family business to make happy.
That was the thought he needed to add strength to his resolve.
Never in his life had he put anyone or anything above the business, not even his own brother. And why? Because he’d been a selfish, tunnel-visioned bastard.
For once in his life he was going to do the right thing.
For Beth he would do anything. She’d suffered enough in her life. He would not put her through any more, however much it shredded his heart to let her go.
Her eyes were wide. ‘You want to marry someone else?’
No. Never. Beth was the only woman he wanted. He loved her. He loved her more than life itself. He would give up everything for her and that meant giving her up. She needed to be free to find the love she had longed for before he’d destroyed her life. How could he ever be that man after what he’d done to her?
Why was she still here? Why hadn’t she snatched her freedom the moment he’d said she had it? Had she become so indoctrinated into his world that she couldn’t see outside it any more?
It was down to him to sever that indoctrination once and for all.
He did not drop his gaze from hers or allow any of the emotions ripping through his chest to show on his face. ‘I want a wife who will fit in.’
He’d never seen her face so pale.
‘You cold bastard,’ she whispered.
‘Yes.’
‘This has all been for nothing?’ Her voice rose a notch. ‘I’ve given up my job and my home for nothing? And what about Dom? If you divorce me, I get custody of him. Or did you forget that?’
Dom was part of the reason he was doing this. That little orphaned boy deserved all the love his parents would have lavished on him. Only Beth could give him that.
‘I didn’t forget. I will pay for whatever education you feel is right for him, and pay for his upkeep and give you enough money for yourself that you need never work again. I’ll buy you a house in your name to raise him in. He can visit me as he grows up and, if he decides when he’s an adult that he wants to be a part of this world, then I will welcome him into it.’
Cradling her untouched glass, she slowly got to her feet.
She walked a few paces then turned around to face him.
Her stare was accusatory. ‘You’ve got it all figured out. You’re that keen to get rid of me that you’re prepared to lose the whole reason you brought me here?’
&nbs
p; ‘It’s for the best.’ He raised his shoulders. ‘I want you to be happy, bella, but how can you be happy in this world? You said yourself that you’re not a good fit for us. You find the business and my family overwhelming and—’
‘Don’t try and make this about me. This is all about you. I gave up everything for you.’
‘You gave it up for Dom.’
‘That’s because I love him and would do anything for him, something you wouldn’t understand, because you’re incapable of love. I thought you were growing to love him too but I got that wrong like I got everything else wrong. I’ve bent over backwards trying to fit in and carve a niche for myself in your world, and all along you were watching me fail and stringing me along and deciding, “oops, I made a mistake, I don’t want you to be my wife after all! I want someone better because you’re not worth it”.’
‘I have never thought that.’
‘Do not insult my intelligence... Actually, go ahead and insult it. I’ve already insulted it myself, swallowing all your lies, when I knew from the start the kind of man you were. Domenico was right all along, wasn’t he? I thought he’d got it wrong and that beneath the skin was a decent human being who I...’ She cut herself off and took a deep breath. When she next fixed her eyes on him, venom spilled from them. ‘All you care about is the business. Everything else can go to hell as far you’re concerned, can’t it? Well, I tell you this much: you’re the one who’s going to be going to hell for this.’
Magnificent in her fury, she stormed to the bedroom door. ‘I’m going to get Dom. I won’t spend another night under this roof.’
‘It’s the middle of the night. Let him sleep.’
She pointed her finger at him, her face screwed up in pain and rage. ‘Don’t pretend to care about him. Don’t you dare. If you cared an ounce for him you would have left us both where we were in London and never dragged us into this cruel game of yours.’
‘Beth...’ Everything inside him was twisted and torn. He hated to see her anger writ large but knew he deserved it. He deserved every ounce of her hate. It was only for Dom’s sake that she’d kept her true feelings buried inside her all this time. ‘I’m sorry.’
A Cinderella To Secure His Heir (Cinderella Seductions Book 1) Page 15