Tucked in the envelope was a ticket for the opening night of Compania de Ballet de Casillas’s new theatre.
Chloe resisted the instinct to rip it in two.
Instead, she placed it on her dressing table and pinched the bridge of her nose to keep the tears at bay.
She’d cried too much in the past month.
The worst of it was that she couldn’t tell anyone, not even Tanya.
How could she admit that she’d been stupid enough to fall in love with the man who’d kidnapped her and blackmailed her? They would think she was suffering a version of Stockholm syndrome.
She wished she could explain her pain away on that. That would be easier to cope with.
Easier to cope with than to accept that she, the woman who had learned the hard way that dreams did not come true, had allowed herself to dream of a future with a man incapable of returning her love.
* * *
The flash of cameras that went off as Luis stepped out of the limousine with his brother would have blinded a less practised man.
Unfazed, the Casillas brothers cut their way through the reporters all eager for a sound bite, past the chanting crowd all hoping to spot a famous face, and up the stairs and through the theatre’s doors.
The new theatre that homed Compania de Ballet de Casillas was, Luis thought with satisfaction, a perfect blend of new and old. They had employed the best architect to work on it, Daniele Pellegrini, and he had produced the same magic that had won him so many awards through the years.
The fifteen-hundred-strong audience crowded inside were enjoying a drink in one of the five bars or finding their seats, excited chatter filling the magnificent bowled space. He and Javier had made the conscious decision to give only a third of the tickets to VIPs. The remaining two thirds had been sold through a form of lottery, reasonably priced so any member of the public should be able to afford it, something they both felt strongly about, that the arts should not be the domain of the rich. Every member of the audience, whether rich or poor, had made an effort with their appearance and it warmed his cold heart to see the glittering dresses, smart suits and tuxedos.
The press were out in force, not from a desire to see the theatre’s grand opening or to review the performance of The Red Shoes—although the bona fide critics had been allocated seats—but because two of the parties of the love triangle would be under the same roof for the first time since Benjamin had stolen Freya two months ago.
It would be the first time Javier had come face to face with the woman who had dumped him so publicly.
The tension emanating from his brother’s huge shoulders let Luis know the strain Javier was under. He hadn’t loved Freya but his pride had suffered an enormous blow.
It would not be easy for Javier to see the woman he’d intended to marry dancing on his stage, the star of the performance. Despite the animosity that curdled between them, Luis felt for him.
Things had been strained between the brothers since Luis had returned from the Caribbean. They continued to work together, conducted their regular meetings, nothing changed in that respect, but a coldness had developed between them, unlike anything they had been through before.
However, Javier had been correct that they would get through the bad press that had been unleashed on them. They’d written the Canadian project off—damn, that had felt great telling that sanctimonious oaf George where to go—and it had generated the expected flurry of headlines. But with all the parties in the Javier, Benjamin and Freya love triangle remaining tight-lipped, the press had run out of new angles for the story. The ever-moving news cycle had moved on to new fodder...until that evening.
Although this was an opinion he chose not to share with his brother, Luis was grateful that Freya had some loyalty left in her. She had, naturally, handed her notice in with Compania de Ballet de Casillas but had agreed to honour her commitment to this opening performance. They kept their star performer for one last night and, without actually saying a word, Freya was telling the world that they couldn’t be the complete monsters the cruel Internet commentators gleefully insisted they must be.
Whenever Luis thought of those comments now, he thought of Chloe. She had been far more outraged by them than he had been. It was as if she had taken them personally.
Sometimes, alone in his bed, Luis would gaze at the ceiling and wonder where the madness had come from that had made him think marrying her would be the solution to all their problems.
His brother had been right: he had lost his mind.
And then he would stop thinking.
Or try to stop thinking.
He couldn’t rid himself of her. Everywhere he went his mind played tricks on him. He’d walked past the coffee shop where he had first been so dazzled by her and had seen her in there, laughing, her raven hair flowing like waves around her. And then he’d blinked and she’d gone.
Drinks in hand, faking cordiality, he and Javier settled themselves in their private box, which they had chosen to share that evening with senior members of the Spanish royal family. Sitting on his other side was a ravishing princess. Four months ago he would have decided on the spot to get her into bed. Now he couldn’t even muster basic interest.
There had been no one since he had left the Caribbean. Not even a twitch in his loins. There had been no one other than Chloe since their one date all those months ago...
The curtains fell back and the performance began.
Within minutes Luis experienced his usual boredom when watching the ballet. He much preferred watching an action-packed movie to this, and he found his gaze drifting over the audience.
Minutes before the interval, he saw, hidden at the back of the box on the other side of the theatre, the unmistakable dark features of Benjamin Guillem.
Putting his binoculars to his eyes, he trained them on him to confirm it.
Yes, it was Benjamin.
Luis had not expected him to be there. Indeed, if he were a gambling man he would have put his money on Benjamin staying away.
Admiration flickered in him. Benjamin had voluntarily entered the lion’s den. That took balls...
And then he saw the expression on his old friend’s face and moved the binoculars to the stage where Freya was dancing a solo. Then he trained them back on Benjamin and he understood, his heart suddenly thumping rapidly, why he had come.
He was there to support the woman he loved.
Luis’s thoughts flashed to Chloe.
His thoughts always flashed to Chloe.
‘What is she doing here?’ Javier hissed in his ear. He too was looking through his binoculars.
‘Who?’ He would not mention Benjamin’s presence.
‘Chloe.’
Whipping his binoculars to where his brother’s were trained, high up in the gods, Luis sucked in a breath as he worked on the lens’s focus.
He made sure to blink before looking again, certain that his eyes were playing their familiar trick on him.
Dios, it was her, ravishing in a black lace dress, her raven hair framing her face in a sleek, coiffured style he had never seen before but which enhanced her elfin beauty.
‘What is she doing here?’ Javier repeated.
‘I don’t know.’
He had no idea where she had got a ticket from or why she had come.
Or why his heart hammered so hard his ribs vibrated with the force.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHLOE WATCHED THE performance without paying any attention to what was happening on the stage. She managed to keep her frame still but emotionally she was all over the place.
She had a good view of the Casillas brothers’ private box and had spotted Luis the moment he’d entered it. That one look had been enough for her heart to set off at a thrum and for her palms to become clammy.
That one look had been enough to prove she h
ad made an enormous mistake in coming here.
On one side of him sat his hateful brother. On the other side a beautiful woman dressed in crushed velvet whispering intimately into his ear.
Chloe had put her binoculars back in her clutch bag and refused to look in his direction again.
What was she trying to prove to herself? she thought miserably as the performance went on. That she was over him?
The ticket had been sitting on her dressing table for a week when, after another terrible night’s sleep, she had decided to go.
She needed to see him one last time, in circumstances over which she was in control.
She’d had it all planned out. She would find him during the interval or the after-show party—she knew enough people to be confident of someone helping her sneak in—and then she would graciously thank him for the reference and sweep out with all the grace she had been practising all week.
It destroyed her to know his last memory of her was as an hysterical wreck.
She hadn’t even cared that coming here would mean she would see Javier or that there was the chance she would bump into her brother. She hadn’t seen Benjamin since she’d returned to Europe.
Her wounds were too fresh for her to see anyone who cared enough to notice the insomnia-inflicted bruising beneath her eyes. Tanya cared but she was busy with her work and still the party animal of old. In Tanya’s home, Chloe found the peace she craved but also the time she’d always shied away from that allowed her to think.
Oh, what had she come here for?
More humiliation?
Luis didn’t love her. He wouldn’t care that she had made a deliberate effort with her appearance or for any graceful sweep away from him. She would have been relegated to his past. She doubted he’d given her more than a fleeting thought, other than arranging her reference.
She had to do what he had always said and look to the future. She could do nothing about the past but she could pick her life up and move forward. She could complete the application form for the ballet company in New York and make a fresh start.
Another fresh start.
But this would be the last.
She wouldn’t go chasing a dream; she would create her own.
Suddenly filled with determination, she straightened her spine and waited for the performance to end.
* * *
How Luis remained in his seat through the rest of the performance he would never know. He kept his binoculars trained on Chloe, willing her to look his way.
But she didn’t. Her eyes stayed fixed on the drama unfolding on the stage, oblivious to his presence and oblivious to the drama unfolding in the pit of his stomach.
Dios, she looked so beautiful. The way she was holding herself too... When they’d been together she had been a great one for slouching and putting her feet up wherever she went. Tonight she looked as regal as the princess sitting beside him, who had given up her attempts to draw him into conversation.
It must have taken real guts for Chloe to come here tonight.
Which begged the question of why she had come. Was it merely that she’d procured an invitation and, being a ballet lover, had decided to use it? That was the only logical explanation he could think of. He hadn’t seen or spoken to her in over a month.
Whatever her reasons, the Guillems had more guts than an ice-hockey team. Both of them had entered the lion’s den.
But Benjamin had entered it to support the woman he loved.
After the way things had ended between him and Chloe he could say with one hundred per cent confidence that she was not there to support him.
But she was there.
And he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
And he couldn’t fight the knots in his stomach that were pulling tighter and tighter in him.
‘I’m going to have a word with Security and make sure they know not to let her into the after-party,’ Javier murmured as they rose to their feet at the end of the performance.
As Luis was craning his neck to keep watch over Chloe, it took a few moments to understand what his brother was saying.
He turned his attention to him. ‘You will leave her alone,’ he said sharply.
Javier’s face darkened into something ugly. ‘You still defend her? After what she did?’
‘She was defending her brother, doing what either you or I would do if we felt someone had hurt us.’
Their royal guests had got to their feet.
Remembering his manners, Luis managed to exchange a few words with them as they exited the box.
Right at the last moment he turned his head for one last sight of Chloe but found her row empty.
Swallowing back the bile that had risen up his throat, he forced a smile to his lips and joined the throng in the corridor.
The after-show party was being held in one of the theatre’s underground conference rooms and, trying hard to keep his attention on his honoured guests and not allow his eyes to keep darting about in the hope of catching a glimpse of a raven-haired beauty, Luis headed to it.
When the group took a left where the corridor forked, he saw, in the distance, the tall figure of Benjamin.
Not hesitating for a moment, Luis put his hand on his brother’s back and steered him in the other direction, calling over his shoulder to their guests that they would join them shortly.
‘What’s the matter?’ Javier asked, staring at him with suspicion as they walked.
‘I wanted to talk to you alone.’
He hadn’t realised until he said the words that he did want to speak to his brother.
Avoiding a confrontation with Benjamin was the impetus he needed to confront his brother with a conversation they should have had a long time ago.
‘You knew we were ripping Benjamin off all those years ago, didn’t you?’
It was the first time Luis had vocalised this notion.
His brother’s face darkened. ‘We didn’t rip him off. He was the fool who signed the contract without reading it.’
‘And you should have warned him the terms had changed as you’d said you would do. You didn’t forget, did you?’
His brother merely glowered in response.
‘I knew it.’ Luis took a deep breath, trying hard to contain the nausea swirling inside him that was fighting with a swell of rage. ‘All these years and I’ve told myself that it had been an oversight on your part when I should have accepted the truth that you never forget. In thirty-five years you have never forgotten anything or failed to do something you promised.’
‘I never promised to email him.’
‘Not an actual promise,’ Luis conceded. ‘But look me in the eye and tell me it wasn’t a deliberate act on your part.’
But all he saw in his twin’s eyes was a black hardness.
‘For what reason would it have been deliberate?’ Javier asked with a sneer.
‘That is for your conscience to decide. All I know for sure is that Benjamin was our friend. I have defended you and I have fought your corner...’
‘Our corner,’ Javier corrected icily. ‘I assume this burst of conscience from you is connected to that damned woman.’
His temper finally getting the better of him, Luis grabbed his brother by the collar of his shirt. ‘If you ever speak about Chloe in that way again then you and I are finished. Do you hear me? Finished.’
‘If you’re still defending her to me then I would say we’re already finished, brother.’ He spat the last word directly into Luis’s face.
Eyeball to eyeball, they glowered at each other, the venom seeping between them thick enough to taste.
Then Luis released his hold, stepped back and unclenched the fist he hadn’t been aware of making.
His eyes still fixed on the man he had shared a womb with, had shared a bedroom with, had fought with, had pro
tected, had been protected by, had grieved with, the other side of the coin that was the Casillas twins, Luis took backwards strides until he could look no more and turned his back on his brother for the last time.
* * *
With long strides, Luis walked the theatre’s corridors, hardening his heart to what he had just walked away from, his focus now on one thing only: finding Chloe.
He had the rest of his life to sort out his relationship with Javier. And if they couldn’t sort it out? He would handle it.
An incessant nagging in his guts told him he had only one opportunity to make things right with the woman it had taken him far too long to realise he was in love with. He did not think he could handle it if his attempts didn’t work.
As he picked up his pace, scanning the crowds ahead for a tall, raven-haired woman, he collided with a much smaller blonde woman with a face he vaguely recognised.
‘Sorry,’ he muttered.
‘My fault,’ she whispered, looking over his shoulder. ‘I wasn’t looking where I was going.’
Forgetting all about her, he continued to scour the corridors and bars, put his head into the conference room where the after-show party was being held three times, until he had a burst of inspiration and hurried to the costume department.
By the time he reached it, he was out of breath.
He pushed the door open and there she was, chatting with Maria over a bottle of wine.
Both women looked at him, startled at his appearance.
Only Chloe turned a deep red colour to match her lipstick to see him there.
‘Maria, can I have a minute alone with Chloe, please?’ he asked as politely as he could.
She must have read something on his face for she shot to her feet and hurried out of the door. ‘I’ll be at the party,’ she murmured as she closed the door behind her.
‘Can I have some of that?’ he asked, nodding at the bottle of white wine.
Chloe handed him her glass without a word.
He drained it and handed it back to her. ‘I was thirsty,’ he said in an attempt at humour that failed when her lips didn’t move.
Marriage Made in Blackmail Page 15