Chapter 20 Rafael
Rafael
Aurora’s stiff in my grasp as I lead us back into the main ballroom, where a band is now playing, and people have taken to a dancefloor in the centre of the room.
My thumb has a bloody mind of its own, rubbing gentle circles on her lower back, and I know I need to put a stop to this. I lean in close to whisper in her ear. ‘Come on. I know what a good actress you can be. You can pretend you like me for twenty minutes.’
She turns inside my arms, sliding her hands up my chest to my bow-tie. She takes her time adjusting it, her smile sickeningly sweet.
‘Fuck you,’ she says ever so gently under her breath.
‘Now, now,’ I purr. ‘Flirt with me like that and I’ll start to think you do want me.’
‘I’d rather lick a badger’s arsehole,’ she hums.
‘Lucky badger,’ I muse, pulling her closer with one hand on the base of her spine so she can’t escape.
‘Now if you’re a good girl, you might learn something.
I know every man and woman in attendance tonight.
Including the one who used to work with your father and is on their way over.
I’ll introduce you. Perhaps she can be of some use in your father’s case? ’
‘You’d do that for me?’ she breathes.
My mouth goes dry as she gazes up at me with something akin to gratitude in her eyes.
But it wouldn’t be there if she knew my offer is nothing more than an empty box wrapped up to look like a gift.
A mere distraction to prevent me from crossing more lines tonight if I’m left alone with her for too long.
‘Of course,’ I reply, as she gives me a genuine smile.
I feel like the biggest bastard in history when Aurora returns from another fruitless conversation fifteen minutes later.
I knew she wouldn’t get anywhere when I introduced her to people who would have worked with, or done business with, her father.
Yet I did it anyway. Because I wanted to.
Because I knew it would snuff out any hope she has.
Because I yearned to see her suffer like I have.
But where I’ve lost money, I’ve forced her to confront something much greater. I’ve made her lose faith. I took it away from her purely because I could.
Sourness swirls over my tongue.
‘Dance with me,’ I find myself saying.
‘What?’
‘Dance with me,’ I repeat. ‘Then I’ll take you home.’
She sighs, ‘I don’t feel like dancing.’
‘Then do it so you can stamp on my feet and hope you break a toe.’
A small halo of glitter ignites around her pupils in response to my words. ‘Don’t tempt me.’
Before she can protest again, I take her hand in mine and lead her towards the centre of the dancing couples. She follows me easily, much more easily than I expect. Guilt tugs at my gut. I’ve destroyed her fight. Sucked the energy from her.
I turn and pull her into my arms, gently drawing her body in until it’s flush to mine. ‘Start with the big one. It’ll cause the most inconvenience when trying to walk,’ I say in a low voice.
She lets the softest of laughs escape her lips. ‘Thanks for the tip.’
‘Anytime,’ I rumble as she snakes her arms up around my neck.
The move brings us closer to one another. Her breasts push against the front of my shirt, and the scent of the perfume sprayed on her wrists transfers on to my neck. Branding me like I’m hers.
I swallow hard.
‘I only have to pretend for a little longer, right? I figure you get one song, and then we go back to hating one another,’ Aurora says.
‘Sounds perfect,’ I reply, my eyes glued to her face.
We dance in silence for a minute, my feet unscathed.
She feels like perfection in my arms.
I can’t help myself. She’s the perfect height for me to lean a touch closer so that my lips rest in her hair as we move.
She keeps dancing like she hasn’t noticed, and I push my luck further by inhaling slowly, drinking in the scent of her.
The softness of the blond strands are like golden silk against my skin.
The song changes, flowing into a slower one.
She sighs in my grasp, her head turned to one side as she watches the other dancers. ‘My father taught me to dance to this song. He and Mum used to dance to it in the kitchen at night when they first moved in together.’
I stay silent, scared that if I speak, if I alert her to the fact it’s me she’s talking to, then she’ll stop talking. Because despite knowing this is dangerous territory, I’m hanging off her every word like a starving dog being handed a scrap of meat.
‘And that’s where he taught me too. Not that we could do it easily.
That kitchen was tiny. The whole house was.
’ A small laugh falls against my chest from her lips.
‘Dad always promised that when we moved we’d have a huge kitchen.
And he kept his word. The one in Chelsea made our old one look like a postage stamp. ’
‘I’m sorry you lost it,’ I say.
But of course, I don’t mean it, do I? People like George Thorne, who steal others’ hard-earned money, deserve to lose everything.
And being his daughter, who can’t have been blind to it all, Aurora deserved to lose her home.
They have my money stashed away somewhere, hidden in an offshore account, or somewhere the authorities can’t find it, just waiting for the day he’s freed and they can cash it all in.
The two of them will probably be laughing all the way to the Cayman Islands once he’s released.
Laughing at me.
Regardless, I still wince as the words land heavily on my tongue, because the lie feels like the most honest thing I’ve said all evening.
Aurora sighs. ‘I’m not. Not really. I’d trade anything to go back to our old house.
Before my father got his new job, before he started earning good money, if it meant that he’d not be where he is now.
He tries to tell me it’s not so bad when I visit him, but I know he’s only trying to make me feel better.
I wish more than anything I could dance with him again now and not have to wait years until he’s finally free. ’
She twists her face up to look at me. ‘I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.
I think it’s because you don’t look at me in pity like most people do when I tell them my father’s innocent.
Like they think I’m delusional. At least with you, I know what you think of us both. You’re an honest arsehole.’
I gaze down at her. ‘A complimentary insult. How did I get so lucky?’
She snorts. ‘Keep behaving like you do. I’m sure you’ll get more.’
As she looks around the large room, her brow creases.
‘It’s weird being somewhere like this. That’s how I felt in the house in Chelsea.
Out of place. Like I didn’t really belong.
You know, my father and I went on holiday to Menorca when I was ten.
He saved for months to take us to this three-star hotel and was so excited.
Then when we got there the hotel had been downgraded so the tour operator had to offer us an alternative at no extra cost. We ended up in a five-star resort.
They served these really delicious posh fish cakes that we ate every night.
My father kept saying how lucky we were. He couldn’t believe it.’
She pulls her lower lip past her teeth, biting it, like she’s channelling all of her anxiety into that single move. And I want to gather it all up and toss it into orbit, where it can never reach her again.
But instead, I do something reckless. Something stupid. Something that suggests I’m moved by what she’s telling me. That a part of me actually bloody cares.
I look into her eyes and open my heart a little.
‘And it made you think you were lucky. That you shouldn’t have been there. That you didn’t belong,’ I say, understanding Aurora Thorne more in this moment than I ever have before.
She looks at me like she’s both surprised and impressed that I get it. That I get her.
She nods. ‘Exactly. Because I didn’t belong there.’
‘No . . . Aurora.’ I take her chin between my thumb and forefinger and tilt her face up.
‘What?’ She searches my eyes, and I tighten the grip I have on her lower back, melding her to me.
I need to stop this. I need to . . .
She leans into me, feeling so right inside my arms.
‘You belong wherever the hell you want to be, okay?’ I whisper softly.
She licks her lips, gazing at me. ‘Easy for you to say, Mr CEO of a multibillion-pound company.’
I frown. ‘You think I always feel at ease? Like I’m not bloody winging it some days? Like I’m not constantly under the scrutiny of my father, for whom nothing is ever good enough?’
I clamp my mouth shut, having said too much. But Aurora homes in on my words, a bloom of tenderness warming her voice.
‘You’re amazing at what you do. Dove tells me so. Your brothers tell me so. And the way every employee at your company talks about you, it’s obvious. They respect you. They admire you.’
‘Pretty sure they think I’m a demanding prick.’
‘You can’t have it all,’ Aurora says, her eyes glinting.
The beginning of my smile falters. ‘No. But I wish I could.’
She falls silent, her eyes narrowing like she’s trying to read me. Like she’s seen a glimmer of something worth looking at, hidden deep down.
‘You want your father to be proud of you?’ she says after a moment. ‘I’m sure he is, Rafael.’
I swallow, my chest growing tight at the memory of sirens and pain, so much pain.
Of my mother’s screams when she saw all the blood.
And then of the look in my father’s eyes years later when I had to tell him we’d lost the Wyndham bid.
The one he’d been working on for months before he retired.
The culmination of his life’s work. The deal was worth billions.
He’d set it up; all I had to do was get the contracts signed.
My first triumphant act as CEO. A walk in the park. A job a monkey could have done.
One I fucked up royally.
The worst part wasn’t that I’d destroyed everything he’d worked his entire life for. It was the way he had turned away, unable to stomach looking at me when I told him.
Some things you never forget.
Aurora looks at me, waiting for me to continue. To open up old wounds that I’d rather not let resurface. Dancing with her was a mistake. An indulgence I should never have allowed myself. One that has gone far enough.
‘It’s been twenty minutes,’ I announce, bringing our dance to an abrupt end. ‘It’s time I took you home.’