Chapter 5
IDA
With Raffa’s hand warm in mine, we walk through the swanky lobby of the hotel and follow the sound of chatter and laughter to the poolside bar where everyone seems to have congregated for cocktails before dinner.
My heart is fluttering in my chest. Despite my confident statement to Raffa about having his back, I’m nervous about being his pretend date. I don’t want anyone seeing through our ruse and calling us out. It would not be good for my rep if it got on to social media that I was a fake of any kind.
My persona on my show relies on me being seen as a straight and genuine person who can be trusted to speak the truth.
So we’re going to need to make this look convincing.
I scan the area, catching the eyes of a few of the guests.
There are a lot of people looking our way. Staring, almost.
I guess they’re friends of the nearly weds who are intrigued to meet Darian’s tech-bro stepbrother and his partner. I’m interested to see what sort of reception we get. Hopefully a friendly one.
It doesn’t sound like Raffa’s on great terms with his family though, so it could prove more of a task to win them over.
But I’m primed for it. Charming people is one of my strengths. It’s had to be in order for me to be as successful in life, and in my career, as I am.
It seems everyone else is as apprehensive as us, because as soon as they see me looking, they avert their gazes and turn back to talk to the people next to them, as if embarrassed to be caught staring.
I’m suddenly aware that the noise in the room has quietened too and the tone of the voices sounds more hushed, almost like they’re whispering.
Okay, this is a little bit freaky.
I feel Raffa squeeze my fingers again in solidarity and this helps calm my nerves.
We’re in this together.
As we start to make our way over to where everyone else is standing, a tall, handsome guy with dark blond hair comes striding towards us from the other side of the bar area, towing a strikingly beautiful baby-blonde-haired woman by the hand and intercepting us before we can join the rest of the group.
They’re both grinning at us like we’re the actual stars of this wedding, which is weird considering how tense Raffa is about being here.
‘Raffa, great to see you,’ the man says, holding out his hand for a handshake.
‘Darian. Good to see you too,’ Raffa replies, his voice more businesslike than I’ve heard it before. He shakes the guy’s hand briefly before dropping it and stepping a little closer to me.
So this is his stepbrother.
Interesting.
He seems very pleased to see us, which I wasn’t prepared for after Raffa’s hints about their difficult family dynamics. But then Raffa has just spent an eyewatering amount of money to save this wedding from disaster, so perhaps it’s not so strange that his brother is greeting us so warmly.
‘Everyone made it okay,’ Darian says, waving his hand vaguely towards the rest of the party, who all seem to be staring over at us again now. ‘Thanks again for pulling this out of the bag.’
‘Yes, thank you, Raffa. We owe you bigtime,’ the woman, who I assume must be Margot, says, her voice suffused with happiness.
‘Glad to have been able to help,’ Raffa says, his voice a lot warmer this time. He drops my hand so he can move into her outstretched arms and receive a hug she seems very keen to bestow.
‘And Ida, it’s such a thrill to have you here at our wedding,’ Margot says, surprising me by already knowing my name.
I force myself not to look taken-aback. ‘I’m happy to be here. It’s lovely to meet you,’ I say.
‘I always knew Raffa had great taste in women and it’s an absolute pleasure to meet you in real life,’ Margot gushes.
Her cheeks look a little flushed and her voice sounds a bit breathy, like she’s genuinely excited to meet me.
It suddenly occurs to me that she recognises me.
‘You know who I am?’ I ask, incredulous. I mean, I know my show’s got popular recently but I didn’t really expect anyone at this wedding to recognise me.
‘Of course! We love your show,’ Margot says.
I shake my head, aware my smile must look a little dazed. ‘I’m still getting used to the new-found fame. It’s not often I’m recognised in real life.’
Margot smiles at that, then turns to Raffa and says, ‘Why didn’t you tell us you were bringing such a cool celebrity with you?’
Glancing over at him, I see a look of utter confusion on his face. Clearly he’s not actually checked out my show on HelSkel, like he said he would.
‘Trust you to bring someone who’ll get all the other guests hot under the collar,’ Darian says in a jokey tone, though I sense a sting of accusation under it.
Is he suggesting Raffa’s brought me to try and upstage him and Margot?
God, I hope not.
I glance over at the crowd of people again, who I see are now definitely looking directly at our little grouping in a fascinated sort of way, like they’re expecting some drama to kick off.
Okay, I need to put this right, and fast.
‘It’s all my doing, I’m afraid,’ I say, flashing them both a beseeching smile. ‘I begged Raffa to let me come. I’ve been desperate to meet his family. I’ve heard such great things about you all.’
I gently squeeze Darian’s arm and widen my eyes at him. ‘I hope you don’t mind me turning up uninvited. The last thing I want to do is to cause you any stress.’
Darian quickly puts up his hands in a show of friendly concession.
‘Not at all! No, sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that.
You’re more than welcome here. We’re delighted you wanted to come.
And it’s great to see my brother with a partner.
It’s been a while, mate, hasn’t it? I can’t remember the last time you brought a date to one of our family gatherings. ’
I turn to see Raffa giving his brother a tight smile. ‘Yeah. It’s been a while.’
There’s an awkward silence.
‘Well, anyway, thanks for having me,’ I say to break the weird atmosphere. ‘It’s a gorgeous venue.’
‘Isn’t it?’ Margot agrees, clearly hoping to lighten the mood too. ‘We’re so excited to be having it here.’
‘Yeah, it’s one of Elliot’s best hotels,’ Raffa agrees.
‘Make sure you thank him for us, Raffa,’ Margot says with a wide smile.
Raffa just nods at this. ‘Is my dad here? And Carrie?’ he asks, glancing around the room at the other groups of guests.
‘They are,’ Darian says, ‘but Mum’s still exhausted after the journey here and she’s got a headache. But hopefully they’ll come a bit later, once she’s had a nap.’
‘Right,’ Raffa says.
There’s something in his tone that makes me think he’s not entirely happy about this. Like he thinks his stepmum is making unnecessary drama.
Clearly Darian picks up on this too because he frowns and says, ‘You know she doesn’t like flying. She had to take some Valium and it didn’t agree with her.’
‘Sorry to hear that,’ Raffa says, though he doesn’t actually sound sorry.
Darian’s frown deepens, but he doesn’t respond to that, like he’s biting his tongue to keep from snapping at Raffa, and another uncomfortable silence falls between us all.
‘We should let you circulate with the other guests,’ I say to Darian. ‘We don’t want to monopolise you. And to be honest, I can’t actually stand for long in these ridiculous heels!’ I add, flashing Margot a meaningful look.
Thankfully, she reads my implied plea. ‘Of course! Go and get yourselves a drink. They do amazing cocktails here. We’ll see you later.’
I give her a grateful smile and a nod and, taking Raffa’s hand again, lead us over towards the bar, which is mercifully empty of people.
‘Are you okay?’ I ask once we’re out of range of any curious ears. ‘It got a bit weird there for a moment.’
His smile is still tight. ‘I’m fine. Darian and I have a bit of a combative relationship, but it’s no big deal. Just normal stepbrother stuff.’
‘Hmm.’ From the tenseness in his expression, I don’t quite buy that.
Before I can ask any more, he lets out an amused snort. ‘You know, when we first walked in, I thought the staring and attention was because of me – because people hadn’t met me or seen me in a long time. But clearly that’s not the case.’ He cocks his head and his smile turns wry.
‘What do you mean?’ I ask guardedly.
‘I mean, it’s you all the guests recognise – particularly the younger ones it seems – but they’re all trying to be cool about it, like they’re actively stopping themselves coming over and asking for a selfie with you. And Darian and Margot clearly know who you are.’
‘Dude, I told you about my HelSkel channel and how it’s blown up recently.’
‘I don’t remember you telling me that exactly.’
I shrug. ‘I told you to check it out. You said you were going to.’
He runs a hand over his hair in agitation. ‘Yeah, I meant to. I had a quick look, but I got interrupted with a call and forgot to go back to it. I had no idea it had “blown up” though.’
‘Yeah, well, I felt a bit weird about saying anything more about it in case you thought I was boasting or something. And I thought we were just gonna mostly hang out here together so it wouldn’t be an issue since we have the whole island to ourselves with, I’m guessing, no press or influencers.’
He gives a low laugh. ‘Yeah, sure. And you’re right, it’s my bad.
It just took me by surprise.’ He leans in a little, his gaze intent on mine.
‘Is there anything else I should know about you? I don’t want to look like an idiot by being the only one not aware of something everyone else is clued-in on. ’
‘Nope. I don’t think so,’ I say, staring up into his beautiful green eyes.
Apart from the fact I find you incredibly attractive, I don’t say.
‘I swear, I’m not here to make a scene,’ I add.
We’re standing so close now I can feel the heat radiating from his body. The whole of my skin feels super sensitised, like it might crackle with energy if he touched me.
‘Except you are making a scene,’ he points out, one eyebrow dipped in jest.
I raise an eyebrow back. ‘Not intentionally. I genuinely didn’t think a billionaire’s family would be that interested in me and my show.’