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She was an ant compared to him.
Her father had been nothing but a trifling fool who’d had no idea what he was messing with.
And he had condemned her and her mother to a life of worry.
He had condemned Cairo’s family to death.
No. She would never forgive him. And hadn’t.
He had made so much money betraying them. Her mother had taken much of it in court. And they had never spoken to him again. He had died alone. So for all that Cairo knew of her father’s demise, she was not certain that he was aware of that.
She didn’t feel like telling him now. Because it felt a small part of her power. If he did not know everything about her. Unless...
“You’ve always known where I was, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you only come and get me now?”
It sounded small, and a bit like a plea, and she hated herself for it.
“I felt it reasonable to allow you to have a life while there was a life for you to have. One of your choosing. But there are things bigger than you at play here. Bigger than me. Choice is not for us. You have done quite well for yourself in the fashion industry.”
“Thank you for noticing,” she said.
The fashion industry was cutthroat, especially in Paris. And she knew that her position in it was enhanced by her father’s position in society, made extra grim by the fact that she was no longer speaking to him when he died. And yet it was still his name that she often traded on.
But she had ambition, and it was the way the world worked.
“I particularly like your jewelry.”
“Thank you,” she said. “Although I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not.”
“I am. I have an appreciation of art,” he said. “Why would I lie?”
“Only because I did not think that you would be concerned with such things.”
“Many of my mistresses have enjoyed your pieces.”
She looked at him. His dark eyes were filled with fire she could not divine.
And she didn’t know why, but the statement aboutmistressesmade her stomach feel hollow. It was something of a reminder of the gulf between them. But then, there had always been a gulf between them. She could remember when they were young, there had always been something shining in his eyes, a knowledge and mischief that she could not quite get a grasp on.
But then, Cairo had never been hers to grasp. They had a strange friendship back at the palace, but it had never been easy. It had always felt as if there was a wall between them, by some necessity.
“It is nice that you are such a conscientious paramour,” she said. Rather than any of the other things that had crowded her throat.
“Let’s go,” he said, opening the door of the limousine, but she remained resolutely stuck to the spot.
“Are you really going to make it this difficult?”
“Should I make it easy?”
Tension stretched between them, and he reached across the space and pulled her to him.
His body was hard, hot. And suddenly, she wanted to lean into it. Into his strength. Into the way that he held her closely.
It was the strangest thing.
