Page 48 of A Diamond Deal
He stared at her. His gaze was empty.Vacant.But for the first time, Poppy noticed the bruises beneath his eyes.
‘The day he died,’ he said flatly, ‘I was going to tell you about my father, but you’d vanished.’
His words were a knife in her chest.
He’d needed her, and she hadn’t tried to talk to him.
She hadn’t tried to communicate with him at all.
She’d left him all alone.
He’d had no one.
She was no better than Konstantinos, was she?
She was to blame for the end of their marriage as much as he was.
He turned on his heel.
‘Get dressed, Poppy.’
The string quartet’s song echoed from the high vaulted ceilings. It kept time with the clink of glasses and complemented the hum of conversations spoken from painted lips to ears. Discussions that only happened in private where deals were brokered with champagne and music.
Conversations Konstantinos hadn’t been a part of for too long.
He understood tonight was the perfect way to reintroduce himself into rooms he hadn’t wanted to grace without her.
Tonight the press was locked out.
The tall golden gates had closed behind them and shut them out.
This ball was only for the élite.A secret event.
There were two yearly masquerade balls at the palace. One was for the public, with tiered tickets.Thisball did not have tiers. It did not have tickets printed from black and white machines, but invitations delivered by white-gloved hands in black velvet envelopes with the words written in gold silk.
He should pay attention.
He was present, but he wasn’there.
What had happened on the balcony. Her confession. She believed him. It had shaken him. He was still shaken, because he didn’t know what it meant. She trusted he’d kept his vows, and yet everything was still the same.
She was still leaving him.
Do you want her to stay?
He repressed the growl building in his chest.
He wanted her towantto stay. To admit she was wrong. To admit he hadn’t broken his promise to be faithful. To be the man she could rely on. He wanted her to regret her decision to leave. Regret the day she’d turned her back on him.
You couldn’t protect her or Isaak. Why would she regret walking away from a man who couldn’t protect his family?
He’d done all he could.
She was alive.
Konstantinos understood he shouldn’t stand here alone.
He should ‘work’ the room. But he looked at only her.
