LOGINI just got my billionaire husband to sign our divorce papers. He thinks it’s another business document. Our marriage was a business transaction. I was his secretary by day, his invisible wife by night. He got a CEO title and a rebellion against his mother; I got the money to save mine. The only rule? Don’t fall in love. I broke it. He didn’t. So I’m cashing out. Thirty days from now, I’m gone. But now he’s noticing me. Touching me. Claiming me. The same man who flaunts his mistresses is suddenly burning down a nightclub because another man insulted me. He says he’ll never let me go. But he has no idea I’m already halfway out the door. How far will a billionaire go to keep a wife he never wanted until she tried to leave?
View MoreThe professor held out a hand. ‘Looks like you need some help.’I looked at her outstretched hand.‘I’m fine,’ I said.‘You’re listing to the left. And you’ve gone the colour of old parchment.’‘Thanks.’But I took her hand.She was stronger than she looked, which shouldn’t have surprised me as much as it did. She steered me towards the French window with brisk efficiency, like someone accustomed to being obeyed without having to ask twice. ‘Watch the step.’Portia was right behind me.Outside, the air was cold and very dark. The garden stretched away from the house in indistinct shapes – hedges, paths, the outline of something that might be a fountain.Behind us, the banging on the guest suite door had escalated to the kind of rhythmic pounding that suggested whoever was on the other side had run out of patience.‘Move,’ Portia said, and we moved.We crossed what turned out to be a terrace and plunged into the garden proper, the professor’s grip on my arm steady as my feet made uncert
Staff materialised, ushering the now thoroughly confused and slightly panicky guests through the many exits.Mrs Reynolds was whispering urgently in Madam Tarot’s ear, no longer bothering to pretend she was running the show.Madam Tarot stood on the spiral staircase, eyes locked in our direction.Okay, she was definitely giving me the creeps.The staff moved through the crowd, shepherding the guests and directing them like traffic cops.‘This way, miss,’ one of them said, appearing at my elbow and pointing towards the nearest exit.‘No.’ I shook my head and grabbed Portia’s hand and headed in the opposite direction.The professor was close on our heels. ‘Why go the far way around?’‘Just a hunch.’ I didn’t know how to explain it to her — that I didn’t like the way the staff had looked at me, like he recognised me despite the mask, like he wanted very much for me to go through the designated exit.My vision swam a little. I swayed.‘Whoa.’ Portia squeezed an arm around my shoulder, hold
All the lights cut out entirely.I tensed, reaching for Portia’s hand in the darkness.A second later, a single spotlight cut across the front of the sweeping spiral staircase.A woman in a full-face ornate black mask and black gown descended slowly.Mrs Reynolds stepped forward, beaming. ‘Ladies, I’m delighted to present our honoured guest this evening. Madam Tarot needs no introduction. She’s been invited to royal events and has once had an audience with…’I scanned the room.There had to be multiple exits to a space this large, but they were all hidden behind thick curtains. Several men were stationed near the far wall, not even trying to blend in.The professor stood next to me, watching Madam Tarot with interest.‘We should move towards the door,’ I said quietly.‘In a moment.’ She tilted her head. ‘Does Madam Tarot look familiar to you?’‘What?’‘There’s something about her. A familiar air. I may have met her before.’I turned towards the woman in black.Her face was completely h
Another man replied, ‘Understood.’…She? The biggest mark in London? The gold mask?A few minutes later I heard the click of high heels approaching.I peered out, saw nobody, stepped towards the corridor where the heels were coming from – it was the passage you had to take to enter the mask room.A woman approached – elegant, regal, beautiful in a well-preserved kind of way, probably in her late forties or early fifties, skin and figure kept like a woman who had been a stunner in her youth.I wondered, could she be the mark?I slowed down, debating whether to interfere.Just then, a portly woman in a formal gown – she must be Mrs Reynolds – emerged from a side room, all smiles and obsequious warmth.She hurried over to that elegant lady, effusive and flattering, and they walked together towards the mask room.I stepped forward. ‘Good evening.’‘Oh, hello,’ Mrs Reynolds said, surprised. Her smile was a touch too tight, a little unnatural.The other woman nodded at me, polite. ‘Hello. Yo






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