“Oh no. Come upstairs—let’s get some disinfectant on that,” Scheherazade said. As they entered her building and rode up in the ornate wrought-iron elevator, she looked him over again.
“What did you think you were doing?”
“That was my wildly romantic gesture!”
Scheherazade frowned. “That was supposed to be romantic?”
“I was doing my best John Cusack impersonation.”
“Who?”
“You know, Say Anything.”
“Say what?”
“You haven’t seen the movie, have you?” Carlton said, suddenly crestfallen.
“No, but you did look cute standing on top of that car,” Scheherazade said, pulling him in for a kiss.
···
At the other end of Paris, Charlie was walking back to the Hotel George V after a very frustrating dinner with Astrid’s old friend Grégoire L’Herme-Pierre. Grégoire had been more charming than usual, and Charlie suspected that he knew far more about Astrid’s whereabouts than he let on. She had been in Paris for probably three days, Grégoire surmised, and then she was gone. No, she hadn’t seemed distraught—I just assumed she was making her usual semiannual trip to the city for her couture fittings.
Over the past two weeks, Charlie had crisscrossed the globe frantically searching for Astrid. Mad with worry, he had started in Singapore, then Paris and London, going to all their familiar haunts and speaking with all her friends. He then headed down to Venice to see if she was hiding out in her friend Domiella Finzi-Contini’s palazzo, but Domi, like so many of Astrid’s friends, remained as silent as the Sphinx. I haven’t heard a peep from Astrid, but then I’ve been in Ferrara for the past month. We always spend the winter in Ferrara. No, I didn’t hear about the scandal at all.
Now he was back in Paris, trying to retrace her steps, trying to understand how she could have abandoned her entire life, and how her family didn’t seem to care that she had been missing for the past month. Entering the hotel, he went to the reception desk to see if there had been any messages. No, monsieur, nothing for you tonight.
Charlie went up to his suite and opened the doors to the balcony, letting in some fresh cold air. The cold air kept him on his toes, helped him to think clearly. Paris had been a dud. She had been here, but she clearly wasn’t coming back. He should try Los Angeles next. Even though her brother Alex had assured him she wasn’t there, he was still suspicious. His entire security team and all the private investigators he had hired had been poring over everything since day one. Astrid had been meticulous. She hadn’t left any sort of paper trail, no bank transfers, no credit card charges in more than five weeks. Someone had to be helping her. Someone close.
He stepped out onto the balcony and leaned against the railing, gazing at the soft golden glow that always seemed to hover over Paris at night. The city, breathtakingly lovely as always, suddenly seemed so lonely. He should never have let her come to Hong Kong. She had insisted on coming, wanting to help him through his crisis, but when she saw Isabel in the ICU, hooked up to all those machines…he knew she was trying to be strong for him, for the girls, but he could see that it just devastated her. And then when Isabel’s mother saw Astrid at the hospital, she went berserk, and that’s when she gave the whole story to The Daily Post, breaking the scandal wide open. It was all his fault. His stupid damn fault.
Charlie went back into the suite and sat down on the bed. He opened the drawer beside the bed and took out a small brown padded envelope. It was an envelope that had been mailed to him in Hong Kong from this very hotel a few weeks ago, and inside was a box containing the engagement ring he had given Astrid, along with a handwritten note that he had now read hundreds of times:
Dear Charlie,
I’ve been doing a great deal of thinking over the past days. Ever since I came back into your life five years ago, I’ve only caused you heartache. I dragged you into my problems with Michael, I dragged you into my horrendous divorce, and now I have dragged you and your daughters into an unthinkable tragedy. Chloe and Delphine almost lost their mother, and I am the only one to blame. I feel like no matter how hard I try, nothing I do ever leads to anything good, and so the best I can think to do is to simply go away so that no more damage can be done. I don’t think I will ever be fit to be your wife, and I can only hope and pray that you and your family will in time be able to find happiness and peace again.
Yours truly,
Astrid
P.S. Please give this ring to my cousin Nicky when you next have the chance. He should have it for Rachel.
Charlie put down the note and reclined on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Astrid had been lying on this very bed, probably staring at the same view. It was her favorite suite at the George V and he had been the one to introduce her to it the first time he brought her to Paris back in their university days. It seemed like a lifetime ago, and he wished he could just go back to that time and do everything differently. Charlie rolled over and buried his face in the pillow, inhaling deeply. He thought that if he breathed deep enough, maybe her scent would return.
* * *
* Truly the best way to heat up two-day-old pizza. The crust gets crispy and the cheese gets cheesy if you leave a lid on for a minute at the end.
CHAPTER TWO
TYERSALL PARK, SINGAPORE
Rachel was walking through the rose garden, looking at the fresh new blooms and inhaling their deep, intoxicating scent when Nick returned. He had been to see Alfred Shang in the hope of raising enough money to buy Tyersall Park from his aunts.
“How did it go?” she asked as he entered the garden, although from the look on his face she already knew the answer.
“I walked him through the entire proposal, thinking he would at least throw me some kind of bone since Tyersall Park had been his father’s estate. Do you know what he told me? He thinks that we are in the midst of another financial bubble waiting to burst, and when that implodes all of the property markets in Asia will collapse. He said, ‘If this idiot really wants to give you ten billion for Tyersall Park, you would be an even bigger idiot not to take it. Take his money and go buy some gold. It’s the only asset worth keeping in the long run.’?”