Eventually the phone was picked up and Paolo answered. ‘Yes?’ came his voice, thick with sleep and husky as if he’d tumbled straight out of bed to answer the phone. Something squeezed in her heart as she clamped her eyes shut, trying to staunch the flow of tears still so closely threatening. She knew that voice, had once rejoiced in it as he’d held her in his arms, had whispered to her how beautiful she was and that she was the most important person in the world to him.
But now it wasn’t love she felt, love to warm and sustain her and hold her true. Now it was icy panic clamping her inside, compressing her last frantic hopes.
‘Who is it?’ More alert now, she could tell.
‘Paolo,’ she whispered, her voice set to break.
‘Sapphy, bella. Is that you? What’s wrong? Has something happened?’
The once oft-used term of endearment sliced a cold path through her with ruthless efficiency. If what Khaled said was true, she’d never been his darling, his sweetheart. Someone had held that place long before her.
‘Sapphy? Are you still in Jebbai? What’s Khaled done?’ There was fear in his voice too, laced heavily with alarm. Was this just the normal concern of a person woken in the middle of the night to what could be devastating news, or did his reaction signal a deeper dread?
She swallowed back on a sob. ‘Nothing’s wrong,’ she lied, feeling her whole world splitting apart as easily as fabric snipped at the edge and ripped in two. ‘Just tell me one thing…’ She hesitated, knowing that this moment was about to change her life, change all her perceptions about living and love, and teach her about betrayal. This moment would be the start of her new life, in whatever form that took.
‘Is it true—are you married? Do you have a wife?’
Silence met her questions, a damning silence that fractured whatever threads of hope remained intact. They were gone, shattered, smashed in his soundless affirmation of the truth.
‘It’s true, then,’ she said on a sniff. ‘You should have told me.’
‘Sapphy, listen to me. I couldn’t tell you—’
Even though his silence had already screamed the truth, his words cemented the facts with a cold, hard reality that shook her.
‘I have nothing more to say to you,’ she uttered with finality, her voice as chilled as her heart. ‘Goodbye, Paolo.’
‘Sapphy, listen to me—’
She dropped the receiver back onto the cradle. ‘Goodbye, Paolo,’ she whispered, shivering now, her arms hugged closely to her chest as the shock of deep sudden loss took hold.
Strong arms surrounded her and pulled her close. For a moment she wanted to struggle—what was this? The victorious barbarian staking his claim? But she sensed none of that with his warmth. Instead she felt compassion, even some kind of understanding, and she sagged gratefully into him, welcoming the solace and comfort he offered.
His strong heartbeat thumped loud in his chest, its rhythm steady and firm and as rock-solid as the man holding her.
‘It’s okay,’ he whispered against her hair. His lips brushed her scalp in the barest of kisses and the warmth from the contact radiated down through her as her breathing steadied, her heart rate calming to match his.
And it hit her then.
Her life hadn’t changed when she’d discovered the truth about Paolo. It had changed the moment Khaled had stepped inside the Milan salon. He’d been the catalyst, the trigger that had turned her life upside down.
When Khaled had kissed her that first time in the workroom, he’d forced her to face up to her ambivalence in her feelings for Paolo. She could never have betrayed someone she loved deeply by falling into the arms of another man. Now it had been Khaled again who’d proved her relationship had been a sham from the beginning.
Whatever his motives were for doing it she had no idea, but she certainly didn’t have to thank him for it.
It was time to regain control of her life.
She peeled herself away from his chest, aware of his reluctance to let her go and dipping her head so she could wipe away the traces of tears before he could see them.
‘I’m sorry you had to find out that way.’
‘Are you?’ she snapped. His gentle words did nothing to ease her pain and everything to cement her resolve. ‘It seemed to me you were only too happy to throw that knowledge in my face.’
‘It was time you knew the truth.’
‘Why? What does it have to do with you anyway? Did you think I would be so devastated by the news that I would happily fall in with your crazy plans to marry you? I’ve just rid myself of one lying man. Why the hell would I launch myself straight into the arms of another?’