Twice Upon a Time (18 page)

Cinda smiled back woefully. Why on earth would this vision of beauty and elegance want to see her at a party?

‘Why?’

‘Because you seem like a really great person,’ said Alex simply and, with those words, Cinda burst into sobs.

‘I am a really great person,’ she spluttered, half-laughing and half-wailing. ‘It’s just that no-one’s bothered to find out.’

And she cried all the way back to Alex’s place.

20

‘What the hell, Perrette? You knew who she was when she arrived. You’ve seen pictures of her,’ said Gus after he had dragged Perrette into the empty study.

‘I forgot,’ said Perrette innocently, shrugging her tiny shoulders. ‘She looked so plain, I assumed she was a waitress.’

Gus paced the room for a moment and then stopped to stare at Perrette. ‘You can be a nasty piece of work sometimes, Perrette,’ he said, and then strode over to the door.

‘Gus! Where are you going?’ she called, her face filled with fear.

‘Home,’ he snapped and, without saying his goodbyes, he took his coat and walked out into the night.

The look on Cinda’s face when she realised what was going on had been so dignified. He respected her for holding her own against Perrette. But he was utterly ashamed of Perrette’s behaviour, just like he felt utterly ashamed of his own snobbery.

He assumed things about people because of their bank balance or their family or where they came from. It was a habit that he had fallen into, even more so since he had been with Perrette.

It was something Ludo never did, he realised suddenly.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled Cinda’s number, but it rang out. Next he tried Jonas, but that went straight to voicemail.

As he walked through the city, he passed lovers holding hands in the street, friends toasting each other in restaurants, two dogs sitting patiently at the front of a cafe, waiting for their beloved owners. Despite the bodyguards trailing him at a distance, Gus had the dawning realisation that he was lonely. He thought back to when it had started and realised it was when he and Ludo had turned twelve.

Around that time, everything between them changed.

Up until that point, they had been as close as brothers could be. Even though they were very different, they’d each felt like the other’s better half. Ludo was braver than Gus, and Gus was smarter than Ludo. With their wild and childish escapades, they’d put their parents through hell.

They used to sleep in the same room, even though they’d always had their own rooms, and they went everywhere together.

But at twelve they were separated. After leaving the small, exclusive school they attended as children, they were sent to different schools and their lives took different roads. It was partly because they were interested in totally different subjects, but it was also, really, because Gus was being groomed to be king. Ludo was left to his own devices.

Gus tried to keep the connection between them, but as Ludo became more resentful, Gus became more defensive.

Just as it was dawning on Gus that he wasn’t going to be fulfilled by the life he’d always thought he wanted, he was also realising how much he missed his brother. He wished he could confide in him, ask his advice.

But that will never happen
, Gus thought as he dug his hands deep into the pockets of his jacket and turned towards home, alone but for the men paid to follow him.

The next day he didn’t leave the apartment, and avoided speaking to Perrette or contacting Cinda. He needed to be alone with his thoughts.

He was starting to think that, in a perfect world, he’d be there with Cinda, not Perrette. As soon as that thought struck him, he knew it was true.

But if he broke up with Perrette, it would be a state crisis. Perrette was a force to be reckoned with, even using her own website to keep her profile as high as possible. Thousands of girls either idolised or hated her for her arrogant, chic demeanour – not that Perrette minded either way. As long as people were clicking on her site, and talking about her, then that was fine. He wasn’t so sure that attitude was fine for him anymore.

He thought about what it would be like if Cinda were in his life. What would happen then?

Would they chat? He quite liked to chat about the little things in life. Not that Perrette did. She just liked to judge people, and usually they came up wanting.

Would Cinda drink wine with him? Eat dinner at one of those cosy restaurants that he had passed? Would they hold hands and kiss as they walked home together?

‘Stop,’ he said aloud. He was all but engaged to Perrette. And anyway, Cinda was in love with his brother.

‘What’s done is done,’ he sighed, and he hauled himself off the sofa and to bed, where he slept fitfully, dreaming of Cinda and Perrette having a duel at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

In the morning he had a voice message from Perrette, asking if he’d arrived home safely, and ignoring the fact he had stormed out. He sighed, knowing at some point he would have to deal with her.

But what was he to do?

Taking coffee and brioche for breakfast, Gus turned to the papers that had been left for him on the breakfast table. He leafed through them idly until he came to a picture in the World News section that made him stop.

It was Ludo, on the back of an elephant, sitting behind Princess Valentina of Spain.

He smiled at the goofy look on his brother’s face. Ludo looked like he was having fun. Gus scanned the article. It was mostly fluff, but it did mention the royal tour of the region, and the good work being done by the group.

Ludo was even quoted: ‘I am honoured to be here. I hope my contribution will help the people of Namibia. We assure the Namibian government that the international community does care, and that we are here as long as we are needed. I am learning a lot about what it takes to make a difference, and look forward to applying this knowledge to other parts of the world, including my beloved country, Sardinia.’

Gus stared at the picture and then reread the quote a few times. He wasn’t sure who this imposter was, but it wasn’t the Ludo he knew – except maybe for that comment about Sardinia. If it weren’t for that line, Gus would be convinced Ludo was being coached by someone. Perhaps Valentina?

There was a time when his mother had hinted that Gus and Valentina would make a good couple. Valentina’s father, the king of Spain, had been keen on the idea too, apparently. But then Perrette came into Gus’s life and Valentina was no longer mentioned.

For a moment these thoughts pushed Cinda from his mind, but that didn’t last for long. He needed to apologise to her, to make up for Perrette’s awful behaviour. And his own. Why did he always behave so badly around her?

Having his private secretary send a gift with a pro forma card was the standard for when Gus was trying to smooth something over, but he doubted that would move Cinda after being so royally insulted. She wasn’t the sort of girl you sent a silk scarf to.

No, none of the usual ways to apologise seemed appropriate in the face of such a huge gaffe.

And then he had a thought. He called his assistant for some information.

‘Claude?’ he asked as he shrugged on his jacket. ‘I need the name and address of the best art-supply store in Paris.’

Grabbing his wallet, Gus checked for his credit cards. He hardly ever used them, most things usually being taken care of by his staff. But Gus needed to handle this himself.

21

After Cinda had been rescued by Alex, she called Jonas and told him what had happened at Perrette’s cocktail party.

Within the hour, Jonas, Petra and her friend Gideon, the fashion designer, had arrived at Alex’s incredible apartment. They found Cinda sitting on the floor of the luxurious living room, hugging a soft, down-filled cushion.

‘Are you all right, sweets?’ asked Jonas, sitting down cross-legged next to her.

‘No. I hate them both,’ said Cinda. ‘I just want to leave but I can’t. Not with Ludo in Africa and me stuck having to paint the evil brother.’

She knew she was being melodramatic, but the look on Perrette’s face wasn’t one she’d easily forget. Half-smug and half-vicious. Cinda knew she could never reproduce an expression like that in a portrait, because it was so subtle that only the receiver could feel its true force.

Alex rang a small bell and a woman appeared.

Alex smiled at her. ‘Some coffee and hot chocolates, please, Athena. And maybe some of those delicious biscuits you made?’

The woman smiled warmly at Alex and disappeared.

‘Now, let’s talk seriously,’ said Alex, and everyone leant forward. Cinda stared at her new friend with awkward fascination that came from meeting someone who was everything she wished she were.

There was an elegance about Alex that surpassed even Perrette and Petra’s glamour. Cinda felt a small stab of envy.

Alex had way of speaking that made Cinda feel like she was the most important person in the world. Next to her, Cinda felt like a peasant – which she clearly was in the eyes of Gus and Perrette.

She wished she had told Perrette to jam her tray up her arse, and then dazzled the room like Alex would have.

‘Perrette is such a beetch,’ said Petra in her thick accent.

Everyone in the room nodded, even Gideon.

‘She’s a superbeetch,’ grinned Alex, mimicking Petra’s accent.

‘You know, once she stole my sketches and gave them to Hervé Brion,’ said Gideon, his dark eyes flashing.

‘No way,’ exclaimed Jonas.

‘She asked me in for an interview and then suggested I leave the drawings with her so she could show Hervé. Two weeks later, they tell me to come and pick them up. No job. And then that season, I see all my silhouettes on the runway.’

‘That’s terrible,’ said Jonas.

Gideon looked over at Petra. ’Petra saved me from my penniless state and has supported me, but without the backing of one of the big brands it’s still hard to get noticed.’

Alex stood up and clapped her elegant hands. ‘That’s it,’ she said. ‘We’ll turn Cinda into a style icon. A princess. She’ll outdo anything Perrette de Jaucourt could come up with. Once Ludo comes back, Cinda will have been photographed by all and sundry.’ She turned to Gideon. ‘And she will be your walking advertisement.’

Cinda started to laugh and looked down at her cheap skirt. ‘I don’t think I’m princess material.’

‘You can learn. Look at Kate Middleton’s transformation,’ Alex encouraged.

‘I don’t want to be boring and generic though,’ said Cinda. ‘I like who I am, I just don’t like being made to feel crappy by people like Gus and Perrette.’

‘Gus made you feel bad also?’ asked Alex with a frown.

‘He’s said some horrible things to me, yes,’ Cinda said, shooting a meaningful look at Jonas.

‘I agree he has said some awful things,’ Jonas sighed, ‘but I think he just has a bad temper. He can be really great when he’s not being a ball of stress.’

Cinda glared at him. She knew that Gus and Jonas had bonded at the villa, but she didn’t expect Jonas to defend the guy that separated her and Ludo.

‘I agree that Gus has a shocking temper, but he is lovely,’ said Alex, smiling as her housekeeper returned with a pot of steaming hot chocolate. ‘Even as a child he was always flying off the handle and then repenting. He needs to work on that, but to be fair I don’t think anyone’s ever really pulled him up on it, because of who he is.’