Page 231 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

‘You are going to be very popular,’ Gio told her.

He’d arranged for a car to take her, and had taken a walk over to Mimi’s sister’s to wave Susie off and then take a nice early-evening stroll on the walls with his new wife.

‘You can tell me how Dante’s speech is received,’ he said.

‘Dante?’ She frowned, certain that Gio had got it wrong. ‘He’s not going.’

‘No, he’s there. Sev won’t be arriving until later. So there will be a Casadio there tonight after all.’

Her heart seemed to stop for a second, even two, and then it skipped into overdrive, her pulse racing in her temples.

Damn him...

She felt her newly painted nails digging into her palms, frustration and anger building at the fact that he’d do this again.

Surely he’d have called?

Then she checked her phone. And as it turned out he had...

He was in town and he was going to the ball. It would seem he was hoping to drop by.

God, he had a nerve!

‘Thank you, Mimi,’ she said as she climbed into the car, battling her feelings and trying not to let the happy couple see.

‘Now, remember,’ Mimi said, ‘it’s all about the entrance.’

‘Yes.’

‘You pause, and then you smile.’ She looked right at Susie. ‘Yousmile,’ she said. ‘Even if it kills you. Even if it is a hostile audience.’

‘Got it.’ Susie nodded.

It was a pink sky evening, just coming into spring, and the narrow cobbled streets were lined with impressive cars, filled with beautiful people.

Dante was going to be there...

The anger and hurt she’d been holding in was suddenly met with a surge of relief—like headwinds colliding on a clifftop. She felt battered. Surges of frustration met with the sheer relief that Dante would be there tonight.

And this, Susie decided, was how she wanted to face him. This would be his memory of her when she called him from England or they met to deal with legal papers.

Not pale and washed out outside her apartment after a double shift at the restaurant. Cross and pleading with him to take her to the ball.

She could do this by herself.

All of it.

She wanted him to know that.

The car arrived at the magnificent building, beautifully lit, and she saw beautiful women and elegant men milling on the stairs in the portico.

And now it was her turn to arrive.

The door was opened and a gloved hand was offered, and she stepped out of the vehicle onto a rich navy carpet.

She stood alone.

And it was then that she saw him.