Redeeming Alessandre: Claiming the Billionaire ice Queen
HE
canned the room for Charlotte. She was rea
at a table, chatting with one of the guest
moothly. "If you'll excuse me, I ne
the arm and pulled her away. Once we were far enough from prying ey
t into this pl
'll get to the bottom of it. I have no idea how he go
fidgeting with her clutch. M
ame with," I muttered. "We can't have uninvited guests walk
it right away," she said with a
owd. I hadn't meant to snap at her. Or maybe I had. Either wa
a carousel of practiced smiles, empty laughter, and champagne flutes raised in orchestrated toa
grand staircase, I forced myself not to look up. Yet I could feel him, like static in the air, like the shadow
was my world, and I refused to let a
all. I was just about to give the closing speech when
nstead, a man in a navy tuxedo was crumpled on th
e held their breath as a t
ly as I knelt beside him. He was older, maybe in his forties. He had graying hair, and a ref
otid and luckily, there was a pu
through the ai
1. Now,"
ing for obstructions when som
I started, a
ssa
he man and began chest compressi
Two.
ands, but there was no sign of life yet.
re's eyes sna
Now," he ordered,
piraled. I couldn't believe someone had collapsed-here, at my ev
dics burst into the hall. The man was stretchere
one of the paramedics clapp
der paramedic said. "Any later an
aid. "Miss Wren, here was the on
oday. Well done." And with that he jumpe
I felt disoriented and cold, still s
you o
vo
o
warm tan of his skin, those storm-gray eyes I once drowned
n my chest, something t
ee and I didn't answer him. I couldn't
a word, ignoring ev
me and placed a hand
this?" she aske
vent had been planned to polish my image, to remin
n't. Not
I strai
inally. "No, i
oft nod and
the polished floor. Dozens of faces looked up at me,
y voice clear despite the roaring in my chest. "But
hrough the motions like a pro. My words flowed and my gestures w
eeling his
g the way it felt to
t him once more
came, loud and warm, I
hind the mask, beneath the designer gown and col
like a screa
not