Page 176 of Modern Romance Collection February 2025, 5-8

Mari’s blood ran with ice. Oh, yes, she’d heard of him.

She’d slept with him.

‘You could say that,’ she muttered, shaking her head as she turned around.

A long time ago.

‘Are you all right?’ Eric asked, on his feet now. ‘You look like you could do with something stronger than coffee.’

‘I’m fine,’ she lied, pasting on what she hoped would pass as a reassuring smile. Eric was the one who’d received the devastating diagnosis. He should be the focus of her concern, not the other way around. ‘I just…wasn’t expecting to hear his name. I…um… We were at university together. For a few months.’

Eric’s frown converted instantly into a beaming smile. ‘Oh, so you’re old friends, then. I dare say that will make things easier. He’ll be sure to want to keep you on in that case. I’ll text him now to let him know you’re coming.’ He pulled out his phone from a pocket. ‘Shall I let him know you two know each other?’

‘No, don’t!’ she said, putting voice to her first panicked thought. ‘Please don’t. I’d like it to be…a surprise.’

Eric chortled. ‘A surprise. I like it,’ he said, beaming as he put his phone away. ‘Right, I’ve told him you’ll be there at eleven. What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall when you walk in. You will let me know how you get on, won’t you? If you can keep your job, it will be one bright thing coming from this deal.’

Her body was vibrating at the thought of meeting Dominico in person. ‘There are no guarantees he’ll offer me a job,’ she protested. And once he knew who she was, there was no chance he’d offer her one.

Not to mention there was not a snowball’s chance in hell that she’d accept it even if he did.

‘I know, I know,’ he said. ‘But I have a good feeling about this.’ He tilted his head to one side and smiled softly. ‘Let me hold onto that.’

‘I will,’ she promised, even if she had to massage the truth a little. Because it was worth it just to see Eric smile.

‘Okay,’ he said, glancing at his watch. ‘I’ve got an appointment with my oncologist in thirty minutes, I’d better run. Apparently, this is my life for the next however long. That is—’ he smiled at her over his reading glasses ‘—whenever Helen isn’t running me ragged.’

The pair hugged, Mari squeezing her friend and mentor tight as tears once more welled in her eyes. ‘I will see you again?’ she asked as they drew apart. Whatever nightmarish treatments the coming months held for him, she couldn’t bear to think that this might be the last time they’d meet.

Eric’s lopsided smile confirmed her fears. He reached a hand to her shoulder and squeezed it gently. ‘Let’s keep in touch,’ he said, making no more commitment than that. ‘And let me know how you get on with Estefan.’

The mere mention of his name sent another bolt of electricity down her spine. Oh, yes, that undisputed pleasure was still to come.

CHAPTER THREE

MARI TOOK THEpedestrian underpass under Flinders Street Station and emerged into the sunlit morning on the northern bank of the Yarra River. Across the river the stepped hotel that was the Langham rose twenty-five floors between the taller towers that filled the skies over Southbank. Now only a bridge separated her from meeting the man who had torn her world apart twenty years ago.

Twenty years.

Normally, such an anniversary would be cause for celebration. Twenty years free. Twenty years during which she’d picked up the shattered pieces of herself, dusted herself off and made herself new. Sure, it hadn’t been easy. She’d had her share of ups and downs along the way, but she’d made herself a success into the deal and put the past behind her.

Or so she’d thought.

Because as it turned out, twenty years was nowhere near enough to forget the past. Her memories were like rocks that had been in a rock tumbler all that time. By now, after so many years tumbling, all their rough edges—the elation, the despair, the abandonment—should be smoothed and rounded and gentle to the touch.

And yet there was nothing gentle to the touch about memories of her time with Dominico. Her emotions were like those craggy rocks, not rounded through the tumble of the years, their jagged points and edges merely blunted. It had only taken mention of his name to return them to their barbed glory.

She stood there staring at the hotel across the river, being jostled by pedestrians rushing by, inconvenienced by this woman turned statue in their way. But she didn’t care. She wasn’t inclined to move. She didn’t want to see Dominico Estefan and every cell in her body was in accord. The thought of seeing him—of being in the same room with him, of breathing the same air—made her feel physically ill.

Because she hated the man with a passion.

She’d thought she’d come to terms with her past. She’d thought she’d put this chapter of her life behind her. But just the mention of his name had brought it all back. Brought back the hurt.

And she hated him for what he’d done to her. Hated him for promising her his heart and leaving her with a gaping hole where hers should be. That hole ached now, pulsing with the pain of loss as if it had been only yesterday that he’d torn her world apart.

She wanted to turn and walk away. It would be so easy to do. But the promise she’d made to Eric came back to her. There was no way she could go back on a promise made to him, this day more than ever. She had no choice but to meet with Dominico.

She swallowed down on the roiling in her gut, the only hope that he wouldn’t recognise her. Why should he recognise her?

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