With the party drawing to an end, Valentina finally got the chance to get close to Nicolas. He had the girl Aurelie by his side again. She could see the humour in the younger woman's eyes. Outwardly, she looked unaffected by it. But it was easier to look unaffected than it was to be unaffected. She hated how everyone seemed to revolve around her. How she blushed on cue when she got a compliment or when someone asked her for an autograph. She had the whole room eating out of her hands.
She saw a flash of something in the younger woman's eyes as she saw that she was approaching her and Nicolas. She kept her face blank. Soon, when she had her way, the woman would be nothing but a footnote in Nicolas' life. Valentina was his wife. She was the one who would be on his arm. She would be the only woman with that exclusive right when she got her way. As a Dubois, she would get her way.
"Nicolas," she said when she got close enough to him.
