The Secret She Can't Hide Read Online Free PDF Page A

from ten days in a coma and dragged himself from an Intensive Care bed back to the cockpit of a racing car.
    He had built up his strength, and driven himself ruthlessly and relentlessly to regain fitness, harnessing the same determination and focus that had made him so successful before.

    Now everything he had worked for was slipping through his fingers. And there was nothing he could do about it—because while he could control his body and work harder, train longer, push himself further, his brain still let him down.

    ‗Don‘t forget that you are lucky to have survived, Cristiano.‘

    He raised his head and looked at the doctor with an expression of infinite despair. ‗If I can‘t race again, I might as well not have.‘

    Dr Fournier tapped her finger thoughtfully against her compressed lips.
    ‗When was the last time you had a holiday?‘

    He shrugged. ‗Relaxing has never really been my thing.‘

    ‗Maybe you should try it. You‘ve pushed yourself as far as you possibly can physically, so maybe now it‘s time to give yourself a rest. Take some time out to think.‘

    ‗No thanks.‘

    He had spent his life trying to avoid having time to think. Escaping from introspection had always been one of the driving forces behind everything he did.

    Dr Fournier shrugged one cashmere shoulder. ‗It‘s the best shot you‘ve got of getting your memory back. Since you left hospital you haven‘t stopped pushing yourself—almost as if you have to prove to yourself that you‘re not just as fit as you were before the accident, but fitter, stronger, better. You‘ve done it, Cristiano—congratulations. Physically, you‘re in peak condition. However, mentally…‘

    ‗Thank you, Doctor.‘ He gave her a glacial smile. ‗You don‘t need to remind me about my mental failings.‘

    ‗Needing time to get over a trauma like you‘ve had isn‘t a failing—and I‘m not saying this as your doctor; I‘m saying it as your friend. I have a chalet in the Alps, near Courchevel. It‘s pretty isolated, but a housekeeper keeps it stocked up with the essentials and the skiing is great.‘ She opened the top drawer of her desk and took out a set of keys. They gave a silvery jangle as she held them out to him across the desk, looking at him steadily. ‗It‘s yours for as long as you want it.‘

    And, because he had run out of options, because he was desperate, because it was the only glimmer of hope left on an increasingly dark horizon, Cristiano found himself leaning forward and taking them from her.

    ‗Go, Cristiano,‘ she said gravely. ‗Go soon.‘

    Chapter Two

    ‗OMIGOD—you will never guess who‘s just arriving…‘

    Kate jerked her head up, almost stabbing herself with the mascara wand, as Lisa‘s shriek of excitement ricocheted off her taut nerves.

    ‗OK, tell me.‘

    Lisa, already dressed and ready to go in a skin-tight silver dress that showed off her magnificent figure to perfection, was stationed at the French windows looking out over the front of the hotel to where the Monaco Casino lit up the night like an elegant ocean liner. The guests for the Campano party were already arriving: a steady procession of shiny, sporty, expensive cars pulling up in front of the Casino‘s famous Belle Epoque frontage to disgorge their glamorous occupants while Lisa gave an increasingly excited commentary.

    ‗Oh…no, wait a minute…it isn‘t,‘ she said now, her voice suddenly flat with disappointment. ‗I thought it was Maresca, but it‘s not…Too short…‘

    In the mirror, Kate‘s own eyes stared back at her—wide, and dark with terror as well as with unfamiliar make-up. Just the mention of his name and her hands, already shaking enough to make putting on mascara a very hazardous exercise, were damp and slick with sweat. Why had she ever thought she could actually go through with this?

    Letting the curtain drop back into place, Lisa peeled herself away from her vantage point and picked up her