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‘Don’t be.’ He resumed their conversation. ‘I have the best pilot.’

‘Grazie,’ another voice came on the loop.

‘Stefano has been my pilot for more than a decade, he’s brilliant,’ he said, and soon they were soaring up, and the lurch in her stomach was more from exhilaration than fear. And then she understood why the Rinaldi palazzo had to be seen from the sky. ‘He will give you an ariel tour.’

Stefano took over.

‘The terrazzo runs the length of the palazzo. To the left,’ Stefano explained, ‘is the ballroom.’

It started to make sense. The guests would come in through the grand entrance, and perhaps mingle on the piano nobile, then move through to the ballroom.

Stella took what she hoped would be the most stunning photos of her life.

‘It’s huge.’

‘Yes,’ Stefano agreed. ‘The guests from the ballroom can step out for air and take in the view.’

Oh, now she knew why Sir Charles was struggling to find anywhere else, because this was paradise.

She could envisage a crane shot, even some scenes shot from a helicopter, and she groaned at how unfair it all was. ‘It really would be perfect,’ she said, then smiled to Gabe. ‘I’m thrilled just to see it.’

Stefano explained about cliff maintenance and erosion and how the jut of the cliff heads and the elevation meant the vista was stunning both locally and long-distance.

Then she saw why Gabe must hate it so, because from here, and presumably from the palazzo, the roads were visible, snaking along the easterly face, and she could easily make out the hairpin bend where his family had died, and realised that from the palazzo he must be able to see it too.

And then she saw things from another side.

Not the north or the west, not even from above…just possibly from Gabe’s.

What a responsibility.

Every leaf, every window, his grandfather, the staff, the cliffs, there was even a chapel…

‘I can barely keep on top of things in my tiny flat,’ she admitted, thinking out loud.

Gabe looked over to her then and she gave him a downward smile, and she was the first person he didn’t have to explain things to.

She got it.

Stella got him.

He flicked a switch, and Stefano was out of the loop.

There was perhaps no practical need for privacy because they didn’t speak.

Gabe did not say anything and nor did she. The view forgotten, that they were in the sky, that Capri beckoned, but all that dimmed…

They just stared and, just for today, their souls met.

Without a touch, or even a word, there was this deep-seated feeling.

In that moment she understood the hell of the privilege that had bypassed a generation and landed so savagely on Gabe. She saw the darkness of his pain, and in turn she did not hide in her eyes the loneliness that resided within. Or the fear she allowed no one else to see.

And then the most intimate moment of her life ended when he lowered his gaze and flicked Stefano back in and the tour recommenced.

‘Out of the right window you can see Capri.’

‘That’s where we’re having lunch, isn’t it?’ Stella said, trying to sound normal, dutifully looking towards the island in the distance. ‘Should we call and book ahead?’