‘Yes. Oh God, they’re all going to be staring at me.’ Marina went to bite her nails but Lucy pushed her hand down again.

‘Of course they are. Everyone wants to see the long-lost Mendoza heir,’ she shrugged. ‘But remember why you’re doing this: for your grandmother, you’re honouring her life and the sacrifices she made. You’ve got this.’

‘You’re right,’ Marina nodded as Lucy winked at her.

‘Ladies and gentlemen—’ The voice made them turn, the rushing babble of conversation diminishing to a trickle. ‘I give you this evening’s co-host, Mateo Mendoza.’

Everyone clapped politely as Mateo took to the podium, looking utterly at ease. Charlotte surveyed the room again, aware of a vague sense of being watched. But then she knew a fair few of the guests gathered here tonight, many of them were clients.

‘Standing here before you tonight is, it is no exaggeration to say, one of the great honours of my life,’ Mateo began. ‘As you will all be aware, it was a difficult summer for our family, losing my father, and we feel the loss greatly. He was an exceptional man who lived an extraordinary life. The Mendoza name casts a long shadow but I think, in many ways, he often felt like he was the one standing in the shade. Despite the public perception of him as a business titan or mogul – descriptions he abhorred – he was in private a very humble and modest man. Family was everything to him and my sisters and I grew up knowing we were deeply loved.’

He inhaled, looking slowly around the room. ‘But if we suffered a great loss this year, we have also made gains, and discovering my father had a twin sister, Marina, was a shock that has since become a joy. Lucky is a word that is used a lot in connection with our name but my father came of age in a time of war when the certainties of life shifted on an hourly basis and there wasn’t much luck to be had by anyone. And although ours was certainly not the only family to be ruptured during those dark days of the late thirties, having had these past few months to ruminate on the discoveries made this summer, I do believe that losing Marina was the great tragedy of his life. They were apart for eighty-two years out of ninety-eight. Those are very sad odds for two people who came into the world together; things should have been different for them and in another time, I think they would have been.’

He looked out at the gathered guests, speaking easily, without notes.

‘But I take comfort in an interesting conversation I had this summer, one which has stuck with me, to do with the course of life and how it unfolds. I was drinking brandy – rather too much brandy – in my library one evening with a history professor –’

Charlotte stiffened at the reference to Nathan again. It had been difficult enough flying back into Madrid, just knowing he was here.