‘What point are you going to make, Bianca? I really can’t sit around here playing games with you.’
‘The point I am making, my dear little thing, is that you really shouldn’t trust my ex-husband. You might be engaged, although I don’t see a ring on your finger, but it won’t last.’
‘I don’t have to sit here and listen to this.’
‘But you do, dear child, because I only have your wellbeing at heart.’
‘Thank you for that.’ Izzy smiled sweetly, gearing up to get to her feet and leave as fast as she could. ‘I’ll treasure it for ever.’
Bianca’s coal-black eyes glittered with menace and she reached out to circle Izzy’s wrist with her fingers.
Dismayed, Izzy froze, her cornflower blue eyes widening. Inbred politeness compelled her to stay put, but her heart was beating like a sledgehammer and her head was throbbing.
‘Gabriel has suddenly come by a great deal of information about my movements,’ she hissed. ‘About my whereabouts. He had always made a stupidly big deal about making sure to keep Rosa out of our private battles, and I can attest to this because Bella has been my trusted confidante for many years.’
‘You meanspy? And would you mind releasing me? I don’t want to have to create a scene.’ Izzy could think of nothing worse, but the threat worked, because Bianca removed her hand and smiled a small, vicious smile.
‘Gabriel will have obtained his information from someone, my dear. I have looked at the paperwork and all the relevant dates and it would seem that a little birdie has been whispering all sorts of things in his ear while Bella has been away. All sorts of things he has duly noted and had followed up by a team of investigators. I believe my saintly ex will be able to say, with his hand on his heart, that he learned nothing from Rosa—because someone else has been feeding him information.’
Colour was slowly draining from Izzy’s face.Pillow talk.And not even specifically pillow talk. Just talk. Mixed in with the laughter, the anecdotes, the stories of her life and the winding tales of what she and Rosa got up to when he wasn’t around... Yes, there had been asides...things said to her about Bianca and her unusual style of parenting.
She couldn’t put her finger on exactly what had been said but she knew that Rosa had said stuff, head bent as she concentrated on drawing a flower or doing a piece of homework or just sitting alongside her as they played on her games console. She’d talked about the way she often skipped school to go somewhere frivolous with her mother...or was told to disappear because one of Bianca’sfriendsmight be turning up for asleepover.
‘Well!’ Bianca reached for the clutch bag on the table, withdrew some bills and left them by her coffee cup. ‘Just something to think about, my dear.’ She stood up but then immediately leant over and whispered in Izzy’s ear. ‘As soon as Gabriel has everything he wants, he’ll wave goodbye. He used you, dear, and believe me, Ihateto be the one to have to tell you this. I was going to visit Rosa, but tell her I won’t be making it today. So lovely to have this chat. We should do it again some time!’
In a state of shock, Izzy watched Bianca’s sashaying departure from the coffee shop.
She couldn’t recall making it back to the house. Her head was in a spin. She’d had no idea what she’d expected when she’d agreed to meet the other woman but she should have known that it wouldn’t have been fun or relaxing. She’d just been inside a lion’s den and she felt nauseous at the revelations Bianca had laid at her door.
Had she been used? She tried to think back, to follow the pattern of their relationship so that she could discover the answer to that question, but the harder she tried, the more confused and upset she became.
The meeting had lasted only minutes. She let herself quietly into the house. She would fetch Rosa later but for now...
She made her way to the far wing of the house, straight to the sprawling space where Gabriel worked. It had everything, from a dedicated work space to a vast sitting area and, of course, a luxurious bathroom suite. A billionaire’s home office.
She didn’t knock. She pushed open the door, walked right in and, not caring that he was on a call, said, ‘I think we need to have a talk.’
This was the first time Izzy had walked into his office without knocking. Gabriel concluded his conference call immediately, then he sat back in his leather chair and looked at her, head tilted to one side, for once not knowing what the hell was going on.
And into that very brief silence Izzy said without inflexion in her voice at all, ‘Guess who I just met for coffee?’
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed and he watched as she moved forward to subside into the chair in front of him. She was flushed and her bright-blue eyes were shiny, glittering. She’d roped her long hair back into a loose braid and it hung over her shoulder.
He began joining the dots.
‘What did she say to you?’ he asked, without bothering to beat around the bush.
Bianca had been cornered and had done what she did best—she’d gone for the jugular. In this instance, however, the jugular did not belong to him.
His face revealed nothing, but it was an effort, because inside red-hot fury at his ex-wife was running through his veins like molten lava.
Thanks to what he had learnt, to the people he had commissioned to provide the proof he needed of her negligent parenting, he had his ex on the run. And it was at just the right point in time, because he had discovered she hadn’t been bluffing when she had told him about her intention to remove Rosa from the US and take her back to Tuscany, which she had summarily decided was her ‘natural home’.
Bianca’s mother had got herself involved with a younger man, it would seem, and Bianca had no intention of allowing her inheritance to fall into the wrong hands. Filial duty had suddenly morphed into daughterly love.
With those plans in disarray, it was little wonder she had decided to wreak whatever revenge she could, making sure to keep far away from him. He suspected the nature of the retribution and his blood ran cold.
‘How could you, Gabriel?’ Izzy whispered.
