Stay as long as she needed to? She didn’tneedto. What on earth was he talking about? He sounded like a child in a toy shop.
‘I’m not sure what you mean…sir.’ No way she was calling him Roger, even if he invited it.
‘The endowment means so much to the school. Several contracts can be made permanent and it opens up all kinds of scholarship opportunities. It will fully fund the new sports hall as well. The Classics department alone—’
‘Sir, I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about. What endowment? What is going on?’
‘The du Lac Foundation. Didn’t they tell you? They want your continued input on the site at Sainte Sirène. As such, they’ve offered to reimburse us for your time and—’
Rafael. She’d told him she had to go back to work, and he’d…what? Bought her from them? How could he?
This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be.
Ari stewed in her anger all morning, imagining marching over to his lordship’s manor and telling him exactly what she thought of him. Or facing him down in front of his whole family. Or even showing up at his office in Paris and telling him right there, as all his employees and business associates looked on, what an arrogant, insufferable, control freak he was.
They probably already knew. Of course they did.
She’d seen Simon last night, Simon as Ankou, and Rafael had seen it too. He’d promised to help her work out what it meant, to figure out what had happened, but instead he was trying to run her life, manipulating everything to get his way. Not to help her. To trap her, just like Gwen had said. The du Lacs always got their way.
She ought to ring him. She ought to ring him and tell him where to stick his lunch and his endowment and his whole foundation.
Jason rang first. Over the moon. Beyond excited.
‘We’ve got it. All the funding we need. Every last penny and then some.’
‘What?’
‘The funding. The du Lac Foundation. They’re funding everything. They’re dealing with the Ministry of Culture, and the subaquatic research people.’
Ari sank onto the bench outside the house where she had been pacing for the last hour like a deflated balloon.
Of course. This too.
She should have guessed. Rafael had said as much yesterday. Before the clifftops, before the madness…
‘What about the university?’
‘We don’t need the university. Not now. Oh, I mean they’ll want in on everything we find and any artefacts will have to be handed over, but we don’tneedthem now. Not to do the excavations. Doubly lucky after this morning. Do you know they had the nerve to say the mask was modern? They just dismissed it. Can you believe it? But it doesn’t matter now.’
Ari closed her eyes and fought the tears sizzling behind the lids. It felt like needles were being driven into her sinuses.
If they want to keep you here, they will. Ask any of the Poullains.
Jason went on, either not noticing her silence or taking it for assent. ‘He wants us to head it up, you and me, kiddo. It’s going to be brilliant. I told him about your job, but he said he’d sorted it. Isn’t it great?’
‘Oh God,’ she whispered, fighting the pounding in her head. She felt like throwing up. Her head swam and she couldn’t quite catch her breath. She was going to be trapped here, unable to leave until Rafael du bloody Lac said she could.
Just like Gwen had said.
‘We’re going to celebrate tonight. All the champagne. Or cider. Something bubbly anyway. Nico’s ringing around everyone who ever worked with us, getting them back here. This is going to be fantastic, Ari. You just wait and see. We’ll make them eat their words.’
She wondered what words had been said to Jason this morning at the university, what belittling, thoughtless, disrespectful words…
And then Rafael has swooped in to the rescue with all his money.
If she refused and left anyway, would he pull the funding after all? It would break Jason’s heart. He’d blame her. She knew he would.
If they want to keep you here, they will.
