“They would say I got the job on false pretenses,” I reply with a defeated shrug. And more than that, he told me things he hadn't told anyone. Now, seeing me as a liar, he'll be worried that I’ll do something with those secrets. Sell them. Profit from them.
I would never do that. I'll take them to the grave.
I'd give him my word on that if I thought it meant anything to him.
"If he truly loves you, the you that you've shown him, then a name won't change that.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “It already has.”
“Then he’s not a man who’s worthy of you.”
I manage a small smile through my malaise. “Thanks, Nona. You’re always in my corner.”
“As far as I’m concerned, there are no other corners to be in.”
My phone buzzes, and I pull it from my purse to see my boss’s name on the screen.
“I'm not sure I can face her right now,” I say, wrestling with whether I should answer or not.
“Well, then don't. She'll keep. You're allowed to feel sad about this, and in your own time.”
I turn the phone over on the table, but no sooner has the ringing stopped than it starts up again.
I shoot Nana a look.
“Switch it off,” she instructs. She pours some fresh tea into my cup, and I take another sip. “Your father never stole a single penny. I would stake my life on it.”
“Nona,” I warn. “Do you mind if we don't? I'm not in the mood for conspiracy theories.”
“There are things about that time. Inconsistencies.”
I close my eyes. Nona has never accepted whathappened, and when she gets on a roll, there’s no stopping her.
“Things that were never looked into properly. That Lord Blackwood always resented your father's influence with the King.”
This gets my attention. “Lord Blackwood? As in Cyril Blackwood?”
“Yes, the snake. He always had it in for your father, right from their time in boarding school.”
“I met him at a dinner at the palace just over a week ago.”
Was that only last week?
“Dreadful man. He bought our family land, and at a bargain basement price, as well.”
“Did he?”
“Your father was innocent. Someday the truth will come out. Mark my words.”
“I’m not even sure it matters anymore. The damage is done. Max will never trust me again.”
There’s a loud rat-a-tat-tat on the door, and Nona and I both look at one another in surprise.
I push myself to my feet. “I’ll get it.” I make my way down the hallway and pull open the front door, only to be faced with not only my boss, looking as frazzled as someone with their finger in an electric socket, but a horde of other people, flashes going, people calling my name—both Valentina and Fabiana.
“Come on, let me in,” Judith says, her voice high with panic as she pushes past me into the hallway, leaving a waft of perfume in her wake.
Immediately, I slam the door shut behind her. “What the heck?”
