Lorenzo stroked his chin and sat back, deep in concentration. ‘Your father always believed that you would be more than capable of taking over his affairs, and although I wasn’t convinced at the time, I can see that he was quite right.’
Valentina sat quietly, waiting for him to continue, flattered by his praise.
‘There is little we can do to control what your mother does over the next seven months, but what we can do is agree to a plan. I have every confidence that you will win in a court of law, and I can assure you that I’ll do my best to ensure success on your behalf.’
‘You do understand that I can’t pay you until?—’
‘Valentina, please don’t concern yourself with my payment. You’re your father’s daughter, and I know that you will pay my account once you’re reinstated as his rightful successor. Until that day, you’re not to even think about it.’
She nodded. ‘Thank you. In return, I can assure you that I will not look anywhere beyond your firm for advice and assistance on all legal matters, now or in the future.’
Lorenzo smiled. ‘So, we are in agreement? You will leave for London just as soon as I can secure you passage on the next ship leaving from Buenos Aires. On the day of travel, you will make your way here, to my office, and I will have a car waiting to take you to the port.’
‘Perhaps I could arrange to have some things sent here, a bag of essentials that I will need for the trip?’
‘And I’m afraid I have to mention money, because you will need to sustain yourself for the seven months away from Argentina,’ he said. ‘I would offer to help you, but?—’
‘I have jewellery to sell,’ Valentina said, opening her handbag and taking out a ruby necklace that her father had given her for her sixteenth birthday, along with a diamond tennis bracelet that he’d bought for her shortly before his death. She also had a handful of other rings and pieces of jewellery that held less sentimental value that she would part with, too.
Tears pricked her eyes as she placed them on the desk between them. ‘Is it too much to ask you to sell these for me? I don’t want to raise suspicion.’
‘Of course,’ he said, softly. ‘And perhaps you could sell your engagement ring when you arrive in London.’
Valentina looked down at the large diamond on her finger. ‘I will sell it with pleasure,’ she said.
‘I will give you a small loan, too,’ he said. ‘It’s the least I can do.’
She took a deep breath and offered a shaky smile, knowing that her father would understand why she was selling the precious jewels he’d gifted her. She was doing this for him as much as for herself, to honour his memory in the only way she knew how.
‘Thank you,’ she said, reaching out and clasping Lorenzo’s hands. ‘I will never be able to repay you for your kindness.’
As she turned to walk away, Valentina was certain she saw tears in the old man’s eyes.
I promise you, Papa, I will honour you. I will right every wrong. I won’t stop until every last request in your will has been completed.
Valentina paused at the door, turning back to look at the lawyer who was still seated behind his desk, the jewellery she’d left still spread out in front of him. She reached into her pocket and felt the weight of the small wooden horse there, the one thing that she would never give up, and the one thing that reminded her every day of what her mother had taken from her.
‘There’s one more thing,’ she said.
His eyebrows lifted in question.
‘Once all this is done, I want you to have my mother escorted from the house. She may take her belongings, but I want her left penniless for what she’s done to me.’ Valentina placed a hand over her stomach. ‘She will never be welcome on a Santiago property ever again.’
He looked as if he might question her, but there must have been something in her gaze that told Lorenzo it would be fruitless.
‘And your stepbrother?’
She thought of the way he’d stood there as she’d cried and begged her mother not to force her into marriage; the numerous times he could have put his foot down and allowed her to stay in the house, to follow the wishes of the man who’d taken him in and become a father to him. The night he’d come looking for her when she’d been hiding in the stables with Felipe.
‘Turn them both out. I never want to set eyes on either of them ever again. Not after what they did to me.’
Valentina would be generous to her father’s many employees—she would give them the money they were owed and spend the rest of her days honouring her father and showing the people around her how much she cared for them. But she would show no mercy when it came to her mother.
Even if it meant turning her out into the streets.
21
LONDON, 1939
