‘No, I’m… My head’s hurting a little.’ She drank some more water. There was a tremor in her hand. ‘Did you notify my legal team?’
‘As soon as probate was granted.’ To prevent a conflict of interest, Beth had hired her own legal team to take care of her inherited assets and deal with her side of the legal formalities. ‘The shares and everything else that could be were transferred into your name straight away.’
She nodded, almost absently, and got to her feet. ‘Excuse me, but I need to lie down for a while.’
His concern growing, he rose, too. ‘I’ll come with you.’
She held out her hand. ‘No, don’t. Finish your dinner and enjoy the last of the daylight. I just need to get my head down for a little while. Probably the after-effects of the bug, that’s all.’
Seeing she was holding herself well and that her legs showed no sign of giving way, he reluctantly agreed.
The moment Beth was alone in the room, she called Erika, the head of the legal practice she’d hired, a woman who’d given assurance she would take the lead in all of Beth’s affairs. For the money she’d be earning from Beth, she could damn well take an evening call.
‘Has the share purchase gone through?’ she asked as soon as the brief pleasantries were over. God, she could hear her voice shaking.
‘It has—the money transferred this afternoon at four p.m. I’ve been liaising with your finance team, too, and all the smaller shares you were seeking to purchase have also been completed. My congratulations. You are now the majority shareholder of the Rosbel Group. I would have called you to confirm, but your instructions—’
Beth gave a helpless curse.
Wariness came into Erika’s voice. ‘Is something wrong? We followed your instructions precisely—’
‘You’ve not done anything wrong,’ Beth assured her, swallowing back the rising panic. ‘All my other instructions, though…forget about them. Destroy all record of them. Right now. Delete them, shred them, whatever you have to do to memory hole them. I’m not taking over the company. The original shares I received as part of my inheritance, I want my husband to keep control of them.’
‘But…’
‘No buts. Xavi runs the Rosbel Group, not me. I don’t want it anymore. His lawyers will be in touch with you very soon. Cooperate with them, but for the time being, say nothing about me owning the other shares…’ She swore again. ‘I have a lot of thinking to do. I’ll be in touch soon.’
Her head now hurting like she’d pretended it was to Xavi, Beth crawled into their bed and concentrated on breathing to drive the panic away.
What was she even panicking for? she wondered as the panic subsided. Surely, it was better that Paul Haldron and his merry band of thieves’ shares now belonged to her? They were out of the Rosbel Group. She’d removed one of Xavi’s headaches for him, which was a good thing.
That she was the majority shareholder meant nothing. She couldn’t run the company, and she’d been mad to ever think otherwise.
No, not mad. Just blinded by hurt and rage from the slashing open of old, unhealed wounds.
She would transfer half the extra shares she’d bought into Xavi’s name, she decided. That would be her wedding gift to him. That would keep everything equal between them. She could call her finance team and set the ball rolling…
No. Not yet. Best to wait until she’d spoken to him about it, and with his head and time full of the Grimaldi deal, best to wait for that to be completed before confessing because it would be a confession. To explain how she’d magically become the majority shareholder, she was going to have to explain herself, and to explain herself meant confessing everything. It meant telling him about the baby. It meant opening up about how badly he’d hurt her when he’d jumped into Ellen’s bed.
It meant opening her heart to him and trusting him not to break it again.
The last of her panic vanished. Shedidtrust him. Xavi loved her, she knew it in her heart, loved her as much as he would allow himself to love anyone. If she ever doubted it, all she’d need to do was remember the wonderful care he’d given her when she was ill. Given time, he would open his heart fully to her again, too. She was certain of it. He might be angry with her initially, but once she’d explained everything, he would understand, and he would forgive her.
They would forgive each other and put the past behind them.
Feeling immensely better, she was about to get out of bed and set off to find him when the bedroom door opened.
‘How are you feeling?’ he asked softly, stepping to the bed.
She pulled the bedsheets off to invite him in beside her. ‘Better.’
Fully dressed just as she was, he climbed in. ‘You are sure?’
She palmed his softly bristled cheek and smiled. ‘I’ve got a bit of a headache still, but I think you’ve got a cure for that.’
Laughing lightly, he drew her into his arms and proceeded to cure her.
Chapter Ten
