She wanted to lie and say that she hadn’t received anything, but the invite and tickets had been delivered to the salon by courier so Kim would know that she had.
She really should have RSVP’d, or at least contacted her to thank her for her generosity, but so much had blown up since.
Oh God …
She kneaded her forehead. There were so many fires to put out and too much stress. Her business was bust, customers were walking out the door, and she had no idea how to rescue this. She had no idea how she was even going to make this month’s rent, never mind anything else …
Then Annie thought of something.
She hated herself for it, and had sworn to herself she wouldn’t, but she couldn’t help it – the pull was irresistible.
She clicked onto social media and scrolled through photos she’d seen a million times before. The perfect life, perfect couple, perfecteverything– all that she’d wanted and hoped for but could never have. It wasn’t fair.
To hell with it, she thought, picking up the phone, her fingers moving quickly over the screen.
Her life was falling apart anyway – what else was there to lose?
Chapter 41
Now
‘Hey, you with us?’ Gabriel asked Kim as they strolled through Pompeii with Lily.
The ruins of the great city always stirred her. It was a reminder of how easily and quickly life as you knew it could end.
The remnants of old houses, empty amphitheatres, and perfectly preserved figures spoke of a city whose tragic fall had been told and retold many times before the eyes of its visitors.
‘Sorry,’ she apologised as she took several quick steps to catch up with them. Lily was in her dad’s arms and playfully pulling on his nose while also attending to her favourite doll. Gabriel reached out an arm and wound it around Kim’s shoulders as she came closer.
‘Baby’s sleepy, Daddy.’
‘Is Lily sleepy, too?’ Gabriel asked, winking hopefully at Kim, but the little girl shook her head and continued to play.
Kim was still distracted and a few minutes later Gabriel repeated the question he’d asked on their arrival a few days before. ‘What’s going on? You’re miles away.’
‘Nothing,’ she continued to lie. She wanted to stop, but telling the truth was proving more difficult than she’d imagined.
He sighed. ‘You’re not being truthful, though, are you?’ he said, and Kim’s heart jumped into her chest. ‘I know you said you’d have some time to spend with us before everything kicked off, but maybe that was too optimistic.’
‘No, honestly, it’s fine.’ She refreshed her email again, waiting on more news from Hank, but nothing.
Her mind automatically travelled back to that day she found the journal behind the dresser, and she racked her brains to think who the real owner could possibly be and why they’d chosennowto come out of the woodwork.
Well, she could hazard a guess as to why: it was the perfect opportunity to sabotage the launch and publicly humiliate her in the process – which suggested it had to be personal. The timing was too coincidental for it not to be.
So who was this person? A past guest of the villa would surely have long forgotten about it, or if not, would have recognised or identified Kim’s usage of various quotes and ideas before now.
It couldn’t have been the villa’s previous owner either, because when Antonio had made them an offer to buy it, the family seemed more than happy to have somebody actually pay them to take the ramshackle estate off their hands.
Unless it was a disgruntled relative? Who knew how these family things could go?
But there was little point in Kim trying to figure this out herself, she knew. She had to wait until she heard more from Hank and hope against hope that he could make this go away.
‘I want to get down,’ Lily complained, and Gabriel temporarily released his arm from Kim to lower their daughter to the ground.
As always, the moment Lily’s feet touched earth she was on the move. Like most three-year-olds she was fearless.
Now, she raced towards the three statues that stood sentinel in the town square. Two of them had no arms and Kim thought Lily might be frightened by that, but nope. She walked right up to the base of the stand on which they stood and stared up, first at one and then the other. She turned to the third. It had the body of a man with small wings and no head.
