‘Yes! Exactly.’ Matthew dropped the list to the floor and ran his palms over his forehead, giving his temples a massage to release some tension. ‘We really don’t have the time to be dealing with corruption. Or arseholes.’
Sarah half snorted. ‘How are we going to getanythingdone around here if we’ve been blacklisted?’
‘If that’s the case, I think getting tradespeople on-site will be the least of our worries. I want to believe he’s a good guy . . . albeit very odd.’
‘Or,’ Sarah offered with a sarcastic finger pointed skyward, ‘he’s just an arsehole.’
‘Or both.’ He laughed at their misfortune. There was nothing else to do in the moment. ‘We’re going to need to source someone further afield. That will take longer.’
‘What if I called around and used my maiden name, Browne, instead of D’Adamo?’
‘Won’t make a difference, I think. It’s also about the property.’
Sarah cast her gaze to the Virgin Mary on the ceiling. ‘I just don’t understand what he stands to gain in making things difficult for us. Wouldn’t he want us to experience success? Bring in tourism. Money. New faces to the area. Reinvigorate the town a bit.’
Matthew eased himself down on the floor next to Sarah and flicked through the pages by her side. ‘We expect his actions to be benevolent because that’s what his title and office expect. People like this – and I’ve seen these sorts of things time and time again at work – always have their own interests at heart. It’s ego-driven, power-fuelled. It’s not about the town or its people. For people like Saverio, it’s almost always about the fear of losing it all. Command and control are the only way to ensure things don’t change and the status quo is reinforced. It’s an abuse of power and completely unethical.’
Sarah’s eyes narrowed in on Matthew for a moment before she playfully leaned in and gently pressed her hand against his upper arm. ‘Excuse me, but did you just go a little into lawyer mode?’
Sheepishly, Matthew grimaced. ‘Did I? Ugh! It’s second-nature. Sorry.’ He scowled. ‘No lawyer mode from here on. Please call me out as soon as it rears its ugly head.’
‘Shame,’ Sarah said casually, ‘it’s a great look on you.’
His green eyes flicked to hers and he laughed. ‘It’s never served me well in the past.’
‘With women?’
‘Yeah.’
‘I find that very hard to believe.’ She eyed him up and down as discreetly as she could. This handsome, charismatic, intelligent man? How was it conceivably possible that he had any trouble finding women?
He gnawed on the inside of his cheek. ‘I’ve always been too busy for relationships.’ He knew it was the truth, but hated to hear himself say it aloud.
‘With work?’
‘Always. The only partner I was ever interested in was the title at my law firm.’ He rolled his eyes and exhaled a little sigh. ‘I had my blinkers on for years. Nothing else mattered. It was my driving force and consumed my every thought, desire, action, motive.’
‘That doesn’t sound very healthy, Matthew.’
‘It was far from healthy. I ateifandwhenI could. Sleep? What was sleep? My stress levels were sky-high. But I thrived. I was running on pure adrenaline for years.’
‘And there were no girlfriends? Not even anyone of interest?’
‘Could you be with someone so self-focused?’ He shook his head, wearing his shame on his sleeve. ‘I didn’t have enough time for my own self-care, let alone have any to spare for someone else.’
‘The fact that you can actually identify that is a positive, though,’ she said, reaching out to caress his hand.
‘There was one woman. A colleague. I saw some . . . let’s call it “potential” . . . with her. We spent a little time together, very casual, though, but she was only around a few months before she transferred back to the London office.’
‘She was English?’
‘Yes. We were the only two foreigners at the Singapore branch. We connected over that. Ultimately, even if anything did happen between us, it wouldn’t have gone far. She was the same as me; eyes fixed on climbing the ladder.’ He leaned back, resting on his hands. ‘She was a very collected and together person. There was very little emotional range there. Quite cold and clinical at times.’
Sarah was immediately drawn in by Matthew’s sharing. Hearing him speak so vulnerably about his challenges reminded her of their first night card game. Hearts on sleeves. Excited. Expectant for the journey. But she felt there was something more about this share. It had come voluntarilyfrom Matthew. It was unprompted, and she read this to be a sign of trust. So, she listened intently, and with an understanding smile, asked, ‘Perhaps it was the nature of the work?’
‘Yeah, absolutely. But there was also nothing soft about her character. It was always work with her. It never allowed for any downtime. She wasn’t a very affectionate person.’
‘Is that important to you?’
