Taming the Notorious Sicilian

Silence, then, ‘Any idea what time you’ll be over tomorrow?’

He rubbed his eyes. He’d promised he’d be back in London early Friday evening so they could head straight down to Devon. She’d even booked him a hotel room.

‘I’ll confirm tomorrow morning,’ he said, wishing he could relieve the sharp pain digging in the back of his eyes. He would ensure his meeting with Luca and Pepe took place in the morning. That would give him plenty of time to get to her.

More silence. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’

‘Go back to your patients, Dr Chapman. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

* * *

Hannah checked her watch for the umpteenth time. Her bags were all packed, butterflies playing merry havoc in her belly.

She felt sick with nerves and dread. Knowing Francesco would be by her side throughout it all dulled it a little but not as much as it should.

He’d sounded so distant on the phone. The plentiful text messages from him had whittled away to nothing.

Something niggled in her stomach, a foreboding she was too scared to analyse.

Twitching her curtain, relief poured through her to see the large black car pull up outside.

Her relief was short-lived when she opened the door and saw the serious look on his face. ‘You’re not coming with me, are you?’

He stepped over the threshold and pushed the door shut behind him. ‘I apologise for the short notice, but I have to meet with Luca and Pepe Mastrangelo tomorrow lunchtime. The sale of the Mayfair casino is under threat.’

For long moments she did nothing but stare at him. ‘You bastard.’

He flinched, but a cold hostility set over his features. ‘I do not have the power to be in two places at once. If I could then I would.’

‘Liar,’ she stated flatly, although her chest had tightened so much she struggled to find breath.

This could not be happening.

‘You could have arranged the meeting for any time you like. Your life doesn’t revolve around a set schedule.’ Francesco’s time was his to do as he pleased. One of the very things she’d been so attracted to had turned around and bitten her hard.

Francesco could do as he liked, and what he liked was to avoid her sister’s wedding.

He was asking her to face it alone.

After everything she had confided and all the trust she’d placed in him, he was leaving her to face the wedding on her own.

‘It has to be tomorrow.’ He raked his hands through his hair. ‘I wanted to organise it for today but tomorrow is the only day the three of us can be in the same country at the same time. Time is of the essence. I won’t allow the Mastrangelos to steal the casino away from me. I’ve worked too long on the deal to let it slip through my fingers—it’s far too important for me to lose. I’ve arranged for Mario to drive you to Devon.’

‘Don’t bother. I’ll make my own way there.’ She’d rather cycle on her pushbike. She’d rather walk. ‘You can leave now.’

‘Hannah, I know you’re disappointed. I’ve gone out of my way to tell you personally—’

‘Well, that makes everything all right, then,’ she snapped. ‘You’re blowing me out of the water so you can kneecap some old friends but, hey, no worries, you told me to my face.’

‘I have spent the best part of a year demolishing my father’s empire, eradicating the streets from the evils he peddled,’ Francesco said, his voice rising, his cool facade disappearing before her eyes. ‘The only business he wanted that he couldn’t have was this casino. He did everything in his power to get it, including abducting Godfrey’s son, and still he didn’t win. But I will. It’s taken me months to gain Godfrey’s trust and I will not allow the Mastrangelos to snatch it away from me.’

His father? Hannah had known his relationship with his dead father had been difficult, had seen the way he tensed whenever Salvatore was mentioned, but she’d never suspected the depths of Francesco’s animosity towards him.

He paused, his eyes a dark pit of loathing, his malevolence a living, breathing thing. ‘You live your life imagining Beth watching over you. Well, I imagine mine with my father watching over me. I like the thought of him staring down watching me destroy everything he built, but more than anything I want him to see me succeed where he failed. I want him turning in his hellish coffin.’

Hannah didn’t think she had ever witnessed such hatred before, a loathing that crawled under her skin and settled in the nauseous pit of her belly.