‘Just to confirm some spending on a new signatory. I need to run through the purchases, if I may?’ And he listened—listened as designer suits, coats, shoes and boots were reeled off, listened as he heard how the woman who had insisted she could manage smart, had actually in less than an hour managed to pretty much top Jenna’s annual clothing budget. ‘And a full set of Oroton luggage. You’re aware of all these purchases?’
‘I am.’ Lazzaro nodded, more to himself than to the woman on the other end of the line. Jenna had cost a fortune to kit out initially, he recalled. Of course Caitlyn would need coats and boots for Italy. He’d never questioned a bill like that in his life, and he wasn’t about to start because of Malvolio.
Turning off the phone, he smiled to his sister as Malvolio assured her they’d be inside in just a moment.
‘Everything’s okay, isn’t it?’ Antonia checked nervously.
‘Of course.’ Lazzaro smiled, but it faded the second his sister was back inside, and the conversation resumed exactly where it had left off, the whole sordid mess of this afternoon taking a darker, sicker twist.
‘She’s Roxanne’s cousin.’ Malvolio sneered the words and Lazzaro’s face visibly paled.
Caitlyn Bell was Roxanne’s cousin.
Roxanne Martin was the person he hated most in the world.
The woman who had pitched brother against brother.
The woman who had so much blood on her hands she might as well have killed Luca with her own bare ones.
‘You’re the one talking about family,’ Malvolio carried on savagely. ‘You’re the one talking about blood relations. Well, your new personal assistant comes from the same gene pool as Roxanne Martin.’
No!
Lazzaro’s brain tightened in denial, the word on the tip of his taut lips. The woman he had spoken to this evening, the woman he had held in his arms for a short while, was nothing, nothing like Roxanne.
But just as he was about to refute it, sense took over. Denial was dangerous.
Denial—the impossible dance that had led Luca to his early grave.
Only he was stronger than Luca.
The eyes that had held his were swimming into his vision—only with dangerous undertones. And though he was initially tempted to ring the store, to cut her credit, to retract his job offer, instead a bitter smile twisted his lips…So what if he’d hired a manipulative, lying, little bitch? It could be worse—he might not have known it!
‘You’d better be telling the truth—because if you ever hurt my sister…’ Lazzaro pinned his brother-in-law with his eyes, watched as he shrank against the wall. ‘If I let you live, it will only be to ensure that you regret it!’
‘And Caitlyn?’ Malvolio’s eyes darted as he voiced the unpalatable question. ‘You’ll get rid of her? I mean, given what I’ve told you…’
‘Get rid of her? Why would I do that when things are just starting to get interesting?’ Lazzaro’s dark laugh was mirthless. ‘If Caitlyn Bell thinks she can play me then she hasn’t done her homework properly. I’m actually looking forward to it.’
CHAPTER FOUR
‘IT SAYS here Roberta called.’
His voice held the warning ring that was becoming increasingly familiar. Her first week working for Lazzaro and already she was looking at the clock, willing the next few hours to just please hurry up and go, so that she could wave goodbye to him till Monday.
‘She did.’ Caitlyn gulped, not looking up, staring instead at the note he had put on her desk—focussing not on the message she’d written but on his tense fingers that were drumming over it. ‘Half an hour ago. But you were on another call…’
‘And what did you say to her?’
‘Just that,’ Caitlyn offered. ‘I said that you were on another call and I’d let you know…’A rather shaky finger hovered near his and pointed to her note. ‘Which I did.’
‘She told you it was urgent, I presume?’
‘She did.’ Caitlyn cleared her throat. ‘But nearly everyone—’
‘You do realise that I’ve been trying to get hold of her for two days?’ His voice was pure ice.