London, June 1994
At about nine o’clock Annie went down to the kitchen, looked in the fridge, which was empty, and the freezer, which was empty too. She closed the freezer door, switched off the light and left the kitchen and went back into the drawing room with its big sandstone hearth and tapestry-covered Knole sofas.
Yawning, exhausted and achingly lonely, she yanked the curtains closed against the remaining daylight. Later, she would sleep in the master suite at the top of the stairs, in what had once been Constantine’s bed.
She wished Max was here, but he wasn’t, and if he was he would probably rip her head off and beat her with it, and she might as well get used to that idea. She thought again of the cold hatred in his eyes when they’d confronted each other at his mum’s old place.
I’ll finish him, and then I’ll finish you.
He wouldn’t forgive her, and he would never forget.
At ten, Annie went upstairs to the master suite and eased her aching body into bed. The thought of what Alberto had told her about Constantine still haunted her. For a long while after Alberto broke that news, she had been convinced that she was going insane.
But no.
She wasn’t imagining the whole thing. It had happened. And the worst part? She could share that knowledge with nobody. Not even Max. Particularly not Max, because, if he knew, then he would search out Constantine, find him, kill him. And she couldn’t break the code.
Now, Max knew.
So Constantine was under threat. And so was she.
What would Max’s next move be? He said he’d been to Sicily, so he’d spoken to someone in the inner circle of the family there, and they had broken the code, told him more than they should. Who, though? She didn’t think that Daniella, Lucco’s bride, had ever been privy to that sort of information. Daniella was a lightweight, not to be entrusted with such a burden.
Annie stared at the ceiling and thought: Gina.
It had to be Constantine’s sister Gina. Who else would have been told, apart from her? No one. And for years she had kept the secret, respected its gravity. Until now. Why now? What could have happened to make her betray the family and give out such information to strangers?
She didn’t know. Couldn’t believe it had happened.
Gina was sound, an insider, family.
Dislike her though she did, Annie had to admit that Gina was the last person she would have expected this from.
She reached out, turned off the light.