CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Angela examined herself in the mirror on the back of the hospital wardrobe door. The front of her was covered in bright, coloured bruising from shoulder to hip, where the seat-belt had saved her from going through the car window. She had been shaken with vicious force when the car hit a tree after slewing off the road in an attempt to avoid hitting the oncoming limousine of Rosini.

Claudia, unable to brake in time, had crashed into her father’s heavier car, which in turn pushed in the side of the bus. The crash had held up traffic for several hours as bus passengers, lorry driver and police argued back and forth. Helpers released victims from the vehicles and the ambulance eventually arrived.

Jack had explained all this to her when he had arrived one morning to tell her that Giorgio Rosini and his contacts had been arrested. The cargo was searched and found to contain several stolen items as well as the jewellery. Rosini’s men were all taken into custody. Of Hugo, there was no sign.

Angela was getting tired of Jack’s broken promises and had told him so. He had left her with a cold, closed expression and closed the door sharply on leaving. She was due to leave the hospital the next day and regretted her words of anger. Still, she comforted herself, at least his offer of a stay at the farm would no longer be forthcoming. The idea of returning to the apartment and resuming her independent lifestyle pleased her, especially now that her legs were stronger.

If only she knew that Hugo was going to be all right. She had already decided to stay in Italy, if she could find a job. So she washed and dressed the following morning and was sitting on her bed when the doctor arrived to tell her she was fit enough to leave.

‘Do you have anyone coming to fetch you?’ he asked looking up from the notes he was reading.

‘I will take the signorina home, Doctor.’

Jack walked into the room and the doctor gave a brisk nod and left. Angela bent over her bag and fumbled with the contents.

‘I’m sorry I was so sharp last evening but there really isn’t any need for you to ferry me around now. I have decided to go back to the apartment and wait for Hugo to contact me,’ she said coldly.

He scowled.

‘So you will upset my family once again with your flighty ways.’

Angela stood up straight.

‘I beg your pardon? I am not a flighty person and have never deliberately upset anyone.’

‘You promised to come and stay at my family’s farm.’

Exasperated, Angela said, ‘I didn’t promise. You invited me, but I didn’t answer you.’

‘Now you wriggle out of the understanding.’

‘There was no understanding.’

Angela would have stamped her foot if she hadn’t considered it a childish thing to do. Instead she gathered her bag and walked unsteadily towards the door. He took the bag from her and walked behind her to the hospital entrance.

‘I want to know that you are safe while I search for Hugo.’

She turned to face him. His face was cold and set but she felt the concern in him. Her gaze fluttered down from his and she chewed on her lip while considering her options.

‘All right,’ she said, quietly conceding defeat. ‘I will come with you.’

Taking her arm, he led her across to his car and settled her inside.

The journey to the farm went quickly. Neither one of them had much to say. The question of Hugo’s whereabouts lay heavily on both their minds. ‘Do you think Giorgio had him killed?’ she asked tentatively.

‘I wouldn’t waste my time searching for a dead man,’ he replied.

‘Perhaps they have locked him up somewhere and there is no-one there to release him.’

He nodded his head.

‘It’s a possibility.’

When they reached the farm she was welcomed with warmth and understanding by the whole family. Jack stayed only a short while to eat a meal prepared by his mother and to issue a string of instructions of his brothers. Angela overheard enough to know that these instructions were about her safety and that worried her. Why did he think she was still in danger? Surely every one of the criminals involved had been arrested. It only remained for them to find Hugo and return the jewellery to the monastery.

She followed him out to the car as he prepared to leave.

‘Take care,’ she said, looking down at her feet and twisting her toe in the dust.

His mouth lifted in a smile as he opened the car door.

‘I will be back soon.’

He bent forward and kissed her cheek. When he looked back she gave him a big grin which gradually faded as he started the engine and drove out of the farmyard. What now, she wondered.

Angela picked at her food that evening. Her walking had improved, if anything beyond what the doctors back home had warned would be her limit.

Her self-confidence had returned and she was aware of feelings for Jack that she had denied while she thought Claudia involved.

Back in the hospital she had even asked Jack if Claudia had ever meant anything to him.

‘Nothing,’ he’d replied and gone on to explain their relationship.

Angela had watched his face with anxious eyes as he talked.

‘I was told to contact her with a view to finding out more about her father’s business. We only shared a few dates, nothing heavy, but she went completely overboard, exaggerated all our meetings until she convinced herself I was in love with her.’

‘She didn’t want to work for her father,’ Angela told him. ‘She wanted to work with children but he wouldn’t let her. I suppose she saw you as an authoritative figure whom her father wouldn’t dare oppose.’

‘Perhaps,’ he had agreed.

Angela slept badly that night and there followed three days with no news of Jack. On the fourth day after her arrival on the farm she came back from a walk to the nearby village to see a police car parked outside the farmhouse. As she watched, Roberto and Fabio, two of Jack’s brothers, left the house on either side of a uniformed policeman who climbed into his car and drove away.

Angela began to hurry, fearing it was bad news. Roberto came towards her, holding out his arms.

‘The crooks have kidnapped your stepfather. They want to exchange him for Rosini.’

Angela stopped and looked up at Jack’s brother.

‘What? And Jack?’

‘Jack has been shot.’

What felt like an electric shock passed through her body, jerking it backwards.

‘It’s a leg wound, not bad,’ he said.

‘I must go to him,’ she said.

‘No, no, that will not be possible. He has gone after the kidnappers.’

Angela felt her mouth gaping then she stumbled into the house. Panic seized her as she dashed to the room she had been allocated and began to throw her few personal belongings into her bag.