Karin stood on the terrace of the palazzo’s master bedroom feeling a discomfort she couldn’t quite place. She had come upstairs for an aspirin, but she knew that her headache wasn’t the source of her disquiet. She leant against the balcony and looked out at the pool shimmering beneath her in the streaky silver moonlight. She shuddered, thinking back to the earlier scene with Erin Devereux, wondering if she been a little hard on her. There had been no reason to imply she was bitter and jealous; Erin was just a lonely, angry kid who had just discovered the grim truth about her father. Well I can empathize with that, she thought, kicking off her heels and sitting down on one of the balcony chairs. Karin knew full well that her father Terence Wenkle was the ruthless bully that Erin had described. Yes, she worshipped him, because he had treated her like a princess and told her she could be whatever she wanted to be in life. But she also knew he was a crook, a liar, a greedy con man who didn’t care who he walked over to get what he wanted. She remembered the first time she had heard the Devereuxs’ name. She had been ten. The Wenkles had moved from their Essex detached house to a mansion in Surrey with stables and a swimming pool, because ‘Daddy was doing so well.’ One evening, after she had been sent to bed, she was creeping downstairs for her new Sony Walkman cassette-player when she had heard the raised drunken voices of her parents. Not daring to go any further, she had waited on the top step, listening to her mother shouting at her father.
‘Terry, you shouldn’t have done it. You shouldn’t have made him drop all his clients if you knew you were going to drop him.’
‘Business is business. It’s not my fault if he trusted me.’
‘Think of his wife, Terry. Think of his little girl Erin. He killed himself because of you and now that little girl hasn’t got a dad.’
‘It’s not my fucking problem.’
Then Karin had heard the unmistakable sound of a backhanded slap followed by her mother’s scream. Karin had covered her ears with her palms to stop herself hearing any more and had run back to her room, hiding under the duvet, praying for it to stop. People had said that Karin’s steely ambition stemmed from the confidence Terence Wenkle had instilled in his daughter, but deep down Karin knew it was something else. Her desire to succeed was a desire for reinvention; to wipe clean all traces of Terence Wenkle from her life and forget that she was really just a gangster’s daughter from Essex.
She took a glug of water to wash down her aspirin and thought about heading back downstairs. It was gone midnight and out along the driveway she could see guests stepping into cars to take them back to the Villa d’Este, but the party was still in full swing. The sound of the jazz band floated up to the balcony, along with a rumble of merry conversation. Karin slipped her heels back on and turned to go back into the bedroom. Her fingers were on the brass door handle when she saw two shadows behind the thin voile curtain. Still suspicious of Adam’s womanizing, she froze, immediately wondering if he would have the audacity to bring anyone into their bedroom. It was Adam alright, but the other voice was male and it was raised, angry. Curiosity made her wait outside in the dark to listen.
‘Listen, don’t worry,’ said Adam, ‘the team are in place for the Astley Stores takeover. Marcus says the shares should bottom out any day now, then we can move. We just have to wait.’
The other voice seemed doubtful, anxious. ‘Retail really isn’t your bag, is it Adam? So why should I trust you? Everyone else says that Astley’s is a busted flush. String of profit warnings and no doubt more to come.’
Karin heard Adam laughing. ‘I told you not to worry, didn’t I? The Astley CFO has been on our payroll for the last eighteen months; he’s been helping to run the company down. That “busted flush”, as you put it, is now open to a sale. With a strong management team, we can easily turn the company around.’
The other voice sounded impressed.
‘You SOB, you have Astley’s CFO in your pocket? That’s genius!’
‘That’s only the half of it,’ continued Adam. ‘The real money is in the real estate. The Astley retail group owns a small logistics company that have derelict warehouses right in the middle of a riverside brownfield site in Wandsworth. Fifty-one per cent of the company is owned by the Astley family, but they won’t authorize a sale of the warehouses because they’ve been land-banking it for years.’
‘Who owns the rest of the site?’
Adam laughed again. ‘Me. Through various companies, of course. We got it cheap because the Astley land was blocking any sort of development. Who else would want it?’
Karin could hear the other voice laughing now. Curiosity got the better of her and she quickly snatched a look at the man Adam was talking to. She recognized him as Jonathan Parsons, the chairman of Murray and Spink, a major investment bank whom Adam had introduced to her earlier in the evening.
‘Once we get control of Astley Retail and transfer the Wandsworth land to Midas, it becomes a fifty-acre riverside side worth two hundred and fifty million. I’ve already got a raft of investors lined up to build the biggest shopping mall in South London.’
‘And your share prices go up even further …’
Adam laughed again. ‘Call your broker. Buy Astley. Buy Midas Property, my friend. You can’t lose. Now, what do you have for me?’
‘How does Ginsui, the electronics company, take your fancy? Computech are about to make a move on it. An announcement is being made this week.’
Karin stood outside, goosebumps on her skin. She had a plan and she knew it was a beauty. What Adam was talking about was share manipulation and insider dealing. Not just the grey-area, skirting-round-the-edges-of-the-law sort of stuff she knew many big businesses indulged in. No, this sort of dirty play could get you two years inside. She could now hear Adam laughing. ‘I’ll put a call into my broker immediately so he can move on it as soon as trading opens on Monday.’
She heard the door click, as if Jonathan was leaving the room, and then heard Adam make a call to his broker; she waited outside on the terrace until she was sure Adam had left the room. For a second she thought of her father and shivered in the cool night air. But then she looked around her – the magical setting of Palazzo Verdi, the twelve-carat diamond sitting on her finger, the party filled with the most important people in society. And she pushed Terence Wenkle out of her mind. She’d come too far to get distracted by principles now.
Summer was sitting by the fountain in the palazzo’s courtyard, letting her hand trail in the cool water, when she saw Adam descending the sweeping flight of stairs from the bedrooms. He was lighting up a cigar and heading in her direction. She felt a rush of butterflies as he came nearer, then a flood of disappointment as she realized he hadn’t yet seen her.
‘Oh, hello. I haven’t seen you all evening.’ Adam gave a weak smile, but he looked her up and down approvingly.
‘Can we go somewhere to talk?’ Summer’s voice faltered as she said the words. Adam’s eyes darted around and he looked distracted, unwilling. He took a puff of his cigar.
‘Listen, I haven’t seen Karin in about half an hour,’ he said. ‘I’d better go and find her because some guests are beginning to leave already.’
She could tell he was in no mood for a quickie in the flower-beds. Though that was not what she had in mind anyway.
‘Please Adam, I just need a few minutes in private.’
‘It’s hardly private at my engagement party,’ he said with a small smile. ‘Okay, there’s a rose garden behind that line of trees. I’ll come in a few minutes.’
It was almost pitch-black at their rendezvous point; just a little amber light trickled into the circle of tall, spindly rose bushes at the back of the house. Summer sat on a wooden bench feeling isolated and uneasy, until she heard the sound of footsteps on the grass, and then Adam was standing there holding a glass of champagne. One glass. Not two. He sat down next to her and said, ‘You look beautiful.’ He said it almost apologetically.
Summer shrugged. She knew she looked good. She’d had h
er hair freshly highlighted at Aveda, plus four hours of treatments at the Bliss spa, telling herself it was in preparation for the job in Milan, but knowing in her heart of hearts it was to look her very best for this evening.
She’d been rehearsing what to say to Adam ever since she realized what might be happening to her body but, sitting here in the semi-dark with his knee pressing lightly against hers, she knew that she just had to spit it out.
‘Adam. I’m pregnant.’
There was silence. She looked at his profile in the dark and saw his Adam’s apple bob slowly up and down. His gaze remained fixed in front of him. ‘Are you sure?’ he said finally.
Summer almost laughed out loud. ‘My period has gone AWOL. I’m never late.’
‘That doesn’t mean much, does it? I mean you hardly eat anything. That plays havoc with your system.’
She’d told him a few weeks earlier that she’d been bulimic in her late teens, but she was surprised he would throw it back at her now.
‘And I’ve taken a test.’
He stood up and anxiously rubbed his mouth with his hand. ‘Jesus, Summer. Nice thing to drop into conversation at my fucking engagement party.’
‘When did you want me to tell you? In nine months’ time?’
He paced back and forth and took a deep slug of champagne. Finally he sat back down and touched her knee gently.
‘Look. When you get back to London, see a doctor. Get it confirmed. Home tests aren’t always accurate. Anyway. What about your movie role? That doesn’t fit in with having a baby.’
Summer didn’t need a doctor to tell her that her body felt different, the swell of her breasts just a little more round. ‘Adam, we’re going to have a baby. That means more to me than any role in a bloody film.’
His jaw tightened and he met her gaze. ‘Summer, I’m getting married,’ he said slowly.
She knew what he was trying to say. That a baby with her was not part of the equation. Summer bit her lip to stop a hot rush of tears welling up. ‘Adam, it’s not too late,’ she said, her voice pleading. ‘You’re not married yet.’
He was looking more and more angry now. ‘Don’t even think about it, Summer.’ His voice was low, controlled and steely.
‘Think what?’
He carried on looking at her, his lips curling aggressively. Summer tried to catch a breath but it wouldn’t come.
‘Why can’t we be together?’ she asked, her voice quavering.
‘Because I’m getting married. How many times do I have to say it?’ He rubbed his forehead. ‘You’re a stunning girl, Summer, but I love Karin. This is the first time in my life I’ve been willing to make this sort of commitment, and there can’t be any complications.’
Summer couldn’t stop the tears from flowing now and Adam found himself putting an awkward arm around her shoulders.
‘What’s wrong with me?’ she sobbed into his jacket.
‘Shit, Summer.’ He exhaled and stroked her hair. ‘There’s nothing wrong with you. We’ve been having a great time, haven’t we? If I hadn’t met Karin, then who knows, but I did and I love her and I’m sorry if you’ve got the wrong impression. I would be lying to you if I said anything different.’
Summer jumped up and glared at him, wiping her tears away vehemently with her fingers. ‘You selfish shit!’ she sobbed.
Adam stood and drank the last of his champagne, tossing the flute into the bushes. ‘Look. We’ll talk tomorrow.’
‘I’m going to bloody Milan tomorrow,’ she cried.
‘Well, we’ll talk when you get back.’ He paused awkwardly. ‘We’ll sort something out.’
‘Thanks,’ she spat under her breath as she watched him leave the rose garden. ‘Thanks for nothing at all.’
In the master bedroom, Karin unzipped her sheer red Valentino gown and let it shimmer to the ground until she was standing there in just her La Perla bra and thong and her four-inch, crystal-encrusted heels. Adam slipped off his dinner jacket, threw it over a chair and walked over to her, smiling as he undid the buttons of his white shirt.
‘A successful evening I’d say, Miss Cavendish,’ he said, taking her hand and leading her to the bed. Karin lay back on the cool linen and shut her eyes, feeling Adam kiss her ankles and then work up her long, bronzed legs with feathery brushes of his lips.
‘Mmmm,’ she murmured contentedly. ‘That’s good. You did seem a little distracted this evening, though. Is everything alright?’
Adam took off his shirt while Karin sat up and unbuttoned his trousers. He shrugged. ‘No, everything’s fine. More than fine, in fact.’
He pulled Karin towards him to kiss him and she lowered her lips down over his firm stomach, her fingers peeling down his cotton boxers until her face brushed his hardening cock. She pushed him on his back and kneeled to straddle him. Lowering her head so her long hair brushed over his thighs she took the tip of him into her mouth and moved her tongue in delicate circles, lower and lower until the lips were moving up and down the whole of his cock, fast, slow, hard, soft. She knew how to pleasure a man while being totally in control; she’d made it her life’s work. He was groaning and grabbing her head to push himself deeper and deeper into her mouth. She lowered her mouth so far down him that the tip of his cock hit the back of her throat and his springy pubic hair brushed her lips. Then, suddenly, she pulled away, uncoiling her body back up to look at him.
‘Fuck, Karin what are you doing? I was almost done.’
Still straddling him, her high heels pushed down on the bed, she put her hands on her hips, knowing she looked like a wanton Amazon towering above him.
‘I know why you were distracted tonight,’ she smiled.
‘What are you talking about?’
‘I heard your conversation with Jonathan Parsons earlier. In the bedroom,’ she said. ‘I was on the terrace.’
She got off the bed purposefully and picked up a white Frette gown and slipped it on.
Adam lay there for a second, naked, his cock still rigid, before a look of exposed vulnerability clouded his expression and he pulled the sheet over him.
There was a padded gilt Louis XV chair in the corner of the room and Karin sank into it, crossing her legs so that the robe opened and flashed a long expanse of thigh.
‘I’m not sure what you heard, Karin, but it was business,’ he said tersely. ‘My business. Business you don’t know anything about.’
She stared at him, knowing she had to play it carefully. This was her roll of the dice. She could win big, or her whole house of cards could come tumbling down.
‘Adam, I know enough about business to know that what you were talking about is illegal.’
‘Honey, please. Stay out of this.’
‘I’m going to be your wife, Adam,’ she cooed. ‘I think I deserve to know if my husband might be looking at a jail sentence this time next year.’
‘Quit it, Karin.’
‘No, I won’t quit it. I am here to support you. We’re a team. I want to know your business. I’m big enough to handle the truth.’ She smiled a smug little smile.
Adam took a sip of water from a crystal tumbler by the bedside table and looked at her for a long moment.
‘Obviously you discuss this with no one.’
‘Obviously.’
Adam smiled. There was a hint of arrogance about it that Karin didn’t like. ‘So, come back to bed,’ he said, patting the bed beside him. ‘I was enjoying myself.’
‘I just want it to be worth my while,’ said Karin, fixing him with her gaze.
‘And by that you mean …?’
‘If I am going to support you, I don’t want to feel vulnerable.’
‘Why the fuck would you feel vulnerable?’
‘Because you want to get married in the States.’
‘Well, yes,’ he said. ‘I thought the house in Miami would be perfect. It’s private. Nobu can do the catering, but I thought I would leave all the planning to you.’
‘I’m not a bloody fool, Ada
m,’ snapped Karin, standing up. ‘You want to get married in the States because you want a pre-nup.’
There. She had said it. The p-word. The elephant at the table. Everyone knew that a pre-nup was not worth the paper it was written on in Britain but, if a couple married abroad, and one of the partnership was American, it was another story.
Adam shifted uncomfortably and pulled the sheet a little tighter around his body. ‘Come on, honey. Let’s not talk about this at our engagement party.’
‘We need to talk about it, Adam. When better?’
‘Look,’ he said finally. ‘And this has nothing to do with my respect for you or the hopes I have for our marriage, but I have got to safeguard my position. I’ve seen too many men screwed over, companies ruined.’
‘Don’t talk about companies ruined, Adam, bearing in mind your little conversation earlier with Jonathan. If someone blew the whistle to the FSA about what you’ve been up to, I think you’d be in serious trouble.’
Adam shrugged. He had faced far more ruthless negotiators than Karin and come off the victor. ‘You have no proof whatsoever,’ he said.
‘Oh, the FSA can be very thorough in their investigations. Haven’t you just put a call in to your broker to buy twenty-seven thousand shares in Ginsui. That will leave a trail.’
Adam raised his eyebrows and nodded. ‘Look, when we get back home I will call my lawyer in New York. I will talk to Marcus and we can work something out, Karin. I want a pre-nup. I need a pre-nup, but that doesn’t mean I want to shaft you over either. They can work two ways, and I will be more than accommodating.’
‘I don’t want a pre-nup.’
‘So what do you want?’ he said, lifting an eyebrow.
‘I want a share in the company.’
‘I don’t own all the shares in the company.’
‘So? Adam, transfer some of your shares over to me. You have enough of them, for heaven’s sake. I need to safeguard my position. Particularly as what I know puts me in a very uncomfortable position.’
‘Are you trying to blackmail me?’
Gold Diggers Page 42