Claimed for the Italian's Revenge

by Natalie Rivers

  ‘What does Vasile say he has on your father?’ Marco asked.

  ‘I’m not telling you!’ Claudia said. ‘You’ll just use the information yourself.’

  ‘I don’t believe Vasile has anything,’ Marco said. ‘God knows I’ve invested enough time and money looking for incriminating evidence. Did they show you proof?’

  Claudia bit her lip and looked up at Marco, thinking she’d be a fool to tell him anything. But she also knew that Marco was never going to let her marry Primo, so the information was going to come out anyway.

  ‘He took money from the pension fund,’ she said quietly. ‘I don’t know why he did it—he must have been intending to replace it, but then he got sick.’

  A triumphant look flashed across Marco’s face and Claudia stared up at him in agitation. She had the feeling that, yet again, he knew something she didn’t.

  ‘Vasile embezzled the pension fund, not your father,’ Marco said. ‘Millions of euros. Hard evidence of that was part of the information I picked up from my legal team in Turin.’

  ‘I don’t…’ Claudia’s voice died away in confusion. ‘But they had evidence. Proof that my father had transferred money.’

  ‘Did you study them properly?’ Marco asked. ‘Were they original documents?’

  ‘I don’t know…’ Claudia stared at Marco momentarily stunned. She realised just how much of a fool she’d been. She’d let Primo and Francesca use her without properly questioning what they had told her.

  She’d known her father wasn’t guilty, but she’d been too scared to risk being wrong about it. They’d manipulated her perfectly—playing on her love for her father who, they’d told her, was dying. They knew that Claudia would never willingly let anything bad happen to her father. The whole situation had horrified her so much that she’d simply agreed to their demands.

  ‘Oh, my God!’ she said, covering her face with her hands. She’d let herself be used—had agreed to marry Vasile—and now Marco despised her for her weakness. ‘I’ve been such a fool!’

  Marco looked at Claudia, watching her realisation that she had been duped. The change that came over her was so profound that he had no doubt that it was genuine.

  A brief, ironic smile flashed across his face as he thought about Vasile’s desperate attempt to save himself from financial ruin. It amused Marco that Vasile clearly had no idea that money would not be anywhere near enough to save him.

  But that moment of satisfaction was short-lived. As he stared at Claudia—face buried in her hands and shoulders huddled forward in misery—an unexpected surge of a different emotion churned in the pit of his stomach. He forced it down angrily—he would not let himself feel sorry for her. She deserved whatever she got.

  He’d already suspected that she’d been the victim of Vasile and Francesca, but he’d felt no pity for her then. After all, she’d been the one doing their dirty work in the past, and it stood to reason that she knew how they operated. It was her own fault if she was foolish enough to be taken in by them. There was even a certain poetic justice to it. After all, she should pay for her part in what had happened to Bianca.

  So why did her obvious distress affect him now?

  He realised that she was shaking, despite the heat of the tropical sun. Was she crying? He didn’t think so, but she was obviously experiencing a powerful reaction to the discovery that her stepmother and Vasile had played her for a fool.

  Suddenly she dropped her hands and lifted her face to look at him. Her face was startlingly pale and her golden-brown eyes seemed huge.

  ‘Is it true?’ she asked urgently. ‘Is it true that my father is safe? That Francesca and Primo can’t hurt him?’

  ‘Yes,’ Marco answered flatly, forcing down his automatic response to the appeal in those wide, innocent looking eyes.

  ‘Oh, thank God!’ she said. A spark of relief lit her face and a spot of colour returned to her cheeks. ‘I’ve been so desperately worried about him.’

  ‘You were very quick to believe him guilty,’ Marco said, wondering how they had convinced her. As far as he was aware, Hector had led a spotless business life.

  Claudia pressed her lips together, looking perplexed.

  ‘I didn’t believe it, not at first,’ she said. ‘But I just couldn’t take the risk. Primo said he’d go straight to the police if I didn’t do want he wanted. And Francesca backed him up.’

  ‘Well, you’ll be free of her soon,’ Marco said dispassionately. ‘She’ll be going to jail too, for her part in Vasile’s schemes.’

  ‘Oh, my poor father,’ Claudia gasped. ‘How awful to have his wife arrested and sent to prison.’

  ‘He should thank me,’ Marco said. ‘For freeing him of that bloodsucking leech. Marrying her was the worst mistake he ever made.’

  ‘You heartless pig!’ Claudia exclaimed, looking at his cold, hard face.

  ‘Don’t you wish he’d never replaced your mother with that witch?’ Marco asked.

  Claudia stared at Marco in shock. She’d wished a million times that she still had her mother—but as far as she was concerned, Francesca wasn’t a replacement for her. And she knew her father didn’t view her like that either. Until her grandma had died he had taken her to Wales as often as he could, keeping up her only connection with her real mother.

  ‘Francesca wasn’t a replacement,’ she said. ‘My father never tried to make her that—and, goodness knows, Francesca didn’t try to act like a mother.’

  ‘Just think how much better your life would have been without her,’ Marco pressed. ‘And, more importantly, Primo Vasile would never have been part of it.’

  ‘I never liked Primo. And I always had the feeling my father didn’t either. Although he’d be shocked to discover just how evil Primo has been.’ she said. ‘But when he married Francesca she was already his business partner, so my father chose to let that be.’

  ‘Another almost fatal mistake,’ Marco said. ‘He will be pleased to see Vasile rot in prison.’

  ‘Not everyone is as cold and brutal as you,’ she said. ‘Just because Primo makes my skin crawl, doesn’t mean I want to see him suffer.’

  ‘Even after what he’s done to you?’

  She looked at him, startled by how fierce he seemed, but then there was always a look of barely restrained fury in his eyes when he mentioned Primo Vasile.

  ‘I don’t know—it will take a while to get used to,’ she said. ‘He does deserve to be punished, but you seem to take such unholy pleasure in bringing him down. And anyone associated with him.’

  ‘Not everyone associated with him,’ Marco said, his eyes boring into her, dark and unrelenting in their scrutiny. ‘Just anyone who hurt my family.’

  Suddenly she felt a terrible jolt of cold hostility firing into her.

  The realisation that Marco’s absolute hatred of Vasile extended to her struck like a cataclysmic bolt of lightning out of a clear blue sky. She staggered back a step, feeling a continuous wave of enmity battering her down.

  ‘What did I ever do to make you hate me so much?’ she cried. ‘I never did anything to hurt you or your family.’

  It was unbearable that he despised her so much. She’d thought he was against her simply because of her family and the fact that he’d discovered she was marrying Primo Vasile.

  But she knew now that, for some reason, it was more than that—it was personal.

  ‘You hurt me in the worst possible way,’ Marco bit out, ‘when you tried to hurt my sister.’

  ‘What?’ Claudia exclaimed. ‘I never did anything to Bianca! She was my friend and I would never, ever have done anything to hurt her.’

  ‘But you had no qualms about leading her into Vasile’s lair.’

  ‘I don’t know what you are talking about,’ she cried, twisting her hands in front of her. ‘There must have been a terrible misunderstanding.’

  ‘There was no misunderstanding,’ Marco said. ‘You set Bianca up—invited her to a party where you told her you would introduce her to c
ontacts in the fashion industry. Then you left her to go to the event on her own, where she would be easy prey for Vasile.’

  ‘I remember the party,’ Claudia said. ‘We didn’t go with her in the end because—’

  ‘You got me out of the way,’ Marco interrupted. ‘Because you took me out of the country where I wouldn’t be able to protect my sister from Vasile.’

  ‘Why did she need protecting from Primo?’ Claudia demanded. ‘It was just a party at a new restaurant. It never occurred to me that she wouldn’t be fine—she went with mutual friends.’

  ‘Friends who had no idea to keep her away from a man called Primo Vasile,’ Marco said.

  ‘I know you hate him,’ Claudia said. ‘I understand that now. But what would he do to Bianca?’

  ‘He got her drunk.’ The intense emotion throbbing in Marco’s voice sliced right through her, making her share the agony he was feeling. ‘Possibly he even gave her drugs to weaken her inhibitions.’

  ‘Oh, my God!’ Claudia clamped her hand over her mouth in horror. ‘What happened? Was she all right?’

  ‘How dare you ask that?’ Marco seized her arms and glared down at her—the fury emanating from him making the air crackle around them. ‘You’re the one who led her into the jaws of that shark!’

  ‘What happened. Please tell me she was all right.’ Claudia felt tears prick in her eyes as she thought about Bianca.

  ‘He tried to get information about me and my business dealings out of her,’ Marco said, his fingers biting into Claudia’s upper arms as he spoke. ‘Then he tried to leave with her.’

  ‘Tried?’ Claudia whispered, desperate to hear that no lasting harm had come to Bianca. She hardly dared to breathe as she stared up into Marco’s livid face.

  ‘A friend of mine saw them together,’ Marco grated. ‘He was at the party quite by chance, but every day I thank God he was there.’

  ‘Your friend looked after her?’ Claudia asked, feeling tears of relief spill from her eyes. She was mortified to know that her invitation to that party had led, however inadvertently, to Bianca getting hurt.

  ‘Weeping won’t make up for what you did.’ Marco’s fingers tightened on her arm momentarily. Then he pushed her savagely aside, a look of pure disgust on his face. ‘You preyed on an innocent girl who thought you were her friend.’

  Claudia stumbled and by the time she’d caught her breath Marco was gone, surging out into the deeper water with long powerful strokes.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CLAUDIA stood at one of the elegant ceiling to floor windows, watching for Marco’s return. It was several hours since their argument on the beach and during that time she had showered and put on a fresh dress. Now she was waiting.

  The view was divine, although she was hardly in the mood to enjoy it. It wasn’t surprising that the designer of the sumptuous vacation villa had included three enormous ocean view windows in the main living area. Each one was dressed with long pure white curtains that rippled in the breeze coming off the water, and each one framed a vista that was simply stunning.

  Marco had brought her to a tropical paradise.

  It was a million miles away from the cottage in Wales, in every respect. To start with, it felt as if the whole cottage could have easily fitted inside just that one luxurious room of the villa. And the view outside was equally far removed from Wales. The powder-white coral sand was the opposite of the black rocks and dark grey limestone of the Pembrokeshire coast. And the mirror-like emerald water was totally different from the churning slate grey sea that had nearly cut her off with the incoming tide.

  It was almost impossible to believe that it was only a few days since she’d arrived in Pembrokeshire and gone down to the stormy beach to test out that digital camera. So much had happened. So many awful truths had been revealed.

  But Marco’s latest accusation had left her reeling.

  She could not process the discovery that he believed she had deliberately done something to hurt Bianca. Even the idea that she could do such a thing made her feel sick. That Marco thought it was possible, even after they had spent so much time together, shocked her to the core.

  She’d thought that he understood her—that in a short time he had come to know her better than anybody else had ever known her. She’d thought that they were soul mates.

  She couldn’t have been more wrong.

  She had fallen in love with someone who didn’t know her at all. Someone who despised her.

  Marco powered through the calm water of the lagoon, trying to work off some of the anger that gripped his body, but it was taking him a long time to feel any better. The glow of exercise fatigue in his muscles started to seem like an unattainable goal—his body was too full of raging energy that needed to be released so he just kept swimming back and forth across the bay.

  He had chosen to stay in a sheltered cove where the tranquil water would be ideal for bathing and making love to Claudia. Now he wished he’d chosen somewhere known for rolling surf. He could do with the physical challenge of battling the elemental force of the water.

  Finally he headed in to the beach and stood staring back out to where the breakers foamed across the reef, letting the sun dry his body. There was a hollow irony in the fact that he’d selected this location with Claudia in mind—and it wasn’t lost on him. Somehow he had let himself imagine that nothing would have changed between them, that this would be a continuation of their time in the cottage in Wales.

  He was an utter fool.

  He’d planned to seduce Claudia, make her open up her heart to him, then toss her brutally aside when he had no more use for her.

  He’d done that. Everything had gone according to plan. So why was he hammering out his fury in the ocean, trying to swim himself towards exhaustion, rather than enjoying the triumph of this moment?

  The distraught expression on Claudia’s face when he’d pushed her away from him flashed through his mind. He’d been so furious that he knew he’d used considerable force. Had she fallen? He’d never looked back to see.

  He clenched his fists and exhaled heavily. Why should he care if she’d fallen? The sand was soft—she would not have been injured.

  Besides, the whole point of his plan was to hurt her. He wanted her to feel the way he’d felt, back when he’d realised she’d duped him. Four years ago he’d gone in with his eyes open, knowing exactly who she was, and yet somehow he’d fallen for her charms. He’d lowered his defences, letting her play with his common sense and duty to protect his sister. Then she had sent Bianca right into Vasile’s grasp.

  Now that the situation was out in the open should not—would not—make any difference to what he did or the way he felt. He’d made up his mind about Claudia long ago and judged her accordingly. He’d set his course and he’d followed it. And he would continue to see it through.

  He would not tolerate her messing with his head again, making him question himself. Nothing had changed. Claudia was still as treacherous as his mother and had betrayed them in the same poisonous way. Bianca had been at the mercy of Vasile that night, and it was only the fortuitous intervention of Marco’s friend that had saved her.

  By the time Claudia saw Marco walking back up the beach to the villa her mood had completely changed. When she’d first discovered the root cause of his hostility towards her she had been totally shocked. She’d felt sick to her stomach that he could genuinely have believed such awful things about her.

  Now a very different emotion was coiling through her, raising her heart rate and creating tension in every single inch of her body.

  Anger.

  Marco had treated her appallingly. Not only now, but also back when he’d first met her. Every moment of every hour they had spent together had been a lie. He had just been waiting for her to trip up—all the time believing that she was a terrible person. And he had never, ever given her the chance to defend herself.

  She heard his steps on the wide wooden veranda and turned to watch him come in through th
e open door.

  ‘Still here?’ The sarcastic tone in his voice grated across her nerve endings, tightening all her muscles to a whole new level of tension. ‘I half expected you’d be gone.’

  ‘You brought me here,’ she snapped. ‘I thought this was where you wanted me. Or have you grown tired of your little game?’

  She stared across the room at him angrily, noticing a fine dusting of white sand on the bronzed skin of his chest. His hair was still slightly damp and was stiff and spiky with sea salt.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I am growing tired of your presence, but unfortunately I haven’t finished with you yet. There is still one more thing to do.’

  ‘You mean you want to flaunt me in front of Primo Vasile?’ she demanded, planting her hands on her hips. ‘Like some kind of trophy.’

  ‘Something like that,’ Marco said.

  ‘You are disgusting,’ she said furiously. ‘I wish I’d never met you. There is no way I’ll be part of your scheme.’

  ‘I’ll drag you there with me.’ Marco looked at her through dangerously narrowed eyes. ‘Kicking and screaming if need be.’

  ‘I will be kicking and screaming—and worse,’ Claudia replied, not letting herself be affected by the threat in his words. ‘You just try to take me somewhere else against my will, and you’ll find out how hard I’ll fight you.’

  ‘What a relief that you are finally showing your true colours,’ Marco said, walking menacingly across the room towards her. ‘Rather like a cornered rat.’

  ‘No—but that’s just it.’ Claudia stood her ground and squared her shoulders to him. ‘You never let me show my true colours.’

  ‘I was waiting to see what you’d do,’ Marco said. He was standing so close to her that she could feel his hot breath on her face, but he made no move to touch her. ‘I was simply giving you enough rope to hang yourself—I wanted to be there to enjoy that moment.’

  ‘You judged me by your own depraved standards!’ Claudia cried, raking her hands roughly through her hair to pull it back from her flushed face. ‘For no good reason whatsoever, you simply assumed I was capable of the same disgusting behaviour that you are.’