Passionate Revenge

by Sally Wentworth

  Picking up the telephone receiver, Zara began to jab at the numbers for the security guard, but Heath lunged across and grabbed the receiver from her hand, then tore the wires from the socket. 'Now it's just you and me,' he said grimly.

  Angry herself now, she threw the useless receiver at him and ran for the door, but he ducked and grabbed her arm, spinning her round to face him. 'Oh, no, you don't! You're not going to run away from me again.' And he took the key out of the lock and put it in his pocket. 'Now,' he said harshly, 'I want an explanation.'

  'I should have thought that was obvious,' she retorted. 'I don't want you around.'

  'Okay, so you're a craven-hearted little coward who's afraid even to take a chance on being in love,' Heath said savagely. 'But my God, you must be mad to go as far as wanting to get rid of my agency as well as me!'

  'On the contrary,' Zara returned with cold anger, 'I know exactly what I'm doing.'

  'Do you?' His grip tightened on her arm and he pulled her closer so that he was looking directly into her face. 'Why are you taking it out on me like this?' he demanded helplessly. 'All I ever wanted was to love you.' His jaw hardened. 'But maybe you can't help it at that. Maybe you have the kind of sadistic nature that makes you turn on everyone who loves you. Maybe that's why we never made it before—and possibly even why your husband turned against you. Is that the reason, Zara?' he jeered. 'Do you like hurting people?'

  'No!' She shouted the word at him and tried to pull free, but his hold was like a vice.

  Someone banged on the door and Mac's voice shouted, 'Zara, are you all right?'

  She went to shout back, but Heath put his hand over her mouth and called, 'Everything's fine. We're just having a private talk.'

  The banging stopped and she glared at him as Heath took his hand away. 'Why don't you get out of here? There's nothing here for you. Not me, my money, or the fat contracts you were angling for.'

  His eyes narrowed. 'So that's it, is it? You really think that all I wanted was your damn money.' He shook his head, his voice scathing. 'You couldn't be more wrong. I've always wanted you.'

  Zara laughed harshly. 'Oh, I'll admit you put on a very good act, but do you really think I was fool enough to be taken in a second time? No, all I had to do was to dangle my golden hook in front of your eyes and you were too greedy to resist it. You walked straight into the trap I set for you.'

  Heath's eyes became wary. 'Trap?'

  'Yes, it's all been a set-up, right from the beginning. Do you really believe I would have even looked at your agency knowing you were the head of it ? But I saw a way to get even with you and I took it. I even went out with you and put up with your disgusting kisses and the way you pawed me just so that I could ruin you once and for all. And now I have,' she ended triumphantly. 'You're finished! And finished for good—I'll make sure of that!'

  Heath was staring at her, an unbelieving look in his eyes. 'And just what,' he said slowly, 'am I supposed to have done to you to turn you into such a vindictive little bitch?'

  That made her flinch a little, but she answered angrily, 'As if you didn't know!' Her nostrils flared disgustedly. 'What's the point in going on pretending? We both know what kind of a swine you are. Only I wasn't rich then, was I? You couldn't clear out fast enough when I told you I loved you.' She had begun to shake and her hands were balled into tight fists. 'And then you came back and found I was successful, so you thought you could just crook your finger and I'd fall at your feet again. But not this time, mister. Oh no, not this time,' she finished bitterly, her voice catching in her throat.

  His face white, Heath said tersely, 'Let's get this straight. Are you saying that it was I who broke us up all those years ago?' Zara opened her mouth to make a scornful reply, but Heath shook his head in perplexity and said, 'Because I was led to believe that it was you who'd changed your mind.'

  Zara laughed in his face. 'I have to hand it to you, Heath, you just don't give up. But you're wasting your breath with your lies. Either you resign from Masterads or I'll drop the agency altogether.'

  Heath's face hardened, grew angry again. 'And I'll sue you for breach of contract.'

  She gave him a cold smile. 'Such a shame, but I'm not in breach of the contract. Don't you remember the clause that says if we don't get your personal attention or we're not satisfied with your work, the contract is void?'

  'You have no reason to be dissatisfied with my work. And I've certainly given you my personal attention,' he added sardonically.

  A flush of colour came into her pale cheeks as she »a id, 'But that's the clause I'm going to use.'

  'By God, I'll fight you, then! I'm not going to have you slander my professional reputation just because of Home crazy personal vendetta. I've done my best work for you and you know it,' he snapped, his voice growing hot and angry again.

  Unconsciously putting the desk between them, Zara played her trump card. 'You're mistaken. I'm not breaking the contract because of the standard of your work—but because your services will shortly no longer be available to us.'

  'And just what's that supposed to mean?' Heath demanded.

  'It means that an extraordinary general meeting of Masterads' shareholders will shortly be called in which you will not only be voted off the board of directors but you will also be called on to resign from the agency.'

  His face had gone very white. 'What the hell do you mean?'

  'It means that I've been buying up the shares in your company and now have a fifty-five per cent holding. I control Masterads now, not you. And you're out.'

  'My God!' He stared at her, unable to speak for a moment, then took a swift stride across the room and grabbed her. 'Why, you little…' Infuriated beyond measure, he shook her, his eyes murderous, and for a few terrified seconds Zara was really afraid, but then he pushed her violently away from him, even in his fury unable to hurt her. Savagely he said, 'And you'd do all this, go to all those lengths, just because you believed that I let you down seven years ago? And to think I really wanted to marry you! A mad, cruel- hearted little viper who…'

  Shaking with rage herself, Zara shouted, 'Is that all it was to you? Just a let-down? My God, don't you know what you did to me ? I loved you. I was willing to give up everything for you: my family, my home, my education, my—my virginity. They were all yours for the taking. But as soon as I said I was in love with you you took fright and left without even saying goodbye.' A great shudder ran through her. 'I waited and waited for you to phone or write. I couldn't bear to go to school or to go out in case I missed your call.' She laughed, a hard unnatural laugh that spoke volumes in itself. 'What a poor besotted fool I was, wasn't I? As if you ever really cared. But I cared—God, how I loved you! I didn't want to go on living without you. And then, when I knew it was hopeless, nothing seemed to matter any more, so I married Christopher because he at least wanted me.' She bit her lip for a moment and held on to the edge of the desk, her nails digging into the wood. 'Can you imagine what it's like to go to bed with a man when you're in love with someone else? Your mind fights against it and your body won't react. You just lie there rigidly, praying for it soon to be over. I tried to pretend, but I couldn't, and—and after a while I couldn't stand it any more. Then Christopher forced me to tell him about you. And when he realised that every time he kissed me I was comparing him to you, and every time he touched me I was wishing it was you, then he became cruel and began to force me to do what he wanted. And the terrible thing is that he started to enjoy hurting me.' Zara's voice had slowed into dull sadness as she spoke, but now she looked at Heath bitterly. 'So you see, you didn't just clear out, you left a trail of unhappiness behind you that ruined our lives for years. And that's why I've ruined you, because I've hated you for a very, very long time.'

  Heath's face had gone very pale beneath his tan. 'Then I can only feel sorry for you, Zara. Because that isn't the way it happened at all. I was in love with you, too, and I was all set to take you to America with me. Hut when I rang you the day after I saw
you last your father answered the phone when I called. He told me that you were only eighteen—which came as a pretty shattering blow. He also told me that you were still at school and the plans you had to go to university. He .said that to throw all that away on someone you hardly knew was absurd and that you'd talked it over with your parents and realised this. And that you'd decided to break it off. I had to accept that, but when he asked me not to contact you again I refused because I was so in love with you. I said that I wanted to write to you while I was away in the hope that we could get together again when you were older. So I tried to phone you two or three times before I left, but either your sister or one of your parents said you'd gone out with your boyfriend. Then I wrote from America but never got any reply to my letters. And when I came home to England on holiday the following year I tried to get in touch with you, but I found out that you were married.' His voice grew heavy. 'So the only conclusion I could reach was that it had just been an infatuation with you, a romantic adventure, but that you'd never really loved me at all.'

  Zara's eyes were wide as she stared at him, every speck of colour drained from her face. 'You're lying,' she said faintly. 'It can't be true.'

  Heath looked at her pityingly. 'Why don't you ask your parents? Perhaps by now they'll be willing to tell you the truth.'

  Their eyes met for a long moment, Heath's scornful, Zara's blank with shock, then he turned, unlocked the door and strode out of the office.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Mac was waiting just outside and watched Heath go warily, then hurried into her room. 'Zara, are you all right?'

  She stared past him, not even hearing or seeing him. Heath's words kept whirling round and round in her brain, slow realisation that they could be true a living nightmare. Part of her mind fought against it, because if it were so then she had done the most terrible thing. But it couldn't be true, she had received no letters from him. Unless her parents had intercepted those, too. If it were true then… The sheer horror of all those wasted years burst in her brain and she dropped to the floor at Mac's feet.

  They wouldn't let her go home alone. They all fussed over her and Mac made one of the girls go back to the flat with her and spend the night there. He also wanted to call a doctor, but this Zara had the strength to refuse, saying it was probably just jet-lag and lack of sleep catching up with her. No one believed her, but they were kind and pretended to for her sake. But she was glad to get home, glad to go to bed and lie there in the darkened room, her mind a conflicting turmoil of doubt and fear.

  In the morning she got up early and sat by the window looking out over the park, waiting for the other girl to waken. When she did, Zara got her some breakfast, thanked her for staying and said that she didn't think she would go into the office that day.

  ‘I’l stay with you, then,' the girl offered.

  'Oh no, I'm fine now. Really. And besides, I've decided to go and spend the day with my parents.'

  The girl's brow cleared. 'That's all right, then.' But then she frowned. 'Will you drive yourself or shall I tell them to send the car round to take you?'

  Zara nodded and to the girl's relief said, 'Please. I never did get round to learning to drive.'

  So she travelled out to her parents' home about forty miles away in the company car, her face still very pale and a desperate look in her eyes. Her mother answered the door and exclaimed in surprise, 'Why, Zara! We didn't expect to see you today.' She glanced past her daughter to the car. 'Were you passing?'

  'No. I—I wanted to see you.'

  Looking at her face, Mrs Layston went a little pale herself. She led the way into the sitting-room and said nervously, 'Is there anything wrong?'

  'I don't know. I've come to you to find out.' Zara hesitated, finding it difficult to talk to her mother. She had been able to talk and confide in her once, but not for a very long time now, not since the terrible rows when she had wanted to go away with Heath, and afterwards when she had wanted to give up university to marry Christopher. Ever since then there had been constraint between them, a barrier that Zara could never afterwards cross. At the time she had put it down to their anger at having their plans and ambitions for her spoilt and she had half expected things to change once she had become successful, but they never had.

  But she just had to know the truth, so she said abruptly, 'I met a man I used to know. His name is Heath Masterson. He told me that…' She broke off as her mother flinched and put her hand up to her mouth.

  'So it was true,' Zara said in little more than a whisper. 'You did lie to me.'

  Her mother nodded miserably. 'I've been wanting to tell you for a long time, but your father wouldn't let me. I knew we'd done the wrong thing almost from the start, but your dad was so insistent; he so wanted you to go to university. He wanted you to have all the chances that we never had, you see.'

  'So you lied to Heath and intercepted his letters and phone calls?'

  'Yes,' Mrs Layston admitted. 'Your father said it would be better to make a clean break. He said you'd soon forget him once the man had gone to America. But you didn't, though, did you?'

  'No, I never forgot him.'

  'I thought not. That's why it never worked with Christopher wasn't it?'

  Zara nodded numbly. 'Yes, I was always in love with Heath.'

  Her mother reached up to touch her hand, but then let it fall again. 'I'm sorry, Zara, I really am. If only we could go back…' Her face brightened. 'But you say you've met him again; perhaps now…'

  'No,' Zara said shortly. 'It's too late. Much too late.' She lifted her head, looking round the room. She had insisted on buying a better house for her parents as soon as she could afford it, and it had hurt when they had been so reluctant to take that and the other things she had given them. But now she understood why; they had felt guilty, and it is difficult to take things from someone to whom you feel guilt.

  Turning, she walked towards the door, but the older woman caught her arm. 'Don't go. We did it for the best, we really did! We couldn't see how it would turn out. We just wanted you to finish your education, get a degree.' She bit her lip and said pleadingly. 'We did it because we loved you, Zara. Please don't cut us out now.'

  Zara gave a short, hollow laugh. 'The things people do in the name of love!' she said harshly. 'No, I won't cut you out of my life. Why should I, when you're all I'll ever have?'

  On the drive back to London she sat huddled in the back of the car, cold and dispirited, realising that she had lost the man she loved not once but twice. Fate had given her the chance to find happiness again, and she had ruined it with her determination to be avenged on Heath. Like her mother said, if only you could go back. Zara shut her eyes, too wretched to cry. She would do what she could to put things right financially for Heath, but the future stretched in front of her long and bleak and empty, even her pride in Panache turned to dust and ashes.

  She directed the driver to take her back to the office, but when they got there it seemed to take all her strength to get out of the car and go in. The driver put his hand under her elbow, looking at her anxiously. 'Are you all right, Miss Layston?'

  Somehow she managed to nod and give him the travesty of a smile. 'Fine, thank you.'

  Mac was equally anxious when she walked into the office, looking at her sharply and saying, 'I thought you were going to see your parents?'

  'I did. I went there this morning.' She sat down at her desk and automatically picked up a pen.

  'You're not going to work, are you? You look terrible. You ought to be at home in bed.'

  'Stop mothering me, Mac, and go away. I have some letters to write.'

  He looked at her for a moment, then handed her an envelope. 'This came for you this morning, by hand. It's marked private and confidential.'

  Zara took it from him, glancing at the envelope, but becoming very still as she recognised Heath's thick, purposeful handwriting. 'Th-thanks.'

  She waited for Mac to go, but he hesitated and then burst out, 'Zara, if anyone's ups
et you—if you want to talk about it or need help—well, you know you can rely on me, or any of us, don't you?'

  Lifting her head, Zara looked at him with lacklustre eyes that slowly warmed as she realised that she didn't have just her parents but loyal friends too. She nodded. 'Yes, I know. Thanks, Mac. But I—I can't talk about it. I—I've done something terrible and I have to try and put it right.'

  When he had gone, she slowly opened the envelope and took out the letter inside. It was very short and terse, saying: 'In view of your letter and our conversation yesterday, I have no option but to tender my resignation as Managing Director of Masterads. I can only hope that from somewhere you will now find the decency to keep on the rest of Masterads' staff and not take your insane desire for revenge out on them, too.'

  Some conversation! Zara thought, remembering, and suddenly wondered if Heath was right, that she was mad. Biting her lip hard, she pulled a sheet of headed notepaper towards her and, after a moment's thought, began to write. She wrote several letters, one to her stockbroker, another to her fellow directors of Panache, a third to her solicitor and the last and most important, to Heath. Then she went to the safe and took out the Masterad shares she had bought and put them in a large envelope together with the letter to Heath. The other letters she put on top of her desk, but after hesitating for quite some time she decided she could do no other than to take the one to Heath herself.

  Mac had been hovering in his office, but she managed to slip out when he wasn't looking and took a taxi to the Masterads agency. She gave her name to the receptionist and stood in the lobby waiting, wondering if Heath would ever consent to see her. But she was kept only a short while before she was shown into his office. It was a light and airy room, with the first sun that they had had that spring shining through the big windows. There was a desk in the middle of the room and a big map table over by the window, both of which were piled with boxes and papers as Heath packed to leave. He had his jacket off, the cuffs of his shirt turned up as he worked, his hair a little untidy as if he had run his hand through it several times. One of his staff was with him when she was shown in, but Heath said a curt, 'Excuse us, will you?' and the man went away and left them alone.