‘I don’t know…exactly,’ he says evasively, and moves to the other side of the bed. He didn’t want to tell her about Lana. About the stupid thing his brother did for love.
Victoria knows he is hiding something from her. Now she knows his accident has something to do with that Lana woman he has installed in a penthouse in St John’s Wood.
But all this while she thought it was not serious. That it was a strictly sex thing. She saw the contract, after all.
‘I guess I’ll come back in the evening,’ she says.
She closes the door and walks along the corridor. She hates the smell of hospitals. It always reminds her of her grandmother. The many months she spent in a hospital bed before she died. As she rounds the corner she stops and takes a step back. The nurse at the desk is talking to Blake’s tart and a ghoul-like creature covered in tattoos.
Anger bubbles inside her. These low people. How dare they? How dare they show up at this hospital where her father could very well come to? The cheek of it. She hears the nurse very firmly enforce the instructions she has left.
’I’m sorry but I have very strict instructions not to let anyone but the family members on this list.’
It looks to Victoria as if the ghoul would fight it out but Blake’s tart takes a step back and the ghoul says loudly, ‘You’re right, Lana, leave these stuck-up, la di da shits to get on with it.’ She grabs the Lana’s hand and pulls her away. They do not see Victoria. Now Victoria knows.
Something has to be done.
Thirty one
he doorbell rings and Lana turns in surprise and Tsimply stares at the door. None of her friends are allowed to visit, so she has never had a visitor. There is always somebody at her mother’s door wanting to borrow a hairdryer, a pen, red lipstick, a sparkly handbag, or something. But here? Such a possibility does not even cross her mind.
She walks to the door and opens it. There is a woman standing outside. She looks to be in her early twenties. She is dressed as if she is going to a lawn party. In an elegant linen dress and black pearls. Dully Lana notes that she would never have thought to combine black pearls with such an outfit. Her blonde hair is held back by a black band. She has very good skin and is wearing pale lipstick.
Her mouth curves into a smile. From every pore of her flawless skin exudes good breeding and finishing school class. She is pure style.
You can live in a fine home, wear the right clothes and even go to the right parties but you will never be one of us, her very being seems to say.
‘Hello, I’m Victoria. May I come in?’
Lana cannot stop staring at her. So this is the woman that Blake is going to marry. This is the woman who will have his babies and live with him.
‘Please,’ Victoria says.
Lana opens the door wider and stands back.
Victoria enters. She looks around the room, but refrains from commenting. Lana precedes her into the living room and turns around to face her.
‘You are prettier in real life,’ Victoria says.
Lana doesn’t know if she should acknowledge the compliment.
‘May I sit?’
Lana nods and Victoria perches. Her movements are all dainty. She puts the small pink purse she has been holding in her hand into her lap and crosses her legs at her slim ankles. She smiles again. ‘Will you sit too?’
Lana flushes and sits. This is not the woman’s place and yet it seems she has somehow taken charge.
‘I know you are shocked to see me here and even more shocked to see that I neither hate nor feel angry with you.
You see, our ways are different. You’ll probably never understand so I won’t try to explain too much. Suffice to say that I don’t think it is ideal, but I have been trained to understand that men must sow their wild oats before they settle down, so I allow it. I can see what’s going through you.’
Lana makes a strangled sound in her throat.
‘You are thinking and hoping for exactly the same thing that every woman who has signed one of these sordid agreements and who then falls in love wants. You want Blake to fall in love with you and marry you. But he never will. Men like Blake have been taught since they were knee high how to take, how to have their cake and eat it in every situation. Marrying you or staying with you will not be that. This agreement until he gets bored and then marrying me will be the options most desirable to our men. And that is what Blake will do too. Has he in any way suggested more than this arrangement? Perhaps given you hope for a different future with him?’
Woodenly, Lana shakes her head.
‘You see, the most important thing for us is to secure the right bloodlines for our children and ensure our wealth is not dissipated away into careless hands. Blake knows where his loyalties lie. Consequently, I fear nothing from you. If anything, I feel sorry for you and want to be fair to you. I can see that you are in love with him, and in the end, you will be left with nothing more than a broken heart.
‘Well, I guess I might as well come to the point.
Nobody knows I’m here and Mummy would scream blue murder if she knew I was.’
‘So why are you here?’
‘I know about your contract and I know it will expire in six weeks.’
‘How?’
‘I have my ways. It is not important to our discussion today. Strange as it may seem, I am now your only friend.’
Lana has been staring at the carpet but at her words her head snaps up. She cannot imagine a scenario where this proud, self-assured woman could be her friend. Let alone her only friend.
‘What is important to you must be that you are adequately compensated at the end of your time here.’ She pauses meaningfully. ‘Of course, there is a possibility that Blake will extend or renew the contract for another three months. Then again there is the possibility he will not. I am here to offer you a hundred thousand pounds for you to leave…not at the end of the contract, but today without any explanation. There is no punitive action allowed in your contract if you end it earlier than its term.’
Lana looks at her with shock. She has glanced through the contract so fast she has not even registered that clause.
Yet this woman has perused the contract carefully and is here to bargain with her. ‘I will increase the amount to two hundred thousand pounds if you will leave the country. No note. No goodbyes. Just gone.’
No note. No goodbyes. Just gone.
Wow! Lana looks at the young woman who sits so brazenly before her and feels a bubble of hysterical laughter forming in her throat. She stands up and walks to the glass wall. Far below there are small children playing with a dog in the park. With her back to the woman, she closes her eyes. She tries to think, but her mind is blank.
‘Did you think that the billionaire’s son would marry the poor girl from the council estate?’
Lana flushes. ‘Of course not.’
Except for that once when she tasted her name joined with his, she has not really thought that. Always from the start it has been made clear to her that it is a purely temporary arrangement based solely on sex. He has only ever wanted her for one thing and he has been brutally honest about it. There have been no protestations of love or flowery words. Just an animal craving for her skin.
As if the woman opposite her has heard her thoughts she remarks quietly, ‘Cravings go away.’
‘Please leave,’ she says, and does not turn around. She hears the woman stand. ‘You will regret this one day,’ the woman says. There is no malice in her voice. She is simply stating a fact. Unemotionally.
‘If you change your mind, my card is on the table.
Please don’t mention my visit to anyone.’
Lana nods. She hears the door close and she goes to stand in front of the beautiful gilded mirror. She looks at herself. How changed she is. Her eyes are full of pain.
There are bruises under her eyes where there were none.
Her hand moves to her belly. Soon she will be showing.
She thinks of the woman. T
he heartless determination hidden within the beautiful exterior. Between them, they will kill the life growing inside her. She loves Blake but for him she is only a wild oat.
She must think of the little one inside her now. Secure his or her future. She presses her hand to her mouth and stops the cry that threatens to escape. Tears are running down her face. She wipes them with the back of her hand and runs out of the door. Victoria is waiting by the lift.
She turns to look at Lana. And for that one pure moment, Lana understands how murderers feel. She wants to steal this woman’s heartbeat, take her life and the man that fate has so arbitrarily assigned to her.
‘I’ll take…’ Lana’s voice breaks. She forces herself to spit out the words,…’the money.’
The woman smiles. It is not the smile of a victor. It is not malicious. It is not unkind. Neither is it pitying nor condescending. It is simply the lucky smile of a woman who has never been refused anything her heart desires.
Thirty two
ictoria Jane Montgomery, daughter of the fourth VEarl of Hardwicke, enters the large conservatory built on the east wall of the great house. In her opinion, it is the most beautiful part of the house with its old Victorian stained glass and its profusion of citrus trees, tropical palms, and orchids. When she was younger there was even a banana tree. But Geoffrey died some years ago and this new gardener has other ideas, newer ideas. Her mother is reading a book. Another cheap period romance with a swashbuckling man clutching a buxom woman with flowing hair on the cover.
Victoria has never understood why a woman of her age should read romances. Surely, the instinct for romance dies when one reaches a certain age. Victoria herself has never understood the allure of romances. They bore her.
She has the real thing in her life. She has Blake, all six feet two inches of him. Al she has to do is think of him to make her toes clench. When she thinks of him with that hussy, her stomach actually knots and she has to stop herself from doing the bitch bodily harm. In fact, in a dream she once had she was tearing her eyes out. The feeling is so strong that sometimes she has to clench her hands, so hard her nails bite into her flesh and leave half moon marks.
Her mother looks up from her book. ‘Oh, daahling.
Have you just come from the hospital? How is Blake doing?’
Her mother’s King Charles, Suki, jumps happily at her feet. Victoria picks it up and, tickling the fur next to its pink crystal-studded collar, sits on a chair opposite her mother. ‘He hasn’t come around yet,’ she says, as the dog tries to lick her mouth.
Her mother has pink cheeks, soft blue eyes and a small pink mouth. ‘Oh dear, what are the doctors saying?’
‘It’s a matter of time. The swelling needs to go down.
They expect they will be able to operate tomorrow.’
‘I’m sorry, my dear.’
‘Actually, Mummy, I’ve come to talk to you about a different matter.’
‘Oh?’ Her mother puts her book down.
‘Well, it is about Blake, but it’s not about his accident, well maybe it is a little bit. Anyway, I found out that Blake has a mistress.’
‘Oh,’ her mother says again. Victoria bites her lip. It is a blow to her pride to tell her mother this.
‘I went to the apartment where he keeps her and paid her to leave the country and never see Blake again. Her mother is Iranian or something, and I suggested she live there for a while until everything blows over.’
The foolish look drops from her mother’s eyes and her voice loses that simpering softness that Victoria grew up with. Victoria’s mouth drops open in shock. In that moment she realizes she has never known her mother.
This woman is nobody’s fool.
‘You have taken a huge and unnecessary risk by doing that. These types of women will grow in such soil as ours and wither quickly, but when you force one out by the roots the way you have done, they leave a mark, an ugly scar that some men will mistake for a lost love.’
The wisdom in her mother’s words makes undeniable sense and Victoria looks at her mother worriedly. ‘But he took her to the Craft ball!’
Her mother looks at her with narrowed eyes. ‘How do you know that?’
Victoria looks away. Gently, she lowers Suki to the ground.
Her mother sighs and throws an imperial mint on the floor. Immediately Suki catches it in her mouth and crunches it. ‘You’ve had him followed. You are playing a dangerous game, Victoria. What does she look like?’
‘A slut.’
Her mother looks steadily at her.
‘All right, she’s very beautiful and young,’ she spits out.
‘But dirt poor?’
‘Poorer than dirt.’
‘Oh dear. Perhaps you did the right thing then.’
‘What do I do now then?’
‘Nothing much. Persuade your father to talk to Blake and take the blame for paying the girl off. It will appear less sordid if such a thing is done by a father to protect his daughter’s interest. You must remain spotless. Go and see your father now. He is in the study. He never could resist a tear or two from you.’
Victoria stands and her mother says, ‘You do know that this will not be the last woman that will come into your life, don’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Are you sure you want this life?’
Victoria did not hesitate. ‘Yes.’
Her mother nodded sadly. ‘Remember this. I married beneath me. So will you. All women do.’
Victoria gasps.
‘Well, run along then, daahling,’ she simpers and picks up her lurid novel.
Thirty three
he first person Lana calls is Jack. He answers on the Tfifth ring when she is just about to give up.
‘What is it?’ he says, instantly alert.
‘Oh, Jack,’ she says.
‘Where are you?’
‘Going to Mum’s.’
‘I’ll meet you there.’
‘Jack, you don’t have to meet me there. I just wanted to hear your voice.’
‘What happened?’
‘Nothing.’ But her voice breaks.
‘Fuck nothing. What happened?’
‘I have to leave. I’m taking Mum back to Iran.’
‘What?’
‘Just for a year.’
‘I’m coming over.’
‘Please don’t, Jack. I was feeling weak, but I’m all right now. Funny, just hearing your voice did it. I know now what I have to do. I’l email you when I get settled. It’s a bit primitive over there, so it might take a bit of time, but you’ll be the first person I write to.’
‘Don’t you want to see me before you go?’
‘I’ll be gone by the time you get here. Someone else is making the arrangements. They don’t mess about. I kinda jumped from the frying pan into the fire, but I think it will be OK when I get to Iran.’
‘What about Blake?’
‘He is history. He must never know where I am.’
‘Has he hurt you?’
‘No. He’s still unconscious in hospital.’
‘You’re not going of your own free will, are you?’
‘No, but it is for the best and I’ve got to go now, Jack. I will write as soon as I can.’
‘Goodbye, Lana.’
‘Goodbye, darling Jack.’
Thirty four
t is a rich room in which Victoria finds her father. He is Isitting in a large armchair reading the newspapers. His favorite foxhound, Sergeant is curled up on a rug at his feet. At her entrance, Sergeant does no more than swivel his mournful eyes in her direction and wave the tip of his thirteen-year-old tail.
‘Daddy.’
He tilts his head so his washed out blue eyes can peer over his glasses. ‘Hello, pet,’ he welcomes genially.
‘Daddy, I’ve done something rather awful.’
Hugo Montgomery lowers his paper and narrows his eyes. It is amazing how different his eyes now appear.
‘Sit down,’ he orders.
<
br /> Victoria walks over to the chair opposite him, her face troubled and unhappy.
‘Well?’ he prompts.
She looks down and twists a black pearl on her bracelet.
‘I found out that Blake was keeping a woman. A horrible woman from a council estate.’ She stood suddenly and moved a few feet away. ‘He was paying her.’
Her father wisely says nothing.
‘Anyway, I went to see her, Daddy, and it was awful.
Just awful. Ghastly woman. There she was in all the designer gear that he had bought her, and she was so arrogant about it too. She challenged me to take him away from her. I was so desperate I offered her money to leave him.’ Victoria looks him in the eye.
Her father’s face is expressionless. ‘Did she agree?’
Her voice becomes hard and cold. ‘Of course. I had Martin draw up the papers and I transferred the money from my Gibraltar account. I’ve checked and she’s gone.
Left the country.’
‘It appears you’ve taken care of your little problem.
What do you want me to do?’
‘Daddy, I love Blake, he is a good, strong man, and I know that once we are married he will be a good husband and a fine father. I can forgive him for this little indiscretion.’
Her father nods carefully.
‘But I know that he will never forgive me for interfering with his affairs if he finds out it was I who offered her the money. Daddy, could you please see him and tell him that it was you who offered her money. Surely he will be able to see what a little tramp she is to leave him while he is still in hospital.’
‘That will surely ruin my relationship with him.’
‘Does it really matter? You will still be his father-in-law and he will come to recognize that you did it for his own good.’
‘You are certain you want this man?’
‘I have never been more certain of anything in my life.’
He turns away from her and looks out of the window.
‘Do you have a copy of her signature?’
‘Yes.’
He nods. ‘Of course, the contract.’ A thought occurs to him. ‘What about a sample of her writing?’
‘Yes.’
He raises a bushy, enquiring eyebrow.
The Billionaire Banker Page 18