After a long intimate dinner, neither of them were quite ready to go home, so they took a cab to the casino at Atlantis, where Jake lost badly at the roulette wheel and Lizzie won a small fortune at blackjack table. They had great fun and laughed a lot but by two in the morning they were both ready to head back to their own resort.
After tipping the taxi driver, Jake then walked Lizzie back to her bungalow.
When they reached her door, Lizzie said, “That was wonderful, Jake, thank you. I’ve had a lovely evening.”
“Me, too, Lizzie. I’ve really enjoyed it.”
“It’s beautiful here, isn’t it. Nassau, I mean.” Lizzie said.
“It is. And so are you,” replied Jake.
“Why thank you, kind sir,” she mocked. “You ain’t so bad yourself.”
“Oh, stop it. You’ll make me blush.”
“I’d like to see that. I bet it’d be so cute.” Her dark hair was plaited into a long thick pony tail. Very stylish, very classy. And very irresistible. The tiny scar on her temple gleaming white against her tan like a shiny star.
“I think you’re the cute one,” Jake said, and lent in to kiss her.
She lifted her chin in response and their lips touched. Just for a couple of beats. Then he pulled away, but their faces remained just inches apart.
“That was nice.” Lizzie said.
“Yeah. I’ve wanted to do that since the moment I saw you.”
“Really?” she said.
“Uh-huh.”
“Wanna do it again?”
“Oh, yeah.” This time when their lips touched, it was stronger, more passionate, electric. He lifted his hand and caressed her cheek, softly pulling her to him, feeling her tongue gently probing his. She placed a hand at the base of his neck, keeping him with her, not letting him go. The kiss lasted a long time, but eventually they broke away.
“How about I come in for a coffee?” Jake asked.
“That’s a very good idea, although not tonight. I need my beauty sleep. But soon, Jake, very soon. I promise.”
“Hey, no problem,” Jake said, but his disappointment was clear to see, “I wasn’t thirsty anyway.”
“No,” Lizzie said suggestively. “I know you weren’t.”
Jake grinned. “I’ll have you know, I’m addicted to caffeine.”
“I just bet you are,” she laughed. She took her key from her purse, then leaned up and gave him another long kiss. “Another time. I promise,” she whispered.
Then she turned and walked to her door. “Night, Limey.” She said.
“Goodnight, Yank.”
She opened her door, turned, blew him a kiss, then disappeared inside her bungalow.
Jake smiled wistfully. Then walked back to his own bungalow alone.
* * *
Lizzie shut the door behind her and with the bungalow still in darkness she went over to the window to check that Jake had gone. Then she shut the drapes and snapped on the light.
When she turned she saw the man sitting there in one of the white linen armchairs, looking directly at her and she very nearly jumped out of her skin.
The man’s expression was intense even though he looked tired and drawn. The clothes he wore were functional rather than stylish in ‘an Englishman abroad’ sort of way and his bald head and sharp, pointed nose were both reddened with sunburn.
Aaron Sumpter smiled. “Hello Elizabeth,” he said, “I never thought you were coming home?”
Lizzie let out a breath of relief, “Christ, Ronny, you startled me.” She said. “I thought you’d be asleep by now. You shouldn’t have waited up.”
“Sorry. I know. I couldn’t sleep - and to be honest, I was a bit worried about you. How did it go? Is everything alright - does he suspect anything?
Lizzie marched over and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thanks for being worried, but you needn’t have been. And of course he doesn’t suspect anything, silly. Everything’s fine.” She said. “Everything is going just as we planned.”
But even as she said it, Lizzie knew that it wasn’t.
Chapter 30
Wendel Wallace was a big-hearted American, born and raised in San Francisco. But the majority of his business life was spent in the UK, where the head offices of Wallace Bearing were located, the company that his father, Langford Wallace, and Randolph Bearing had started many years before.
Wendel, like his father, was a natural businessman, but he was also a humanitarian. And proof of this was his benevolence to Aaron Sumpter.
It was Wendel who had given Aaron his first job cleaning the staff cars at Wallace Bearing and running errands for him and Teddy Bearing. Aaron was just fifteen and had been in and out of foster and care homes all his life. An orphan without a father to guide him. But Wendel had recognised his potential and had taken him on. Teddy, too, had played his part, both men mentoring the young Aaron and he was keen to learn.
Eventually Aaron moved into the Wallace mansion, where he befriended Wendel’s young son, Jonathan. And even though Aaron was five years older, the two soon became close.
Wendel often took the two boys with him whenever he travelled to America where Wendel’s wife, Ella, chose to live. But it was a happy marriage and life spent mostly apart seemed to suit them.
Ella was a loving mother to Jonathan, but she also had a very demanding career as a doctor so she allowed her son to live most the year with her husband in England, where he also went to school.
Teddy Bearing’s son, Peter, was also around quite a bit. But he was a spoiled youth and very superior in his manner. He was extremely intelligent and liked to get his own way and Teddy would indulge him. Aaron got on well enough with Peter though, who was just a couple of years younger than him, but he never really took to him quite like he did to Jonathan.
Jonathan was eleven when Elizabeth came along, who he alone called ‘Lizzie.’ She called him ‘Johnny’ and Aaron ‘Ronny’ as she could not pronounce either of their names properly when she was tiny.
But somehow, the names had stuck and to her that is how they were forever known.
As for Aaron, he adored her from the moment she was born. To him, she was his little sister. However, for some reason, maybe because she was a girl, Ella chose to keep Elizabeth with her in the States. But in the holidays she always came to stay with Wendel in England.
As time wore on, Aaron took on a more active role at Wallace Bearing. Ever eager for his mentor’s approval, he had a knack for garnering information which often proved useful to Wendel and Teddy, earning their praise and encouragement. By his mid-twenties Aaron had a complete dossier on all Wallace Bearing clients, on every director, manager and department head. The good, the bad and the downright dirty. All their little secrets documented in black and white. It was vital intelligence which had proved to be useful leverage in many sticky negotiations.
Meanwhile, Jonathan was off at university, studying business. But it was Peter that shone in that department and he had earned himself a place at Oxford. Which was where he met Arthur and Charles Khan.
Aaron met the Khan’s many times in those days as they and Peter were as thick as thieves, although Aaron and Arthur never really saw eye to eye.
Eventually, both Jonathan and Peter took up positions at Wallace Bearing. Wendel was exceptionally proud of Jonathan even though he was never the businessman he would have liked him to be.
Peter, however, made it plain that he was the boss, both at work and at leisure, but that was the way he had always been.
When Teddy Bearing succumbed to cancer, Peter, aged just twenty-eight, took up his seat on the board.
After that there was no stopping him. He would make decisions about the future of The Company, often taking it in a completely different direction without deferring to Wendel as the more senior partner. However, it could not be denied that Peter’s ideas we
re effective and Wallace Bearing went from strength to strength.
Wendel was all but put out to pasture and Jonathan was viewed as little more than an irritant. Peter made it quite clear that he wished to be rid of them both.
Meanwhile, Ella Wallace, who had been diagnosed with dementia some years before was slowly losing her mind and the stress of it weighed heavily on all members of the family.
By way of escape, Elizabeth, now twenty-three and studying fashion in the States, had married a musician by the name of Roger Barnes. The pair had set up home together in California much to Jonathan and Aaron’s dismay, but the marriage was in trouble almost as soon as it began.
That same year, Peter Bearing held a party at his Berkshire mansion, where he planned to rid himself of Jonathan Wallace.
Jonathan liked the ladies and they liked him and on this night Peter made certain that he was surrounded by plenty of them. He also made certain that Jonathan’s glass was never empty.
Late into the evening and drunk, Jonathan took one of the girl’s into a bedroom where he supposedly raped her.
In reality, the whole thing had been choreographed by Bearing. Jonathan had been drugged and the girl forcibly had sex with him even though he had no memory of it. Afterwards, Peter went to work on the girl with his fists to make the claim of rape look more convincing. Lastly, he tore the girl’s panties and smeared her dress with blood. The girl disappeared after she was paid off - although not before Peter got very explicit photographic evidence of what Jonathan had supposedly done.
In the morning, when Jonathan awoke with the hangover from hell, Peter told him that the girl had demanded fifty thousand pounds in return for her silence. Bearing said he had paid her out of his own pocket to protect Jonathan. Bearing then showed him the photos and said that he was a disgrace to the Wallace Bearing name but would help him on the condition that he resign from The Company immediately. The photos were to be retained by Peter as insurance that Jonathan keep his word.
Jonathan truly didn’t know what to believe. Was he really capable of doing what the evidence suggested? He wasn’t sure that he was but he was certainly different when he drank whiskey and he couldn’t remember a thing except for seeing the girl in the bedroom wearing just her green satin underwear. It was his only memory and tragically a rather convincing one.
Ashamed, desperate and with no other choice Jonathan reluctantly agreed to Peter’s demands and the very next day he duly resigned from The Company, convinced that he had brought shame down upon his whole family.
A week later he hanged himself.
Wendel collapsed when he heard the news. On route to the hospital he suffered a massive heart attack and was pronounced dead on arrival.
* * *
Aaron was utterly devastated by the double tragedy as was Elizabeth, who, grief stricken, looked thin and unwell at the funeral. Ella Wallace did not make the trip.
Elizabeth flew back to the States almost immediately afterwards, unable to deal with both her father and brother’s affairs and begging Aaron to take care of things on her behalf. Which he proudly did. But he could not accept that Jonathan was capable of rape, so he decided to find out the facts for himself, without Bearing’s knowledge.
It took him very little time to find the girl that had cried rape and only slightly longer to extract the truth from her; that the whole sordid affair had been orchestrated by Peter Bearing.
The seeds of revenge had been growing in Aaron’s head ever since Jonathan’s suicide but after finding the girl and hearing the truth the seeds had reached full bloom. He didn’t know exactly how yet but one way or another he would make Bearing pay for what he had done. However, with no physical proof, Aaron could not reveal his findings to the police or even confront Bearing with them. His only hope, for the time being was to continue working for Wallace Bearing and remain in a trusted position in the hope that he would find something one day to ultimately bring Bearing down.
In order to do this effectively and to gain Peter’s trust, he had to physically distance himself from Lizzie and the Wallace family, to publicly fall out with them in such a way that Peter Bearing would find utterly believable and when Lizzie asked Aaron to take care of things for her after the funerals it gave him an idea as to how such a rift could occur.
The answer was money, or more precisely, lack of it. Aaron was due to benefit massively from Wendel’s death. Lizzie was to see to it that her foster brother had an equal share of the inheritance which would make him very rich indeed. Lizzie, of course, intended to honour her father’s wishes. But, Aaron supposed, what would happen if she didn’t?
Convincing Lizzie to cut him out of the inheritance was tricky and she was extremely reluctant to do so - Aaron was as much a brother to her as Jonathan was and fully entitled to every penny Wendel bequeathed him. But eventually Aaron made her see things his way. She too wanted to bring Bearing down and it made sense for Aaron to be close to him, to work on the inside so that he could find something to make that possible. Unfortunately, Aaron’s plan also meant that he and Lizzie would not be able to see each other and would only be able to communicate secretly at specific times. This thought didn’t appeal to either of them but in the end Aaron convinced her that it would be worth it.
So Aaron loudly made it known that Wendel had made no provision in his will for him and that Elizabeth had seen fit not to give him a cent. He made a huge show of being slighted by the Wallace family and spoke badly of them to anyone in The Company who had Peter’s ear - and in particular Bearing himself. As if to underline his ill fortune, Aaron bought himself a small semi-detached in Hampstead which was a dramatic step down from the apartment suite he lived in at Wendel’s mansion prior to his death.
From then on he always went that extra mile to ensure that Peter’s faith in him was unquestionable. However, in truth, Aaron was secretly filing every bit of documentation, recording every conversation and noting every transaction, constantly trying to find that one snippet of information that would destroy Bearing.
* * *
Six months after the death of her father and brother, Elizabeth’s already rocky marriage ended in divorce and shortly after that, her mother died. Ella Wallace, once so beautiful, so intelligent and wise, passed away in her sleep, her mind so badly addled that she had not recognised her own daughter for some considerable time.
Elizabeth was heart broken and finding it difficult to move on. Aaron was her only comfort, even though he could only offer support by phone once a week. He was a godsend and she finally got through it but during those dark days, they often discussed their desire to avenge Jonathan and Wendel’s deaths - the only question was how.
But after three years of searching they finally found a way.
Aaron had numerous recordings of Peter and Arthur Khan discussing a horde of conflict diamonds they were bringing into the UK and his plan was to actually film Peter taking delivery of them, thus providing actual concrete evidence and undeniable proof of his guilt.
However, the diamonds went missing. As did Aaron’s evidence. But, as luck would have it, Bearing charged Aaron with the task of finding them, not suspecting that Sumpter’s motive’s were very different from his own.
After another two and a half years of searching, Aaron finally found the man who stole them and he immediately rang Elizabeth, now twenty-eight and calling herself Lizzie, in memory of Jonathan, to tell her the news. Together they formulated a plan.
The only thing now was to find out where the diamonds were, if indeed there were any left, and steal them away from the man who currently possessed them. Jake Sawyer.
Chapter 31
Arthur Khan had given up waiting for Aaron Sumpter a long time ago.
His patience had run out eight months before when Sumpter’s latest report again turned up nothing new.
Arthur had done as Peter had said. He had laid low, he had bided his tim
e and he had let the dust settle. There had been no repercussions following the murder of the Sawyers or Maddox, no arrest and now, from what he had gathered, the case had been stamped ‘unsolved’ and effectively filed. He was free and clear.
Now he was keen to get on with things, eager to get back the diamonds that he and his brother had so carefully collected. Their nest egg, their retirement fund. Their diamonds. But now Charles was dead and his share would go to Arthur who was desperate to claim it.
Arthur had never trusted Aaron Sumpter and he had never made a secret of it, but Peter had always maintained that he was dependable. However after repeatedly being put off or told to be patient by Sumpter, even Peter was having his doubts. Sure, Sumpter had shown a modicum of success, tracing Sawyer to Amsterdam and from there back and forth across the globe, which was quite impressive even Arthur had to admit. But then the trail had grown cold. And had remained cold. In fact for the last year it had been positively freezing.
That was why eight months ago, Arthur, with Peter Bearing’s reluctant approval, had taken matters into his own hands.
He had hired one of his own men, who he had fought alongside for many years. A man whose loyalty was unquestionable as it had been proven in battle time after time. A man who had the necessary skills to trail Sumpter, to find out exactly what he did know and exactly what he was up to. And, more importantly, whether he could be trusted. This man’s name was Fabian Król.
Król, originally from Poland, was an ex-mercenary, just like Khan. He was tough, resilient and extremely capable. If Sumpter was holding something back or, as Arthur suspected, trying to keep the diamonds for himself, then Król would learn of it. And, if necessary, deal with it. Permanently.
* * *
From a distant hill, Fabian Król watched Sumpter through an extremely powerful zoom lens, the whir and click of the camera’s shutter the only sound in the tranquil Caribbean afternoon, as numerous photos were snapped and saved onto the memory card.
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