Secret Intentions

by Caitlyn Nicholas

  “Actually, I think here is where I want to be, no matter what has happened.”

  Zani paused in the middle of stifling a yawn, and blinked in surprise. The butterflies had a small flutter. Corbin gave her a crooked smile and continued.

  “Look, I know it’s not the best time for all this. But the situation with the leaks is this. Karl has irrefutably traced phone calls from Paul’s office to the guy who runs the gamingsecrets blog. They coincide with each leak, and as far as I’m concerned there is little doubt that it was Paul.”

  “It just doesn’t make sense,” she said emphatically. “You think he sold the game to Vivre as well as leaking the information?”

  “It’s obvious, isn’t it?”

  Zani took a deep breath.

  “But you don’t understand. On my brother’s say so, my father has invested heavily in Sunberri. It runs to millions of pounds. He’s taken out loans on everything he owns and sold all the assets he could to do it.”

  “I see.” Corbin’s eyes narrowed, and his expression clouded as he assimilated this new information.

  “So, it makes no sense that Paul sold the game or leaked the information. If he did, then he’s ruined Dad and destroyed everything that our family possesses. He may be a weak bully, but as he often reminds me, it’s his inheritance. Why would he destroy it? It just doesn’t seem to gel.” She watched Corbin carefully, trying to gauge his reaction.

  “You’re right. It doesn’t make sense.” Corbin frowned. To Zani’s relief he seemed to have taken the insider trading issue in his stride. “So you’re saying Paul had such faith in Sunberri that he tried to use your father’s money to make a huge profit when we released the game? But the calls came from his office and now he’s gone. None of this makes sense.”

  “I know,” said Zani. “What does everyone else think? That it was Paul, or are there other suspects?”

  “Me, actually,” said Corbin, not quite managing to hide his bitterness. “Your father was not the only one to come up with the management buyout theory. I’ve had that accusation thrown at me more than once by the board.”

  Zani reached out and gave his hand a squeeze. “This all must be a nightmare for you.”

  “I’ve had better days.” He shrugged. “Actually, they’ve asked me to take some leave until the culprit is found.” He wouldn’t meet her eyes and tore the stale croissant on his plate into smaller and smaller pieces.

  “Oh Corbin…” She wanted to touch him again, to reassure him. But tension rippled through him, and she hesitated, worried he’d shake her off.

  “It will be fine. I’ve nothing to hide. Let them carry out their investigation, it’s immaterial to me.” He bit out the words.

  “Okay, so who do you think did it?” she asked.

  “It wasn’t you. It wasn’t me or Paul. None of the other board members had access to that information. I’ve no reason to suspect anyone on the design team. Karl’s looked at all their bank accounts, no sudden injections of cash, no new cars or mortgages paid off. I just hope he manages to turn up some more information.”

  Zani snorted humourlessly. “It was probably Maid Marion.”

  Corbin smiled back. “Marion is the sweetest lady in the world. She brings me biscuits. I simply cannot imagine her doing such a thing. Anyway, I don’t think she has access to the right information.”

  “Good God, speak of the devil!” interrupted Zani. The very pregnant Marion waddled through the sliding doors of the hospital’s main entrance.

  “Marion,” Corbin called to her.

  She gave them a wave and a watery smile. “Corbin, Zani love, what are you doing here?”

  “Well…” Zani started to reply, but Marion barreled on.

  “I’ve been looking for Paul. I heard his father is here and I thought he might be as well. I’m in such a muddle.” Her bottom lip quivered and she began to cry.

  Horrified, Corbin and Zani jumped to their feet. Zani ushered Marion into a chair and Corbin hurried to get her a cup of tea. Clearly it was Corbin’s day for weeping females.

  “Thank you, love.” She went to take the tea from Corbin, but her hand shook so badly that the cup rattled dangerously on its saucer. He steadied it and put it carefully on the table.

  “Now, tell me what’s happened. I’ve never seen you in such a state.”

  “I can’t.” She began to sob again. Corbin took a deep and patient breath.

  “It can’t possibly be that bad. Wipe your eyes.” He fished in his pocket for a handkerchief and winced only slightly when she blew her nose loudly into it. “Start at the beginning.”

  “I just need to find Paul, he’ll know what’s happened.”

  Corbin glanced at Zani, and she nodded her head infinitesimally.

  “Paul’s gone, Marion.”

  “Oh. Well isn’t that typical, he’s probably on his way home and there I was on my way here. I must have missed him.” She pushed out her chair, clearly intending to leave.

  “No, Marion, Paul’s gone, he’s left the country. We’ve tracked him as far as Heathrow, but we’re not sure where he went next.”

  Marion stared at him in complete incomprehension.

  “But he can’t have left, the baby is due any day,” she said, as if it was the most logical thing in the world.

  “What?” said Zani.

  “Well, the due date is next Monday, but it could be any time now.”

  “Yes, but what does that have to do with Paul?”

  “He’s the father. We’ve been keeping it a secret, him being Lord of Southwick and me just being a commoner. But now that I’ve sold the house and we’re moving in together, I suppose there’s no harm in people knowing.”

  “Well I’m hardly people,” said Zani, wildly trying to decide whether to laugh, cry or lie on the floor.

  “Zani is Paul’s sister,” said Corbin.

  “But I thought you were the temp? He’s never mentioned a sister.” Marion glanced confusedly from Zani to Corbin. The silence lengthened as each digested this latest piece of news.

  “I need to get out. I really need some air.” Shaking her head in denial, Zani stood abruptly.

  “Zani…” Corbin didn’t try to stop her. She walked blindly outside into the frigid morning, tears misting her eyes.

  “Wait here,” he said to Marion, who dabbed at her eyes with his handkerchief and nodded. Grabbing their drinks, he followed Zani.

  Beside the hospital there was a wide sports field and a small children’s playground. The air was so cold that breathing made her teeth ache and her nose run. She sniffed undignifiedly and thought crossly that she never had a tissue when she needed one. She headed across the sports field to the playground.

  “I suppose you knew all about this last night,” she threw nastily over her shoulder at the entirely undeserving Corbin, who strode easily along in her wake.

  “Zani I only found out about Paul last night.” He sounded exasperated. “I got home after the ambulance left the ball and found a message waiting from Karl. I called him and he told me about the phone calls. I had no idea Marion was involved with Paul.”

  “Do you think she’s telling the truth?”

  “Slow down, would you?” Corbin didn’t seem to be having any trouble keeping up, but she humoured him. He handed her the Styrofoam cup of tea. “I’ve worked with Marion for a long time. She isn’t the type to make this sort of thing up.”

  Zani nodded in agreement. “I know what you mean. I only talked to her once, but she has this sort of naiveté about her. God I feel so responsible.”

  “What, for Marion?”

  “Yes, and everything. Sunberri, the game, Paul, Dad.”

  “Zani, none of it is your fault,” said Corbin emphatically.

  Zani shrugged, almost surprised by the statement. “Before she died, Mum made me promise I would always look after them. I’ve done my level best to fulfill that role. I decided it didn’t matter how badly they treated me. It’s only me, and I knew they loved me r
eally. Now it’s all gone awry, despite my best efforts.”

  “That’s horrible. You aren’t their emotional doormat, or their maidservant.”

  “I know. But I just feel so guilty.” It was the first time she’d ever admitted it to another person.

  “God, you don’t have to feel like that.” He sounded appalled and she felt a warm glow. She’d never had anyone so staunchly on her side.

  “I know that, too.” She smiled up at him. “But I do.”

  He bent and gently brushed his lips over hers. Her eyes widened in shock.

  She stepped back, scowling at him. “Don’t.”

  “Don’t?” He stepped toward her and cradled her face in his hand. “I just wanted to take some of the hurt away.”

  Zani melted. She couldn’t help it. She saw the affection in his eyes and for the first time let herself believe he didn’t pity her. But then her face fell. “You haven’t heard all of the story. You won’t want to do that when you have.”

  “I don’t care about what’s happened in the past.”

  She had to resist holding his warm hand against her cheek. He watched her closely. It unnerved her. She was unused to anyone seeing so much.

  “Yes, but I’ve lied and lied to you. Searched your office…” She looked down and pulled away from his hand. She inspected the ground, twisting one foot. Her eye lighted on a cigarette butt nestled in the grass; suddenly she longed for one.

  “I know,” he said simply.

  “So, I don’t understand. Why are you here?”

  “Because you need someone.” He said it easily, but there was a wariness in his face, as if he wasn’t entirely comfortable making the admission.

  “You think?” she asked sarcastically, the words designed to alienate him. “Well, I’ve done quite nicely without anyone up to this point, thank you very much.”

  She started to walk again, distancing herself from Corbin and any evidence she may have been harsh with someone who only wanted to be kind. She headed toward the small playground and sat on a swing.

  Corbin followed, infuriatingly undamaged by Zani’s sarcasm.

  “Okay, okay, you don’t need anybody. I’m here because I’m a bit bored this morning, being on holiday and all, and I have a vicarious interest in what happens to you and your family,” he said.

  “Yes, very funny.” Zani kept one foot on the ground and rocked back and forth. She pulled a face at him, but then sobered.

  She carefully placed her cooling tea on the ground and, lifting her feet, began to swing. Back and forth, higher and higher, almost trying to capture that sense of exhilaration she remembered from when she was a child.

  The swing frame creaked, and Corbin sat and watched her, as if waiting to see what she’d say next. The moment passed and, slightly breathless, pink with cold, she let the swing slow and stopped it with a foot on the ground.

  “Let us recap. My name is Zani, I am going to be an aunty, Aunty Zani, oh dear! My brother has absconded, my father is at death’s door and my mother, well, we all know what happened to her. My life is a mess, and here I sit on a swing, in a park, with a man who calls me cherie, remembers that I like tea best and gently tells me things that end my world. When you think about it, it’s quite hysterically funny.” She felt more tears welling, and Corbin must have seen. He stood, pulled her up from the swing and, holding her hands in his, looked down at her.

  “Don’t kiss me again, I couldn’t bear it,” she said.

  “You’re hands are freezing cherie. I promise I won’t kiss you unless you specifically request it.”

  That made her smile. “Something is happening here, between us I mean,” she said.

  “Yes.”

  “I can’t—I just can’t deal with anything else at the moment.”

  “I know. I realise that. Let’s get through this and leave the rest to later.”

  She didn’t get the chance to reply. Out of the corner of her eye, a movement caught her attention. A uniformed figure came running across the football field toward them.

  “Oh, Christ.” She knew what it meant. It had to be bad. She clung to Corbin. He looped his strong arm around her waist. It was the only thing supporting her.

  “Zani, you can face this,” Corbin muttered into her hair. She gathered strength from his words and pulled away from him, hurrying to meet the running figure.

  An orderly came puffing up to them. “Zani Best?” She nodded, thinking, Get it over with, for God’s sake just tell me he is dead. Tell me it’s all over.

  “It’s your father. There have been complications. The doctor needs you to come and sign the consent forms, he must operate again immediately.”

  Though she was prepared for the worst, the orderly’s words were a shock. A blankness descended on her and she thought for a moment how pleasant it would be to sink into denial, pretend it was all happening to somebody else.

  Corbin’s voice penetrated the fog. “Zani, come on, you can do this.” And with those words the blank feeling lifted. She could do this. She had the strength.

  “Lead the way,” she said to the orderly. Shaking off Corbin’s arm, she followed the young man at a flat run back to her father’s side.

  She sat in a waiting room with stained couches and a television chattering endlessly bright daytime television. But she’d only eyes for the clock. Seconds became minutes became hours and still no word from the surgeon. Her father was undergoing a full heart bypass.

  To her amazement Corbin had not left her side, despite her best efforts to make him go.

  “I won’t leave you here alone,” was his stubborn reply.

  Marion had sat with them for a while.

  “I don’t care what that shit Paul’s done, but I’m carrying your father’s grandchild and I feel I ought to be here,” she said with a frankness that made Zani like her more and more.

  It also turned out she’d nowhere else to go.

  “We’d planned it all. I’d sell my little house and move in with him. Then we could tell everyone about the baby. He was ever so worried about what your father might think. The removalists are loading the vans right now. The new people are moving into my house this afternoon. I was supposed to go to his house, but when I arrived there this morning, the key he gave me wouldn’t work, and there was a sold sign on a placard out the front…” At this point she dissolved into tears.

  With a couple of phone calls, Corbin arranged for her things to be put into storage. He handed her a key to his house and walked her out to get a taxi.

  “Just settle yourself in the spare room. There’s a bucket in there—the roof leaks—just put it in the ensuite. Be careful on the stairs and call me if you need anything,” he told her as they left the waiting room.

  Zani let out a sigh of relief. Though she truly liked Marion, it’d been hard work keeping quiet about what, exactly, she wanted to do to Paul when she got her hands on him. Leaving Dad so ill was bad enough, but abandoning a pregnant woman… Words failed her. Not to mention all the crap he’d clearly been spouting about him being a lord and her being a commoner. Zani had never heard such a load of tripe.

  It was full dark when Zani woke. Thirsty, with every muscle aching, she was cradled on Corbin’s shoulder. His arm draped loosely around her as he read a magazine on sailing. Some sixth sense must have woken her. Her father’s surgeon walked in the door. He looked tired, but smiled broadly.

  “It didn’t go as well as we’d hoped. He’s still unconscious and I expect he’ll stay that way for at least a few days. However, I have every hope he’ll make a good recovery.” Overwhelmed with relief, Zani burst into tears. Corbin’s warm arms instantly enfolded her and the stress and tension of the last few days came bubbling out. She’d thought she’d no more tears left, but she was wrong.

  Secret Intentions

  Chapter Twelve

  Peering nervously out of the plane window, Zani searched the unrelenting white for any sign of a feature. Ground, sky, anything. She had the horrible, disoriented f
eeling that she flew along in a void. It’d been like this since they left Helsinki, eighteen minutes and forty one seconds ago, and she wasn’t happy. Zani hated to fly.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t understand how planes worked. It wasn’t that she’d had any traumatic experience to make her so terrified. It just didn’t seem natural. That was all. Give her a boat securely afloat the water and she’d be happy.

  The pitch of the plane’s engines changed slightly as it began to descend, and she started, listened carefully, though she wasn’t sure what for, then relaxed slightly as the steady roar continued, though she kept a close eye on the air stewards. If they weren’t panicking, then neither would she.

  She checked the in-flight display monitor that helpfully counted down the time until they landed in Oulu. Only twenty minutes and then it’d all be over. Breathing deeply and vowing next time she’d bring tranquilisers, she stared down at the novel on her lap. It’d been open at the same place since they’d taken off, and there were sweaty thumbprints down the edge of the page.

  Twenty-three minutes later, safely on the ground, she sheepishly looked out over the squat blue buildings of Oulu airport, and she couldn’t help the relief. She’d survived. She gathered her belongings, looping her handbag over her shoulder, and as the steward opened the door, she brooked no dawdlers. After practically climbing over a rather round gentleman and doing an undignified waltz with a vaguely familiar tall, thin man in a dark coat, left then right, then left, she escaped from the plane.

  Hurrying up the walkway, she dug out her new mobile phone and called Marion. Her father hadn’t yet woken from the coma, and after much persuading by Karen and Corbin, Zani had reluctantly decided to continue with her trip to Finland. Guilt still gnawed at her. What-ifs had haunted her for the brief part of the flight she hadn’t spent panicking about being on a plane.

  Marion didn’t answer her phone. So, hoping that everything was okay, Zani concentrated on getting through passport control, hiring a car and starting the long drive south to Bosund, where she’d spend the next twenty-four hours going over the shell of the Baltic 147.