‘Long face, short skirt, says you’re great in bed apparently. I said we must have been talking about another Richard Pendleton.’
‘Bella?’ he croaked. ‘Oh, she’s just another trainee. Worked with her in the CoCo department – as you know the hours could be incredible sometimes, but …’
‘You bloody liar!’ she said, jabbing a finger into his chest.
Richard’s face whitened. ‘Look, what’s she been saying?’ he stammered, his earlier confident bluster now completely dissolved.
‘The real reason you didn’t want to come down to Cornwall or have me to stay at weekends. Quite a handy arrangement for you, wasn’t it? Her up here and me tucked away two hundred miles away.’
‘She’s making it up,’ he said, trying to sound indignant. ‘She’s a bit, you know, la-la,’ he said, twirling a finger at his temple.
‘Save it Richard,’ she spat, pulling her coat on. ‘I’m not interested any more.’
‘Look, okay,’ he said, grabbing Erin’s arm and lowering his voice, ‘so we had a little fling. You know how difficult the long-distance thing between us is. And, yes, Bella and I were both working long nights and one thing led to another. But it’s long over and she can’t accept it.’
He began shaking his head, his mouth twisting up sourly. ‘I can’t believe the little tart told you.’
‘But it didn’t stop long ago, did it, Richard?’ said Erin, shrugging off his hand. ‘It stopped the second I became useful to you.’
‘Erin, stop it,’ he hissed, noticing that people were beginning to look at them. ‘Let’s go home and talk about this.’
They both saw Adam Gold coming out of the ballroom at the same time. He was pulling on his cashmere overcoat when he saw them.
‘Erin, Richard. I have to go,’ he said, glancing at his gold Patek Philippe. ‘Thanks for a great evening.’
Richard, still pale, went to shake his hand. ‘It was an absolute pleasure, Adam. Thank you for coming.’
Adam smiled, although his brow furrowed. ‘Erin, can I grab you for one minute?’ he said, pointing towards the door.
She followed him, trying to compose herself, aware that her eyes were still stinging from crying.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
‘Absolutely fine,’ she forced a smile. ‘Probably had a bit too much to drink.’
At that moment a rogue tear slipped down her cheek and she turned so that her back was to Richard, still hovering in the lobby.
‘Erin, what’s the matter? What’s happening?’ whispered Adam, shooting a ferocious glare in Richard’s direction.
‘It’s nothing Adam, honestly,’ replied Erin, struggling to suppress the sobs she felt welling up.
‘Tell me.’ It was an order.
‘Okay. My boyfriend is a liar and a cheat,’ she said as matter of factly as she could, gulping in air between the words. ‘While I was in Cornwall, he was cheating on me. All that time.’
Adam touched the sleeve of her coat gently and turned to look at Richard. Behind him, they could see Charles Sullivan waving a balloon of brandy in the air as he said goodbye to guests. He saw Adam and began to move over towards them.
‘Do you want to teach Richard a lesson?’ whispered Adam.
She blushed. ‘He deserves it,’ she said, laughing despite the tears. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘Just watch.’
They walked towards Charles and Richard. Erin’s heart was beating so furiously she thought it might stop, and her mouth was dry with anticipation. She recognized the look on Adam’s face, the ‘smiling assassin’ expression he had when he was just about to close a good deal.
‘Adam! Not going already?’ said Charles, slapping him on the shoulder. ‘Well, I have to say, it’s been a pleasure. Let’s stay in touch – you know what they say about your people phoning our people …?’ he said winking at Erin. ‘I gave you my card, didn’t I? It goes without saying that the firm would love to do some work with the Midas Group.’
Adam pulled the business card Charles had given him from his pocket and held it in the air. ‘Thanks, Charles. I have your details.’
The managing partner smiled, scenting big new business.
‘And as you know,’ continued Adam, ‘I am looking around for a new law firm for the Midas Group. We farm out a high volume of contract work,’ he said temptingly. ‘We spend a lot of money on our legals. A lot of money.’
Charles was beaming now.
‘Only there seems to be an issue of trust.’ Adam turned to look evenly at Richard whose face suddenly seemed frozen in fear. ‘You see, if my assistant can’t trust your trainee, I’m not sure I can trust White, Geary and Robinson.’
Charles Sullivan had gone a violent shade of pink and was looking at Richard as if he were about to throttle him. ‘But … Adam, Mr Gold, I’m sure I … that is we, can …’ spluttered Charles.
‘Oh, and Richard,’ added Adam in a low voice, ‘I hope you haven’t been billing all that late-night extracurricular work you’ve been doing to a client account? That would be fraud, and I believe that sort of thing is very frowned upon in the legal profession.’
There was a collective silence. Charles Sullivan now had purple spots on his cheeks and Richard looked as if he was about to cry.
As Adam turned and led a smiling Erin towards the revolving doors, he flipped up the collar on his coat and grinned. ‘I’ve got a feeling your ex-boyfriend is about to be debriefed.’
‘Erin, come home, this is ridiculous.’
Jilly Thomas was a placid woman most of the time, but when her granddaughter was in trouble, she was as fierce as a pit bull.
‘Gran, I’m not coming home,’ said Erin down the phone, ‘it’s just a setback.’
‘But where are you going to live?’ It’s just like that terrible Michael McGavey all over again, and look how long it took you to get over him.’
Erin sighed. ‘I’m a big girl now, gran,’ she said. ‘It’s going to be alright; I like it in London.’
‘Are you sure you don’t want to come home? We’re always here for you, you do know that, don’t you?’
‘I’m sure. And yes, I know that and it makes me very happy.’
Jilly was silent for a long time. ‘Well, you’re missing all the gossip. Did you know that Janet was pregnant? Same age as you and about to have a baby. Isn’t it lovely? Due just before Christmas.’
Erin smiled into the receiver. Suddenly she didn’t want to go home at all.
As the British Airways flight from Zurich landed at Heathrow Airport on a clear March Monday morning, Molly turned to Marcus, asleep next to her, and smiled contentedly. Right now, life felt good; really good. She had a rich, generous, well-connected man wrapped around her little finger. He was showering her with gifts and compliments but, more importantly, she felt sure he was going to lead her to the real prize: Adam Gold. Yes, her relationship with Marcus was progressing at speed, but she had never thought of Marcus as the goal; he was merely a stepping stone to the real money. Marcus was wealthy, but Molly’s standards were higher, much