Turning his attentions briefly back to his passenger, momentarily distracted by her perfect form and abundant peroxide hair that couldn’t possibly be all her own, Tom’s mind began to click into overdrive as his forced smile faded faster than a fake clairvoyant’s apparition. Truth was, Jack had every reason to worry. There was no cash; Tom owned the princely sum of nothing. Somehow, he needed to find a shortfall of at least three million bucks in less than seven days if he wasn’t about to renege on his word and lose face.
A thought bubble appeared above Tom’s head and he grinned at his passenger again. He was under no illusion that to make that kind of money in such a short period of time he would need a spectacular show of luck …
‘You doing much this weekend …?’ he made to address the blonde, realising he didn’t even know her name.
‘… Candy,’ she prompted, returning his grin with a broad smile of her own, showcasing her ice-white veneers, de rigueur in Beverly Hills.
‘Of course,’ he gave a knowing nod. What else would she be called?
‘And yeah, I was kinda planning to hook up with some girlfriends, you know, hit the bars, a few jello shots …’ she’d added, not wanting to make it sound as if she was too available.
‘Well, Candy,’ Tom said, turning to her earnestly and fixing her with an intent gaze that immediately held her intrigue, ‘cancel your plans.’ He had a sixth sense about this one; she had fortune on her side, he was convinced of it.
‘And why would I wanna do that?’ She cocked her head to one side, her fake eyelashes sweeping her cheeks as she blinked rapidly at him.
‘Because we’re going to Vegas, baby!’ he announced with a little whistle, the tyres of the Lamborghini screaming in objection as he accelerated around a corner.
After all, what did he have to lose?
CHAPTER 5
Ellie was finding it difficult to concentrate as her driver, Wesley, weaved through the Notting Hill traffic in her carbon-black Aston Martin V12 Vantage. She couldn’t get the earlier conversation she’d had with her wayward daughter out of her head.
‘Jesus, Mum, chill out already. I’m not a child anymore. I’m eighteen!’ Tess Scott had stood before Ellie with a defiant hand on her skinny jean-clad hip, rolling her eyes at her mother in over-exaggerated exasperation. ‘I’m pretty sure Allegra’s mum isn’t giving her the whole “make sure you use a condom” routine and banging on about ecstasy pills! It’s all so … embarrassing.’
‘Maybe that’s because Allegra’s mother doesn’t give a toss, Tess,’ Ellie had sharply replied. ‘I happen to care about what my daughter gets up to. I’ve been to Ibiza, remember …’
Tess rolled her eyes. Yeah, and no doubt her mother had sampled all that was on offer while she was there too. She was such a goddamn hypocrite sometimes it was unreal.
Ellie hadn’t wanted to fall out with Tess just before she left to catch a plane but her feisty daughter seemed to have a knack of rubbing her up the wrong way. ‘I’m only looking out for you,’ she’d said, her tone softening. ‘You’ll feel the same when you have your own kids one day.’ She had reached out and touched the tip of her daughter’s nose with an affectionate finger. ‘It’s just that you’re young and beautiful … I know what all the men out there will be after and I want you to be careful …’
Tess had thrown her limited-edition Mulberry Alexa onto the chrome and leather bar stool of their pristine designer kitchen with a loud exhalation. Frankly, she bloody well hoped that’s what they were after. It was partly the reason she was going, after all.
‘If I’m so beautiful, how come you’re so against me testing for that model agency I told you about?’ Tess had folded her arms and fixed her mother with a defiant stare.
‘Oh Tess, not this again, please,’ it had been Ellie’s turn to roll her eyes. ‘I’ve told you. That agency supplies glamour models and no daughter of mine is going to splash her half-naked body on billboards all over London. Not while she’s living under my roof. Can you imagine what your father would say?’ Ellie shook her head, dismissing the idea. ‘Once you’ve got a degree behind you, well, I can’t stop you if you want to pursue a career in modelling. But please, Tess, get your education first,’ she’d pleaded. ‘You’ve got a brain in that head of yours. I wish you would use it sometimes.’
Ellie stared out of the window as they turned out of Holland Park onto Abbotsbury Road where they immediately hit a slew of rush hour traffic and pulled her iPhone from her Miu Miu clutch.
Hey darling Hope you’ve landed safely. Watch out for snakes in your boot!
She smiled as she sent the text. Tess would know what she meant. The Toy Story catchphrase was a code word they used when asking the other to tread carefully.
‘Shit.’ Ellie looked down at her platinum and diamond Chanel bracelet watch in irritation. She would be late to meet Vinnie now.
‘Wesley, would you mind turning the air con up?’ she asked politely. All this business with Tess had left her feeling hot and bothered.
Tess was a bright girl. Smart. She’d been described by the principal of her ridiculously expensive private school as ‘a naturally high achiever’, though she’d also added ‘diva’ and ‘troublemaker’ to that list too. Ellie knew her daughter had a bit of a wild reputation; she had seen how she acted up around her friends. Tess loved being the centre of attention, especially where the opposite sex was concerned. It worried Ellie that her daughter seemed naturally drawn towards drama and chaos, something she herself understood only too well. Men had always found the O’Connor women alluring and she knew that such a disposition invariably had the potential to bring trouble. Tess seemed to feed off male attention, soak it up like a sponge.
Ellie knew her daughter was no virgin but she didn’t like the idea of her being easy pickings either. Tess was more vulnerable than she thought she was; and certain men could smell vulnerability like a shark senses blood. Not that it was entirely Tess’s fault; she was the classic only child of exceedingly wealthy parents. Always the centre of attention, she had been sheltered from any kind of negative influence her entire life; beautiful, adored and spoilt rotten, that was Tess Scott. It was a bitter regret of Ellie’s that she had been unable to give her only daughter a brother or sister. More than anything, Ellie had hoped to give her husband another child. It was the least she could do after everything he had given her. But life had denied them, and Ellie secretly wondered if it had seen fit to punish them both for her sins. Sins that she and Vinnie never spoke of …
Ellie’s early life had been the antithesis of her daughter’s; all Tess had known was extreme wealth and the protective blanket that it afforded. She had had the very best of everything money could buy, and yet in an odd twist of fate, it wasn’t in spite of her mother’s impoverished provenance that she had all these things; it was because of it.
Ellie thought of her own mother and felt a terrible pang of sadness resound inside her chest. Charlene O’Connor had been beautiful once, with peroxide-blonde hair and emerald green eyes that sparkled when she smiled. Her aesthetically pleasing appearance was her greatest asset, and with bills to pay and mouths to feed she had put it to good use as an ‘exotic’ dancer in an East End gentleman’s club. Though frankly, that was a misnomer if ever