‘What, Liev?’ The resigned tiredness in her voice tugged at his heart, finally awakened by that one night they’d put aside everything and truly loved one another. Or so he’d thought.
She walked to a bench and sat down, crossing her legs and twisting round to face him slightly. Her beautiful dark eyes urged him to talk even though she didn’t say a word, and he would never forget how they’d looked as he’d made her his—only his. But he couldn’t let such thoughts sway him; he couldn’t fall for her charms and innocence, not when they were used against him as a weapon, one more powerful than anything he’d ever battled with before.
‘I want to know exactly why the bracelet is so important.’
* * *
Bianca’s heart went into free fall as she looked at Liev standing before her—alone. People milled around him but he was still very much alone. She wanted to go to him and tell him the bracelet had ceased to have any importance the moment he’d kissed her on the beach. That as he’d taken her to his bed and claimed her as his, binding her to him for ever, it had paled into total insignificance. No amount of glittering jewels was more important than love, and somehow she knew her grandfather would share that thought.
What would Liev say if she admitted that? Would he laugh at her? Would he believe her if she declared her love for him? If his reaction to her virginity was anything to go by, he would never believe a word she said again.
‘It’s complicated.’ She focused her attention on the fountain as it stood majestically rising into the blue summer sky. Even the lily in the angel’s hand, representing purity, mocked her for what he thought she’d done, giving her virginity for the bracelet. Would he ever believe her if she told him it wasn’t true?
He came and sat next to her, and whilst she was rigidly perched on the edge of it, he leant back and stretched his arm out along the back of the bench. ‘I’m listening.’
She closed her eyes and knew she would have to tell him everything if she stood any chance of him ever believing that she loved him. She’d come this far, fallen for the worst man possible, but after years of waiting, could she really turn her back on her love for him?
‘As you know, my grandfather is ill—terminally ill.’ She paused. Saying it aloud made it seem more real. Until now it had just been a fact in her head. ‘Once, he’d owned that bracelet. I have no idea if he bought it for a lover or if it is a family heirloom, but when he arrived in New York in 1942, he had nothing to live off but a few pieces of jewellery. They must have meant something to him because he has asked for them, wanting to see them one last time.’
She moved slightly on the bench and turned to face Liev. He looked relaxed and not at all affected by her words, but the hand which rested on his thigh was clenched into a tight fist.
‘And you bartered yourself, your virginity, for that?’ The shock in his voice brought heated colour to her cheeks. Did he have to make it sound so bad, so cold and calculated?
She dropped her gaze and looked at her hands. Shamefully she would have to admit he was right, although it hadn’t been like that at all. That night nothing else had mattered, only the man she’d loved, the man she’d waited for.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen it that way. If she told him the truth, that she’d given him her virginity because she loved him, he would no doubt push her further away. He didn’t let emotions rule that cold heart of his. She was fighting a lost cause. As far as he was concerned, she’d bartered with her body for a piece of jewellery. So what did that make her in his eyes? As callous and unfeeling as him?
She drew in a ragged breath and locked her heart away, smothered her emotions and looked directly into his eyes. ‘I did and now I want what you promised me.’
* * *
Liev pulled the old box back out of his pocket and held it as he looked at her. His first impressions of Bianca had been right. She’d fooled him, tricked him. Made him believe he was special, that maybe if things had been different they could have had a future. She had been as callous and calculating as he’d been. No, worse. She’d brought emotions into their deal.
‘I hope this makes your grandfather very happy, Bianca—and that it was worth it for you.’
She took the box from him, her fingers brushing against his, sending a fizz of electric awareness instantly through him. Inwardly he cursed. It didn’t matter what she’d done, that she’d played on his past and exploited her innocence, leading him to do the one thing that he should never have done—take her virginity. None of that mattered. He still wanted her. And worse—what he felt for her went deeper, but he couldn’t acknowledge that now.
‘It was. One day, Liev, you, too, will do absolutely anything for love.’ Her dark eyes were so hard, so fiercely full of contempt for him, that for a moment he was agonisingly jealous of her grandfather, for having all her love. There wasn’t anything left. Not even the smallest space in her heart.
Once again he leapt to the defence of his emotions, the way he felt about her, desperate not to show the tiniest bit of compassion for her.
‘Then we are both even.’
‘Even?’
‘Do you really imagine all I wanted was acceptance into New York society?’ The wound she’d opened that night in his bed gaped wider and all he wanted was for her to hurt too.
She looked at him as if suddenly seeing a new person, disbelief and shock all over her pretty face.
‘No, Bianca, I wanted to avenge the needless deaths of my parents and the destruction of my father’s company—by ICE. Now, thanks to you, I have everything I need to bring your brother’s company to its knees.’
He saw the moment realisation dawned, saw how she remembered telling him all he needed to know about Dario’s launch while she was distracted by thoughts of her grandfather at the family home. She knew she’d told him everything.
‘You truly are despicable.’ She slid away from him on the bench, the bracelet box clutched ever tighter in her hands. ‘You disgust me.’
‘Maybe we are not so different after all, Bianca.’ He moved towards her, seeing the anger glitter in her eyes. ‘You wanted the bracelet for your grandfather and I want to bring down ICE. I want to avenge my father and put right the wrongs of the past, and, like you, I will do anything to achieve that.’
‘No.’ She shook her head in denial, a frown furrowing her brow. ‘No. You’ve got it all wrong.’
‘My father’s company was destroyed, taken apart piece by piece by ICE, which ultimately destroyed him. My mother went to an early grave and my father soon followed, leaving me on the streets and very much alone. Have you any idea what it is like to be a twelve-year-old boy stealing stale bread just to exist? Have you any idea what it’s like to be thrown in prison or to want revenge so badly you are driven by it day after day?’
She shook her head, her neat brows pulled together in such a way that he almost believed she could really feel all he was telling her. Was that sympathy or pity in her eyes? ‘No, Liev, you are wrong.’
‘I don’t think I’ve got anything wrong, Bianca.’ He could barely keep the snarl from his voice. His heart hammered so loudly with the injustice and anticipation of being so close to his lifelong ambition.
‘Dario isn’t responsible. You can’t use that against him.’ The pleading of her voice wasn’t going to affect him; it wasn’t going to sway him from his plans. He wouldn’t allow her to distract him again.
‘Granted, he didn’t own ICE. He made a big show of putting right the company’s past wrongs when he took over, but that was all lies, Bianca. A cover-up to inflate the share prices. He’s no better than the man who did own ICE—and now they will pay.’
Liev stood, icy cold flowing through him despite the August sunshine. There was nothing