‘And it did,’ Ellison said. ‘Your mother knew how to behave, as does Annabel. Whereas you, Abby...’
‘Whereas I,’ Abby interrupted, ‘don’t simply turn a blind eye to everything!’
‘Abby,’ Matteo said. ‘I can explain.’
‘No,’ Abby said. ‘I don’t want your charming lies. I want to hear—’ her voice was rising further ‘—the truth from my father. At least he doesn’t sugarcoat things.’
‘Abby,’ her father warned. ‘Keep your voice down.’
‘Then give me an answer. Are you telling me that you bribed Matteo?’
‘It was a gentleman’s agreement,’ Ellison said.
‘I’ve got this, thanks,’ Matteo said to her father and taking Abby by the arm he tried to steer her away but she shook him off.
‘And this gentleman’s agreement happened...when?’ Abby demanded.
‘Matteo came and saw me in April to purchase the necklace...’
Hearing that a meeting had taken place even before she had met Matteo, Abby didn’t need further details; she was already walking off. She had nothing, nothing, left to say to her father, and she had just one parting line for Matteo as she brushed past him.
‘Screw you!’ Abby said.
She stepped out of the study and walked briskly towards the entrance and out the front door. Guests were staring and Annabel was throwing fire with her eyes as, yet again, Abby created a scene.
‘Will you stop?’ Matteo called as he ran down the stairs after her and then overtook. Abby stood on the bottom step as Matteo reached the ground and so he was right in her face but she just stared coolly back, refusing to break down.
‘I hate you.’
‘No, you don’t.’ Matteo took her arms and almost shook her to listen to him. ‘You hate what I’ve done, you hate that I set out to deceive you, but I never have.’
‘How can you say that when you met him in April? You were never interested in my team.’
It was simple maths to Abby.
From the very start Matteo had never been interested in her.
All the joy, all the memories, dissolved like soap left in the bathtub.
She remembered sitting in jeans in a stunning restaurant and the joy that it hadn’t seemed to matter. Oh, there was a reason he hadn’t cared what she wore—Matteo had had other things on his mind that night.
Was the necklace the reason he’d been prepared to take things so slowly?
She felt sick with recall as every sweet memory of them soured.
‘Abby.’ Matteo would not give in. ‘My grandfather is sick and more than anything he wanted the necklace. I was going to pose as...’
‘Pose,’ Abby sneered. ‘You started lying even before we met.’
‘Yes, but I stopped lying an hour after we met,’ Matteo said. ‘You know that! By the next morning I was already head over heels with your team and by the next week I was struggling because I cared more about you than them...’
‘Leave me alone.’
She was humiliated, embarrassed and more hurt than she knew how to be.
‘I’ve been trying to tell you about the necklace...’
‘When?’ Abby demanded.
Matteo blew out a breath. He knew that he hadn’t really tried; he had left it in the too-hard basket, it would seem, for too long.
‘Have it...’ Abby said, yanking off the necklace, and she tossed it at him but it clattered onto the ground. ‘Take it to the old bastard. Tell him he’s got his precious necklace now. I hope you’re all happy.’
Matteo stood as Abby picked up the hem of her dress and walked briskly off.
He had a ring in his pocket but, no, some trinket wasn’t going to fix this and maybe full disclosure might prove too little too late but nonetheless he went after her. ‘If you think the past three months have been a sham...’ Matteo started but Abby was too angry to let him speak.
‘That’s exactly what they have been. A sham. And you’re the biggest sham artist of the lot.’
‘I can’t believe you won’t even hear me out.’
‘I don’t need to hear you out,’ Abby shouted. ‘You’re all the same!’
Even as she said it, even before Abby saw the expression on Matteo’s face as the words hit, she wished she could scramble on the floor, not for the necklace but to retrieve her own words.
‘Don’t you dare compare me to them!’
And when she had every right to be angry—furious, in fact—she saw his anger. But it didn’t scare her—in fact, it shamed her as Matteo continued.
‘Don’t you ever put me in your father or Hunter’s league...’ He was sick to death of it. He was sick of being blamed for others’ mistakes and tired of being compared to his father. ‘I would never knowingly hurt you.’
‘You have hurt me though,’ Abby said as tears started to fall.
‘It’s called a row, Abby...’
‘And I don’t need it!’ She walked off to her car and, now furious himself, Matteo stood there and let her leave.
‘Problem?’ Ellison walked down the steps and retrieved the necklace and held it out to Matteo as he spoke. ‘That’s Abby—drama as always. Still, you kept to your end of the deal. You’ve got what you wanted.’
Matteo said nothing as he pocketed the necklace.
It was far safer.
But instead of getting into his car, he took the steps in three strides and, with Ellison following, he walked back into the home and straight into the study from where they had just come.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Ellison asked as Matteo ripped the photo of Abby and Hunter from the wall and smashed it over his knee. Not content with that he took out the image and he shredded it over and over and then tossed the pieces at Ellison.
‘What you should have done years ago.’
But shredding a photo of Hunter wasn’t enough for Matteo.
It was far from enough!
Matteo got in his car and drove, not to Abby’s but towards the airport and, as he did, he summoned his jet.
‘Now!’ Matteo roared and then having ended the call he threw his phone out of the car window.
The bastard was in LA.
Oh, this had nothing to do with making things right.
This was just about catching up on so many unattended wrongs.
ABBY WOKE AFTER MIDDAY.
Like a sad Miss Havisham she was still wearing her silver gown and her face was all swollen from crying till dawn.
Matteo hadn’t come dashing to her door to explain, when she had hoped he might, but Abby understood why.
And he hadn’t answered his phone when she’d tried several times to ring, and she understood why too.
She had