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‘Since I started working at the club. He was a regular there—but you know that. Raoul was always lovely to chat to—always so pleasant and polite.’
‘And that’s it?’ he pressed.
‘I don’t know what you’re getting at. Raoul talked about you and I talked about Lyddie. We got sad together. It was my job to cheer him up. Not just my job, my pleasure,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Raoul was different.’
‘How was he different?’
‘Special. Raoul was special. He didn’t come to the casino to wallow in self-pity, he came to forget, which was why he played the tables every night.’
‘Forget,’ Luca murmured.
Guilt had struck him again at the thought that Raoul might have wanted to change his life, but Luca hadn’t been there to help him. Raoul had tried so hard to win their father’s love, and had failed as utterly as he had. The thought that Raoul had had no one but this girl to confide in cut him like a knife.
‘You were kind to Raoul,’ he said, staring keenly at her.
‘Of course I was kind to Raoul. Your brother was kind to me. We always made time for each other...’ Her voice tailed away as if she wished that she could have done more for Raoul too.
‘And there was definitely nothing more between you than friendship?’
‘What could it be? Blackmail? Sex? Stop it,’ she insisted. ‘There was nothing between your brother and me, but friendship. It doesn’t always have to be about sex.’
‘It usually is between a man and a woman.’
‘Well, not this time,’ she assured him hotly. ‘And if all these ugly thoughts have been swirling round in your head, how could you make love to me? Was it a test, Luca? Has this all been some sort of horrible game?’
As she sprang to her feet he caught hold of her, and, dragging her close, he assured her, ‘This is not a game, Jen. This is all too real for me.’
‘And to me,’ she assured him tensely. ‘Do you think I like being interrogated as if I’ve got something to hide?’
‘I think that if I had known your sister, and you met me and asked me about Lyddie, I would tell you every tiny detail I could remember. Nothing you can tell me about Raoul is too small or inconsequential. Everything you know about Raoul will colour in the picture that was my brother—my estranged brother. I need this information like I need air to breathe, and for no other reason than I loved my brother, and now it’s too late to tell Raoul just how much he meant to me.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
HIS LOVE FOR his brother was stronger than his need to know why the woman in front of him would inherit Raoul’s estate, Luca realised. Every word he’d said to Jen was true. He was desperate for the smallest detail, and if there was something Jen wasn’t telling him—all his demons launched themselves on him at once. ‘There has to be something more to your friendship with Raoul—something you’re not telling me.’
‘Why?’ Jen demanded. ‘Why do you think I’m hiding something? Why does there have to be more than the truth?’
‘Because there must be,’ he insisted. ‘You have to be hiding something. Maybe it’s a secret my brother couldn’t bring himself to tell anyone but you—I don’t know,’ he admitted with frustration. He was so used to being in control, this level of emotional incontinence was new to him, and he had to take a moment to calm down.
‘You answer my question,’ Jen insisted.
Silence.
‘What is your business here on the island? You haven’t told me yet, and I need to know exactly what I’m involved in.’
‘My life on the island isn’t connected to my business, if that helps. I don’t know what else to tell you, other than the fact that your job remains the same. You’ve been hired to catalogue jewels for a sick old man, and then set up an exhibition that he can be proud of. I want his life to end well, and you can supply that ending for him. All you need to know about me is that everything I do is within the law, and that nothing I do could ever hurt you, or Raoul’s memory. My business interests extend across the world, and, though they are many and varied, all of them are legitimate.’
‘So why couldn’t you find time for your brother, if your business is so vast and you have so many people working for you?’
‘It was the other way around, Jen. Raoul didn’t want to see me.’
‘Because you couldn’t accept him—’ She had stopped as if she’d said too much.
‘Accept him?’ he pressed urgently. ‘Accept his gambling debts, do you mean?’
Jen looked increasingly uncomfortable, but remained stubbornly silent.
‘Tell me,’ he insisted. ‘Why can’t you tell me what you know about Raoul? I wouldn’t be this cruel to you, if our situations were reversed.’
‘I made a promise,’ she fired back. ‘And I won’t break that promise. I can say this—it wasn’t easy for Raoul to live in his father’s world. I think he came to believe that it wasn’t even possible.’
‘Well, I can understand that,’ he agreed grimly, ‘but it still doesn’t explain why Raoul felt it necessary to distance himself from me.’
‘He believed you’d grown apart and he didn’t know how to heal the gulf.’
‘Clearly,’ he murmured bitterly. ‘But I think you know exactly what the problem was, but you choose not to tell me.’
She shrugged. ‘It’s only the same as you refusing to spell out what you do.’
‘I’m in the security business, as you know.’
‘And that’s it?’ she queried, looking sceptical.
‘That’s it,’ he confirmed. ‘If I go into any more detail my business will no longer be secure. I can tell you that my operatives protect some of the most high-profile people in the world, and also provide safe escort for some of the most valuable items on the planet.’
‘Like the Emperor’s Diamond.’
‘Exactly,’ he confirmed.
‘You said your father’s retired to Florida, so who’s going to take over his business interests?’
‘No one. What remains of his empire has been dismantled.’
‘By you?’
‘It’s enough for you to know that I will never take over my father’s business—not in the way you think, though I do have a lifelong responsibility towards the people on this island.’
‘What about the old man who kissed your hand?’
‘Traditions take a long time to change, and the older men and women on the island don’t know how things will turn out now my father’s left the island. It’s up to me to reassure them, and that will take a little time.’
‘I appreciate your honesty,’ she said after a few moments.
‘As I would appreciate yours,’ he said pointedly. ‘Who else can I ask about Raoul?’
‘I’ll tell you everything that doesn’t break my promise to your brother.’
Jen was in a bind. She wanted to be completely open with Luca, but Raoul had begged her not to share some of the things he’d told her. It would break his father’s heart, he’d said. Like Luca, Raoul had only ever felt concern for the father who had shunned him and who had never shown him any love.
Why did people like Don Tebaldi have children in the first place? His two sons had cared for him more than he’d ever cared for them. Jen’s eyes stung with tears as she remembered the highly charged conversations she’d shared with Raoul. He’d been such a kind and funny man, in spite of the lack of love in his life. Raoul had felt things deeply, and now he was dead.
‘Please,’ Luca said quietly.
She couldn’t help but think of Lyddie, and how hungry Jen would be for the smallest nugget of information. ‘You mustn’t blame yourself,’ she said.
‘Tell me, and then I’ll decide.’
‘All right, I will.’ She paused. ‘Raoul was gay, and he didn’t think you would understand.’
Luca was quiet for the longest time. ‘What?’ he said at last, staring at her in disbelief.
‘Raoul was gay,’ Jen repeated. ‘Once he came out, he said it would
be impossible for him to come back to Sicily to face you and his father.’
‘He couldn’t face me?’ Luca repeated. ‘Raoul was gay? Is that...everything?’
‘Yes.’
