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While he could take some relief that there was no business rival trying to blacken his name or anything nefarious going on within his company he was unaware of, it felt like ice in his veins to know he’d spent the past three years unaware he had such a dangerous enemy patiently biding her time and working against him.
‘As if you don’t know!’ Putting her hands on the table, she rose to her feet like a phoenix emerging from the ashes, her face more animated and alive with colour than he could have believed. ‘James Thomas. Violet met him when she was staying in your home, under your care. He groomed her—what teenager wouldn’t be thrilled to have a rich, handsome man showering her with expensive gifts and attention? He bedded her for the first time on her sixteenth birthday, the clever, underhand bastard. He was thirty-six! They had a six-month affair and in that time he introduced her to drugs and all manner of perversions, and then he dumped her.
‘When she refused to go quietly, he threatened to destroy her—five days later and drugs were found in her school bedside table and she was expelled, her life destroyed exactly as he’d promised. You instigated the search of her bedroom, you, his friend, and don’t you dare deny it—the headmistress told me that you had informed her Violet and Natalia had been taking drugs and urged her to search their room. What an amazing coincidence that drugs were only found in Violet’s possessions and only Violet was expelled. Your niece got off scot-free.’
Andreas took a deep breath, veering from rage to horror and back again, furious at the accusations being levelled at him but also revolted that Carrie—that anyone—could think him capable of covering up such depravity.
‘Let me make one thing very clear,’ he said levelly. ‘James Thomas is no friend of mine and never has been. I knew nothing of this.’
‘You would say that,’ she scorned.
He downed his whisky before looking her in the eye. ‘Be very careful, matia mou. I can see you are emotional right now but you have made many slanderous accusations against me and I will defend myself. James Thomas came to my home once, years ago, with a number of other potential investors for a business dinner. That is the only time I met him because I disliked him on sight and refused to take his business. I don’t remember Violet being there that weekend but accept she could have been. I knew nothing of any affair between them.’
‘If you weren’t in cahoots with him—and I congratulate you on keeping your association with him out of the public eye—then why did you get Violet expelled?’
‘Because I came home early from an evening out and discovered Violet and Natalia off their heads on drugs and alcohol. It was the weekend before her expulsion. Do you remember? Because I sure as hell do. That is a weekend I will never forget.’
The rage had turned to bewilderment. ‘You caught them taking drugs?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you didn’t think to tell me?’
‘I would have called you in the morning but events took a turn that changed everything. After letting them know how disgusted I was with their behaviour, I sent them to bed to sleep it off and sober up. An hour later Violet came into my bedroom naked.’
‘Liar.’
‘I do not lie. In her intoxicated state she thought I was going to call the headmistress to warn her of what I had found. She thought seducing me would soften my anger and stop me reporting them. Violet had left cannabis and cocaine in her bedside table at school and knew it would be found if their room was searched and that she would be expelled. She was already on a final warning for disruptive behaviour as you know perfectly well.’
Carrie looked as if she were going to be sick.
She would look worse if he relayed how Violet had tried to climb into his bed and the filthy language she had used. He dreaded to think what kind of films she’d watched to imagine he would find such language a turn-on.
‘I will spare you the details but Violet became hysterical when I rejected her. The noise woke Natalia. She tried to calm her and got a smack in the face from Violet for her trouble. If Violet hadn’t been only sixteen I would have kicked her out onto the street. As it was, I waited until morning and sent her home in a cab.
‘You are correct that I influenced Violet’s expulsion. I make no apologies for it. Natalia confessed in the morning that Violet had been running wild and using drugs for months. Natalia was being drawn into a world she didn’t know how to escape. That is what prompted me to call the school—I was protecting my niece. I am not in cahoots with James Thomas. I despise the man.’
As he’d been relating the sordid details, Carrie’s face had turned ashen. She paced a few steps then spun around. ‘Why didn’t you tell me? If Violet tried to seduce you… If any of this is true…’ Her eyes found his, censure merging with the bewilderment.
