Enemies with Consequences
Michelle Smart
Chapter One
MARNIEWARE ENDEDthe call from her solicitor with shaking hands.
The marriage she’d entered with the wildly unrealistic dream of a fairy-tale ending was over. She was officially divorced.
Covering her mouth, she frantically swallowed back a swell of nausea that felt much different to the sickness that had been plaguing her for days and staggered back to the bathroom, the only vaguely cool room in the tiny flat she’d spent all but one year of her life in. A ray of mocking sunlight shone on the white stick she’d left upside down on the sink. By the time she psyched herself up to turn it over, her whole body was trembling.
Her chin was wobbling before she’d dared look at the window on the stick.
Two pink lines.
Sinking to the floor, Marnie hugged her knees to her chest and burst into tears.
Domenico Cannavaro ended the call from his divorce lawyer and closed his eyes.
Failure, he’d learned since his wife had left him, tasted bitter. And now she was no longer his wife. She was now officially his ex-wife. That she was his second wife, specially chosen for the role thanks to her unswerving loyalty and devotion to him, along with her compliant, meek and mild manner, made the bitter taste especially acrid.
His mousy little wife, a woman who wouldn’t say boo to a goose (if that was the correct English saying) had got her way and severed herself from him. She’d dumped his surname the same day she’d had the temerity to dump him. It still made him incredulous to remember how he’d gone out of his way to take her out for dinner to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, presented her with a beautiful bracelet chosen with great care by his PA, and been handed divorce papers in return. Galling didn’t begin to describe how that had felt.
To think this was a woman he’d talent-spotted working the reception desk of his English branch as an eighteen-year-old, promoted onto his personal team and then promoted numerous more times until she reached the dizzying height of his PA, and then, all those years later, promoted to wife! This was the thanks he got for plucking her out of obscurity and nurturing her career and then giving her the most lavish lifestyle any woman could wish for? He was well rid of her.
Forget failure and bitterness; this called for a celebration. Not just any old celebration, a party.
Lifting the receiver on his desk phone, he summoned his latest PA.
Janie was in his office in a flash, all buxom, busty beauty with tumbling, glossy black hair. The contrast between her and Domenico’s wife could not be greater, in both looks and demeanour.
‘I want you to call the usual caterers and have a buffet for two hundred people delivered to my home by seven this evening,’ he ordered. He didn’t need to tell her to order the best stuff. ‘Champagne too. Crates of it. Cocktails. A full bar. And call that DJ we used for the staff summer party. Tell him to set up in the basement.’
Janie didn’t bat an eyelid. ‘All this for tonight?’
‘Yes.’
‘No problem. Anything else?’
‘Let Washington know I won’t be flying over tomorrow, and reschedule all my appointments. I’ll fly over on Sunday.’
‘On it.’ She tilted her head and made the coquettish sweep of her eyelashes she’d adopted in recent months. ‘Are you celebrating anything special?’
‘Indeed I am, Janie. My divorce.’
She raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow and smiled. ‘Congratulations.’
‘Thank you.’
She made no effort to leave. ‘Shall I attend the party to make sure everything runs smoothly?’
He didn’t let his smile drop. ‘That won’t be necessary.’
She sidled to the door and swept her eyelashes at him again. ‘I’ll keep myself available in case you change your mind.’
‘That’s very thoughtful, but you enjoy your evening… Close the door on your way out.’
The moment the door was shut, Domenico dropped his smile and grimaced. Since it had become common knowledge that he and Marnie had split up, Janie had dropped more than a few hints that she would be a willing replacement. While she was an excellent PA, he had no desire to make her anything more, but her subtle flirtations were an excellent reminder that he was now officially free to flirt and sleep with whomever he wanted. His six-month celibacy had been broken only once during a night of madness he would give anything to eradicate from his memories, and it was time to throw himself back into the dating scene and enjoy his newfound freedom.
