“There was a message in the night. On a channel only certain people use—from a man I have known about for a long time and never met.”
My cup quivers.
“Hargrove claims to have been a silent partner of Mikhail and Elena for a number of years. A senior one. The kind that doesn't appear in photographs. He has heard the news about Elena and has drawn the obvious conclusion. And he is of the view that half of the Kuznetsov fortune is his.”
“Half of Alex's trust.”
“Half of what was Mikhail's, which became Alex's, which is now in Alistair's safekeeping. He is informing me—with great courtesy—that he intends to collect it.”
“Courtesy?”
“The courtesy of a man who believes he will succeed.”
I blink at her, taking it in. “Does Alistair know?”
“Not yet. The message came just after three. I don't yet know how I want to handle this, but I will think of something.”
She looks out of the window. “Ivy. There is something I need to tell you. And I need you not to tell anyone.”
“Alistair?”
“Not Alistair.”
“Isobel —”
“Especially not Alistair. For now. I will tell him myself, when the time is right. I am not asking you to lie. I am asking you to carry something for a short while. Will you?”
I take a breath.
“Yes.”
“I have been giving some thought to what the end of my life looks like.”
I don't say anything.
“As you know from our conversation on your wedding day, I am not going to be here for as long as I had planned to be.”
“Isobel —”
“Let me finish, darling.”
“I have watched people I love die badly, Ivy. Not in the moral sense. In the other sense. Prolonged. Diminished. Beyondanything they would have chosen.” A dry inflection. “I am a woman with particular views on dignity.”
I nod. I understand.
“I am not going to do it that way. I have a plan. I have a place I intend to go. And when it is time, I am going to go. On my own terms. Before it becomes something this family has to watch. And they cannot know about it, because they will try to stop me. I’m sure you understand.”
My eyes have filled.
“When?”
“Not yet. Soon. Not yet.”
“And Hargrove?”
“I will deal with Hargrove. Squashing this threat is going to be my last responsibility as matriarch of this family. I have given my whole life to this family, Ivy. I don't—” her voice catches once—“regret a moment of it. Not one. But it is time for me to handle one last thing and then go my own way.”
She stops. Her eyes have gone brighter.
