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Suddenly she felt a terrible jolt of cold hostility firing into her.
The realisation that Marco’s absolute hatred of Vasile extended to her struck like a cataclysmic bolt of lightning out of a clear blue sky. She staggered back a step, feeling a continuous wave of enmity battering her down.
‘What did I ever do to make you hate me so much?’ she cried. ‘I never did anything to hurt you or your family.’
It was unbearable that he despised her so much. She’d thought he was against her simply because of her family and the fact that he’d discovered she was marrying Primo Vasile.
But she knew now that, for some reason, it was more than that—it was personal.
‘You hurt me in the worst possible way,’ Marco bit out, ‘when you tried to hurt my sister.’
‘What?’ Claudia exclaimed. ‘I never did anything to Bianca! She was my friend and I would never, ever have done anything to hurt her.’
‘But you had no qualms about leading her into Vasile’s lair.’
‘I don’t know what you are talking about,’ she cried, twisting her hands in front of her. ‘There must have been a terrible misunderstanding.’
‘There was no misunderstanding,’ Marco said. ‘You set Bianca up—invited her to a party where you told her you would introduce her to c
ontacts in the fashion industry. Then you left her to go to the event on her own, where she would be easy prey for Vasile.’
‘I remember the party,’ Claudia said. ‘We didn’t go with her in the end because—’
‘You got me out of the way,’ Marco interrupted. ‘Because you took me out of the country where I wouldn’t be able to protect my sister from Vasile.’
‘Why did she need protecting from Primo?’ Claudia demanded. ‘It was just a party at a new restaurant. It never occurred to me that she wouldn’t be fine—she went with mutual friends.’
‘Friends who had no idea to keep her away from a man called Primo Vasile,’ Marco said.
‘I know you hate him,’ Claudia said. ‘I understand that now. But what would he do to Bianca?’
‘He got her drunk.’ The intense emotion throbbing in Marco’s voice sliced right through her, making her share the agony he was feeling. ‘Possibly he even gave her drugs to weaken her inhibitions.’
‘Oh, my God!’ Claudia clamped her hand over her mouth in horror. ‘What happened? Was she all right?’
‘How dare you ask that?’ Marco seized her arms and glared down at her—the fury emanating from him making the air crackle around them. ‘You’re the one who led her into the jaws of that shark!’
‘What happened. Please tell me she was all right.’ Claudia felt tears prick in her eyes as she thought about Bianca.
‘He tried to get information about me and my business dealings out of her,’ Marco said, his fingers biting into Claudia’s upper arms as he spoke. ‘Then he tried to leave with her.’
‘Tried?’ Claudia whispered, desperate to hear that no lasting harm had come to Bianca. She hardly dared to breathe as she stared up into Marco’s livid face.
‘A friend of mine saw them together,’ Marco grated. ‘He was at the party quite by chance, but every day I thank God he was there.’
‘Your friend looked after her?’ Claudia asked, feeling tears of relief spill from her eyes. She was mortified to know that her invitation to that party had led, however inadvertently, to Bianca getting hurt.
‘Weeping won’t make up for what you did.’ Marco’s fingers tightened on her arm momentarily. Then he pushed her savagely aside, a look of pure disgust on his face. ‘You preyed on an innocent girl who thought you were her friend.’
Claudia stumbled and by the time she’d caught her breath Marco was gone, surging out into the deeper water with long powerful strokes.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CLAUDIA stood at one of the elegant ceiling to floor windows, watching for Marco’s return. It was several hours since their argument on the beach and during that time she had showered and put on a fresh dress. Now she was waiting.
The view was divine, although she was hardly in the mood to enjoy it. It wasn’t surprising that the designer of the sumptuous vacation villa had included three enormous ocean view windows in the main living area. Each one was dressed with long pure white curtains that rippled in the breeze coming off the water, and each one framed a vista that was simply stunning.
Marco had brought her to a tropical paradise.
