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“Simple attacks?” Carlo roared, pulling himself up to his full height. “Believe me when I tell you, there is nothing simple about an attack on my wife. I want the full force of your team on this.”
Now, Constable Warren was beginning to catch on. Jane could see that his manner was making her doubt her actions. “Sir,” she began again, but Carlo was intractable.
“Tell me what your initial assessment is, Constable Warren, while Constable Stuart goes and arranges for your Sergeant to step in.”
Both officers stood there uncertainly for a moment, before Warren gave Stuart a small nod. “Your wife,” Constable Warren continued once Stuart had left, “cannot remember much about what happened.”
Carlo threw Jane a look of impatience that made her heart ache. As a wife, she’d been a failure, unable to hold his interest beyond the first few weeks of their marriage. And now, as a victim, she was apparently a failure. She looked away from him, staring resolutely at the waffle print blanket.
“We believe it’s a single blow to the side of her head. Miss Lang lost consciousness and a neighbour called the police.”
“Neighbour?” Jane asked, ignoring the look Carlo threw her at the use of her maiden name. “Was it Liz?” She hated to think of how worried she would have been.
“Liz is the name listed on the report,” Warren said with a curt nod, as she scanned her notes.
“Is this all you know?” Carlo demanded, his tone dripping with displeasure.
“For the moment,” the Constable said quietly.
“Then you have some work ahead of you. I look forward to your report once you’ve investigated further.” He slipped one of the fine embossed business cards from his breast pocket. “My direct number is there. Do not hesitate to use it.”
Constable Warren stood, somewhat perplexed, staring at this monolith of a man. She’d heard of him, of course. Who hadn’t? The self-made billionaire was always in the papers, if not for his looks, for his dating exploits.
How he’d managed to con someone as lovely and gentle as Jane Lang into marriage was a perplexing notion.
“Thank you, sir,” Warren said, her own voice icy and unimpressed. She left the room with a disapproving squeak of her sensible black shoes.
Leaving just Carlo and Jane. As he turned, slowly, to face her, Jane forced herself to meet his gaze.
Four years ago, when they’d married, Jane had been young and naïve, and she’d let herself fall under his spell. But she was not that girl anymore. She’d grown decades in the three years since she’d left him, and she had Carlo to thank for that. His education in the cruel ways of the world had been thorough and successful.
“What are you doing here, Carlo?” She asked, her words difficult to discern through her raspy tone.
He didn’t answer. Not at first. He turned the full force of his attention on her, his dark grey eyes making a slow inspection of her body. He took in every detail, his frown deepening as he went.
“You are too thin,” he muttered, taking a step towards the bed. She had always been on the slight side, but her breasts had filled his palms; her arse had been an object of obsession for him. Now? She was skin and bone. It might have been fashionable, but he’d never had much time for supermodel thin waifs.
“My weight is not your concern,” she responded pointedly.
He nodded. “But your safety is. What did you think, cara? That I would not come?”
“I didn’t think about you at all,” she corrected quietly. “It’s been three years since I’ve felt any need to involve you in my life.”
He bit back the retort that was forming in his mind. “And yet you listed me as your emergency contact.”
Jane couldn’t contradict him there. At least, not without hinting at an earlier admission to the hospital; and worse, the reason why. “I was hardly in a position to think anything through.” She reached for her water, annoyed that her fingers were shaking visibly.
Carlo sighed. “It’s adrenalin,” he said, misunderstanding the reason her hand was unsteady. “You’re in shock.” And for the first time since entering her hospital room, his expression softened. In fact, he looked so much like the version of Carlo she’d fallen in love with that Jane had to smother a gasp. “Are you in pain?”
The idea of finding him less intimidating set her on edge. She only managed to survive each day because she remembered that his heart was cold. “What do you think?” She said, rather more snappishly than she’d intended.
His lips lifted in a small smile. “I don’t think you want to know what I’m thinking right now.”
Her fair skin colored with a hint of pink. “And I’m sure you don’t want to hear how much I don’t care.”
He laughed. It was so unexpected that her pale blue eyes flew to his face in shock. The sound was glorious. Rich and musical, his laugh made her hospital room glow for a moment. It made her heart turn over, and her pulse burn.
“Why are you here?” She groaned, the past rushing towards her like a train at high speed. “Couldn’t you just have sent flowers like a normal person?”
