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‘Only when you want my money. What have you done?’
She shrugged her shoulder and touched a finger to the corner of her lip as if checking her lipstick.
‘How could you speak to Gabi like that?’ he demanded, unable to suppress the rage vibrating in his heart.
‘It is true. She—’
‘I don’t care what you think she did, or even what she did do. You areunnatural,’ he spat.
Renata’s gaze turned ice-cold—a thing that would have terrified him when he was a child. Even now he fought his reaction to the bitter bite of it.
‘How dare you—?’
‘Me?’ He let out a wild laugh.‘Me?’He struggled to control his breathing and forced the words from his mouth. ‘If this man chooses to press charges, I will not stand in his way. If there are more “investors” out there I will support them also. As for Gabi? No. You will never see her again. And if you try to contact me, or anyone associated with me I will call the police.’
Renata laughed, high-pitched and painful. ‘Don’t be so dramatic, Javi.’
‘I mean it. For your own sake get some help, Renata.’
Javier turned his back on his mother and stalked through the estate that had never been a happy home, down the stairs—pausing only to grab Gabi’s bag with her phone and wallet—and into the car where Emily sat, holding his still sobbing sister. He didn’t need to tell Esteban to head back to the airport.
In the silence that filled the back of the car, Gabi’s tears wrenched at his heart and no amount of sympathy offered by Emily’s gaze could ease the hurt. He had let Renata’s behaviour go unchecked, both with the business and his half-sister. Elbow against the car door and hand in a fist, Javier became almost completely motionless until they reached the airstrip. He opened the door before Esteban could reach it and helped Emily and Gabi from the car and into the private jet.
In clipped words he told the pilot to return to the airfield just outside of Frigiliana and entered the cabin, where Emily was covering Gabi with a blanket. She held a finger to her lips and motioned that Gabi had finally fallen asleep.
He looked at the small form of his half-sister, wondering how on earth he could have left her to fend for herself against Renata. He’d been so determined to shore up his business—to make himself such a success that failure wasn’t a word that could be put even near him. And he had failed in the most fundamental of ways. His sister, his wife... No more. Mentally he drew a harsh line in the sand and in the quiet hour between take-off, landing and the return to their home in Frigiliana, Javier made plans.
By the time they had Gabi settled in the spare room, the headache that had started in the plane had lessened as, bit by bit, the decisions he made came together to form a cohesive whole. Quietly, he drew Emily outside to the patio, picking up two glasses and a bottle of the white Rioja she loved.
‘I am so sorry,mi reina,’ he whispered, keeping his voice low so as not to wake Gabi. He took her hand. ‘I know how much Istanbul means to you, tous,’ he hastened to clarify.
Emily smiled, easing the concern in his heart. ‘It’s okay. Gabi needed you, and your mother? Well... I think there’s a lot of help that she needs, but not from you. At least, not right now,’ she said gently. Javier nodded, so glad that their thinking was joined once again.
He leaned back in the chair, exhaling a long breath and taking in the scattered stars above. The plan, he reminded himself, bending forward again and, leaning his elbows on his thighs and turning her hand in his, he pressed on.
‘I’m so glad you understand. Obviously, it’s going to take a lot of work—and it will take a while—but moving to Madrid will make it easier, in the short-term and probably the long-term. The first thing I’ll do is have my lawyers look through everything,’ he pressed on as his mind turned over the order of things to ensure that nothing was left to chance. ‘And you’ll be able to help Gabi because she’s really going to need support. God, I’m so glad you’re here,’ he said, love and plans clouding his eyes so that he failed to see the impact his words were having on Emily. ‘I know that we’ve been apart and I’ve made mistakes, but I love you.Cristos, I love you. And having you by my side, here in Spain, is exactly what I need right now. I know it will not be easy, but it’s the best way to—’
He paused only when Emily pulled her hand from his, and he finally noticed that she was staring at him in confusion.
‘What are you talking about?’ she asked.
‘Moving to Madrid, of course. Where did you think we would live?’
‘I thought we might have a conversation about it first.’ She half laughed, but the look in her eyes warned him that she was most definitelynotlaughing.
‘But why would we need to talk about it?’
‘Because I am your wife, not your cat.’
‘Of course you are not my cat, Emily. What is wrong with you?’
‘You haven’t changed at all,’ she accused, getting up from the table and brushing her hair back from her face, scrubbing at her eyes as if trying to wash something out of them. She looked back at him and shook her head. ‘This was never going to work. How could I have thought that it would?’
CHAPTER TWELVE
JAVIERWASLOOKINGat her as if she had lost her mind. Perhaps she had, because she couldn’t work out how she could have forgotten. Forgotten thatthiswas what he was really like.
‘What do you mean?’ he asked, going impossibly still.
