AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shivered. It was too ghastly, too far-fetched. Grace wasn’t like that, not normally. And it had been Grace herself who had saved Jade from a life not worth living. She’d been the one person who’d made her life possible when everyone else had given up trying.
‘Loukas, I know you’re hurting, but you have to remember the good work Grace does—look at the foundation, and the countless children’s lives that will be improved. Just think of those children—no more will they have to hide their features in shadow; no more will they have to look at the ground so they avoid the looks from passers-by. Do you have any idea how that feels? To see the shock, then the horror and, finally, worst of all, the pity.
‘It’s Grace who gives those children a reason to wake up in the morning, to feel good about themselves and to hold their heads up high. So she might not be perfect—who is?—but I can’t believe this picture you paint of her.’
She shook her head, this time with more authority. ‘I can’t believe it. Besides, there must have been an inquest. That would have cleared everything up.’
He snorted his disapproval. ‘Zoë was dead. Della-Bosca’s lawyers made the most of her slinking off to a hotel—said that she’d brought about her own death.’
‘And the phone calls?’
‘The hotel records supported the three calls to the clinic, but her mother’s evidence wasn’t accepted. They claimed Zoë would have been too close to death by the time she was found to have been coherent. And the clinic gave a totally different account of those calls, as you’d expect. In the end nobody was found responsible. No charges were laid.’
After the turbulence of their earlier argument, the air now seemed strangely still around them. Loukas stood there, watching her, his eyes almost empty, and in spite of the way he’d treated her, in spite of the way he’d used her to get to Grace, Jade’s heart still wanted to go out to him.
It was no wonder he felt so strongly. He’d been cheated of his bride three months from their wedding—cheated of their future together. But nothing he could do would bring her back—least of all attacking Grace. He had to be made to see that.
She moved across the room to him, laying her hand on his arm.
‘You went through a dreadful experience. It’s not surprising that you have trouble accepting the findings, but you have to. You have to move on. Zoë would have wanted that.’
He shrugged off her hand as if it was some annoying insect and moved past her, picking up a shirt and hauling it on.
‘I don’t have to accept the findings. I know Grace killed Zoë and I’m going to make sure she doesn’t touch my sister—with or without your help.’
‘This is crazy, Loukas. Grace is nothing like you’re making out. You don’t know her like I do. She’s a good woman.’
‘If she’s such a good woman,’ he said, his words assured as he surveyed her, his eyes as polished and hard as the sheet of glass in the window behind him, ‘then why the hell did she attempt Zoë’s operation while she was stoned?’
CHAPTER EIGHT
SHE reeled from this latest accusation, fury turning molten inside her. Enough of trying to placate the man. This was going too far!
‘That’s an outright lie!’
‘Is it? Were you there?’
‘Were you?’ she snapped back.
He smiled. ‘Nice try. No, but I have proof. I tracked down the theatre nurse who was there that night. She confronted Della-Bosca over her drug use after that operation and found herself unemployed and on the receiving end of a considerable amount of cash to ensure she took a very long holiday and kept her mouth shut.’
‘If this is true, why didn’t she go to the police?’
‘She was too scared—of Della-Bosca and the police. I tracked her down, only to have her die in an interstate collision the day before I was to meet with her and take her to the police.’
‘And that, I take it,’ she said, unable to resist the opportunity to show his case up for the fanciful supposition it was, ‘was down to Grace as well?’
His eyes told her he half believed it.
