was now far too late, of course, Lorenzo told himself grimly, his lips tightening with exasperation as the lift hurtled down, towards the ground floor of the large office building. It was far too late to regret not calling in the police when he’d first been informed by the auditors of a serious problem in the company’s financial department. Prompt and swift action, at that point, would undoubtedly have saved everyone a considerable amount of time and trouble.
Unfortunately, instead of being sensible, he’d allowed his compassion to overcome his better judgement.
After calling the chief accountant, Giovanni Parini, into his office and tearing him off a strip, Lorenzo had been disconcerted and embarrassed when the man had broken down—not only admitting his guilt, but weeping with distress about the future welfare of his wife and many small children. Which was why, very stupidly, Lorenzo had merely called Security to have the man immediately escorted from the building.
What an idiot he’d been! Because it had soon become evident that there was no wife and definitely no small children. In fact, Giovanni, who’d been living alone with his comfortably off, elderly mother, had now disappeared and was on the run. But not before leaving behind him a letter, threatening to kill Lorenzo—the one person who’d been foolish enough to show him some clemency.
Which only serves you right, for being such a soft touch! Lorenzo told himself grimly. However…if he now had the opportunity to get his hands around the thin, scrawny neck of the company’s late and entirely unlamented chief accountant, he’d have great pleasure in cheerfully squeezing the life from the wretched man!
‘You really cannot continue ignoring the demands of our insurance company.’
‘Hmm…?’
Preoccupied in cursing himself for having been so lenient, Lorenzo realised that he’d missed part of what his companion had been saying.
‘What demands?’ he queried as the elevator doors opened, and he began walking across the foyer, towards the main doors of the large office block.
‘You clearly haven’t been listening to what I’ve been saying!’ his colleague protested, hurrying after the taller man as Lorenzo swept through the glass doors to where his uniformed chauffeur was standing beside a large black limousine.
‘Our insurers are adamant that you must have the protection of a bodyguard, at all times, until Giovanni Parini is caught,’ Matteo continued breathlessly.
‘What nonsense!’ Lorenzo grated as he came to an abrupt halt, spinning around on his heels to glare down at the other man. ‘Are you seriously trying to tell me…?’
Matteo nodded quickly. ‘They say if you don’t take their advice—especially as you will be travelling abroad for the next couple of weeks or so—they will immediately withdraw your insurance cover.’
‘This is totally ridiculous!’ Lorenzo exclaimed angrily. ‘How can they seriously believe that Giovanni is likely to be dogging my footsteps around Europe? My schedule has not yet been finalised. So where and how would he get the information about my business meetings in Switzerland, Germany and Britain? How could he know where I will be on any one, particular day—when I don’t yet have that information myself?’
Matteo shrugged. ‘It seems they regard you as being vitally important for the future of this company. Which is why they are not prepared to take any risks whatsoever—and will cancel the policy unless you agree to their terms.’
Swearing violently under his breath, Lorenzo stared grimly down at the other man for a moment, before quickly glancing at the slim gold watch on his wrist.
‘If I don’t hurry, I’m going miss my flight to Zurich. Which means that I’ve no time to hang around arguing about this subject any longer,’ he grated angrily, handing his briefcase to the chauffeur before climbing into the passenger seat at the rear of the vehicle.
‘I’m sorry…’ Matteo sighed. ‘Believe me, I have tried to reason with the insurers. But, while they aren’t prepared to take even the slightest risk of anything happening to you, they have agreed to make the arrangements regarding your bodyguard. Apparently they expect to have someone in place by the time you reach London. And they have also agreed to pay all the fees involved.’
‘I should damn well hope so!’ Lorenzo retorted through clenched teeth. ‘Especially when I think of the huge sums we’ve paid our insurers over the years. Nothing short of daylight robbery!’ he exploded, before taking a deep breath and making an effort to calm down.
‘I want you to make something very clear to our insurance company,’ he continued grimly, slamming the car door shut with a bang, before lowering his window to deliver a parting shot. ‘If they’re twisting my arm, and forcing me to have a bodyguard, they’d better make certain that he’s the very best in the business!’
Over six hundred miles and many light-years away from the sophisticated city of Milan, Antonia Simpson gave a heavy sigh as she leaned back in the front passenger seat of the chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce.
Gazing longingly out of the window at the bright sunshine, and the light breeze rustling the leaves of the trees at the edge of the airfield, she found herself thinking that it was about time she had a break.
It was all very well running one’s own business. And she certainly was making a considerable amount of money. But the unrelenting pressure of always having to be totally alert and aware of danger, at all times, was beginning to wear her down.
Which was ridiculous, really, because she’d spent the last eleven years thoroughly enjoying all aspects of her job—eleven years into which she’d packed more adventures than most people experienced in a lifetime.
She’d always been a tomboy, of course. Which wasn’t exactly surprising, since following her mother’s death, when Antonia was only a few months old, her father had raised her in exactly the same way as he’d done her three older brothers. And he’d been delighted to discover, as the years went by, that she was the only one of his children to inherit his natural aptitude for sports.
There was a downside to her happy, comfortable childhood, of course. For instance, it had been a shock, at the age of sixteen, to discover that men preferred girls who wore frilly frocks. And as she’d grown older she’d been confused to discover that most of her brothers’ male friends—however nice they might be—didn’t take kindly to being beaten hollow at tennis. Nor did they like being told not to be ‘sloppy’—and quickly tossed, judo-style, over her shoulder whenever they tried to kiss her.
However, on leaving school and training as a fitness instructor, it was when she was asked to help look after one of her students—who’d suddenly achieved unexpected fame as a rock star—that she’d discovered her true vocation, taking up ‘close protection’ as a permanent job. By which time, of course, she’d also discovered that being kissed by the opposite sex wasn’t really quite so bad, after all! Which hadn’t been much of a help when she was chosen to join a training course with the SAS.
Antonia still shuddered at the memory of those harsh, desperately exhausting few weeks, which she’d spent at a secret location in Herefordshire. The only woman on the course, she was never quite sure how she’d managed to survive the brutally tough regime—a postgraduate course in advanced security techniques, which had dramatically changed her life—and resulted in her becoming a highly valued member of her chosen profession.
But…well, there had been many times, lately, when she had
