‘That’s not fair. Dad thinks we’re really involved—’
‘We are really involved—’
‘You know what I mean. He thinks we care about each other,’ she shot back wretchedly. ‘And since you said it first—does a decent man ask a woman to pay for her father’s freedom with her body?’
Outrage flashed in Angelo’s punitive appraisal. ‘Per meraviglia. Don’t pair me with your father in the same sentence. If people could still be bought and sold like goods, he’d be the first to sell you to me at a profit!’
‘That’s a filthy lie! My father loves me—’
‘He’s a con man and a swindler,’ Angelo sliced in with cutting hauteur. ‘I’ve an even better question for you to ask yourself. What sort of man steals his eight-year-old daughter’s inheritance from her?’
Her feathery brows lifting in a frown of incomprehension, Gwenna stared back steadily at him. ‘What are you saying? I’m sorry…what’s that supposed to mean? What inheritance?’
Lean, darkly handsome features taut, Angelo swore under his breath for he had not intended to reveal that information. ‘Donald Hamilton forged his own version of your mother’s will.’
It took so much effort to concentrate that Gwenna felt dizzy. ‘Forged? I beg your pardon?’
‘There’s a lot of solid evidence. Handwriting experts have been consulted. The will is not even a clever fake. One witness and the solicitor involved have since died,’ Angelo explained. ‘The second witness, however, has been tracked down abroad and he’s prepared to swear that the will is not the document he originally signed in your mother’s presence. Your father forged another will and named himself as the main beneficiary. He wanted the Massey Manor estate and he took advantage of your mother’s death to steal it from you.’
Gwenna was shaking her head back and forth like a metronome. ‘This is nonsense, totally ridiculous nonsense—’
‘And when your father rushed to offer you a home and adopt you, everybody was surprised but impressed. Nor did anyone ask why a woman who had been known to have hated him would have left him everything she possessed.’
‘Angelo…this is wicked, what you’re trying to insinuate, what you’re saying,’ Gwenna told him jerkily, words and phrases getting jumbled as she attempted unsuccessfully to master her shock.
‘I’m sorry. It’s the truth.’
‘No…no, it can’t be.’ Gwenna grabbed up her bag from the seat where she had left it the night before and hauled out her phone.
‘Who are you calling?’
‘Toby.’
Angelo snatched the phone off her. ‘What do you need with him?’
‘Give me my phone!’ Gwenna screeched at him.
‘Think before you spill the beans…can you trust Toby James with such highly sensitive information?’ Angelo set her phone down on the table between them as though it were a very dangerous weapon. ‘He’s on that garden committee, isn’t he?’
Gwenna snatched up her phone but she did not make the call. She wanted to hit Angelo for making her think twice about contacting her best friend for support. Her throat was thick with emotion. ‘Dad did not forge my mother’s will and this entire issue is nothing to do with you.’
‘He signed over the property against his debt to Furnridge. If he didn’t legally own the estate, he committed another act of fraud. Perhaps you would prefer the police to investigate the matter.’
A chill settled over Gwenna then. She felt as if she were trapped in a nightmare from which there was no escape. Angelo settled a hand to her spine. She pulled away in a violent movement of rejection.
‘You had to be told some time, bellezza mia.’
Gwenna shot him a defiant glance. ‘I intend to discuss your insane allegations with my father.’
‘You should see the evidence first.’ Angelo removed a file from the drawer of the desk and walked back to hand it to her.
‘Go away,’ she urged unevenly.
Angelo went out to the hall where Piglet had been corralled in disgrace. The little dog’s morning walk had concluded with the noisy harassment of a driver climbing out of his car. Angelo had been quite heartened when he’d heard about that unprovoked attack. It was good to know that he wasn’t the only man that Piglet hated. Purposefully leaving the door back into the drawing room ajar, Angelo watched Piglet take the bait and pelt past him to join Gwenna with a triumphant burst of barking.
Clutching her pet below one arm, Gwenna sat down at the desk and opened the file. There were legal letters, samples of her mother’s signature, expert opinions. But when she came on the deposition from the man who had witnessed her mother’s will, her tummy turned queasy. The witness was prepared to swear in court that Isabel Massey had left her estate to her child.
When Angelo reappeared half an hour later, Gwenna was proud that she had hung onto her composure. She stood up. ‘I want to see my father.’
‘He’ll give you a pack of excuses. My staff tell me that that’s how he operates,’ Angelo advanced.
‘I can handle it.’ Her blue eyes were bright as stars with defiance as she looked steadily back at him.
‘I’m sorry but I can’t agree.’
‘What the hell has it got to do with you? How would you know?’ she practically screamed at him, the sudden uncontrollable flare of her temper taking her by storm and shocking her.
Angelo remained tactfully silent.
‘You think I’m going to lose it. Well, I’m not going to. I only lose it with you!’ she muttered defensively.
Gwenna sat in the limo like a stone statue, but below the surface she was seething with a mess of disturbed emotions. The vehicle pulled up outside her father’s home.
‘You don’t have to confront him. Why don’t you let me deal with this?’ Angelo asked levelly.
‘He’s my father.’ Clutching the file, Gwenna climbed out. ‘And don’t you dare come in!’
DONALD HAMILTON leafed frantically through the file Gwenna had presented him with. Finally he thrust it down on the table. His complexion had taken on an unhealthy grey hue, his shock palpable. ‘Did Angelo Riccardi put all that stuff together for you?’
‘Yes,’ Gwenna breathed. ‘Please don’t tell me any lies. I need to hear the truth.’
‘It looks a lot worse than it is,’ Donald declared defensively. ‘Let me explain how it happened—’
‘It wasn’t
