Hey, two chapters in one evening how about that! Sorry for the delay, I work full-time and have a home and family to look after too. Hope you're still enjoying the book; please keep your comments coming, they help inform my plot!
Rose found that she was really pleased to see Serge and her nervousness about their meeting eased.
“I’m good. And it’s so nice to see you Serge, it’s been too long.”
Serge pulled her to him and hugged her.
“It’s so good to see you too. I mean it, I’ve missed your company you know. And I was so worried about you when you were pregnant and on your own. The press were crazy.”
Rose was momentarily overwhelmed by being held so close to him; firstly because he was so familiar to her and she felt such huge comfort being in his embrace and secondly because it was so damn long since she had been held by any man.
She hadn’t kissed, been held or had sex for over a year and suddenly feeling herself being pulled in to Serge’s lean and hard body she felt her pulse quicken. Physical contact with him made her very aware of how vulnerable she was emotionally; she was also aware that much as she was enjoying being held by Serge, someplace inside she was wishing it was Miles holding her instead.
However, this was a business meeting and she mustn’t forget that. If Serge sensed she was needy in any way he would move in on her like a piranha and she wasn’t sure she would be able to fight him off; it was taking all her emotional strength to distance herself from Miles. She disengaged herself gently, still smiling and got into the car whilst Serge solicitously checked she was comfortable.
Serge himself had changed little in appearance. He always had a slightly dishevelled look, tie askew, shirts buttons done up in the wrong order, only one cuff showing under his jacket sleeves, almost as if he’d just rolled out of bed or woken up from sleeping on a sofa. His hair was thick, black, curly and unruly and long shapely black eyebrows hung over his large dark brown eyes. He had cheekbones to rival Roses but his best feature was his smile, it was easy and wide and displayed beautiful even, white teeth.
When he and Rose had been a couple he had been an attentive lover; life with Serge had been exciting and although at first she hadn’t ever been certain where it was heading, he had eventually asked her to marry him and they had become engaged. Within days she found out he already had a wife, who lived in Russia. Rose had broken their relationship off immediately. Despite Serge begging her to stay and promising he would get a divorce she just had to leave him, she couldn't bear that she had been deceived.
She felt sorry for his misfortune in his choice of wife, by all accounts Irena was beautiful and smart and he had been besotted with her from the moment he met her. It was a whirlwind romance, they married young and her family had hidden her schizophrenia from him, although they later claimed they thought he had known.
She was unstable and led him a dog’s life, refusing to take her medication and on occasion threatening Serge, his family and business associates with physical violence; Serge lost count of her suicide threats. She was paranoid and accused him of having affairs behind her back. Ultimately he had had to take an injunction out against his own wife but thankfully at least her family had prevented her from travelling to the UK when he relocated.
Allegedly they persuaded her to refuse him a divorce; Serge said they were being greedy about the settlement. But Rose wasn’t convinced that Serge himself was able to face following it through.
“Where are we going?” Rose asked as they left the car park.
“It’s a small place just outside Guildford, it serves excellent food and will be quiet and discreet on a weekday evening, I hope you don’t mind the distance?”
“No, not at all, it’ll be nice to get out of London. But I need to be back by midnight."
“No problem. So, let’s talk business now and then we can enjoy our meal and gossip!”
Rose laughed. “OK, go ahead, what’s the deal?”
Once Rose had left Miles spent the time talking to staff in the US offices and then he Skyped Bill.
Bill recognised his surroundings immediately. “You’re at Rose’s flat?”
“Yes I am. I’m babysitting Lloyd. Rose has a business meeting.”
Bill smiled, remembering how just a week ago Miles was talking about getting full custody of Lloyd.
“Are things working out for you two?”
“Well, it’s really early days. Rose is mad at me, but considering how I behaved to her she’s being more than generous over access to Lloyd. Lloyd has bonded with me real quick; I’ve decided I’m not going to give either of them up without a fight.”
“So when are Frankie and I going to get to meet Lloyd?”
“He’s asleep now. I’d love you both to meet him. Let me talk to Rose first, see if we can sort something out. “
“Have you shown her the photographs yet?”
Miles grimaced. “Not yet, I’ve promised I’ll give her a full explanation this weekend, but to be honest I’m dreading it. She may take one look at them and wonder how on earth I could have thought it was her. I wanted to find out if there was any more news from Max, so at least I could tell her what the scam was.”
Bill reassured him. “Don’t worry; the photos are a real shocker; even if she stays mad at you she won’t fail to see that someone went to a whole load of trouble and expense to make her look as guilty as hell.”
Miles concurred. “You’re not kidding! Tonight she was wearing some earrings I bought her when I was in Rome. I remember that when I bought them she was on that trip to Manila; but in the photos of Manila, the person impersonating her is wearing a replica of them.”
“Aside from the fact that I was a complete idiot not to notice details like that when I first saw them, how the hell did Max manage to get such exact copies of her jewellery, her car, her clothes? Was he stalking her? Did he break into our apartments? Now I’m starting to think about the details of this scam I’m getting nervous. Does Max really hate me that much? Is he sicker than we realise?”
Bill had been nodding while he listened, “Yeah, I must admit I’ve been wondering some of this myself. Are you happy with the level of security around her and Lloyd? Does she have anyone working for her who has access to the flat? For example, a maid? “
Miles thought about it, “I’m not sure about a maid. But actually, now you mention it we did have a cleaner who did both our flats when we were together, her name was Lily – she came from an agency, I’ll dig out her details. Funnily enough she left my employment when Rose and I separated, I’ll find out if she stayed on with Rose or not.”
“Stuff like that could be important Miles, just get it to me as fast as you can so that I can carry on trying to unravel what’s been going on. Anyway, I can update you on Max. Are you ready to listen?”
Miles sat back on the sofa and concentrated. “Go on.”
“Looks like he owes a large cash sum in gambling debts. In addition, one of his properties is mortgaged to the hilt – done in the last six months and the money from it probably went to pay off debts too. In theory he can sell some of his assets and get the remainder of the cash he needs although it would leave a large dent in his standard of living, which is extravagant to say the least. It looks like he has the classic gambler’s delusion of thinking he can make good his losses the next time he plays and apparently he has had a couple of spectacular wins, but has quickly lost it all again. I think that his plan was definitely to get you to dig him out of his hole but he thought that if you were married to Frankie it would have seemed easier.”
“What sums are we talking about Bill?”
“Currently he owes around about three million dollars to the casino.”
Miles blanched. “What is the property mortgaged for?”
“Another two and a half million, sterling – it’s the house his parents owned in Surrey, Frankie is really upset about that, she loves it there and doesn’t want to lose it.”
Miles wasn’t surprised, it was a beautiful house, he and Frankie and Max had spent many happy holidays there when they were children and teenagers.”
Miles shook his head, “Sounds like he’s out of control. How long has he got until he has to pay up?”
“I think he’s already run out of time. That’s why he was so exercised about security when Frankie saw him. I’ve made contact via a third party with his money lenders; they’re charming to your face of course, but the threats aren’t far from the surface and they are already impatient. We have to be careful as Max hasn’t instructed us to act on his behalf of course, and it’s not a good idea to let them think that they might be able to claim their debts from Setons.”
Miles was curious “If he had planned to ask me for the money, does that mean he has no reserves left at all?”
“I have some information about his finances and Frankie has been piecing it together what she can and it appears that he has his salary from Setons, his shares in Setons, his annual bonus which as you know is not inconsiderable, rents from the properties he inherited from his parents and of course he has substantial capital tied up in those properties too; so in answer to your question, he’s currently cash poor but capital rich. It seems though that he is reluctant to sell off any of his possessions to pay his debts.”
Miles snorted, “But he was happy for me to pay out on his behalf.”
Bill agreed. “Seems so.”
“However,” Bill continued, “from his conversations with Frankie he seems to be remorseful about the way he’s treated you and the photograph scam is playing on his mind. What I need to know from you, is what action you are likely to want to take over the photographs. Can you think about it please? I know it’s hard but either if he admits to the scam or we manage to prove his involvement then you will have grounds for dismissing him from Setons.”
He added, “There are likely to also be grounds for criminal prosecution if you want to pursue them? You must also bear in mind that even if you don’t, perhaps Rose will. And therefore I must advise you, as your lawyer, to think carefully about what you tell Rose about what we believe to be Max’s involvement in this scam as the hard evidence is still weak.”
“Frankie feels very strongly that he has to pay his debts himself and if that means he has to sell property then so be it, she thinks it might make him stop and think before he gets into similar debt in future. She also wondered whether he should sell some of his shares in Setons to you and to her in order to raise the cash."
Miles listened intently. Really, he needed a one to one with Max. He thought he might approach Dr. Jones direct to see if it would be possible.
Bill hadn’t finished, “Miles, I’m just letting you know that Frankie is really upset about what he’s done to you; and she’s very exercised by the fact that he tried to split you and Rose up; she’s desperate to do anything she can to make things good between you and Rose again. I haven’t told her about the photographs,” he added quickly, “but I think she has sort of guessed that something really unpleasant has happened."
Miles put his hands behind his head. “I don’t hold her responsible for Max, she must know that.”
Bill nodded, “She knows but she still feels terribly guilty about what he’s done, she feels its such a betrayal of your parents’ kindness to them both. And of course she speaks regularly to Helen and hears about Rose and Lloyd from her and, well, she knows that Helen is desperate for things to work out between you two.”
Bill stopped suddenly. “Apologies, I guess I’m straying into things that are none of my business; it’s just that now Frankie and I are getting married I …..”
Miles interrupted, “Bill, please, just stop right there ok.” He smiled wryly, “I’m a bit short of friends at the moment. Francesca is family and that practically makes you family too. I think we all need to know everything we can about Max and this situation if we’re to do the right thing. And to be honest, I’m finding it hard to concentrate on anything except making sure I do everything I can to keep Rose and Lloyd.”
“Speaking of which,” Miles continued, “can you ask Francesca what she knows about Serge Kupetsky’s private life?”
Bill looked perplexed, “Kupetsky? Didn’t Rose go out with him at one time?”
“Yes. And it’s him she’s out with tonight. She insists it’s a business appointment and I think she genuinely believes that’s all it is; but I’m not so sure about his motives. I’m curious about his personal circumstances; is he still married?”
Bill shook his head, “I have no idea, I’ll ask Frankie, but she’ll want to know why I’m asking.”
“That’s ok; tell her, I know she’ll be discreet.”
They said goodbye and Miles logged off. He sat motionless for a while, absorbing what Bill had told him. He checked his watch, 11pm but no text from Rose yet. He went to see if Lloyd was ok and then made himself a coffee, he was starting to flag a little and wanted to make sure he was alert when Rose got back; he was worried about her.