Page 22 of Awakened in Her Enemy's Palazzo

She frowned at the question that had popped into her head. She liked to leave the past where it was. Besides, there hadn’t been a moment...more a gradual realisation that she was never going to do anything good enough to impress her family. So she had embraced her role as the odd one out and consequently been a lot happier.

Why me?

For the thousandth time she asked herself what Salvatore’s motivation had been when he’d divided his estate this way. Had he expected her to—?

She gave a despairing sigh as her head dropped to her chest.

When she lifted it, she wriggled the toes of her injured foot in the water, extending her leg to examine it. The bruising was coming out, but the swelling had almost vanished. It seemed possible to walk a little more before she turned back.

It wasn’t until she turned that she realised how far she had walked along the shoreline. This was an area she had not previously explored. She glanced at the unusual rock formation to her right. Curiosity sparked, she began to wade towards the place where the rock protruded from the sea. The fork-like formation brought back Salvatore’s voice as he had described a grotto—a magical-sounding cave you could walk into at low tide, with a cavernous crystalline roof that glowed green when the water entered.

She edged along the rock, reaching the point where the rock indented, revealing an entrance, the curved portal of which was exactly the way Salvatore had described it. The water here was only ankle-deep, so she figured there could be no harm in just looking inside. She would explore properly when the tide was out.

Theo did not linger long after Grace had left. The conversation with his old friend had left him feeling restless. Nico belonged to another life—one he had left behind. Yet it had been surprisingly easy to pick up the threads of their shared experiences as though the intervening years had not existed.

But it wasn’t this that occupied his thoughts...it was the look of hurt he had seen in Grace’s blue eyes when his gaze had drifted her way.

Why should it bother him?

He didn’t want her to feel wanted. The whole idea was to isolate her, make her life uncomfortable.

Her expression reminded him of a kid at school—the one who had never fitted in. The one who had been bullied until Theo had made it known he was under this protection.

Her look had made Theo feel as if he was one of the bullies.

Annoyed by his irrational response, he took the cliff path back to the house. He needed to contact his office. Frustration rushed over him. He needed not to be here. He needed not to have old wounds reopened.

At first he thought it was a bird that he could hear, and then he realised it was a phone ringing. After a moment he located the sound to a small, indeterminate pile of clothing on the beach. Rather than following the pathway down, he scaled the cliff, muscle memory kicking in as he found the footholds he remembered from his youth.

As he approached the pile the phone began to ring again, beneath the haphazardly discarded pair of sandals and a white linen shirt. Grace’s. He remembered it being open and baggy. Without it her fair skin would burn.

He felt a deep flutter in his belly as he grabbed the shirt almost angrily. Without thinking, he lifted it to his face, inhaling the fragrance clinging to the fabric before he realised what he was doing.

With a curse, he dropped it and scanned the sand and the sea beyond. There was no sign of its sweet-smelling owner. Then his narrowed eyes caught the darker indentations in the sand near the water line. There might have been other footsteps, but the tide was coming in fast.

The phone started ringing again, shrill and insistent, but this time it cut off quickly and a moment later it pinged.

As he picked it up, he could see the words.

Assuming you have seen the scurrilous article...?

He read the name of a tabloid that specialised in the scurrilous.

If you’d planned to come to your sister’s awards ceremony next week maybe rethink. This is her night...

The rest of the message was hidden, fading from the screen as Theo, his expression thoughtful, stared at the blank screen.

He had not seen the article referenced, but the name of the tabloid made it hard not to guess the theme:Young nurse left a fortune by elderly patient.

His jaw tightened as he swore under his breath. The timing and the leak had Rollo’s fingerprints all over.

He could only assume that planting the story was Rollo’s idea of helping the cause—showing initiative.

He scored a line in the sand with his foot...a line that Rollo wouldn’t have recognised if he’d fallen over it.

If the guy had not gone off-piste this way...if he had run it past him—

Theo blinked, an expression of shock spreading across his lean face as it hit him. If Rollo had run the idea past him twenty-four hours ago he would have likely told him to go ahead.

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