Page 93 of I Knew You Were Trouble

‘I don’t understand.’

‘It’s like I said earlier – he’s still of the belief that Adriana and I are none the wiser. We’ve been in contact with Jon, but when he’s asked to meet up in person, we’ve made excuses.’

‘So, you’re stringinghimalong?’

‘Yes.’

‘Okay, but why? Why not simply confront him?’

‘Because of the plan,’ I say. ‘And this may sound completely bizarre, but Adriana and I are working with a matchmaker called Poppy. She’s currently posing as Jon’sfourthpotential love interest, and she’s working on getting him to donate a huge sum of money to a charity he wouldneverdonate to if he weren’t trying to win her over. All going well, he signs the cheque, then the four of us confront him together.’

Lucia regards me thoughtfully. ‘That’s good. I like it. But I havesomany questions.’

‘We’ll answer every question we can,’ I say.

‘Definitely,’ Willem concurs.

‘Well, we can start with how I avoid seeing Jon tomorrow night.’

22

KATE

You would think that between the three of us we could come up withsomething, but after several minutes of brainstorming, we’ve got nothing.

There was a ludicrous suggestion from Lucia that she and Willem stage a lovers’ spat outside the restaurant where Jon intends to propose. Jon would catch them, then she’d tearfully confess ‘the affair’ and ask Jon for time to sort out her feelings.

Channelling my inner project manager, I vetoed it immediately – far too many factors that could go awry. There was also the sickening sensationof imagining Willem with Lucia – even as a ruse – which I did my best to ignore. Willem is not mine to be jealous over.

‘You could stand him up,’ I suggest. ‘Just don’t show.’

There’s something satisfying about the thought of Jon sitting alone in a restaurant, diamond ring in his pocket, brimming with anticipation of adding yet another fiancée to his collection, then realising Lucia is a no-show.

‘But as soon as he realises I’m not coming, he’ll call me,’ she says, extinguishing my fantasy. ‘And if I ignore his calls, won’t he come looking for me? I can’t hide inside my flat with the lights off.’

She’s right, especially as she’s already told Jon she can’t wait to see him. Standing him up might worry him enough to alert the authorities.

‘Family emergency back in England?’ I ask when nothing else comes to mind.

She considers this. ‘That could work.’

‘But you have to time it right – when you tell him,’ says Willem. ‘Otherwise, he might change his plans and ask to meet you in England.’

‘Of course,’ she murmurs. ‘Andthere’s the danger of running into him here in Verona.’

‘That could be a problem for us as well,’ Willem says, glancing at me.

Wonderful – something else to worry about. I hadn’t even considered that until now.

‘Maybe we all need to leave Verona in the morning, before Jon gets here,’ I say. ‘Just to be sure.’

Lucia sighs. ‘This is a lot to take in,’ she says, staring past us at the wall again.

‘I know –truly,’ I reply, reaching out to briefly grasp her arm.

She meets my eyes and smiles sadly right as someone knocks on the office door. Through the window, a couple signals that they need to leave. Lucia holds up a finger, asking them to wait a moment.

‘We should let you get back to your guests,’ I say.

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