Page 13 of Innocent's Wedding Day with the Italian

He raised a shoulder. ‘Nothing identifiably stolen. To any external observer, she ran a clean business. She only traded items with origins that had the correct supporting paperwork or could not be identified—nothing that would get flagged up on a database of stolen items for example.’

‘But you think she did trade them?’

‘I know she traded them, just as I know she had certain jewels stolen to order.’

‘How does that work? Surely they’d go on that database you just mentioned?’

‘If you know what you are doing, it is not difficult to remove gems from their settings and melt gold.’

‘You have proof she did this?’

‘None. But I’m her son. I travelled the world with her. I learned the signs. I am not a believer of coincidence.’

She wanted to scratch her head. ‘Right, so your mother’s a retired criminal mastermind.’

‘Yes.’

‘That explains you then.’

His handsome features tightened. It should please her, his obvious dislike that she should make that comparison between mother and son.

‘I understand why you might think that but I grew up in constant fear of my mother’s criminality being discovered and her being dragged away by the police or Interpol. There was never a chance I would follow in her footsteps. I can account for the provenance of every item ever sold in all of my stores. I run a clean business. I employ a team who do due diligence on every business I look to invest in and on-the-spot checks to ensure the businesses are being run legally and ethically.’

‘Then what changed? If you’ve never broken the law before or allowed unethical behaviour in your businesses, why try to steal my inheritance?’

‘I didn’t try to steal it, damn it.’ He punched the lawn in frustration. ‘I always intended for you to have the cash value of the shares.’

‘Which is?’

‘Claflin Diamonds is currently valued at one hundred million.’

Five months ago it was a figure that would likely have made her faint. ‘What’s the rest of my grandfather’s estate worth?’

‘Including property, twenty million.’

‘So come midnight I’m going to be worth seventy million euros?’

‘Pounds.’

She let that sink in. Seventy million pounds.

‘Woo-hoo,’ she said flatly. ‘I’m going to be rich...’ There was not a cat in hell’s chance she would keep the money. It made her feel dirty just to imagine it. ‘Although still a pauper compared to you.’ Adding a few zeros to the end of the sum gave a ballpark figure of what Enzo was worth. ‘Supposing I take at face value that you intended to give me the cash value of my half of the business, that still doesn’t explain how you could go against the strong ethics you expect me and the world to believe you possess and do what you did to me.’

‘At the time, I told myself it was the principle.’

‘Youhave principles? Very funny.’

He closed his eyes and took a long breath. ‘Reb... Miss Foley,’ he corrected, speaking slowly. Wearily.

‘What?’ she asked when he didn’t say anything further.

He shook his head and sighed. ‘I was going to ask you to stop the sniping at me but I cannot blame you for being like this. It is nothing I don’t deserve.’

‘Oh, stop playing the martyr,’ she muttered, squirming, unable to understand why she should feel guilty for her sniping when, if Enzo’s mother hadn’t ratted him out, they would at this very minute be newlyweds looking to escape their wedding reception so they could make love for the first time.

She wanted to open her mouth and scream. Right at this moment she should be delirious with happiness celebrating her marriage to the love of her life and the man of her dreams.

Dreams that had been made entirely of smoke.

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