Page 42 of Owned By a Billionaire

His frown faded. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” As he stood at the door, I could see in him that young boy who always won at cricket and made his father proud. “Maybe you should say that to her sometime.”

“I think she understands it by now. We share in our passion for classical music.”

“There’s also Mirabel. She’s rather frightened of you.” He chuckled.

“Really? I am doing my best. You know me—I’m used to our lot.”

“That’s the point, Mother. She is our lot.”

I nodded. He was right. I needed to smile more at my daughter-in-law, despite my profound dislike of sandalwood.

After Declan left, I walked to the window. The ocean lay still, a glittering mirror of the sky. Unsettled thoughts drifted away as I thought of Cary waiting upstairs, and after undoing a couple of buttons on my shirt, I went to join him.

Chapter 13

Cary

“I’msorry.Yourcreditcard has been declined,” the shop assistant said.

Feeling like a first-class idiot, I peered down at the first edition of Sons and Lovers. “Oh, my apologies,” I said, before leaving the antiquarian bookshop with a head full of questions.

On my phone, I scrolled to my banking app, where I discovered my credit card had reached its limit.

I could only shake my head in disbelief. I’d spent fifty thousand pounds in a month. On what, exactly?

I was hopeless with money, and that book that I’d been writing for thirty years remained a work in progress. It was getting rather embarrassing at those social events Caroline loved to either host or frequent. Being asked how my historical novel on Charles II was coming along was like being asked why my first marriage didn’t work out. Maybe not as personal as why I escaped Elise, but equally as unsettling.

I couldn’t keep coming up with the sad excuse of writer’s block or blame Merivale’s library and its treasure trove of distractions. An original edition offered more allure, it seemed. Even the charming sixties typewriter Caroline had gifted to me failed to rouse my drive.

I called the solicitor involved in the sale of the Como villa. I couldn’t keep asking Caroline for money.

“I’ve got good news and bad,” he said in his heavy Italian accent.

“Give me the bad first.” I leaned against the black walled façade of the bookstore.

“The property has many caveats.”

“There are debts to cover?”

“Yes. The debts are substantial, signore.”

“Right. So, how much are we talking here?”

I could have done this on my last visit to Como, but with Caroline there, the only thing on my mind was sex, food, and her.

Also, money, like my past, wasn’t a subject I liked to discuss.

“After everything is settled, and with the generous offer being made, you’re looking at ten thousand euros.”

My heart sank. “Oh, I see.” I’d been expecting at least half a million. I knew Lilly had some debts, but she hadn’t exactly involved me in that side of her life.

“I will inform you once the settlement is complete. I will deposit the money into the Markus Reiner account I have here, yes?”

“Yep. That’s the one.”

I ended the call.

Why hadn’t I set up another account?

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