Page 35 of Last Breath (Blood Wine Dynasty #2)

Nella

Journalists and news anchors surrounded the Barbarani property like the dementors in the third Harry Potter book, even though it was only a few minutes into the next day.

It was Christmas, Easter and Grand Final Day all rolled into one for them.

All the major news channels made their way to the winery after Matteo La Marca had fed them an official statement about the court case.

And then the announcement of ex-Victoria’s Secret Model Divya Patel’s pregnancy had dropped.

The two things, at face value, were not related at all. Until Divya confirmed she was thirteen weeks pregnant.

And social media had a long memory. Luca Barbarani and Divya Patel had broken up twelve weeks ago.

Tom had gotten his wish for a new scandal. But Nella was numb to it. It was like she was frozen under an avalanche of snow. Extra flakes and sheets of ice didn’t affect her now; she couldn’t feel anything at all. The cameras were just an inconvenience.

Concetta, the housekeeper, almost blew off Pearl’s head with a shotgun once Nella’s receptionist made it past the media camp and up to the never-used soggiorno that Nella had annexed as her office.

If she was honest with herself, Nella was hiding up here so she didn’t have to be near Jett, even though logically, she knew there’d be no chance of that if she stayed in the mansion and he stayed in the garage.

Which he would. But she couldn’t guarantee she’d do the same.

Also, she didn’t want to go to sleep and leave her dreams open to his presence.

They’d fired their shots wide. But still, they’d fired. How could he? After all these years, after everything they’d been through, how could he still believe she saw him the same way Emily and her father had?

She could still feel his breath against her neck.

I wasn’t turned on.

Her body had betrayed her ridiculous lie. Her nipples had hardened against the coarse lace of her bra and the hairs on the back of her neck had spiked. She’d felt that drop in the pit of her stomach as warmth spread through her naval. He’d turned her on just with his voice.

I know everything about you.

He could never, ever find out how much she’d wanted that damned kiss to continue. Because as much as she was still furious at him, deep down she knew that everything between them was her fault.

She’d broken one of her own rules. Hypocrite.

Friends don’t do what she’d done to Jett.

How could she expect him to take her seriously, to realise she cared about him, that other people cared about him, if she kept going around humping his mattress and sticking her tongue down his throat as a diversion?

She wouldn’t have kissed him if the idea hadn’t already been marinating in her mind. It was instinct, a knee-jerk reaction. She’d just finally decided to follow through.

And it might have broken what she was only just coming to realise was perhaps the most honest friendship, beside that she had with Eliza, she’d ever had with someone not related to her.

‘Pet?’

Nella jumped. But it was just Pearl. She wasn’t sure if Pearl’s motivations for texting Nella when she saw the Barbarani car drive past at 3 a.m. while she got ready for her ridiculous pre-dawn lake run were purely about the La Marca court case or more to do with wanting to quench her gossip thirst with Luca’s scandal.

‘Go home, Pearl, you’ve done enough.’

‘I will.’ She nodded her beehive of white curls that always reminded Nella of spun clouds.

‘I just feel like I have to tell you something. It’s probably nothing, and because it’s nothing I’m not telling Detective Noah Avery.

’ Pearl glared; her history with the police force prevented her from being able to say Avery’s name without tasting poison.

‘What is it?’ Nella took a sip of her long black from McDonald’s; instead of offering to take over from Jett, Tom had conceded a coffee stop in Bunbury. It tasted exactly like coffee brewed by a nineteen-year-old at 2.30 a.m. in a drive-through should taste.

‘It’s about Ian.’

‘Mmm? Does he need my signature on his psych forms? I told him I’d cover it.’

‘Not that.’ Pearl wrung her hands, her eyes on the coffee cup Nella had developed a Stockholm syndrome–style relationship with. ‘You know how Ian told the police he came back to the office that night to get his gym bag?’

‘Right. He told me the same thing.’

‘Yes.’ Pearl twisted her ring around her thumb. ‘The thing is, Pet, when I came to get Ian and bring him back to my house, he was wearing his gym clothes.’

Nella frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘It’s probably nothing,’ Pearl said, waving a hand dismissively, ‘but it’s odd, isn’t it? Why would he need to get his gym bag if he was already in his gym clothes?’

Nella was still turning Pearl’s words over in her mind, along with everything else, when Concetta clicked her fingers in front of her face, bringing her out of her trance.

‘Your phone is ringing.’ Concetta put a plate of rockmelon in front of Nella, peering through the curtains at the crowd that was now a speck in the distance at the bottom of the driveway.

It was Grey. Nella accepted the call and Pearl discreetly excused herself to the bathroom. Perhaps hoping it was in close proximity to Luca’s lair.

‘Nel, I don’t mean to offend you or Tom, but I really don’t care if Luca’s impregnated the entire cast of Game of Thrones , I—’

‘So why are you calling me in the middle of the night?’ she snapped. ‘I never asked you to do anything.’

‘Tom texted saying you needed an urgent fixing.’

She squeezed the bridge of her nose. ‘I told him not to bother you with it.’

‘ It being Luca’s baby mumma?’

‘No, it’s not that ...’ Nella could hear a muffled voice in the background – Max.

Her stomach dropped. With everything that had been going on, she’d completely neglected her promise to look for some hard evidence against Forrest Valentine.

Grey whispered something reassuring and she heard the distinct sound of a gentle kiss.

The thought of Max and Grey lying happily in bed made her want to ugly cry into her McDonald’s cup.

‘What is it, Nel?’ Grey’s voice wasn’t strained anymore, but concerned.

Didn’t he realise she deserved none of it?

‘Go back to sleep,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry Tom bothered you with it at all. I’ll sort it out, I’ll ...’

‘Nella.’ Now he sounded like her father. Their father. And she’d be damned if she ignored the silent, deadly command.

She told him everything that had happened in the office. Except, of course, the kissing part. She told him what they’d found on the iPad, and what had to happen now. Grey listened wordlessly and when she’d finished, he took so long to reply she was convinced he’d hung up.

‘Do you really think he’ll meet you?’

‘I’ve told him if he’s so convinced Antonio La Marca had a claim to the sangue recipe then he has nothing to lose by meeting with me.’

‘Max and I will be there.’

‘Tell Max I am looking at Forrest, I just ...’

‘She knows you’re consumed with this wine trial, she doesn’t blame you.’

She does. I’m not doing enough. I’m not good enough.

‘As for putting Clarkson’s safe back as it was’—she heard the whir of his laptop—‘I’ve got a few contacts who owe me a favour. I think I can get it sorted by tomorrow.’

‘You can’t keep doing stuff like this for us. You’re not our Fixer anymore. Tom shouldn’t have texted you, he shouldn’t have ...’

‘Nella.’ Grey sounded angry. ‘I’m not doing it for Tom or because I feel any sense of duty towards the Barbaranis. I’m doing it for you.’

‘What?’ She shooed away Pearl’s curious eyes.

Grey sighed. ‘You’re my friend, Nel. I’m doing this for you as a friend, not as a half-sibling or a Fixer. Because I know you’d do the same for me.’

Her throat burned. There was a prickling sensation behind her eyes that built and built until she couldn’t hold the tidal wave of emotion back anymore.

Was she crying?

‘Nella?’

‘I’m here.’ She couldn’t calm the tremor in her voice. ‘Thank you,’ was all she could manage, before hanging up and staring at her phone like she’d just hallucinated the whole thing.

You’re my friend, Nel.

Crap. She should not be losing it over that.

Grey wasn’t indebted to her anymore. He did not work for her family.

He was not being blackmailed or offered an exorbitant amount of money to do her bidding.

He wasn’t looking for fame or social media followers, or a leg-up in his own business endeavours.

He wanted to help her because she was Nella.

Because he liked her. Because he was her friend.

And now she knew exactly how much she’d fucked up tonight.

As Nella turned on the lamp in the main office room and passed Pearl a slab of orange chocolate from the emergency stash in the fridge, she knew what she had to do.

Challenge 20 (Everyone has to learn to swim by themselves. You can guide your friends and help them float, but eventually you have to let them work it out themselves).

She had to convince Jett that he didn’t have to leave Bindi Bindi and never look back.

She needed to be his friend. She had to show him she wasn’t the selfish, spoiled teenager he’d met on that balcony fifteen years ago.

She was worth staying for – Luca, Tom, Grey and Max were worth staying for.

She needed to make Jett see that that hideous reminder he’d inked onto his skin was not the truth.

And for that to happen, to make Jett see that he couldn’t just run away, what happened in Clarkson’s office could never, ever happen again.

Challenge 7 (Don’t fuck with the ocean – never sleep with a friend).