Page 103 of Last Breath

Raphael nodded. ‘The letter your boss slipped under her door said if she didn’t get the footage, there’d be more where that came from, until it wasn’t food she was spewing up, but her own blood, her lungs.’

A rock fell in Jett’s stomach. ‘Nella wouldn’t ...’

‘Oh, but she did. Tell me, Randall, have you spoken to your boss since you returned from Milan? Did it ever occur to you that she might be avoiding you too? Because of what she did?’

Well, yes, because of one very specific reason that had nothing to do with Ariana La Marca and her fiancé’s incriminating dash cam footage.

‘She—’

‘She signed it, Randall.’

‘Nella would never put anyone’s life at risk, not even Ariana’s.’

‘I’ve seen her in court. I watched you carry her away at her father’s funeral. There is nothing that woman is not capable of. And you’d see it too if you weren’t so busy drooling over her perky little tits.’

Was Raphael really suggesting Nella had beenpoisoningAriana the whole time they were in Italy so that she could blackmail her into getting the dash cam footage to convict him of the wine poisoning?

I think the chinotto’s off.That’s what Ariana had said to him. Nella had organised the chinotto – not strange, she never travelled without it. She’d put it in the back of Jett’s car herself.

It was her idea.

‘I see it in your eyes,’ Raphael hissed. ‘You know I’m right. Leave, Randall. Get the fuck out of here. Take my advice, take my mercy and don’t waste it this time. Get out while you still can, because they’re all about to go down. The La Marcas will take this to trial, and even if Forrest is incriminated, the Barbaranis are going to sink further. Get out before you get buried in their coffins with them.’

And with one last look, Raphael shoved past Jett and fled back through the trees.

Adrenaline prickling, Jett yanked his door open, fumbling for his phone in the glove box.

Missed calls from Tom, Grey and a private number. He hated that his stomach twisted when he saw that Nella’s name was nowhere on his lock screen.

He should call her. He should hear it from her. Listen to her try to deny what Raphael had said. He should warn her.

But he couldn’t call her. Because even though Raphael was a soulless, sociopathic cretin, he was also right. About the Barbaranis, about Jett. He was right, and Jett had been so wrong. So blind. He hated that his first instinct was still to call Nella. So it was therefore the one thing he absolutely could not do.

Grey. He’d call Grey back.

‘Jett?’ Grey sounded more out of breath than he’d been at the peak of their treadmill run. ‘What the hell took you so long?’

‘Long story. Raphael came at me, he—’

‘Jett.’

His blood ran cold. ‘What’s wrong? Is it Nella? What’s happened?’ He was already sprinting round to the driver’s side like back in his carjacking days.

‘It’s Tom.’ Grey drew a shaky breath. Jett hated that his heart started beating again. ‘He called again. He said he was being followed – reckons someone tried to run him off the road.’

‘Shit.’

Tom was known for being dramatic, but his enormous pride was a handicap that would have stopped him from calling Grey unless he was actually scared.

‘I’m going to him, if the firies haven’t blocked off Cove Road,’ Grey said. ‘It’s weird – he’s down by the Cuttlefish Heights development, near Nannup. Do you know anyone who lives down there?’

‘No.’ Jett leant back against the headrest, keys still on his lap. ‘But you do.’

‘What? Who?’

‘Sophie. Your ex.’

‘Why would Tom be driving to Sophie?’