Page 88 of Last Breath

‘Did your parents not have the birds and the bees conversation with you? Admit it. You knew he was leaving, and you kept it from me because you knew how it would look.’

‘It was none of your business! Or anyone’s business for that matter.’

‘It’s motive,’ Nella said. Her atoms were splintering. ‘And none of that explains why you’re here.’

‘I’m making sure whoever killed Clarkson pays for it. I know you’re involved. I know you took the iPad from the safe. Your family’s shit is stained all over this. And I’ll be damned if I let you bury his memory in the grave Matteo La Marca is digging for you.’

Her lungs were collapsing. Oliver was speaking exactly like a lawyer. Either everything he was saying was true, or he’d killed Clarkson and now he was here, following up on the last thing Clarkson did before he died – to make sure nothing implicated him.

‘You don’t believe me.’ His face cracked. ‘You’ve always been too good for everyone, haven’t you, Nella? Never a team player. Always off on your own. You joked about starting up a firm with us, but you never meant any of it. Always too good for me and Clarkson. But apparently not too good to hook up with your driver. Or are you done with that charade? You ready to admit that hook-up was all for show so you could steal from me?’

‘At least the people I hook up with want it.’

She’d remember his face, ashen white and gaping at her like he’d never seen her before as she shoved past him and ran into the crowded restaurant. She’d remember it, no matter the outcome of this case. Because, despite everything she’d just learnt about her grandfather, for the first time in a really long time, that face felt like a win.

28

Jett

‘I’m sorry.’

‘It’s okay. I understand.’

‘It’s just ... bad timing,’ Jett said, rubbing his brow. ‘And I’m leaving soon anyway. I was upfront that I only wanted something casual.’ He watched her face.

‘I understand.’

‘You keep saying that, Daisy, but I feel like you don’t. I’m so sorry.’

‘Hey.’ She put her hands on his shoulders. Her touch was calming, stabilising, not electric, not like how someone held you as they stabbed you in the gut. ‘You don’t have to apologise.’

‘I do,’ he said, sickness curdling in his gut. ‘If I’m being honest, it was wrong to ask you out when I knew I was leaving Bindi Bindi.’

And on some level, I’m worried I asked you out because maybe Nella would find out and she’d come back, even if it was just to yell at me.

‘Jett.’ Daisy’s voice was level. ‘Can I just ask one thing?’

‘Sure.’ They had to keep their voices low because Ariana was sleeping in the room adjacent. Daisy was supposed to be looking after her while she slept off whatever bug she’d brought with her on the plane, but Jett couldn’t leave this any longer. The jolting, earth-shattering discovery they’d made on Isola San Giulio only cemented the necessity for him to do it now.

‘Is this because of Nella?’

‘What?’Could not have answered quicker, you dumbass.

‘Is there ... something between you?’

‘What? Me and Nella?’ He laughed. Manically. Daisy watched him. ‘Dais, come on. Me – the chauffeur – and Antonella Barbarani? Do you think I’m stupid enough to entertain the idea of such a ridiculous fantasy?’

‘So you admit it’s a fantasy?’

‘Fantasy as in cannot and does not exist. In any dimension.’

‘But I see the way you look at her.’

‘I ... What ...? I don’t ...’

‘Have you ever considered that maybe she feels the same way?’

‘The same way I feel? I’m sure she does, Daisy. Because all I feel towards Nella is professional acquaintanceship, exactly the same way I feel about Tom and Luca. Sure, it may cross over into friendship, or at least it used to ... So yes, I’m sure Nella feels the exact same way about me.’