Page 51 of Original Sin

‘How you forget about your fancy Upper East Side life and just play the whore with faceless fucks you never have to see again.’

He grinned and held up his hands. ‘Well honey, I’m home.’

‘All right. You’ve gloated enough,’ said Liz fiercely. ‘What do you want?’

‘Keep it up, Lisa. You’re making me hard.’

He trailed his finger down her tanned, toned arm so she felt the familiar roughness of his fingertips.

‘Don’t worry, you can afford it. I just want some incentive to keep our little secret. Because I kinda doubt the Billington family are going to like this either.’

‘There are laws against blackmail,’ she snarled. ‘My lawyer is here tonight and by the time the cops are finished with you, you’ll wish you’d never seen my face.’

He snorted, brushing the threat away like an irritation. ‘B

lackmail?’ he said with a note of surprise. ‘Oh no, I was thinking of it more like patronage of the arts. Me, struggling actor. You hotshot businesswoman.’

‘Don’t fuck with me,’ she growled.

‘I think we’re past that point already.’

Russ put the martini glass on a chair and fastened the button on his suit. ‘Why don’t I give you a couple of days to think about it? But don’t take too long … Just to give you a little hint, I was thinking somewhere in the region of two hundred thousand dollars.’

As he walked away he smiled. ‘Well, I know where you are now,’ he said, gesturing at the Skin Plus logos on the doors of the treatment rooms. ‘Maybe I’ll book an appointment. I’ve got a feeling I’ll be able to afford it real soon.’

Liz opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. For the first time in a long time, she just didn’t know what to say.

*

Tess wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep when her mobile started ringing. She groped across her bedside table, grabbed the phone, and squinted at the time on the glowing screen. Two thirty a.m. What the hell? Calls at this time were never good news, unless it was from London, in which case some selfish sod hadn’t factored in the time difference. She sighed. Which probably meant it was Dom.

‘Do you know what time–?’ she began to croak, but she was quickly cut off.

‘Can you come round?’ The voice was female.

‘Who is this?’ asked Tess suspiciously.

‘Liz,’ came the testy reply, as if it were perfectly natural for Liz Asgill to call in the middle of the night.

‘Oh. Er, hi,’ said Tess. Her brain felt foggy and she felt slightly sick. One too many Manhattans, perhaps. She struggled to sit up in bed.

‘Is everything okay?’ Tess had only left Liz a few hours earlier at the launch. She had not said goodbye before she’d left – Tess hadn’t been there to handle the launch PR; her job was to keep an eye on Brooke and ensure her photographs got in all the right magazines and newspapers. When Brooke had left just after eleven, Tess had quickly followed. She badly needed the sleep; the two weeks since she had landed in New York had been a blur.

‘I need to see you,’ said Liz urgently. ‘Right away.’

‘Well, I’ll be in the office at seven,’ said Tess blearily. ‘Let’s grab a coffee as soon as we both get in.’

‘No, I need to see you now.’

There was an agitated, desperate edge to Liz’s voice that made Tess reach over and switch on her bedside light.

‘Liz, it’s two thirty,’ she said, immediately regretting the words the second they were out of her mouth.

‘This is not a nine–to–five job, Tess,’ snapped Liz. ‘I wouldn’t be calling you unless it was urgent.’

So far, Tess had had very few dealings with Liz and she had been rather relieved that their paths hadn’t crossed. Tess had met many formidable women in her time, but Liz was something else. There was a chilliness about her that made Tess feel as though she was treading on eggshells whenever they met. She was certainly not a woman to piss off before the day had even begun.

‘Okaaay,’ sighed Tess. ‘Give me your address.’