without permission.
‘Is it possible for Miranda Muldavey to come after me for compensation, even though my beloved Ramsey,’ she clutched her chest dramatically as smoke billowed from her plump lips, ‘is no longer with us?’
Randy sighed, his ridiculous notion of an afternoon of champagne and sex rapidly diminishing by the second.
‘Well, it’s possible,’ he shrugged, ‘but unlikely. She would need to prove your husband’s negligence beyond reasonable doubt and, as you know, a dead man cannot stand trial. I suppose she could take out a private lawsuit, come after you that way, but again, the chances of her succeeding, in my opinion you understand, would be pretty slim.’
‘Slim you say?’
Randy downed the remainder of his crystal tumbler and pulled his lips over his teeth, before fixing her with an earnest stare.
‘Lady, I’d say they were fucking anorexic.’
Loretta visibly relaxed. Randy was right. These journalists would say anything to provoke a reaction. A reaction made headlines. And headlines sold newspapers. But still, Muldavey’s silence niggled at her.
‘I’ve had my secretary prepare copies of all the documents,’ Randy said, sliding a brown envelope across the oxblood-leather covered desk. ‘And I have the originals here for you to sign.’ He held out a Mont Blanc ink pen, poised, ready for her to take it.
Loretta took the pen from him and began to sign in her florid handwriting.
‘Congratulations, Mrs Hassan,’ Randy said dryly, quickly adding, ‘if that’s the right word to use, given the circumstances.’
Loretta was cross that she didn’t feel as euphoric as she had imagined she would, inheriting a touch over 500 million dollars.
‘There will be nothing left to celebrate if that crazy bitch comes after my money,’ she thumped her ample chest with such a breathtaking sense of self-righteousness that even Randy was a little taken aback, and he’d certainly seen more than his fair share of avarice over the years. ‘You cannot let Muldavey take it away from me.’ Loretta held his gaze from across the desk as she expertly slipped back into her helpless little girl routine, the one men seemed to drink down like a particularly fine vintage Châteaux Margaux.
Randy cleared his throat and watched as Loretta crossed and uncrossed her slim, tanned legs in slow, deliberate movements. The woman was certainly no spring chicken, but then again, neither was he, and she was wearing incredibly well for her age, whatever that might be. It was difficult to tell, given all the work Ramsey had done on her.
‘Well,’ he said softly, enjoying the switch in her demeanour as it dawned upon him that this was probably a woman who would do anything to save her fortune. ‘I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement. Let’s crack open that champagne,’ he grinned, the twitch inside his Armani slacks now a fully-fledged hard-on as he imagined her bent over his desk, skirt above her waist as he went at her like a jackhammer from behind.
Loretta smiled thinly as she surreptitiously opened the top button of her blouse.
‘You know, if you want my advice,’ Randy said, leaning back in his seat and trying to stop himself from imagining his bald head sandwiched between her impressive cleavage, ‘I would spend as much of that money as you possibly can, as quickly as you can. Invest in something; property, a legitimate business … the more you spend, the less there will be for her to take …’ Loretta pulled her chin into her chest, indignant.
‘Take? What do you mean, take?’
‘Not that this will happen, you understand …’ he added quickly, not wanting to spoil the upturn of her mood. ‘I’m just saying that if the worst did come to the worst, there are ways of protecting your assets.’
‘Go on …’ he had her interest now and this pleased him.
‘You could always transfer it all into someone else’s name. Someone you trusted, obviously, a family member, a lover perhaps … if it belonged to someone else, in name at least, then Muldavey could never make a claim on it.’ He paused for a moment to open the bottle of vintage Krug, decanting the amber bubbles into matching Tiffany flutes, adding, ‘I realise it’s far from ideal, but it would be one way of protecting your money.’
Loretta stifled a snort. The man was cazza loca. She would rather cut out her own eyes. Besides, she trusted no one. Sometimes not even herself.
She had made that mistake once before, trusting a man who had managed to peel back her tough outer layers and uncover a softness beneath she had never even known existed; a man who had gone on to shatter her heart and destroy her faith in everything good. A man named Tom Black.
‘If I were you,’ Randy continued, a look of self-serving cheer creeping across his booze-bloated face, ‘I would take myself off somewhere. You know, have a holiday – a long one; I’m sure you deserve it. Why not charter that new jet of yours? Start ridding yourself of some of that cumbersome cash,’ he smirked broadly, displaying a set of yellow teeth. ‘Let me deal with Miranda Muldavey this end.’
Loretta visibly recoiled. She could smell his fetid breath from where she sat; a revolting mix of halitosis and cognac.
‘Do you know, Randy, I think you might be right,’ she smiled, genuinely this time. Randy had just given her a fantastic idea, and in doing so unwittingly blown any chances of her dropping to her hands and knees and pleasuring him under the desk in the process. ‘I will fly off somewhere; somewhere no one will find me. At least not without looking …’
Randy came from behind his desk to join her and she stood. Vertically challenged and about forty pounds overweight, he looked as if his suit had shrunk in the wash and Loretta wondered, incredulously, how anyone could manage to make bespoke Armani look so disgustingly cheap. She lunged forward and kissed him then, caught him clean off-guard, and he struggled to regain his composure as her long hot tongue played with his short wet one. She felt for his erection, only to be met with more disappointment. Pulling away from him sharply, Loretta suddenly snatched up the signed documents from the desk and stuffed them inside her Valentino clutch.
Randy looked at her, crestfallen. ‘But I thought …’
‘You thought what, Randy?’ she raised a dark, arched eyebrow at him that was sharp as a poisonous arrow and made him instantly lose his erection. ‘I would rather join my husband in the grave,’ she hissed, disgust dripping from her lips. ‘If Ramsey could see you now,’ she shook her head, slowly tutting with disapproval as her eyes swept the length of him.
Suitably rejected, Randy bristled.
‘You can save all the grieving widow crap for someone who buys it, lady. I know what an ageing, gold-digging piece of trash you are underneath all the plastic surgery.’
‘Sticks and stones, Randy, as the English say,’ Loretta cackled, checking her lipstick in her diamond-encrusted Dior compact before turning sharply to leave. Though he was right about one thing; she did need a holiday. Somewhere hot, somewhere fabulous and fun, somewhere she could embark upon the most epic shopping spree of her life without the press tracking her every move. She knew just the place.
CHAPTER 8
‘Where are you taking me?’ Ellie giggled girlishly as Vinnie guided her precariously along the narrow Soho street, his hands covering her eyes.
‘Not far now,’ he promised, barely able to contain his own excitement. ‘And no peeking!’ He knew his wife only too well.
‘Have you seen these heels?’ she protested, referring to the six-inch Pierre Hardy sandals she was wearing, squeezing his arm tightly in a bid to steady herself against the cobbles that were proving tricky to navigate. Vinnie laughed. It had not escaped his watchful eye that his wife had seemed a touch subdued over dinner tonight; it was the first time he had seen her genuinely