CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Sapphire walked into the office, yawning and twisting her head to get rid of the crick she’d developed through sleeping badly again as lustful dreams took her to forbidden heights, with Marco always in the lead role.
It was her first day in work after the trip to the Isles of Scilly and she felt decidedly nervous about seeing Marco, having no idea how their relationship was playing out – or even if they had a relationship.
She’d had no chance to talk to him as he’d busied himself with his laptop for most of the flight home and had kissed her perfunctorily as he put her in a cab and took a different one straight into the centre of London. She now wondered if he’d stayed busy on purpose. In her heart, she couldn’t believe that he would have stopped wanting her so quickly; they were perfect together. But a niggling voice kept on repeating Finbar’s warning. She so should have listened harder to his words of advice.
But there was nothing she could do about it now, and she would be professional, at least while she was at work, leaving her fragmented heart to break when she was at home. She pasted on a smile.
‘Morning, Charlotte, morning, bump, hope you both feel better than I do.’ She stifled another yawn and glanced around the office as Charlotte, the secretary, tapped away at the computer.
‘Morning, Sapphire. Marco left some post on your desk, to deliver to the right people when you see them.’
‘Okay, I’ll check the roster and see who’s flying today. Any delays, weather problems or sickness?’
‘Apart from my chronic indigestion, nothing to report.’
‘Still feeling rough?’
‘Yeah, but not much longer to go. Now Mr Cavarelli’s streamlining the base, I’ll be leaving earlier than I thought. He’s offered me a generous maternity package.’
‘He’s streamlining the base?’ She faced Charlotte, trying to keep the shock from her voice. This was the first she’d heard of it. Marco kept things to himself, but surely he would have mentioned such a huge change?
Sapphire stared at Charlotte, unable to believe her ears. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again, needing time to absorb this news. Alarm bells rang, faint but insistent as she wandered over to her desk to check the letters he’d left her to distribute. She picked them up and shuffled through them, not finding any common denominator in the names printed on them.
‘Where is Marco, by the way? He’s normally here by now.’
‘Oh, he’s gone away for a few days. I booked him a flight to Florence, first thing.’
Sapphire balked; this was getting worse. ‘Really? He didn’t say anything to me.’
‘Why would he, you weren’t here?’
Sapphire pulled herself up short, remembering that no one knew about her and Marco; there would be no reason for her to know his movements.
Charlotte, however, didn’t appear to notice and went on talking. ‘It was genuinely weird. The magazines for the aircraft were delivered and Marco signed for them, to save me heaving my huge barge arse out of my chair. Then he went all quiet, put his jacket back on and said he was going away. He’d only taken his jacket off minutes before.’
Sapphire went cold at Charlotte’s words – there was definitely something going on. She edged casually across to the magazines dumped on the floor, still sealed in polybags. The top one was a glossy gossip magazine and immediately a picture of herself and Marco in the hotel at St Martin’s jumped out at her. Shock rendered her speechless as she took in the heading. Mystery woman in hideaway hotel with magnate Marco Cavarelli. Sapphire winced at the implication that they were being devious, knowing how much Marco would hate it. She didn’t much like it herself – but there was no one in her life who cared very much what she did.
Flipping the magazines over to hide the image, she remembered how cross Marco had been about the intruding photographer. She rubbed at her arms, the earlier niggle about the direction of their relationship now cementing into a concrete fear that the picture was the reason for his hasty departure. Could it be that he was embarrassed to be seen with her, a woman of such lowly status?
Finbar sauntered in at that moment. ‘What’s up?’ He must have caught the stricken look on Sapphire’s face, even though she was trying to compose her features the best she could.
‘Nothing, I hope.’ Her fingers trembled as she threw the letters into her in-tray.
‘What’ve you got there?’
She dragged her mind back to the immediate problem. ‘Oh, just letters. Fin, have you heard rumours that Marco is streamlining the airline?’
‘No, but it wouldn’t surprise me; the man is ruthless.’
Betty, who was polishing the windows, stepped down from her stool and faced them, hands on hips. ‘This is the first I’ve heard of it and I know everything.’
‘We know you do, Betty, love, which just shows how cunning the man can be,’ Finbar said, his gaze fixed on the letters.
Sapphire thought cunning was a bit unfair – he was just a shrewd businessman – but nevertheless a shiver of unease crawled down her spine. She had no idea how their relationship was faring now that they’d returned from St Martin’s. all she knew was that Marco was preoccupied and distant, while she was left flailing in a sea of doubt and insecurity.
‘I know he was talking about merging with a smaller airline in Scotland and updating the aircraft to start some kind of upmarket spa holiday, but he didn’t say anything about redundancies or suchlike,’ she said, finally.
‘Surely that would mean expansion, not reduction?’
Sapphire picked the letters out of her in-tray and tapped them against her thigh thoughtfully. ‘I don’t know, I’m afraid; I’m not privy to his plans.’ She hoped she didn’t sound bitter, but she was beginning to wonder, given his recent behaviour, if she had, after all, been a blind fool. She scanned the names on the letters once more.
‘Who are the letters for?’ Finbar asked as he peered over at them.
‘They’re from Marco.’
Finbar narrowed his eyes.
‘It’s nothing, I don’t suppose,’ she continued breezily.
‘Then we have nothing to worry about, do we? Apart from the look on your face that says we might have something terrible to worry about.’ He flipped the letters out of Sapphire’s fingers and flicked through them, reading out the names on the front. ‘Hannah, Mason, Connor, Taylor, Maisie, Jack. Hmm.’ He looked up from the stack, a quizzical look on his face. ‘You didn’t? Please, tell me you didn’t blab to him.’
Sapphire rubbed her nose and sucked in a shuddering breath. ‘They were throwaway comments really; nothing tangible.’
‘You mean throwaway comments like, “We caught Maisie pilfering perfume from the duty-free bar, and Connor was off sick but someone saw him in the departure lounge heading for Ibiza” – those sorts of throwaway comments?’ He lowered his voice so that Charlotte wouldn’t hear what he was saying.
‘It was just chatter, nothing specific.’ Sapphire put her fingers up to her lips as they started quivering. ‘He wouldn’t do that – he’s not who you think, Fin.’ But her stomach contracted with anxiety. ‘I need to see the contents of those letters.’ She glanced over at Charlotte, wondering how unethical it would be to read one and seal it up again. She inclined her head over to the adjacent room. ‘Let’s go into my office.’ she mouthed and walked the few short steps into the office she now shared with Marco.
Quick as a flash, Finbar slit the top of one of the envelopes and scanned the page, his mouth compressing into a hard line. He passed the letter to Sapphire wordlessly, before printing out a new name label and sticking it onto a fresh envelope. Then he snatched the letter back from a pale-faced Sapphire and slipped it in the envelope, shaking his head with disbelief.
‘God, what have I done?’ Sapphire sat down with a thump as the awful truth sank in that she was the direct cause of her colleagues losing their jobs. Colleagues who should have known better, but still had bills to pay.
‘What a bastard. Redundancy my arse. Sacking more like, couched in grander terms.’
‘At least he’s paying them off.’ Sapphire could barely take it in. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Careless talk costs lives – isn’t that what they said back in the wartime days? Finbar had told her to be careful but she hadn’t listened, being too busy falling in love.
Finbar turned his attention from the letters to gaze out of the window towards the car park. ‘Where is the delectable Mr Cavarelli, anyway?’
Betty appeared from the tiny kitchenette area, yellow rubber gloves adorning her hands. ‘Florence.’
Finbar jumped backwards and fanned his face. ‘Christ almighty, Betty, don’t do that. How do you move from one room to the other without us seeing you?’
Sapphire laughed. ‘Betty’s had years of practice, that’s how she knows everything.’
I’m the cleaner, no one notices me,’ Betty said, pulling off the gloves with a snap. ‘Florence,’ she repeated.
The single word sounded like a death knell to Sapphire.
Betty went on. ‘Might be as long as a week. I heard him on the phone making arrangements.’ Polishing her glasses with the same cloth she’d just used to wipe the windows, Betty leaned against the desk. ‘I put his tea down on his desk and he almost jumped out of his skin. He was acting very shifty.’ Her face turned wistful. ‘He is so good-looking though – and he ate all of the coffee cake I gave him.’
‘Oh, well, if he ate all of your cake then everything must be fine.’ Finbar’s lips pursed waspishly.
‘No one is black or white, Finbar – you have to give the man a chance. But a week?’ Sapphire said, bringing the conversation back to what mattered. He hadn’t left them to their own devices for more than a couple of days since he’d arrived, and he hadn’t mentioned going away.
‘Sweetie, I hate to say this, but look.’
Sapphire followed Finbar’s line of sight to his finger, which wobbled as he pointed. Propped up against her computer screen sat an envelope, personally addressed to Sapphire in Marco’s unmistakable spiky handwriting. Sapphire’s mind couldn’t compute what Finbar meant but, as realisation dawned, she picked it up with hands that shook all over again.
Finbar grasped her shoulder. ‘Sweetie, it won’t be what you think; he wouldn’t do that to you.’
But Sapphire could hear the uncertainty in his tone and a terrible voice in the back of her head was screaming, he would, he would, he doesn’t want me.
‘Love, you’ve turned quite pale.’ Betty’s eyes fixed on the unopened letter and then on Sapphire’s fearful eyes. ‘If he goes around upsetting people, he’ll have me to answer to.’ She puffed out her chest, determination written all over her face. She took off her already spotless glasses and polished them again as she eyed up the envelope and Sapphire’s reaction to it. ‘Let’s have a look then.’ She obviously believed she was as much a party to office politics as anyone.
‘I’ve got this one, Betty.’ Finbar put his arm around Sapphire’s shoulders and steered her toward the door. ‘Let’s get out of here. Don’t open it now,’ he hissed to Sapphire as he grabbed her arm. He winked at Betty. ‘I’ll let you know the goss as soon as I get back.’
Betty looked for a moment as if she would follow them out of the building, but good manners prevailed and she settled for huffing on her glasses once more and polishing them vigorously.
Finbar dragged Sapphire out of the office, not stopping until they came to the same café in which, ironically, Sapphire had sat with Marco when he’d threatened her with the sack just after he’d arrived. How far they’d come since that day, and yet it seemed possible that the end result would be the same.
Sapphire had begun to convince herself that Marco might yet fall in love with her but she’d clearly been living in a fantasy world; he thought as much of her as any of his other staff – which, by the looks of it, wasn’t very much. Though surely he wouldn’t dismiss her? Even Finbar said as much and he didn’t trust Marco an inch. But perhaps he now saw her as an inconvenience and wanted her gone. With shaking fingers, she held the envelope at arm’s length, her eyes fixed on it, as if she could see the contents by sheer will-power.
Finbar placed a cup of tea in front of her and stirred his own coffee, waiting.
‘And before you say anything, I don’t want to hear one I told you so. Not once, okay?’ Sapphire said, weakly as she placed the letter squarely in between them both.
I wouldn’t dream of it, sweetie, but’ – he held up his hand – ‘I did warn you.’
Sapphire eyed him as she slid her finger under the envelope. ‘Oh, it’s not even sealed.’ She looked inside it, tipped it up and turned it inside out, shaking it. ‘It’s empty; there’s nothing in there. Oh, hang on.’ She waggled her finger inside the envelope and a Hot Air Aviation compliment slip slithered onto the table. She stared at it for a second, before sweeping it up with the envelope.
‘Phew. That’s bloody weird though.’ Finbar sat back in his chair. ‘Have you checked your phone, by the way?’
‘No, I haven’t heard it ring or anything. Hang on.’ She fished out her mobile and scanned it. ‘Oh God, there’s a message from him.’ She bit her lip as she glanced at Finbar before returning her gaze to her phone. She clicked on the message, her eyes growing round as she read it. ‘What? No!’ Her voice was overloud in the café and her fingers flew to her mouth.
‘What does he say?’
She gaped at her phone, blew out a breath and slumped forward in her chair, leaning her head in her hands. She brushed her hair out of the way as it flopped over her face, looking at Finbar in anguish.
‘What, what?’ Finbar’s eyes were bulging.
Reading slowly from the screen, she said, ‘Mr Cavarelli suggests that I should consider clearing my calendar of any important business and winding down my personal roster for the forthcoming months. He will of course offer me a suitable remuneration package when I leave my position and will ensure that I am not financially indisposed.’
‘No!’ Finbar’s eyes were huge and disbelieving, his mouth wide open. ‘The bastard,’ he said, letting out a loud breath.
‘I don’t understand. Why?’ She was momentarily too puzzled to be upset, too confused to be worried about her job. No, No, her mind screamed; nothing had prepared her for this. She dropped her phone into her lap. ‘Why would he do this?’ She bit her lip. ‘How could he betray me like this?’ She looked up at Finbar, her eyes glistening with unshed tears and panic. ‘What am I going to do?’
‘What happened between you two?’
Sapphire just shook her head and looked down at her lap, cradling her phone.
‘You slept with him, didn’t you?’
She nodded as she bit her lip to hold back the tears. There was no point in denying it.
‘What did I tell you? Don’t think he’s on your side, don’t sleep with him and don’t tell him anything about the staff.’
‘I thought there were going to be no told you so’s.’
‘For crying out loud though, Sapphire.’ He snatched her phone up and read the message for himself, ‘There’s a bloody kiss at the end. The bastard.’
‘Yeah, I noticed that. I’ve done it myself by mistake, loads of times. Too late to take it back once you’ve pressed send – and the person on the other end is left wondering if you fancy them.’ She smiled weakly.
‘You’re right. It’ll be a mistake – or he needs a good slapping for being so heartless.’ Finbar swore again and threw the phone onto the table. He patted Sapphire’s arm. ‘It’s not your fault, honey. He knows how to play people and he’s ruthless. That’s why he’s so successful.’
She didn’t answer, still couldn’t believe that he had made love to her so thoroughly and then betrayed her so totally. Not only was she about to lose her job, but all the delightful fantasies she’d harboured, of a future with the man she loved had proved to be an illusion. How could anyone be so cruel? ‘But he wasn’t like that, ever,’ she asserted.
But even as she defended him, a deep humiliation crept up on her, colouring her cheeks. To think of the intimate things she’d done with him – totally abandoning her prudish tendencies, believing that it wasn’t so much about sex as discovering each other, falling in love. But it wasn’t love, wasn’t even sex, by all accounts. It was just one merciless man using her in the most callous way possible. Her big beautiful dream had turned into one appalling nightmare.
‘Of course he was like that; you just didn’t see it because he made you all moonstruck.’ Finbar sighed and drummed his fingers on the table. ‘I don’t know what to suggest right now. If he was here I’d be tempted to thump him one.’
‘Think I’d beat you to it.’
‘I suppose he was fantastic in bed, was he?’
Sapphire’s eyes widened. ‘For God’s sake, Finbar, I’ve just lost my job and you want to know what sex with Marco sodding Cavarelli is like?’
‘Yes.’ His grin didn’t fade. ‘Ultimate fantasies and all that – can’t help it. And I think you might want to use the past tense from now on about your sex life with Mr Cavarelli.’
‘My ex sex life then, if that makes you happier.’ She was too shocked to cry, but slowly her predicament hit her. ‘He knows I have no family to help me.’ She shook her head, helplessly. ‘All the other stuff we talked about too; I just can’t take it in.’
‘Do you want to call him? I assume you feel close enough to do that?’
She considered it. Yelling at him and telling him what a bastard he was sounded like a good option, but what good would it do? ‘Maybe he doesn’t mean it – or maybe it was a mistake.’
‘Or maybe he just sees you as an annoyance now.’ Finbar looked thoughtful. ‘I don’t think anyone could make a mistake like that, to be honest.’
Sapphire sagged. ‘At least he had the grace to text me.’
‘Really? You are actually grateful that he personally sacked you by text?’
‘You’re right. What the hell am I thinking?’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘And how can he expect me to face him, after what he’s done to me, what we did together? Oh, God. I can’t see him ever again, Fin, I just can’t. I have to leave. Right now.’
‘Wait, sweetie, you can’t afford to walk out – and he’s not even here. Let me make a few phone calls and see who’s recruiting. You might be lucky.’ He pressed her hand and she held on to it, as if it were a lifeline.
‘Why don’t you go home and I’ll sort out the admin stuff? You’re not flying today, are you?’
‘No, not until Thursday. Thanks, Fin. I can’t face going back in there at the moment.’
She pushed to her feet and Finbar followed suit. ‘I’ll call you later, okay?’
She nodded mutely, dragging her heels as she headed for her car, hoping for a last-minute reprieve, although what shape such a thing would come in was anyone’s guess. She climbed into her car and rested her head on the steering wheel, the pain so deep and penetrating she felt it might stop her heart. ‘Why, why?’ she wailed. ‘Oh, Marco, how could you?’ She clutched at her chest, thinking she’d never felt such agony, even when her mother left and her father sent her away.
She had allowed herself to fall in love with Marco and she had hoped he might love her too. But all the charm and the loving kisses had been a ploy to trick her into telling him all about Hot Air employees and, like the idiot she so clearly was, she’d fallen for it. What a total shit he was.
She finally dried her eyes, blotted her cheeks and, after eventually starting up the car, tried to smile to the parking attendant as he waved her through the barrier.
By the time she put her key in the door of her apartment she’d decided on a plan. She phoned Finbar and asked him to remove all but the basics from her file. She was going to make sure she never heard from Mr bloody bastard Cavarelli ever again.