Trusting a Stranger (17 page)

‘Yes, Ivan, let her go,' Pearl chimed in from above.

Ivan scowled and turned slightly. Now Ethan could see that the situation was even worse than he had first thought. The large man had a gun pressed up against Hayley's back.

The gun wasn't held very well. If Hayley twisted suddenly she would be able to dislodge it, knock it to the ground, and, probably, free herself.

But Ethan doubted very much that the handling of enemies with guns was much part of the training to be a wedding photographer.

‘It's too late,' Pearl was continuing. ‘Katy's already gone.'

‘You don't know who you're dealing with,' Ivan said, again. He turned his attention back to Ethan. ‘You won't be allowed to get away with that child. Tell me, have you heard of the Tomasi family?'

‘Let the woman go,' Ethan said, smoothly.

‘Give me back the girl and I will.'

Hayley's eyes opened wide and vehemently, she shook her head.

‘No,' she mouthed. ‘Don't.'

Ivan let go of her arm and reached up to grab a handful of her hair. Then he pulled her head back, sharply.

‘Quiet!' he instructed.

‘Let her go.'

‘I need the girl.'

‘She has nothing to do with this!' called Pearl.

Ivan turned back to her.

‘How do you know what they want?' he demanded. ‘Alvaro said to bring Katy here, that's all.'

Tomasi had told him to do this? Tomasi had been aware of where Katy was, all this time? Ethan felt his shoulders stiffen. For some reason, his enemy had led him in the direction of his daughter. Hopefully, in spying her through the train window, he had been able to move one step ahead of Tomasi.

Otherwise, there was every chance that he had walked right into a trap. And worse, that he had brought Hayley along with him.

‘It's too late, Ivan,' Pearl was saying. She was moving down slowly now, approaching Ivan and Hayley where they stood.

Ivan trusted her, Ethan realised. He had no idea what the relationship between Pearl and Ivan was but there had been no mistaking the help that Pearl had given them so far. She had seen Ethan and Hayley in the street and kept their position secret. Then she had opened the door for them and all but summoned them in.

‘Katy's gone. It's too late,' Pearl said. ‘We've got to get ourselves out of here.'

‘It's never too late,' Ivan told her. ‘You don't know what Tomasi is like. If we screw this up we're as good as dead. He never forgets anyone who's wronged him.'

Ethan took a couple of steps down while Ivan was talking. When the other man looked back, he seemed surprised, as though he had already forgotten where Ethan had been.

Not one of the geniuses of the century, then.

‘He won't let her go,' Pearl said.

‘Why are you so sure about that? The kid is Tomasi's niece. Did you know that?' he demanded, turning towards Ethan. ‘Do you know what that family is capable of?'

Ivan still had Hayley's hair in one hand, his gun pressed against her back with the other.

‘That's who you're messing with,' he said to Ethan. ‘Alvaro Tomasi. If you haven't heard of him, then you should have. Man, I'm glad I'm not in your shoes.'

Ethan took a deep breath. The way to deal with the situation was suddenly clear to him. It was as though Pearl had somehow managed to show him the way.

‘This is your last chance to just walk out of here,' Ethan said. ‘Let go of Hayley and walk past me right now and I promise that I won't hunt you down'

‘Alvaro Tomasi will do that anyway,' Ivan observed. He was looking far less sure of himself now.

Ethan locked glances with Hayley and tried begging her with his eyes to trust him, to believe that she would get through this, that she would be all right.

‘Tomasi will be after you just because you let me follow you here,' Ethan said. ‘At least if you do this for me, you will only have one person hunting you.'

‘I think you should listen to him, Ivan,' Pearl said, softly. ‘What he's saying makes sense.'

‘Oh yeah? How can you be so sure?'

‘He's my brother!'

Ivan's head just about span around this time. He must be starting to get a sore neck.

‘You're Ethan MacDonald?' he asked.

Ethan nodded, then twisted to grab Katy as Ivan abruptly let go of Hayley and pushed her blindly into the wall.

Then he ran past Ethan, ran to the bottom of the stairs, ran out onto the street, and was gone.

Pearl walked down to Hayley and helped her to her feet.

‘You okay?' she asked.

Hayley was shaking but able to stand. Fear had blanched her beautiful features to a shade that was whiter than white.

‘Get away from her!' Ethan called, but there was no passion in his voice. Whatever had brought Pearl here, she had looked out for Katy and for him when it was necessary.

‘It's all right,' Hayley said, turning.

Ethan turned back to his daughter. ‘Katy, honey, are you okay?'

‘I'm all right,' Katy said.

But her eyes were bigger and rounder and darker than he had ever seen them. Ethan's whole body shook. His daughter had seen a gun pulled on someone. And the only thing he could think of was how grateful he was that it had not been pulled on her.

‘You're all all right?' he asked again.

Katy stepped back from him as though to see her father more clearly.

‘Aunty Pearl said you'd come,' she said.

Ethan looked up the stairs towards his sister. ‘She did, did she?'

Pearl couldn't quite meet his eye.

‘I made sure Katy was safe,' she said.

‘I'm sure you did.'

‘She was in no danger while I was around.'

‘This is something we'll have to talk about later.'

Ethan waited while Hayley walked down towards him and Katy. There was no point in getting angry at Pearl now. She couldn't have betrayed him about where Katy was at school, because that was something she hadn't known. And he couldn't forget that Katy had already witnessed enough conflict this morning to last her for a long, long time.

‘Was Ivan a bad man, Daddy?' asked Katy, looking up at him.

How to answer? It wasn't the sort of question Ethan had prepared himself for but, all the same, he knew he had to be careful. If Katy still didn't realise what danger she had been in, then he should probably be careful how he broke that information to her.

‘What do you think?' he asked.

Katy stuck her thumb in her mouth and considered the question for a long time. ‘I thought he was nice,' she said, eventually.

Hayley had reached them by this time. She was looking shaky. Ethan reached out for her hand with the one of his that was not holding onto Katy, and turned so the three of them could walk down the stairs.

‘He wanted to shoot you,' Katy said, wonderingly, as she leaned forward to look past her father at Hayley.

Something in Ethan's chest clenched as he watched Hayley try to find a smile to share with his daughter.

‘I know,' she said. ‘But he didn't shoot me. We need to remember that.'

‘I didn't know he was a bad man,' Katy said, in the sort of confessional tone she normally used for explaining that she didn't really like carrots.

‘I'm just glad you're both safe,' Ethan said.

‘He said he was taking me to my family,' Katy continued. ‘That means you, doesn't it, Daddy? Aren't you my family?'

Ethan nodded. ‘I am.'

He was all the family she had and he was going to continue protecting her until the end of his life.

‘And Aunty Pearl,' Katy said. There was a note in her voice that was surprisingly firm. ‘Aunty Pearl is my family too. And yours. She's your sister.'

Ethan looked over his shoulder. Pearl hadn't moved from the top of the stairs. She looked better than she had in a while but he still knew she was troubled. Drug addiction was cripplingly difficult to recover from and she had powerful enemies.

‘You want to come with us?' she asked.

Pearl shook her head, emphatically. ‘I've had enough of all this,' she said.

At the door, Ethan turned. ‘You still a good catch?' he asked.

‘The world's best,' Pearl agreed with a tired smile.

He let got of Hayley's hand for long enough to reach into his pocket for his mobile phone. Tossing it up at her, he said, ‘Keep it with you. I'll call sometime later.'

***

‘Katy's asleep,' Ethan said, walking out of the second bedroom of the little flat he had rented, far from the city centre.

Hayley was stretched out on the sofa sipping a glass of rich red wine and listening to the Italian news. She turned and moved slightly so that Ethan would have room beside her.

‘She's not going to have any more nightmares?' she asked, remembering the little girl's problem that had led to this crisis.

‘If she does, I'll be here.'

Hayley took another deep sip as she looked around the room. It was sumptuously decorated with rich velvets and brocade, and heavy gilt frames showing the images of brightly painted angels on the walls.

‘Is everything okay?' Ethan asked.

Hayley nodded, and leaned forward to pour a glass of the wine for Ethan. From the kitchen, the heady smell of a meaty pasta sauce that Ethan had begun to prepare earlier drifted out towards them.

‘Everything is more than okay,' Hayley said. ‘I can't quite believe I'm here. I can't believe the entire day.'

‘You slept for most of it,' Ethan reminded her with a smile.

‘You got a fair amount of sleep yourself,' Hayley said.

This was true. From the dingy apartment block where Katy had been taken they had walked back to the train station — not wanting a taxi driver later to be able to report on their movements — and from there Ethan had booked this accommodation through an internet rental agency. The apartment owner had been happy to accept a cash payment and not to ask any questions.

As much as was possible, they were in a place where no one in the world could find them.

‘It's good to feel safe,' Hayley said.

Ethan rubbed his fingers against his forehead.

‘Safe for a little while,' he said. ‘We can't stay here for long. The Tomasis have people everywhere. Many of them will be glad to see Alvaro gone.'

‘Where will you go?'

‘Back to my villa,' Ethan said. ‘At least Katy and I will have some protection there.'

‘What do you think will happen next?'

Ethan swished the wine around the bottom of his glass before looking up at her. ‘Do you mean what do I honestly think?' he asked.

‘Honestly,' Hayley repeated.

‘What I think is that Alvaro Tomasi is not going to let this go. He wants Katy and won't stop until I find some way of stopping him.'

‘It's war then?'

‘Something like that.'

Hayley wondered if Ethan would touch her again as his hand began to slide towards her. It rested on her thigh and sent a tingle straight to her heart.

‘I do have to warn you that, in all likelihood, Tomasi will be gunning for you too,' he said. ‘He bears grudges, Hayley. You're going to be looking out for a long time.'

Hayley frowned. ‘I just can't reconcile this version of Tomasi with the man we met in Montepulciano.'

‘It's not quite as simple as that.'

‘What do you mean?'

‘You're right.'

‘You're confusing me.'

‘It's too simple to say Alvaro Tomasi is behind all this. I've known for a long time that the Tomasis are in crisis. Rumours are that they lost fifty million dollars last year.'

Hayley swallowed. ‘How many millions?'

‘You heard me.'

‘I suppose Alvaro isn't a good manager.'

‘His uncle thinks the same.' Ethan rubbed his jaw. ‘I think it was his uncle who called you in Australia, Hayley. I think he's trying to overthrow Alvaro by proving how dangerous his obsession with Katy is.'

Hayley thought about that for a moment. ‘Is that how he lost so much money? His obsession, I mean?'

‘No one outside the family knows the details. But it could be. He certainly hasn't been keeping his eye on finances.'

‘I don't understand why he sent me to your place.'

‘We'll, if I'm right — and it's only an if — it could have been to drag me out. Set me even more against Alvaro. Have me either do Primo Tomasi's work for him, or…'

‘Or…?' Hayley prompted.

‘Or if I failed, and we both died, it would be further proof that Alvaro is taking his obsession too far and needs to be stopped,' Ethan concluded grimly.

She had never seen so much pain on his face. At this, Hayley became convinced that Ethan was right. Her insides clenched.

‘I hate that I was a pawn in all this!' she cried.

‘I hate it too,' Ethan said. ‘I hate everything about it. I hate that, because of me, you had coffee with a murderer.'

‘Don't think of it like that. We were both just doing what we thought we had to do at the time.'

Hayley wrestled with her alarm and disgust. What Ethan conjectured was shocking, but it was terrible for him as well as for her. They had to find strength together to support each other through this. She rested her hand on his.

‘You aren't alone in this,' she said. ‘I know you think Tomasi will continue going after me. Will I be safer at home?'

Ethan groaned. ‘You can't know how much I would love to be able to say yes. But the truth is, he has connections in Australia who are just as violent as they are here.'

‘Perhaps I should stay with you for a while?'

‘I was hoping you'd see it that way,' he said, and squeezed her leg. ‘What about your work?'

Hayley bit her lip. ‘I won't be much chop at weddings if I have an assassin in tow.'