Putting the empty glass down, she took a deep breath and forced herself to think. She and Cliff were no longer married, but they still shared the business. Cliff’s was a brand, but now the figurehead was gone. What did that mean for the company they’d built together? She’d invested more than twenty years of her life into its growth and success, which was why she hadn’t walked away from it at the same time as her marriage. It had represented the only consistency and security she had left. Also Cliff’s gave her a focus, and she needed that. The media didn’t understand, of course. They didn’t understand how she could still work alongside a man who had repeatedly humiliated her.

She closed her eyes. Forget that. Don’t think about that.

Right now the worst part was that there would be a funeral, and she hated funerals. No matter whose funeral it was, it was always her father’s funeral. Again and again, like some kind of cruel time-travel trick. And she was always ten years old, shivering as the cool Californian rain blended with her tears. This was different, of course. She’d adored her father, and her father had adored her back. He was the only man whose love she’d been sure of. But even with him love hadn’t meant security because he’d left her, felled by a heart attack in the middle of the living room with her as a witness. She could still hear the sickening thud as his body had hit the floor.

And now there would be Cliff’s funeral. Did she have to go? The thought of it made her want to reach for a drink, even though she wasn’t much of a drinker.

Yes, she had to go. Divorce or no divorce, it was the respectful thing to do. People would be watching. Everyone would want to know how she felt, not that she would tell them. She never spoke to the press.

How did she feel?

She heard sounds in the distance and then the insistent buzz of her gate intercom. Without thinking she stepped to the window and looked down the sweep of the drive to the large iron gates that protected her from the outside world.

A camera flashed and she gasped and quickly closed the shutters.

No!