Keira was shocked. It was not what she’d been expecting to hear at all.

“What about the magazine?” Keira said. “If I give up, won’t it be bad for Viatorum?”

There was a pause. Elliot sighed. “Keira I’m going to tell you something in the strictest of confidence.”

Keira was even more surprised to hear this. She’d been expecting Elliot to chew her ear off, but instead he’d paid her the highest compliment she’d ever received in relation to her work and now he was letting her in on some kind of secret.

“Lance isn’t your boss. Well, he is, strictly speaking, but it’s more complicated than that.” He breathed deeply. “Lance is my boss. He bought out the magazine.”

“What?” Keira exclaimed. “But why is he in the office doing Josh’s role? Is it like some kind of covert operation? Is he spying on us in order to work out who to sack?”

“It’s not like that,” Elliot replied. “Well, not completely. Lance has a unique approach to takeovers. You might have noticed that. He’s trying to get a feel for the magazine before he draws up his plan.”

Keira was panicking now. “What plan? What does that involve?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. It could be downsizing, upsizing, rebranding, relocating, firing, hiring. Hell, if he wants, he could change the direction of the magazine entirely. We could be writing about fashion or music instead of travel if that’s what he so desires.”

It was all starting to fall into place in Keira’s mind.

“That’s why you wanted me to do this piece,” she said. “If I can prove to him that Viatorum is heading in the right direction he’ll just let us carry on as we were.”

“Precisely,” Elliot replied. “Keira, I don’t want to heap all the pressure on your shoulders. That’s the way Josh behaved and it’s the way I was treated when I started out in this business all those years ago. It’s not fair to you to put my fate in your hands. So do what you think is best. I’ll respect whatever decision you make.”

He hung up and Keira stared at her cell phone. Things had done a complete three-sixty, again. Why was life always turning her upside down? She never knew if she was coming or going or what to do for the best.

The only thing that was irrefutable right now was that she was stuck in Italy whether she wanted to leave or not. There was nothing to be done now, so she may as well sleep on it and see what the morning brought.

Knowing her luck, Keira thought sadly, it would be another knock back, another blow, another twist of the knife that seemed permanently wedged in her heart.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Keira slept poorly, thanks to the people filing into the dormitory at all hours of the night. The bed was uncomfortable too, which didn’t help matters. So as soon as it was daylight outside, she decided to get up.