The silence lengthened, the tension growing heavier with every passing moment.

‘All in.’

The man’s words elicited a murmur around the table. Kit’s gaze flickered up to her again, but this time there was heat in his gaze. She knew she had done something wrong again.

The other player showed his hand. A straight flush.

Clover looked at Kit in rising panic, watching as he bit his lip before turning his cards too. One off a full house.

A groan swept the crowd, hands flying to hair, faces scrunched in disappointment as the dealer swept away the chips.

‘Oh what a shame!’ the woman beside Clover cried.

Kit looked straight at Clover, pinning her with a dark stare that left her in no uncertainty that he blamed her for this loss. Without a word, tossing a chip as a tip to the dealer, he pushed his chair back and got up. Clover watched him stalk away, into the crowd. What had she done?

‘Do you know him?’ asked the woman in the floral dress in surprise.

‘Yes,’ Clover murmured.

‘Clo! Christ, there you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!’

She spun round, to find Johnny heading towards her through the crowd. ‘Johnny? Well timed. Kit’s just lost three hundred grand on the poker table and supposedly it’s all my fault.’

He frowned. ‘Why?’ he panted. Had he been running?

‘Well, I’m breathing, aren’t I?’ she asked angrily. She looked at him. ‘Why are you so out of breath?’

‘I’ve basically had to fight my way in here! You haven’t been picking up your phone. I’ve been texting you for the past half hour!’

‘Well, why would I have been picking up texts? I’m in a casino! What’s so desperate that you had to text me so urgently anyway?’

She was already opening her evening bag and pulling out her phone. She clicked on the texts.

Johnny watched her expression change as she read, saw how the blood drained from her cheeks. She looked back at him in horror. ‘. . . Are you sure?’

‘You can see it yourself.’

‘When did this happen?’

‘Just now. It’s breaking over there this morning. It’s gone mad. The networks are all running with it as their leads. Her husband’s a big noise.’

Clover ran over the sentences. ‘Do you believe it?’

Johnny looked surprised by the question. ‘You don’t?’

‘No, I’m not saying that. I just . . . I mean, we shouldn’t assume—’

Johnny gave a surprised laugh. ‘I thought you’d be over the moon. He’ll have to talk now and you’re the one with exclusive access to him. You are his only hope. If he wants to have any chance of surviving this, he’s going to have to tell his side of things.’

‘But he can’t justify this!’ she cried. ‘He’s ruined!’