Mike was still in constant touch with Robert Richmond at MI6, and they were both in touch with Guy Thomas. Mike had an uneasy feeling about the vague, intermittent rumors Robert was hearing from Moscow. There was no specific threat to Theo. But Matthieu’s disgruntled Russian investor, Dmitri Aleksandr, had reared his ugly head again, complaining about how much money he had lost when Matthieu did an about-face and refused to open the two stores in Russia. He came within a hair of calling Matthieu a crook, according to one informant, and said he still hadn’t recouped his losses or recovered from it, which Robert was sure wasn’t true. He was one of the richest men in Russia, with countless illegal businesses and a few legal ones that were highly profitable. Both men had been able to afford to lose the money, and Theo knew Matthieu had never regretted backing out on the deal when he saw the degree of corruption he had to contend with in Russia. Theo had been relieved when he got out of it. She had never liked the smell of it, or the people she saw him meeting with, and she hadn’t even known about the young actress then, but he was in Moscow constantly while trying to get the stores finished, which never happened.

It would have taken several more years and a lot more bribes to do it than he was willing to put up with. His angry partner in the deal had come to meet with him at the château several times and he had made Theo’s skin crawl. He looked like a gangster and the men with him looked like thugs. And worse than the money Matthieu had lost, he had lost his life and their son’s. Too high a price to pay for any deal.

The memories came back to her in a rush when she got to the château to begin packing her belongings. When she arrived, Theo took a long quiet walk through the château, making note of the paintings she was keeping and taking photos with her phone for reference. There were several paintings she was going to sell at Sotheby’s. They were too valuable to include in a house sale. She felt somewhat guilty now, knowing how much Matthieu had loved the place and how hard he had worked to earn the money to buy it back. It had been in terrible shape when he got it, long before she met him, and he had so lovingly restored it. But the heartbreak was woven into its history now for her. Just being there took her breath away, remembering the day he and Axel had been kidnapped, and the day they had been found buried nearby.