‘It matters to me.’ Harry barely recognised his own voice, such was the snarl to his words.

Dominic downed his drink and placed the glass on the tray. ‘Elizabeth was trying to do a deal with Mum. She wrote a formal letter to the board requesting a meeting. She said she had information which, if released, would put the company and all the directors in difficult positions. Basically, she had dirt on all of us to cause a mini-scandal.’

‘How come I didn’t know about this?’

‘I don’t know why your own wife wouldn’t tell you, but I know Mum didn’t want anyone to find out. She decided she was going to handle this herself.’

Harry frowned at Dominic’s comments. He couldn’t describe the emotion hitting him in the gut right now. Disappointment? Betrayal? Indignation? His wife and his mother had been striking a deal and he knew nothing about it and yet Dominic did. Harry chucked the pieces of plastic into the fireplace. ‘Is this why you’ve been so jumpy all week? Because you were worried Steph was going to uncover the scandal?’ He emphasised the last word to underscore his disdain.

‘It’s so much more than a scandal. And for once I wasn’t just covering my own arse. But I tell you now, Steph needs to stop digging. Either you stop her or I will.’

‘You stay away from her,’ warned Harry, clenching and unclenching his fist. The anger was surging through him, mixed with fear for Steph. And then the thought he’d been trying to ignore, the one that had been lying dormant in the darkest recess of his mind, the one he denied airtime to, rose up like a tsunami and swamped him. He stared at his brother, seeing him for what he was.

‘What’s wrong, Harry? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,’ said Dominic, with more than a hint of nonchalance.

‘You. It was you.’ Harry’s pulse throbbed in his neck. He was shouting now. ‘You wanted Elizabeth out of the picture, didn’t you?’ He slammed his fist down onto the sideboard, making Dominic jump.

‘What the fuck are you on about?’ Dominic raised his own voice and met his brother eye to eye.

‘Elizabeth’s death – you had something to do with it, didn’t you?’ He grabbed his brother by the lapels and yanked him towards him until their faces were only inches apart.

Dominic struggled, trying to prise Harry’s hands from his jacket. ‘Get off me! You fucking idiot!’ he yelled. ‘What the hell are you doing?’

Harry was aware of the door flying open and someone running into the office.

‘What the …?’

It was Owen. He tugged at Harry. Another pair of arms wrapped themselves around Harry’s shoulders and he was pulled backwards, releasing Dominic as he did so. It was then he realised Antonio had rushed in with Owen.