He wasn’t about to tell Jake and Ethan that, though.

Ethan held out his lighter, sparking the flint to make a tall flame.

‘Still got loads of fuel left. Might as well have some fun before we have to go home.’

Ahead of them, Odette wandered into the clearing in her little pink sundress, her long red hair held back with a sparkly tiara.

She looked small and a bit lost, Daniel thought, down here in the woods on her own.

Jake turned to him and grinned, putting the lighter back in his pocket.

‘I’ve got an idea,’ he whispered. ‘Follow me.’

Chapter 65

65

Izzy followed me into the dining room and we sat down at the end of the big table. There was a floor-to-ceiling window and I looked out over the landscape as if seeing it for the first time: such a breathtakingly beautiful place for something so ugly to happen. To the south, the clouds were much closer now, ominously close, a wall of grey and black blotting the light from the sky. The villa was quiet. Rowan was making cocktails in the kitchen – apparently to cheer us all up – while everyone else was spread out in the gardens and vineyard below.

‘Sorry for the cloak-and-dagger stuff at dinner,’ Izzy said. ‘Didn’t want to do this in front of everyone.’

‘Of course,’ I said tonelessly.

She blew out a breath, blowing her fringe off her forehead.

‘This is tough, Kate, but I’ve given it a lot of thought and I know it’s the right thing to do under the circumstances. Since we’ve been friends for a long time.’

‘Right.’

Not any more.

Normally I’m good at keeping my emotions in check, but my anger was so hot I could barely bring myself to look at her. I’d been pushing it down, forcing it back down for so long now that I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when I finally set it free. And the bitch actually looked as if she felt sorry for me, giving me that sad little smile as if to say this is going to be tough on both of us. As if on cue, a tight little bubble of fury rose up inside me and it was all I could do to stop myself from reaching across the table and slapping her, really winding up and smacking her across the face as hard as possible.

How could you do this, Izzy?