I opened my door and stepped out, stretching my arms after the journey, the air-conditioned chill vanishing instantly as the late July heat enveloped me like a blanket. The air smelled of olives and pine and summer heat baked into the dark earth. There was no sound – no traffic, no people – except for the gentle swishing of the breeze high up in the cypress trees, the car engine ticking quietly as it cooled.

We stood there, stretching and blinking in the dazzling sun, taking in the villa. Rowan hadn’t lied: three wide storeys of whitewashed stone and terracotta tiles, the parking circle shaded by olive trees, broad stone steps leading up to a double front door in dark, studded oak.

‘Wow,’ Sean said beside me, and for a moment he looked happy, like his usual self – his old self.

I slipped my arm around his waist, needing for a moment to feel his physical presence as we stood side by side, admiring the villa. I needed to feel his warmth, the touch of his skin, the solidity of muscles beneath his shirt. To anchor him to me.

But after a few seconds he moved away, out of my grasp.

Chapter 2

2

Rowan appeared at the top of the stone staircase, holding her hands out in greeting.

‘Welcome to Villa Corbières!’ she said with a grin. ‘Isn’t it marvellous?’

She made her way down towards us, the heels of her expensive-looking sandals clicking on the stone. Since starting her own business she always looked immaculate, and today she was wearing a pale cream cami dress with Cartier sunglasses pushed up into her straight auburn hair. How far my slightly awkward student friend – who’d had braces on her teeth and Take That posters on her wall – had come since we’d first met. I guess we had all come a long way, but Rowan definitely felt the furthest from her past self. She hugged me and I closed my eyes for a second, letting the smell of her expensive perfume surround me.

‘This place is even bigger than it looked in the pictures!’ I said, forcing myself to smile, watching Sean out of the corner of my eye as he ducked his tall frame into the car and checked his mobile.

‘Wait until you see the interior,’ she said. ‘Come on, I’ll give you the tour.’

Inside, it was all white marble and smooth stone walls, one exquisitely furnished room after another, full of light and beautifully decorated with discreet abstract paintings here and there. It was also deliciously cool, thanks to the air conditioning.

‘It belongs to a client.’ Rowan flashed me a conspiratorial smile. ‘We’ve been getting on particularly well, recently.’

‘It’s amazing,’ I said, and it really was: like something out of a coffee-table magazine. ‘Have you heard from the others?’