She was lying and enjoying lying to him. She had only just thought of it, and somehow she knew she was doing the right thing. The thought of him out, with all the money from the house and everything they possessed, frightened her even as she told herself that this was her husband, her soulmate. But nevertheless she was glad she had made the decision.

Georgio forced a smile on to his face.

‘Whatever you want, my darlin’. You do what you’ve got to do, my love.’

Donna smiled once more and lit a cigarette for herself. ‘Oh, I will, Georgio, don’t worry about that.’

She pulled on her cigarette hard and, blowing out the smoke, dropped her biggest bombshell of the afternoon, although she didn’t realise that until the words were out of her mouth and she saw her husband’s stunned reaction to them.

‘Now, Georgio, what’s happening in Sri Lanka?’

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Three

Donna watched in shocked silence as her husband’s face drained of colour and his thick fingers flew to his chest like an old fishwife who’d had her worst suspicion confirmed.

‘What do you mean exactly?’

Georgio’s voice was strained, heavy with emphasis. Donna realised that she needed to know not only what was going on in Sri Lanka, but also what was going on inside her husband’s head.

There had been too many things left unsaid over the years, too many questions unasked. Before, maybe, she wouldn’t have wanted to know the answers; now, however, she knew enough to want to fill in the gaps.

Donna smiled at him nonchalantly. ‘What I say. Exactly what is going on in Sri Lanka? Namely, the Bay View Hotel.’

‘Nothing that I know of.’

Donna pushed the point. ‘But there is a Bay View Hotel? It has been built? Only we had a fax about it a few days ago and I’d like to know when it got built, who owns it, and whether or not we can get Lewis off our back with it. After all, it’s through the hotels that you fell out with him, isn’t it?’

Georgio nodded, scraping about to find a viable excuse to give to his wife.

‘It should be built by now, anyway,’ he said hastily. ‘It’s a beautiful place, Don Don. Really upmarket. We’ll make a small fortune out of it.’

Donna lit a cigarette and said calmly. ‘How can we manage that? Once you’re out of here, how are we supposed to run the businesses?’

Georgio was happier now, they were on ground he knew he could cover.

‘That’s easy, darlin’. What I’ll do is put the lot into Stephen’s name. He’ll sort it out from there, don’t worry.’

She stared into his eyes, all the while smoking, and Georgio carried on talking.