Grace thanked Mr Judd and ended the call, but she stood still for a few more moments, stunned, sifting through the lawyer’s conversation and reading between the lines of his advice. Things had come to a head, she realised. What he was telling her was that the ball was in her court for match point. If she didn’t hit it back, hard, as a winning shot, she might lose more than just the game.

Think through all you have learned . . . She’d learned a lot, that was for sure. Not just all the ins and outs of Lawrence’s complicated life, so much of it a mystery to her, so much he’d kept secret, but about herself, too. She had to be ready for this fight.

Would Grace-before-the-fire ever have dreamed of standing up to Lawrence, supposedly a big successful CEO, even though he only ever worked alone? A man who told lies and didn’t face reality? She knew the answer was no, but she was ready to take him on now.

‘Mel,’ she said when her friend come over to her. ‘A change of plans. We have to go back to the villa; we have work to do!’

*

Tina brought them coffee as the two women made notes, scrolling through their phones finding old emails and messages. Grace wiped her eyes, and occasionally banged on the table, cursing Lawrence. Mel searched the internet for information about Alicia, her parents and the extended Feng family. They assembled facts, collated figures and events, and began to put together a clear picture of the manipulations and misdemeanours of a marriage.

Grace sent off emails to both Mr Judd and Mr Jamison, asking for advice and filling them in on all the information she and Mel were collecting, and what she was planning to do with it.

‘Now don’t forget, you have notarised photocopies of the stuff we found in his office safe,’ Mel said. ‘You have the copy of his old passport, the jewellery Lawrence moved to the safe, other documents –’

‘Like what?’ asked Grace. ‘There really wasn’t much in the safe.’

‘But he doesn’t know what you’ve seen or not seen,’ said Melanie. ‘What about Beatrice, his sister? Can you ask for more info about this Sarah and the son Jamie? Did Sarah actually marry Lawrence? Where are they? Does he support them?’

Grace looked dubious. ‘I doubt he’s ever given them a cent, unless he paid her to disappear from his life. It must have been about fifteen years ago. And I doubt she’d want to get involved with anything to do with him. Steve was right: not having Lawrence in their lives is probably a blessing. They’re not going to want to tangle with him now.’