‘I won’t let the sale happen, Mum. I’ll text Lawrence now to arrange a meeting. I want this sorted before it gets any messier or, god forbid, gets to court.’

‘He’s in Kuala Lumpur,’ said Tina. ‘Are you going there?’

‘I will if I have to. I’m not waiting about.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ said Mel.

Grace shot a smile at her friend. ‘Thanks. But you can’t be at the meeting, so I’d rather you stayed here, if that’s okay. This is between Lawrence and me. I appreciate the offer, though,’ Grace added, more firmly than she felt.

‘Atta girl,’ said Mel.

‘Do you think Lawrence will agree to this meeting?’ asked Tina dubiously.

‘He’ll probably try stalling, but I’ll say we should have one last attempt at coming to an agreement before the mediation. He can hardly say no to that without looking unreasonable.’ Grace finished typing the text, sent it, then put her phone down. ‘Done.’

‘Good one, Grace. Now we wait. And in the meantime, let’s get back to work.’

*

Later that afternoon, Lawrence replied. Mel grimaced as she read the text over Grace’s shoulder. ‘Typical Lawrence,’ she said.

‘What is it?’ asked Tina.

‘He’s deliberately asking for the meeting on the afternoon of the grand opening of the Kamasan. He knows damn well Grace has to be here for it,’ Mel said.

‘It will be okay. This is more important,’ said Grace. ‘Of course I’d like to be there, but I can get Steve and the crew to cover my role if I have to. The preparations are all in place, anyway. I’ll check with Johnny, of course, but I’m sure he’ll be fine with it, and even if I miss some of the lead-up, I should be able to get there for the main event.’

‘Lawrence knows how important that night is, and that you’d want to be there, which is why he’s trying to ruin it for you,’ said Mel angrily.

‘This seems such a gamble.’ Tina sighed. ‘What if he just says no, he’s going ahead with his plans?’

‘Well, he might, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. He doesn’t know what we know,’ said Mel.

‘And if he is pinning his hopes on this woman and her influential family in some way, he won’t want details from his past to be aired in front of them, and he won’t want any delays in the divorce,’ said Grace. ‘Lawrence always said timing is everything. I reckon this is my time. I have to get to him fast, before he can start to spin his wild tales to his girlfriend and her family.’

They went back to their work, and Tina headed out to the pool to ‘calm down and stop thinking about what I’d like to do to that bloody man’, as she told the girls.