Charlie realized he’d been lucky to get out of Morocco with his life. But now – thankfully – he had a new link made out there, with a more trustworthy connection, and shipments were coming into docks and airports with no trouble and the money was flowing freely from that direction at last.

Now, with the Moroccan link set up, Charlie was looking to expand his manor even further. A Turkish deal soon followed; his manor was building up nicely. But he wasn’t done yet. He felt ready to go on and conquer the world. Colombia next. The big cartels. Maybe the Matias crew, the biggest of all. They were already sniffing around, looking for established firms to handle the British end of their operations.

‘Sky’s the limit,’ he told Nula when he eventually came home. Then he looked at her. She was pale, her mouth set in a grim line. ‘You OK, babe?’

‘I’m fine,’ said Nula, but she wasn’t.

The truth was, Terry’s rejection had scorched her soul and she had been on tenterhooks ever since, waiting for him to tell Charlie, waiting for the whole thing to blow up in her face. Up to that point, she hadn’t realized how desperately she’d wanted him. Now, she knew. And now he knew, too. It was humiliating, being knocked back hard like that. It had rekindled all those feelings of failure and embarrassment she thought she’d left far behind her in her former life on the old manor. Now she was finding it nearly impossible to be civil to Terry, or Jill. She’d felt so bad that she’d gone to the doctor’s and he had given her some nerve pills when she broke down on him in the surgery.

‘Ah, you missed me, did you, doll?’ asked Charlie, grinning, pulling her in for a hug.

‘I told you,’ said Nula, shrugging him off. ‘I’m fine.’

‘Bloody hell! Time of the month, is it?’ He rolled his eyes.

Nula was about to say something cutting when the au pair came in with little Milly. Charlie was instantly all smiles, embracing his daughter.

‘Come to Dada,’ he said, scooping her up, throwing her into the air. He produced a small stuffed camel from inside his coat and Milly grabbed at it, smiling. ‘Dad’s been away on business. Mummy missed me, did you miss me?’