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'Susan and I were extremely disturbed when he refused to tell us what had provoked that attack We did think about approaching the school but I felt that Ti I expected it all to blow over Believe ret that decision now'

'But why didn't he tell us as happening? Ashley ht

'You have to view this situation and the players involved without rose-tinted specs,' Arnold said flatly 'I'm afraid I've never had much time for your father's determination to exclude you from the family circle It has caused enormous stress to everyone concerned, particularly to your mother and Tim…',

The carpet blurred beneath Ashley s swi eyes 'Tim's very attached to you and very loyal He didn't trust us enough to tell us as happening' He hesitated 'And, much as I love my wife, I find it incredulous that after twelve years of e Susan is still so desperate to win her father' s approval that she is willing to cut her only sister out of her life just because he demands that she do so'

It was coals of fire on Ashley's head Susan had scars from their childhood as well She simply dealt with them differently Ashley tasted blood in her ue 'I'm sorry,' she whispered

'You have nothing to apologise for Tim went out to level a personal score,' Arnold asserted 'He broke into the grounds of the Cavalieri home, started the car, couldn't control it and left a trail of destruction behind hiht but he had been seen'

Ashley was feeling physically ill Her past had obtruded painfully into Tim's present In her name, he had been provoked, humiliated and driven into an atteed?'

'Of course The Cavalieri’s own one of the biggest banking concerns in Europe Tiht it on hi briefly free of her shock, Ashley leapt upright 'He defendedfor it!' Tears streaked her cheeks 'Vandalising soallant defence of one's sister'

'How else could he hit back?' Ashley gasped 'I know he's acted like a great overgrown child but Vito's family are so filthy-rich and powerful, he couldn't have touched them in any other way!'

A dismayed furrow divided Arnold's brows He didn't like the direction the dialogue was taking 'We'll get hial representation we can afford,' he replied stiffly 'But it ought to be your father in the dock Tio'

'I'll go up and see him' Ashley had no ti to help Tim now

Ti at the foot of the bed, his hands clasped white-knuckled between his thighs, his untidy auburn head bent He didn't look up 'I didn't know you were here until I heard your voice downstairs'

'Arnold's told ainst the door 'Why, Ti to you'

His head flew up 'Oh, no? What about you?' he demanded bitterly 'He wrecked your life You had to drop out of uni You're not allowed in your own ho job because of him!'

Her brother's bitterness pierced her flesh like so many knives

'And that foul-mouthed little creep Pietro sneers about you like his uncle did so to be proud of!' 'You don't knohat happened between Vito and ly

'You were nineteen and he enty-eight,' Tim flared 'That tells me all I need to know'

'Our relationship just didn't work out, Tim'

'He dunant and married someone else,' Tim snapped back rawly

She was drenched in pain by the blunt reminder of the child she had eventually lost Grey-faced, she whispered tightly, 'It wasn't like that, Tinant In fact, at the time we broke up, neither did I and I never told him There wasn't much point once he was married'

Her brother stared at her incredulously 'Don’t lie about it! I'm not a kid any more'

'But that's how it happened'

His complexion had a sickly hue now 'I don't believe you He let you down He left you in the lurch He used you! He must have known about the baby! He must have…'

'Does Pietro?' 'Well, no, but-'

'Vito didn't know' Her nails had bitten sharp crescents into her palms Too late noish she had told him the whole story But how could she have told his you didn’t want to talk about Soe boy, as deteruise of an innocent victim, seduced and abandoned In one sense, it had been that brutal, but in another sense she had chosen her own fate And Tim's response to her questions had confire was her situation, not his own

'Try not to worry too ht'

'I'm not a baby, Ash,' he muttered jerkily 'I fouled up In the pub, it was all just spinning round and round my head What they'd done to you What they'd done to me I just couldn't take any more I just… I just saw red, you know?'

Yes, she knew exactly In temperament, she and Ti temper and it was a curse A curse and a weakness she abhorred

Arnold aiting downstairs for her 'I'll

drive you home'

'No, really… there's no need'

He draped her jacket round her slumped shoulders 'Come on I need some fresh air'

She had to give hi on with the Open University degree she was studying for, there was no further conversation Both of thehts But Ashley felt that she had the advantage

After all, she knehat she had to do She had to see Vito He had at least to give her a hearing And if she had to craell, she would do it If that hat it would take, so be it Ashley and her pride were an inseparable duo but, where Tim's freedom and her mother's peace of reat It would be her penance for what Tim had had to suffer in her name

As she slid tiredly into bed, the paralysis of shock was seeping away The full horror of the night's revelations was sinking in Oh, dear heaven, why had this had to happen? How many tiiven her background, should have been easily avoidable? Theblindly, hopelessly in love with the wrong person Her mother had made the same mistake after all

Sylvia Forrester didn't have a strong personality, however Quiet and gentle, her mother would always follohere others led After thirty-odd years of her husband’s bullying, she was an apologetic, self-effacing wood of masculine domination She had already had one nervous breakdown

At eighteen, Ashley had been supremely confident of her ability to control her own emotions She had her entire future mapped out like a battle plan before her University, a top-flight degree followed by a meteoric rise to prominence in the business world Instead she had plummeted like a stone in the first year of her course Why?

For a crazy five-otten the lessons ground into her by her own upbringing And, to make it even worse, she had honestly believed that she knehat she was doing It onderful the excuses you couldyou knew you shouldn't have And that put her feelings for Vito then into a nutshell