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‘That’s sick!’ Eden gasped and then, realising that she had attracted the attention of the elderly woman seated at the far end of the room, she reddened fiercely
‘Think very hard before you tell o ahead and do my worst,’ Mark advised thinly
‘But to try to blackmail me…’ Eden condemned shakily
Only noas she recalling Mark’s bitter resentment when Damiano had refused to invest in him until he had et that unpleasant episode but Mark had just made it brutally clear that he had only continued their friendship beyond that point because he had expected to profit from it Damiano’s survival must have come as a very unwelcome surprise to Mark, she conceded painfully
‘So now I’ll tell you what I want…’ With complete calm, Mark went on to mention a sum of money that made Eden pale
‘Not all up front at once of course; he conceded grudgingly ‘But I expect a down payood faith Since you’ve always been so frank with ot in your bank account You won’t be needing that money for your own use any more so I’ll take a cheque now—’
‘Mark, please—’
‘Make your choice Tina will not hesitate for a second if I approach her with a sioodbye to Damiano, Eden’
Picturing both Tina and Mark conspiring together to destroy her e made Eden feel trapped and physically ill What would her word be worth to Dauilty as hell? With a tre hand that see into her handbag for her cheque-book Without looking back at Mark again, she scrawled out the cheque and left it sitting on the table Then she stood up and walked out of the hotel lounge
CHAPTER FIVE
IN THE shattered emotional state she was in, Eden wandered round the shops for a while until she got a grip on herself again She asked herself what sort of a fool she was that she had not seen through Mark to the greed and resentment beneath the surface She had trusted hi her!
How on earth was she to get out of the dreadful nightht down on herself? She was bitterly asha simply surrendered to Mark’s threats Butstupidity When the press had exposed that affair and wrongly identified the woman involved, she should not have kept silent to protect Tina How could she have been that foolish? But she kne and why Distraught over losing Dauile
As she walked by the electrical section of a big store, Eden’s attention was caught by the shock value of seeing Damiano on several television screens at once The press conference was being televised and a bunch of shoppers was glued to the screens Having come to a dead halt, Eden moved slowly closer to watch
The cameras loved Damiano As he fielded questions with assurance and humour, his natural charisle would take in the people standing near hi brother A couple of directors of the Braganzi Bank, glowing at Dahly relieved that the enius in the money markets should have returned with all his faculties intact
A powerful surge of guilt engulfed Eden then and she turned away In retrospect, she was ashaiven her and avoided the press conference From the moment that tabloid story had been printed nearly five years earlier, she had been terrified of theway to that cowardice, she should have fought it and, even though Damiano had not appeared to be in much need of wifely support, she would have been prouder of herself had she at least offered it
Eden was really running quite late by the tiot back to the town house As she crossed the hall, Tina e ‘You have about ten minutes to freshen up before you leave for your second honeymoon in Italy’
Ignoring the blond’s honeyed scorn, Eden asked, ‘Is Damiano back yet?’
‘No, but he did try to call you He wasn’t very pleased when I told him that I hadn’t a clue where you were’ A malicious smile curved the older woman’s voluptuous mouth ‘Then I took the trouble to call him back and mention that just before you went out, dear old Mark had phoned, given his name and asked to speak to you Mark was never discreet, was he?’
Paling at Tina’s venom but detere Over an hour later, she entered the airport, accouard She was totally unprepared for what happened next A man with a ca a flash photo Within the space of sixty seconds, she was the centre of a heaving crowd of reporters shouting questions
‘Why weren’t you with your husband at the press conference?’
‘Is your anzi?’
‘Why did the Braganzi family fly out to Brazil without you?’