Topspin (31 page)

“Who was it, then?” Joe’s words were cold and clipped. He had to know. Had to force himself to ask the question. Endless possibilities, each one less palatable than its predecessor, flashed through his mind and it felt like an eternity before Claire spoke again.

“Colin Palmer.”

“Jesus!” Joe ran his hands through his hair, feeling as though the life had been knocked out of him. He almost wished that it had. “Why, for God’s sake?”

“Joe!” With a desperate lunge, she reached for his hands. “It isn’t what you think.”

He batted her hands away. The woman he’d loved unconditionally had cheated on him, and he didn’t think his body was strong enough to withstand the gut-wrenching pain of her betrayal.

“Are you telling me that I just knocked my best friend’s teeth down his throat when all he’d done was try to help you?” When she nodded, he looked at her with contempt. “Why the hell didn’t you stop me?”

“I tried to, Dad,” Chris said, “but you wouldn’t listen.”

“What the hell’s been going on, Claire?” When she hung her head, crying again, and made no immediate attempt to answer him, Joe lost it. If he didn’t get some answers soon, the very real desire he’d felt to kill Jack might well be transferred to Claire. He stood, towering over her, trembling with rage as he took her by the shoulders and shook her violently. “You’d better tell me everything.”

He fell into the chair opposite hers, deflating like a burst balloon, too numb now to feel anything at all. Chris moved to sit on the arm of his chair, clumsily trying to offer him support. A sixteen-year-old shouldn’t have to witness this sort of situation, and seeing how it was destroying his son rekindled his anger.

“Tears won’t get you anywhere this time,” he said coldly.

The story that then fell from Claire’s lips in disjointed bursts defied belief. Something about her having sex on film with Angela’s husband and subsequently being blackmailed to support the buy-out scheme at the club. It was too surreal for him to comprehend. Joe and Chris gaped at one another, both of them temporarily lost for words.

“Jack and Angela found out about it and were trying to get that tape back so you wouldn’t get hurt.”

“It’s a little late for that.” Joe felt a lead weight dragging him down in the place where his heart used to be. The pain was excruciating. Everything in his life that meant anything to him, with the notable exception of his son, had been brutally snatched away from him, and he didn’t think he’d be able to dredge up the strength to recover. Wasn’t sure he even wanted to try.

“Joe, please!” Claire fell to her knees in front of him. “It wasn’t my fault.”

“Really?” Joe raised a quizzical brow. “I’m starting to see a side of you that I didn’t know existed, Claire. One where nothing is ever your fault.”

He lost all hope then. Listening to her frantically trying to blame others for her own actions, he finally saw her for what she really was. But worst of all, he instinctively knew that had Chris not known the truth, she would have allowed him to think Jack had actually raped her.

“And Palmer? That wasn’t your fault either, I suppose.”

“He delivered me a message today to say that if I didn’t help convince you to sell, then the tape would be sent to you.”

“And you rewarded him by letting him fuck you?”

“No, but that was his price. He said if we did it first, he’d find a way to get the tape back.” Her fingers clutched at his beautifully tailored trousers. “I did it for you, darling, for us as a family, you must believe that. I couldn’t bear to see you get hurt.”

Joe curled his lip. “You already mentioned that.” He stood up. “Come on, Chris, there’s nothing more to be said here.”

“Where are you going?”

“To apologize for hitting my friend and make sure he’s all right.”

“But we haven’t sorted this out. We need to talk alone. Please, Joe! We have too much to lose to let this stand between us.”

He turned back and looked at her. Incredibly, she really did seem to believe he’d take her back and carry on as though nothing had happened.

“You know something, Claire,” he said pensively, “I would have given you the earth if it had been mine to give. Nothing was too good for you.” He shook his head, wondering how he could have been so blind to her faults. “But it wouldn’t have been enough. I can see that now. No matter what I did for you, you’d have always wanted more.” He picked up his bag. “Can I bunk with you tonight, son?”

“Sure, Dad.”

“But wait, Joe, what about us?”

He shook his head again, overwhelmed by sadness now rather than anger. “You’ve led me round by the balls for quite long enough, Claire. Allow me a little self-respect.”

Joe was barely conscious of his son leading him to the adjoining room, his face drawn and pale, an arm awkwardly round his shoulder. He was too devastated to appreciate that their roles had been temporarily reversed.

“I need to go see Jack,” he said.

“No, Dad, you’re not in a fit state to go anywhere.” Chris went to the mini-bar and poured his father a miniature bottle of brandy, standing over him as he downed it in one gulp. “You say here, I’ll find him. I’ll explain what’s happened and bring him to see you. Perhaps then we’ll learn a bit more about what’s been going on.”

Joe let out a long breath. “I don’t think I particularly want to know.” His head fell forward into his hands as he struggled not to give vent to his emotions in front of his son. He’d wait for Jack to get here and they could blot it all out in a grand alcoholic haze.

But when Chris arrived back ten minutes later, it was to say that Jack had been seen driving away from Bisham Abbey a few minutes previous in a tearing hurry.

And no one knew where he’d gone.

Jack could feel the pain in his jaw where Joe had hit him, but the attack and all that it implied had barely breached his consciousness. Right now his mind was on more vital matters. By the time he’d arrived at Claire’s room Palmer had gone, but there could be no mistaking what had been going on just before he’d got there. He hadn’t realized until that moment that a small part of his brain had been clinging to the possibility that Claire was an innocent pawn in this whole miserable business. She’d been set up by two smooth-talking charmers who’d played upon her vanity and boredom to get her into bed. She shouldn’t have succumbed, of course, but no one’s perfect and she didn’t deserve what they’d subsequently put her through. She obviously regretted her lapse and had learned her lesson.

But seeing the tacky evidence of her recent activities first hand, Jack could no longer delude himself. She was a slut of the first order, just like all the rest of them. Just like Tania. Thoughts of his wife had sent his temper into the stratosphere and he’d simply cast Claire a contemptuous look, ignoring her pathetic efforts to explain, and left her alone. There was nothing he could do to help her anymore. She was beyond saving. He clenched his fists as he thought about how comprehensively her actions would destroy Joe when he found out about them, as he inevitably would.

As he’d walked away from Claire’s room, his phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number on the display but took the call anyway. It could be one of the operatives trailing Aston checking in direct. It happened sometimes.

“Jack Regent.”

“Ah, hello there, Jack, it’s been a long time. How are you, now?”

Jack recognized the nasal twang immediately. The last time he’d heard it, its owner had been spitting expletives, making all sorts of wild threats and promising to get even for the humiliation he’d suffered at Jack’s hands.

It was Kevin and, as always, his timing was lousy.

“What can I do for you?”

“Well now, I’d say it’s rather more a case of what I can do for you. It’s a nice little family you’ve got here, Jack, and I dare say you’d like them to remain in one piece.”

Something happened then and the call was cut off. Oh yes…Joe came at him with fists flying. Jack took one hand off the steering wheel and grimaced as he rubbed his sore chin. For a surgeon, Joe packed quite a punch. But he had no more time to dwell upon his friend’s troubles right now. He’d square things with him when he’d sorted out this other business.

Taken by surprise by Joe’s blow, he’d landed heavily but hadn’t been knocked out, and regained his senses almost immediately. He heard his phone ringing somewhere close by and, still on the ground, groped around until he found it.

“Never hang up on me again,” Kevin said menacingly. “Not if you want to see your family alive.”

“What family?”

“That’s what she said you’d say. What a heartless bastard you are, Jack. Here, the lady would like to talk to you.”

Jack felt he’d been knocked off his feet for a second time when a feminine voice came on the line. A voice which, in spite of his best efforts, he’d never forgotten.

“Zac, Zac, is that you?”

Tania! She’d never been able to pronounce his name properly and it always came out as Zac. He used to think it sounded charming. The lurching movement in the pit of his stomach suggested nothing had changed in that respect.

Kevin’s voice came back on the line. “She’s fine, for the moment. A prime piece,” he said, smacking his lips suggestively, “but then you always did have good taste in women, Jack.” Jack clenched his fists but refused to give his tormentor the satisfaction of knowing he’d riled him. So he said nothing, allowing the silence to lengthen, guessing Kevin wouldn’t be able to resist breaking it first. “And the boy’s fine too, except that he looks just like you, the poor sod.”

This was surreal. Tania might technically still be his wife, but no way did he have a son. As always Kevin had fucked up, but Jack didn’t bother to put him right. Let him think he had a hold over him. Lull him into a false sense of security and he’d make a mistake.

“What do you want from me?”

“What I want is for you to get in your car and drive to Croydon, as quickly as you can. We’ll expect you here by mid-morning tomorrow. I’ll call you, and we’ll make arrangements for you to exchange yourself for your family. Then Wilf, you, and me can catch up on old times. How does that sound?”

“I can hardly wait.”

“Oh, the feeling’s entirely mutual.”

“I heard you were looking for me,” Jack said laconically, “but I thought you’d face me directly rather than hiding behind a woman and kid. Do I still scare you that much? Come on, Kevin, I’ve been out of the game for years now and I’m getting soft. But I gather you two have become quite the hard men over recent years. The pair of you ought to be able to take on an old man like me without any extra insurance. Two against one sounds like pretty good odds to me.”

He paused, the only sound now being that of Kevin’s heavy breathing at the other end of the phone. Good, he was getting to him. “What, nothing to say, Kevin? You really didn’t need to go to all this trouble, you know. All you had to do was call me and I’d have met you anywhere you like.”

“You fucking arrogant sod! You haven’t changed a bit.”

“Why don’t you let the woman and child go and I’ll meet you in Croydon, or anywhere else you’d care to name, in the morning. You know I won’t go back on my word.”

Something like a growl echoed down the line. “You’re fucking out of order, Regent, and we’re gonna get you good.”

“I’m shaking in my boots.”

“Just get up here.”

“I’m on my way, but before I leave let’s get one thing straight,” he said as calmly as his growing anger permitted. “If you harm a hair on the heads of either of them, you’re dead men. On that you have my solemn word. You’ve been mixing with the Turks for too long if you think anyone will give you cover when word gets out that you’ve harmed a woman and child.”

Jack cut the connection without giving Kevin the satisfaction of having the last word, pretty sure that his threat would make him think twice before touching Tania. Kevin and Wilf were basically cowards. They’d always feared Jack and obviously still didn’t have the bottle to take him on directly. But how the hell had they latched onto Tania?

He staggered back to his room further along the corridor, literally punch-drunk, unable to make any sense of what he’d just heard. Tania had a child, and those idiots Wilf and Kevin thought it was his. Jack let out a mirthless chuckle. The thickos obviously imagined they could get at him through a son he didn’t have. Jealousy reared its head at the thought of someone else fathering Tania’s kid, but he didn’t give it the opportunity to take hold. He needed to think about how to tackle the situation with Kevin and Wilf, and for that he needed a clear brain.