THE INNOCENT WIFE

CHAPTER NINE

"He was going to kidnap me," Roseanne said stonily, shock seeping in now. "He was... he was going to kill me."

Lisa's lips were a grim, straight line across her stubbled jaw. Local police arrived and began to speak to Sooya. Lisa touched a hand to Roseanne's shoulder, briefly. "Wait here." Lisa stepped towards the police, instantly recognisable as one of Italy's most well-known business personalities. Roseanne watched from the sidelines, as though it was happening to someone else entirely.

"What's going on?" Roseanne asked, numb all over, when Lisa strode back to her a moment later.

"A detective is going to come and talk to you tonight. Once you've had time to calm down."

Roseanne looked at Lisa with a mix of consternation and annoyance. "I am calm. And I have a plane to catch."

Lisa's eyes narrowed. "A plane?"

"Back home. I don't live here anymore."

Lisa put a hand beneath Roseanne's elbow. "Cara, we need to talk."

Roseanne swallowed, her throat dry. Fragments of the revelations the man had made came to her. Lisa's father was alive? It was distinctly not what Lisa had told her when they'd first met. "Yes. I guess we do."

Lisa put an arm around Roseanne's shoulders and guided her through the square. As they approached one of Lisa's fleet of luxury vehicles, Roseanne stopped walking. Her heart was racing and her forehead had beaded with perspiration in a delayed reaction to the second attack she'd experienced in less than a week.

"Come with me," Lisa said quietly yet with firm insistence. Roseanne looked up at her, her fear obvious. "It's okay. You're safe."

Roseanne wasn't sure she'd ever feel safe again. "Can we just go somewhere here?"

Lisa looked at the square and then leaned down to whisper in her ear, "I'm hardly inconspicuous, Roseanne."

Roseanne followed Lisa's gaze, and realised a crowd of people were watching them. Several were taking photographs or footage with their phones. "Everyone's staring."

Lisa's laugh was a harsh sound of frustration. "Yes. And we need privacy for this conversation."

Roseanne walked beside Lisa towards the car. Her legs felt strange beneath her. Shaky and hollow. As they approached Lisa's limousine, Lisa waved aside one of her drivers, so that she could open the door for Roseanne herself. Roseanne slid into the luxurious back seat, and kept her hands gripped firmly in her lap. When Lisa sat beside her, she turned to face her.

Roseanne crossed her arms and jutted out her lower lip. She felt a little like a belligerent child. "I want to go back to London."

Lisa reached across and lifted Roseanne's sunglasses from her face, so that she could properly look into Roseanne's eyes. What Lisa saw in them gave her little pleasure. The emotions swirling throughout Roseanne were obvious in her tormented gaze. Lisa placed the sunglasses into her own breast pocket and reached across for Roseanne's suitcase. As Lisa buckled it into place, her hand grazed Roseanne's thighs, and Roseanne flinched.

"Sorry. It was an accident," Lisa demurred. Roseanne was like a cat on a hot tin roof, and Lisa could absolutely not blame her.

Roseanne stared at Lisa long and hard, then nodded. She settled back into the leather of the car, and stared out of her window. Her mind was like a child after a birthday party; it would not stop. She had been attacked because of Lisa. Certainly, that had been the root cause of the events at the Square, but more than likely, it was also the reason she'd been attacked in London. Had Lisa known? Or suspected? And Sooya, her next-door neighbour in Kensington, had arrived to rescue her at the precise moment she'd needed it. No way was that a coincidence.