Outrageous Fortune

by Lulu Taylor

  ‘It’s all very mysterious,’ he told her. ‘The Foundation is registered in Switzerland and appears to be some kind of medical research joint, though we’re still discovering exactly what they do. Whatever it is, it seems to be making them rich. From what we can discover, it’s very well endowed.’

  ‘Must be a Dangerfield trait,’ Coco said saucily.

  Will laughed. ‘Well, we’ll find out more. I have my suspicions about what’s going on. But I’m more interested in Daisy at the moment. My people are telling me that there’s no trace of her going back years. She seems to have vanished long before she died. I’m determined to get to the bottom of it.’

  Coco listened as he told her everything, knowing that all this was exactly what she’d been sent to hear.

  They were snuggled up together in the den one evening watching television when the front doorbell went. It was the pizza delivery boy, no doubt, and with Maria off, they’d have to answer it themselves. Will unwrapped himself from Coco, stretching out as he stood up.

  ‘Hey, have you got some cash for a tip?’ he asked, patting his pockets. ‘I’m clean out today.’

  ‘Sure,’ Coco replied. ‘I’ve got some dollars in my purse. Help yourself.’

  She turned her attention back to the screen, half listening to Will as he paid the pizza boy. After a few minutes she turned to look at the door. Where was he? Why hadn’t he come back? She frowned, but a second later Will walked slowly back through the door. He wasn’t holding any pizzas. Instead, he held a small rectangle of white paper and was staring at it, an expression of horror on his face.

  ‘What’s this?’ he said in a strangled voice as he walked towards her.

  She sat up. ‘What?’

  He reached her, and held it out in his trembling hands. ‘This!’ he rasped in a terrible voice. She looked at it, and felt an awful swoop of horror.

  ‘Not this, Coco,’ Will said, his eyes agonised. ‘Anything but this. Anyone but him.’

  It was a cheque for a hundred pounds, to be drawn on a prestigious private bank, and signed by Daddy Dangerfield himself.

  67

  THE DOOR OF the storage room opened and the Chinese man came in. He never spoke to Daisy but simply put down a tray of some kind of stew or lamb pasta with bread and water, and left it for her. She had been shut in this horrible place for three days now.

  As he entered, she jumped up. She’d been waiting for this moment, planning what she was going to do. ‘Please, please,’ she begged, ‘please let me go. Where is Sergei? Sergei?’

  He stared at her for a second, then turned on his heel and headed back to the door.

  ‘No, no!’ she shouted frantically, running after him and grabbing the handle. ‘Don’t go, you can’t leave me here! This is kidnapping!’ She grabbed hold of his hood and coat, trying to pull him back into the room. He swore loudly in another language and tried to shake her off, but she held on as tight as she could. How else could she convey her desperation? The Chinese man attempted to make her release her grip and when he realised that she meant to hang on, he pulled back one fist as though he was about to punch her.

  There was a shout in Russian from outside the room and the other man appeared suddenly, grabbing the Chinese man around the wrist to stop him hitting Daisy. It was the man she assumed was Sergei’s brother. He spoke in fast, furious Russian. The Chinese man listened and then obediently lowered his fist. Daisy let go of him and he moved away from her, shaking out his coat where she’d yanked it.

  ‘Please,’ Daisy said to the Russian, certain he could speak English, ‘you must let me go! What are you doing, keeping me here like this?’

  A joyless smile curved the lips of the Russian man. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said in thickly accented English. ‘We won’t hurt you. We just need you for a little longer, OK?’

  With that, he shoved her firmly back inside the room, and pulled the door shut with a slam. She rushed to it and banged on it with her fists, shouting that they had to let her out, but there was no sound from beyond. Eventually, she gave up and sank to the floor, sobbing. He’d said they weren’t going to hurt her – but how could she believe it?

  The noise of shouting woke her in the middle of the night. She came to instantly, throwing off the duvet and getting up from her thin mattress. She pulled on her boots, picked up her coat and ran to the door, pressing her ear against it. There was a great commotion going on in the next room, with loud voices yelling in Russian and the noise of furniture being overturned.

  Daisy started to tremble. What the hell was happening? Adrenaline surged through her. All she could do was be ready to react in whatever way necessary. She quickly zipped her coat and pulled up the hood, wishing she still had her fur hat. She pulled on her gloves. Whatever opportunity came her way, she intended to take. She would make a run for it. It was madness perhaps – out on her own in the dark Siberian night, into freezing temperatures and God only knew where – but she couldn’t stay here any longer without losing her mind.

  The quarrel outside seemed to be gaining pace, the voices louder. It seemed interminable as she stood there, her head pressed to the door, trying to listen through the wood and the thickness of her hood and interpret what was going on.

  Then the voices quietened down to a more reasonable level. One of them became sulkier, the other – she was sure it was Sergei’s – became more scornful and rebuking. Then, to her intense relief, it came closer, issued firm orders, and a moment later the handle was turning.

  She looked out into the lighted area beyond. There were several people standing about a large room dominated by a stove and a pair of bunk beds. Her captors were there, surrounded by tough-looking men in outdoor gear, while standing at the door, a half smile on his face and relief in his eyes, was Sergei.

  ‘Sergei! Thank God you’re here,’ said Daisy in a choked voice.

  ‘Are you OK?’ he asked urgently, looking her over.

  ‘Yes … yes, I’m fine.’ Tears sprang unbidden to her eyes with the strength of the relief that enveloped her. She was going to be all right. She wanted to hug Sergei.

  ‘Good,’ he said tersely. ‘Then let’s get out of here before my stupid brother decides to do anything even more crazy than he already has.’

  He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room, shielding her with his massive bulk. He barked out something in Russian as he took her with him towards the door leading outside. Her captors watched her go with mutinous expressions on their faces, but they said nothing and did not move as Sergei’s men kept a close watch on them.

  The next moment, they had reached the door. Sergei opened it, pushed Daisy out in front of him and said, ‘Get in.’ The Land Rover was standing just outside in the snow. She ran towards it, opened the door and jumped inside. Sergei paused to issue orders, then came round and got in next to her. He made the engine roar into life and then they were pulling away from the horrible place where she’d spent the last nightmarish few days.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said, trying not to cry. She didn’t want to be a weak, snivelling girl in front of Sergei, who was always so tough.

  ‘I apologise on behalf of my brother,’ he said grimly, staring out into the black-and-white night beyond the windscreen. ‘He’s always been an idiot, but this really takes … some beating.’

  ‘How did you find me?’

  ‘There are only so many places a fool like him will go. And some money in the right hands usually gets results. He has been in touch with me to make his stupid demands so I knew he had you.’ Sergei glanced over at Daisy, checking her face to see if she really was all right. ‘Did they treat you OK?’

  She nodded, not able to say any more.

  ‘Well, he’s dumb but he’s not a monster,’ murmured Sergei, shaking his head.

  ‘Why did it take so long to find me?’ she asked in a small voice.

  ‘I’ve been in Komsomolsk,’ he said. ‘When I got back to the house with the doctor and found you gone – well, there was nothing I coul
d do. Your friend Ross was in a bad way. We had to get him to hospital. I guessed at once that my brother had taken you and he let me know soon enough. I was pretty sure you’d be safe until I got back.’

  Daisy gaped at him, not knowing where to begin. How could he have been so sure that she wouldn’t be hurt? It seemed a reckless gamble to her. But there were important things to find out first. ‘Is Darley all right?’

  Sergei nodded. ‘He had pneumonia. Serious. But they say he’s over the worst and is going to be fine. He’ll be able to fly home in a week or so.’

  ‘I’d better let his office know – his family. They’ll be worried about him.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I spoke to his wife,’ Sergei said. ‘I called her from his mobile in Komsomolsk.’

  Daisy nodded, relieved. ‘Good. I’m glad she’s not in a panic.’ She looked out of the window for a moment. She couldn’t wait to be back in the warm, familiar environment of Sergei’s house. When would they reach the village? She said, ‘So – why did your brother take me?’

  ‘I think you can guess,’ answered Sergei with a sardonic smile. ‘He wanted to force me to let him buy into the mine.’

  ‘So he thought, if he kidnapped me, he could blackmail you into letting him?’

  ‘I told you he was an idiot.’ Sergei shrugged. ‘But I’ve told him that if he resigns from Korsilkoff and joins me as my partner, I might consider letting him buy a stake. That’s why he agreed to let you go today. So maybe it was all for the best.’

  All for the best? Daisy didn’t know what to say: the idea she’d had to endure three days of imprisonment and fear for the sake of two warring brothers becoming reconciled seemed extraordinary to her. Was there to be no punishment for the illegal abduction she’d suffered? Daisy kept her comments to herself. She had a feeling that things operated a little differently around here and she wasn’t about to make a fuss until she was on safe ground once again.

  ‘Besides,’ Sergei went on, his gaze sliding towards her once more, but this time with a look of cunning in it, ‘I discovered that there are people looking for you. When I explained to my brother that this would become very serious … well, that made a difference.’

  ‘People looking?’ Daisy echoed, startled. ‘Who?’

  ‘Yes. I mean you are a high-up executive, right? Not just my little girlfriend, which is maybe what my brother thought. I told him you can’t take someone from a powerful company like that and not expect nasty reprisals. I explained that we need the money from your business to finish our mine and get it working. And, of course, you are the daughter of the owner of Dangerfield.’

  Daisy froze. ‘What?’ she whispered, her lips suddenly stiff and her mouth dry. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘You are the daughter of the owner. Mr Dangerfield himself. So you are very hot property, aren’t you? Dangerous for anyone to possess. I didn’t tell my brother this, in case he decided you were valuable enough to make a proper kidnapping worthwhile.’

  Daisy tried to laugh. ‘That’s ridiculous! You know who I am …’

  ‘I do now,’ Sergei said, a edge to his voice.

  She licked her lips, questions whirling around in her head. ‘But … why do you think that?’ Black panic was creeping over her. How could he know? She’d never told anyone, in all these years! It was impossible. Absolutely impossible.

  ‘Because of this.’ He reached into his pocket, took out her BlackBerry and tossed it to her. It landed in her lap and she stared down at it.

  ‘It has no signal—’

  ‘It has in Komsomolsk,’ he replied tersely.

  ‘But how …?’

  At that moment, Sergei pulled the car to a halt. She realised that they’d been bumping along for some time with no sign of the lights of the village. Now they appeared to be in almost total darkness and she sensed the forest all about.

  ‘Come on. We’re here.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Just get out.’ He jumped down from his side of the car into the snow, and crunched round to her side. He opened the door and half helped, half pulled Daisy out. ‘Follow me.’

  She realised now that they were outside a low wooden building. Its shutters were firmly closed but she could see small lines of light here and there. Sergei walked over to the building and pulled open the door. At once, red-gold light fell from the room within, lighting up the snow so that it glittered and shone.

  ‘Inside,’ he said brusquely. ‘Go on.’

  She felt dazed, utterly stunned by the revelation of Sergei’s knowledge of who she was, and so she obeyed, moving over the snow and walking into the room.

  There was a man inside. He was stooping over the open stove, throwing in some logs. She stopped and stared at him, her skin beginning to prickle. The man slammed the stove door shut, stood up and turned round.

  She gasped. It was Christophe.

  Part Four

  68

  COCO CLIMBED OUT of the taxi in front of the Belgravia house, ran lightly up the steps beneath the wide white portico, and rang the doorbell in its brass surround.

  A maid answered and she walked into the hallway, catching a glimpse of her reflection in the huge Second Empire gilt mirror, topped with a laurel wreath and an eagle, that hung over the mahogany console. She looked tanned from the LA sun, her skin glowing with health and vitality, and she was slimmer than ever, her figure shown to its best advantage in a dark pencil skirt and a cream merino jumper, a large slouchy Prada bag over one shoulder. Dior sunglasses shaded her eyes.

  ‘Will you follow me, please, madam?’ asked the maid politely, and led her into the drawing room. Coco declined the offer of a drink and instead wandered about the room, taking in the hand-blocked wallpaper, the sumptuous French fabrics and the expensive antique furniture. An oil painting of a dog caught her attention: a vital-looking spaniel, standing ready to dash off at his master’s call, eyes full of eager obedience.

  She knew that look of trusting adoration. It had been in her own eyes once.

  Not any more.

  It was all over. She had given her heart to him, and now it was broken. She could hardly bear to remember that awful last interview with Will. He’d guessed the truth immediately, and how could she deny it when he held proof of her connection to his father in his hand? He’d ordered her out, shaking with emotion, his eyes cold and the hurt plain on his face. He hadn’t let her speak, but shoved her out of the door, tossing her purse after her. She called to him, trying to explain, beating on the front door with her fists, but he was obdurate. She’d called a cab and gone to a hotel, and sent a car for her things the following day. Then she’d booked her flight home. She’d had no word from him since.

  She wanted to hate him, she was forcing herself to. He was a bastard, treacherous, cruel, cold-hearted, vindictive … Stop. Don’t think about it. You know where that goes.

  It led to despair: bitter tears, wracking sobs and the sense that life was over and everything beautiful in it destroyed. But she also knew that his heart must be broken too, and if only she’d been honest, then perhaps they might still be together.

  But it’s too damn’ late now.

  ‘Coco.’ Margaret was coming into the room, looking unusually cheerful. She was neat as usual in a plain navy suit. ‘What a pleasure. How was your trip?’ She sat down on a ball-and-claw foot Queen Anne armchair and indicated another to Coco.

  ‘Fine. Very good.’ Coco sat down, putting her bag on her lap.

  ‘I was a little concerned when we went for so long without hearing from you,’ Margaret said smoothly. ‘I had to trust that you had simply lost yourself in your mission. It was a relief to receive that email from you.’

  Coco didn’t respond but pulled out a black folder and handed it over to Margaret, who took it.

  ‘Your report? Excellent.’ She lifted a pair of glasses that hung from a chain around her neck, put them on and opened the folder. She began to scan the pages inside.

  ‘It’s all there,’ Coco said. ‘Everything
I found out. I’ve gone into detail about Will’s attitudes, his plans, his suspicions … and his anger over the death of his sister.’ She raised her eyebrows at Margaret. ‘The sister you forgot to tell me about.’

  The other woman kept looking at the report, murmuring only, ‘I had my reasons. Let us leave it at that.’ She ignored Coco for twenty minutes while she skimmed the pages, then looked up, satisfaction on her face. ‘You’ve done well. I can see from just a short perusal that there is much here we can learn from.’ She smiled. ‘It seems our investment in you has paid off.’

  ‘Actually, I wanted to speak to you about that,’ Coco said slowly. She had planned how she would approach this. She’d thought very carefully about the best way to frame what she wanted.

  ‘Yes?’ Margaret raised her eyebrows, peering over the top of her glasses.

  ‘I found the work you gave me to do very … stimulating. To be honest, I enjoyed it.’

  ‘Mmm?’ Margaret’s expression remained neutral.

  ‘I believe I could be of further use to you and your organisation.’

  ‘Really? How? Your job here appears to be done. You’ve had a fair reward. You may keep all the clothes and other things you’ve been given. You may stay on a little longer in South Kensington, and you have the tools now to go out into the world and make something of yourself. All invaluable … if you think back to how things were when I found you.’ Margaret’s voice was soft, almost caressing.

  ‘I appreciate all of that, of course. I just think that you may need my services in other ways. I believe I discovered quite a talent in myself for the kind of investigations you required. You might need me again for other … projects.’

  Margaret blinked, her expression giving nothing away. ‘Well, I shall need to think about that. I make no promises, but I will ponder what you say.’ She stood up. ‘Now, Mr Dangerfield requested that you be brought to him immediately on your return. He’s very keen to see you.’

  Coco stood up and followed Margaret out of the room and across the hallway to the study. As they went, the older woman looked back over her shoulder and said, ‘Keep it brief if you can. Don’t tire him out. He hasn’t been well lately.’