The Magnate's Tempestuous Marriage

Scott shut his office door then waved Harvey to one of the two armchairs in front of his desk.

‘So what have you found out?’ he asked straight away, hiding his escalating tension behind a brusque tone.

Harvey’s eyes carried the closest thing to compassion that Scott had ever seen in them.

His heart sank, his stomach swirling with sudden nausea. Slumping into his office chair, he scooped in a deep breath then let it out slowly. ‘From the look on your face, I presume you haven’t any good news to tell me.’

‘No.’

A man of few words, was Harvey.

Scott gathered himself in readiness for the worst. ‘Okay, shoot,’ he said.

Harvey leant forward and placed Scott’s phone on the desktop before settling back into the chair.

‘First things first,’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘The phone used to send you those photos was a throwaway. Couldn’t be traced.’

‘I suspected that,’ Scott said. ‘Were they real, though? The photos?’

‘Yes. They weren’t doctored in any way.’

Scott swallowed the bile that rose in his throat. ‘What about the dates and times they were taken?’

‘Also real. I was able to confirm everything by checking the hotel’s security vision. They have cameras set up everywhere.’

‘And what hotel was it?’

‘The Regency.’

Scott’s gut tightened. The Regency was a five-star hotel that was a stone’s throw from the building where Sarah worked. ‘What else have you found out?’ he asked, resigned to more bad news.

‘I spoke to a member of the bar staff who was working last Friday at lunchtime. He remembered Sarah.’

Of course he did, Scott thought grimly. Any man who wasn’t blind would remember Sarah. She was a stunning-looking girl with long creamy blonde hair, big blue eyes and a mouth that would tempt Saint Peter himself. Add to that a slender but shapely figure that was always housed in softly feminine clothes and you had a package that drew every man’s eye—and kept it.

Scott had never forgotten the first moment he’d laid eyes on her. It had been just on fifteen months ago. He’d been in the process of buying a clapped-out diamond mine he’d had a hunch about and had arrived early for an appointment at Goldstein & Evans, a Sydney legal firm he always used for signing business contracts. Sarah had been sent to greet him, acting more like an accomplished hostess rather than the newly graduated lawyer that he’d soon found out that she was. Scott had fallen madly in love at first sight. She’d confessed to him one week later on their third dinner date that she’d been similarly smitten with him.

And he’d believed her. Three months later she’d become his wife. One year later, it looked as if she was about to become his ex-wife.

Scott cleared his throat. ‘What else did the barman say?’

‘He said they looked pretty cosy together. Sat off in a very private corner. Didn’t drink much. Just talked. Then after about fifteen minutes, they upped and left.’

‘Right,’ Scott bit out. They both knew exactly where they’d gone. The photos had told the story. First, the man had gone to Reception and booked a room. Then they’d ridden up in the lift and gone into the room, not emerging till forty-five minutes later.

‘On the plus side, the barman did say he’d never seen her in there before,’ Harvey added.

Terrific. But there were other hotels in Sydney’s CBD. Heaps of them.

‘The guy looked familiar, though,’ Harvey went on. ‘Been there with some other woman on a few occasions. A brunette.’

‘Did you find out who he was?’

‘Yup. His name is Philip Leighton. Mid-thirties. A lawyer.’

‘And he works for Goldstein & Evans.’

‘Spot on. In the family law section. He specialises in divorces. Society divorces mainly. People with money. His own family is wealthy. His father’s a senator. Word is Mr Leighton has his eye on going into politics himself. He’s not married and doesn’t have a permanent partner. Quite the ladies’ man, according to a work colleague of his I spoke to this morning. “A silver-tongued charmer” was the way this chap described him.’

Scott tried to blank his mind out to where that silver tongue might have been, but it was impossible, a black cloud of jealousy descending to darken his mood further. He hated being taken for a fool. And Sarah had taken him for a fool. Her outrage last Saturday morning had all been a sham to deflect attention away from her own guilt. The plain truth was Sarah had allowed herself to be seduced by that smooth-looking bastard.

Maybe if you hadn’t been going away on business so much lately, it wouldn’t have happened...

God, now he was making excuses for her!

Scott sat up straighter in his chair before sending his head of security what he hoped was a composed look. ‘Is there anything else you have to tell me about my wife’s relationship with this Leighton fellow?’

‘Only that she didn’t go to him after she left you on Saturday. He owns a house on the North Shore, and there’s no sign of her—or her car—at his address.’

Was he relieved at this news? He didn’t feel relieved. His gut churned some more.

‘She’s probably gone to stay at Cory’s,’ Scott muttered. ‘He’s her best friend. Sarah met him at university.’

Scott didn’t elaborate, mostly because he didn’t know all that much about the circumstances behind his wife’s close friendship with the young architect. It came to him suddenly that he didn’t know all that much about his wife’s past all round. She’d told him during their whirlwind courtship that her mother was dead and she was estranged from her father and her only sibling, an older brother. There’d been a bitter divorce when she was a teenager, with the brother siding with the father, despite the bastard being unfaithful to his wife. He’d never questioned her further about her past. He’d also never grilled Sarah over her friendship with Cory, mainly because he wasn’t worried about Cory. He rather liked the fellow. And Cory liked him back.

He probably doesn’t like me now, Scott thought. Not after Sarah told him what I did last Friday night. And she would have. She told Cory everything. They were like two teenagers sometimes, laughing and chatting to each other on the phone for hours. Scott would have liked to be a fly on the wall at Cory’s place right at this moment. Though possibly he wouldn’t find out anything. It was Monday, after all, and both of them would be at work.

Suddenly, Scott wanted Harvey gone so that he could make some enquiries of his own. He stood up and strode around his desk where he stretched out his hand.

‘Thank you, Harvey. You have gone over and above. I am most grateful.’ At least he now knew where he stood. Though he still didn’t know everything. And it was eating away at him. Did Sarah love this man? Had she ever loved him? Scott could have sworn she did. But then, he could have sworn she would never have cheated on him.

And she had.

‘My pleasure, boss,’ Harvey replied, rising to take Scott’s hand. ‘Sorry I wasn’t able to bring you better news.’

‘Like our one-time Prime Minister said, Harvey, life isn’t meant to be easy.’ Or love. Because he still loved his unfaithful wife. Lord knew why!

As soon as Harvey was out of earshot, Scott took out his personal phone and brought up the number for Sarah’s workplace. When he found out she wasn’t at work, having called in sick, he wasn’t sure what to think. Sarah never took days off, going into work through thick and thin. She loved her job, especially since being stationed permanently in the firm’s pro bono section, which helped people without the funds to pay for a lawyer. She’d worked on a variety of cases so far, including one of unfair dismissal plus several sexual discrimination cases, most of which she’d won. It certainly wasn’t like her to take a day off work without good cause.

Scott frowned. Clearly, Sarah was still upset. But with him, or herself? Maybe she’d only been unfaithful the once. Maybe she regretted it as soon as she’d done it. Maybe that was what her behaviour last Friday night was all about, her trying to make it up to him for what she’d done.

Suddenly another truly appalling thought occurred to Scott. Maybe she’d run off with this Leighton fellow, taken off interstate or even overseas.

Scott’s heart did a savage somersault, then stopped entirely. ‘Is Mr Leighton in this morning?’ he somehow managed to ask the receptionist, his voice gravelly.

‘Yes, he is, sir. Do you wish to speak to him?’

Relief had Scott quickly pulling himself together. ‘Not right now,’ he said firmly. But he would. Soon. First, he needed to speak to Sarah. Depending on what she revealed, then he would be speaking to Leighton. Though he doubted it would be a civil conversation. Scott could feel his temper rising just thinking of that sleazebag who thought nothing of seducing another man’s wife. There was no doubt in his mind that Leighton would have been the one to make the first move. Sarah simply wasn’t the unfaithful type.