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For Alan
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Our Three Heroines
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Epilogue
An interview with Anna-Lou Weatherley
Anna-Lou’s Guide to the King’s Road
Author Note
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Copyright
About the Publisher
Our Three Heroines
Imogen Forbes
Ah, the beautiful, effortlessly chic and smart ex-model who looks like she’s stepped straight out of the pages of Vogue and who once had the fashion world at her Louboutin-clad feet. Imogen’s bright light has been hidden under a bushel for too long thanks to her jealous, possessive, control-freak of a husband, Sebastian who’s hell bent on keeping her all to himself – and firmly out of the spotlight at any cost.
When she discovers her husband’s cruel skulduggery has scuppered her chances of a successful career comeback however, Imogen takes matters into her own hands and with the unwitting help of her friends, Calvary Rothschild and Yasmin-Belmont Jones, plots her cunning revenge against the despotic, power-crazed man she regrets ever marrying.
Only it’s not just her malicious husband she has to worry about; her past is creeping up on her too, namely in the form of a man she once loved. A man she has never stopped loving…
Calvary Rothschild
Rampant social climber and fashion maven extraordinaire, ex-fashion magazine editor Calvary is a stylish aristocrat desperate to keep up appearances - whatever the cost. Thanks to her adulterous, philandering husband Douglas, who can’t seem to keep it in his trousers however, it’s proving to be a little tricky.
Having spent years turning a blind eye his latest, most sordid affair is the final straw and this time she vows to take action. Only divorcing him would mean losing all her vast privileges as a society wife, something Calvary can’t even begin to reconcile herself with.
Desperate and unhappy, relief comes in the form of an unlikely admirer and when presented with the chance to play her part in her friend’s bid for revenge, Calvary seizes the opportunity to stich her own husband up in the process. But can she get her own back on a man who has spent years humiliating her without losing it all, or will Douglas have the last laugh?
Yasmin Belmont-Jones
The young, brash and surgically enhanced wife of the bloated, unsavoury old Lord Belmont, Yasmin Jones, a paparazzi’s dream, may be sailing dangerously close to WAG territory and ostracised by the London society set for being nouveau riche but frankly she couldn’t give a damn – she has all the designer clothes, bags, and champagne a girl could wish.
Besides, it’s not Belmont’s money she’s really interested in. A dark, sinister secret and need for revenge has brought her into the Chelsea fold and Belmont’s bed – and now it’s pay-back time. It soon becomes apparent to the gossip mongers of SW3 that there’s more to Yasmin Belmont-Jones than just a gold-digger in a designer dress – much more….
PROLOGUE
Detective Inspector Mitch McLaren glanced around the magnificent library, casually perusing the literature that was neatly stacked inside the antique wooden bookcases. The fact that he had been kept waiting seemed to irk him more than usual, so much so that he had helped himself to a cheeky nip of cognac from a decanter on the sideboard. Something told him he was going to need it.
You could tell a lot about a person by the books they owned, he thought, as he threw back the cognac in one hit. Somehow he hadn’t had Sebastian Forbes down as a Jane Austen man. Must be his wife’s, he thought, smiling as he came across Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Exhaling softly as he pulled it from the shelf, it immediately evoked a strong memory of her; her long, dark hair, shyly falling over her face like a silk curtain as she pretended not to notice him looking at her …
‘Detective Inspector McLaren?’ Sebastian Forbes’s clipped tones sliced through Mitch’s thoughts with all the subtlety of an axe as he stormed into the library, his face a crimson colour, veins protruding in his neck in what looked like protest.
‘Pleased to meet you, Mr Forbes,’ Mitch said, his hand outstretched in greeting.
Sebastian did not take it.
‘The Commissioner said you’re the best he’s got,’ Sebastian said, matter of fact, casting the Inspector a rather disdainful glance. ‘Well, I hope for your sake he’s right because I want this case solved pronto, do you understand me, Inspector? I said pronto.’ Sebastian poured himself an extra large champagne cognac and threw it back without offering Mitch one.
‘It’s a fucking disaster, that’s what this is,’ he growled, pulling his lips over his teeth as the alcohol hit the back of his throat. ‘That diamond is worth more than the national debt, and somehow those bastards knew exactly how to get inside my bank and get their thieving hands on it.’ Sebastian was incandescent, his hands shaking with rage. ‘I want them found, Inspector. I want you to find the scum that did this and I want you to throw the bloody book at them, do you hear me?’
Mitch watched Forbes carefully. It was immediately obvious that the man was a tyrant. It was written right through him like a stick of Blackpool rock. He hadn’t even asked about the unfortunate security guard, currently fighting for his life in hospital.
‘Mr Forbes, I need to ask you a few questions if that’s OK.’ Mitch cleared his throat. ‘Questions you might find impertinent, but are necessary nonetheless.’
Sebastian didn’t care much for the DI’s abruptness but given the circumstances had little choice but to comply.
‘You say you were the only one who knew the codes to the security system, that is right isn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ Sebastian snapped back, the irritation in his voice tangible. ‘I changed the codes myself, a few hours before leaving to catch the plane. Look,’ he said tightly, ‘that system is infallible, Inspector; it’s one of a kind, pioneering technology from America which I helped create.’ He thumped his chest, indignant. ‘Only I knew the codes to gain access to the vault and only I have access to the room where the diamond was kept. The Interlocking System has an in-built scanner that relies on facial recognition. My face, Inspector, is the key that unlocks it.’
‘Is there somewhere I can play this?’ Mitch asked, producing a CD from his inside pocket. ‘I think it might be of some interest to you,’ he said as Sebastian nodded towards the flat-screen on the wall. ‘It’s CCTV footage taken from last night. I want you to look carefully at it, Mr Forbes,’ Mitch instructed him. ‘Tell me if you recognise any of the men.’
Sebastian downed another cognac, squinting at the images as they came into view.
‘Good … good God …’ he said after a moment, taking a step back in alarm, pointing at the screen in shock and confusion. ‘That man … it’s … it’s me! But … it isn’t me … that’s impossible. I told you, I was on a plane to Rio last night. I was on a goddamn plane!’ Sebastian’s voice was high-pitched in protest. ‘Surely you’re not stupid enough to think this really is me? A hundred or more people can vouch for me!’
Mitch nodded. ‘We will have to check all your alibis, of course,’ he said with an even smile.
‘Jesus fucking Christ!’ Sebastian slammed his glass down onto the antique desk with such force that it was testament to the quality of the crystal that it didn’t break.
‘I’m going to need to speak to your wife, Mr Forbes,’ Mitch said after a moment’s pause. ‘Ask her a few questions, if that’s OK.’
Sebastian looked up.
‘My wife?’
‘It’s merely a formality,’ he reassured him.
Sebastian sighed heavily, his temper dissolving into self-pity.
‘As you wish. Though I can’t imagine she’ll be of much help.’ He picked up the internal line. ‘Jalena, ask Mrs Forbes to come down to the library immediately will you? What? I don’t care if she’s still sleeping, goddamn it, this is important!’ he bellowed, slamming the telephone down.
Muttering under his breath, Sebastian reached for the cognac decanter once more, this time having the decency to pour the Inspector one.
Accepting it, Mitch turned away from him and wandered towards the bay window, looking out onto the pristine terrace at the pruned topiary and expensive Lloyd Loom furniture.
He was still looking out of the window, cognac in hand, as he heard the door to the library open. It was only as he slowly turned round that he felt the glass suddenly slip from his fingers and his heart stop dead.
CHAPTER 1
Imogen Forbes looked at her Cartier watch: 3:03 p.m. Shit, she was late. No doubt the photographer would be cursing her blue by now. Pressing her foot on the accelerator of her brand-new Bentley Continental, she revved the engine impatiently, absentmindedly checking her reflection in the interior mirror. Tired eyes hidden underneath lashings of Touche Éclat blinked back at her as she wearily inspected a new rash of fine lines that had seemingly appeared overnight. She turned the air con up to maximum and sighed deeply. It was a warm Friday afternoon in June and the King’s Road was thick with rush hour traffic. Summer stretched out before her, full of promise and potential, giving her a fleeting feeling of hope and excitement.
Leaning over, she began rifling through the glossy store bags that were piled high in a heap on the passenger seat, souvenirs of that morning’s trip to Harvey Nichols, via a little breeze along Sloane Street: Seb’s dry cleaning from Jeeves of Belgravia, Lime, Basil and Mandarin candles from Jo Malone, a gorgeous silk dress from Stella McCartney – perfect for between seasons – and a divine pair of knotted platform pumps from Christian Louboutin. She wondered whether the shoes might be a little overstated with the rest of her outfit for today’s photo shoot or if the stylist already had something in mind for her.
Momentarily forgetting any sense of urgency as tissue paper rustled satisfactorily between her fingers, Imogen looked past the traffic and out onto the bustling high street. People were out in their droves, dropping cash in the spring sales faster than they could earn it. Designer bags swung on the crooks of lithe, suntanned arms and the clips of Bugaboo prams. Tourists stood on street corners, maps in hand, pointing at the sugared almond-colour mews houses that were tucked away from the throbbing masses. Glamorous yummy mummies dressed in Diane von Fürstenberg wrap dresses and young, fashion-forward teenagers sat crossed-legged outside the myriad cafés, sipping their skinny soya macchiatos, people-watching from behind their oversized designer shades, hoping they might be noticed.
The King’s Road still had that buzz, that style and vibrancy that had made it famous in the 60s, Imogen thought. Regardless of how commercial it had now become, it was by far her favourite London high street.
Her phone rang, dragging her from her thoughts.
‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ Calvary snapped, irritation thick in her voice. ‘Sophie Montgomery-Smith has already let me down so now there’s just going to be the three of us and the photographer is having a hissy fit. You’re holding everything up.’
‘I’m sorry, Cal,’ she apologised. ‘The traffic …’
Calvary sighed impatiently. ‘You’re beginning to look like a terrible diva, Ims. Put your foot down, will you? Anyway,’ she said, her voice dropping to a whisper, ‘I’m dying to see what you’ll make of the journalist. Can’t make my mind up about her …’
Having been the fashion editor of the once highly successful, but now defunct, pretentious fashion tome that was Dernier Cri magazine, Calvary Rothschild knew all about hidden agendas of the press and the need to make a name for oneself.
‘Seems a little big for her shooboots. Mui Mui by the way. This season,’ she added.
‘And the stylist?’ Imogen inquired hopefully. ‘I suppose everything decent has been snatched up already.’
‘Well, if you will be so bloody late …’ she shot back, defensively. ‘But I’ve saved you a purple Alberta Ferretti shift and a Lanvin necklace,’ she added begrudgingly.
‘Oh Cal, thanks.’ Imogen was touched by her friend’s rare display of fashion altruism.
‘I’ll be there as quick as I can.’
Imogen threw her phone into her open Zagliani python bag in the well of the passenger seat. It was bad form to be late, especially since Calvary had been good enough to ask her to take part in the shoot in the first place.
‘Chelsea Wives,’ she had squealed with excitement down the phone to Imogen just a few days earlier, eschewing her usual cool composure. ‘ESL magazine want to do an insightful lifestyle piece on women who live in Chelsea. Fabulous women, darling, like us! Say you’ll do it.’
Imogen hadn’t needed asking twice. Even after all these years she still missed the buzz of being in front of the lens. Her phone rang again and she snatched it up.
‘What now?’ She rolled her eyes.
‘Now that’s no way to talk to an old friend, is it?’ The gravelly female voice sounded familiar but she couldn’t immediately place it.
‘Who is this?’ Imogen asked tentatively.
‘Oh darling, it hasn’t been that long … surely you remember?’ the voice said, full of mock offence. There was a pause. ‘The bench at Hersham station? You were wearing the most ghastly stone wash denim jacket I’d ever seen in my life and you had a home perm, but even then I could see you had something special.’
Imogen gasped.
‘Cressida? Good God, Cressie Lucas. Is that you?’
‘The very same, darls. The very same,’ she said, snorting with laughter.
Cressida Lucas, MD and scout for Models à la Mode and one-time queen of the London party scene, was a small, fierce redhead with killer dress sense and an unrivalled sixth sense when it came to spotting the Next Big Thing in modelling.
The day Imogen had been ‘spotted’ by the infamous fashionista would be imprinted on her mind forever. It had been the final week of what had been an uneventful summer holiday and a then sixteen-year-old Imogen had been on her way to visit a friend. She had been quite oblivious to the short, voluptuous woman, glamorously dressed in a bright canary yellow power suit, blowing cigarette smoke into the air above her. Suddenly she was next to her, her neon manicured hand outstretched in greeting.
‘The name’s Lucas. Cressida Lucas, and I run a modelling agency in London called Models à la Mode. Have you heard of it?’ She did not give Imogen time to answer. ‘I see you like fashion?’ she nodded approvingly at the well-thumbed copy of Just Seventeen Imogen had been reading.
‘Yeah, I s’pose,’ Imogen had replied a little shyly, catching the intoxicating scent of the stranger’s perfume, which she would later come to recognise as Calvin Klein’s ‘Obsession’. Even to this day she could not smell it without thinking of her.
‘I would absolutely love to see what the camera would make of you,’ Cressida had said, tucking Imogen’s hair behind her ear and inspecting her as if she were a rare piece of art. ‘Tell me, what are you doing now?’
As Cressida’s unfailing eye had predicted, Imogen was sensational in front of the camera and within a year her name became the new buzzword on every UK fashion editor’s lips. Elbows sharpened as designers scrambled to book the doe-eyed, quirky-cool brunette for their latest campaigns. A breath of fresh air from the highly polished glamazonians who had dominated the early 80s, her waif-like, unconventional beauty meant she would be a perfect figurehead for the rising grunge movement. Cressida could smell change in the air. Yuppie culture and Thatcherism was dying. Ever ahead of the zeitgeist, she had sensed it was time for something new.
By the time Imogen had reached her eighteenth birthday she had become the youngest UK Vogue cover girl and had walked for most of the major designers of the day, including Lacroix, Armani, Katherine Hamnett, Pam Hogg and Vivienne Westwood. She had flown first class to shoots in Rio, Paris, New York, the Bahamas … partied on millionaire’s yachts with fellow supermodels, A-list celebrities, even royalty. Imogen ‘Immie’ Lennard was the new face of British fashion and on the verge of global success. Cressida Lucas had hit the jackpot and Imogen was happier than she’d ever been; she was young, beautiful and successful. But above all, she was in love …
‘It’s been ages, Cress,’ Imogen said, suddenly feeling a flash of guilt that she had not kept in touch with a woman to whom she had once owed so much. ‘How have you been?’
‘Gorgeous, sweets. Bloody marvellous. Had a facelift last year. Taken ten bloody years off me, I swear. Wish I’d done it five years ago. Bagged myself a little toy boy too, darling. Twenty-six. Hung like a horse. Not a bad cook either. But enough about me. How the fuck are you?’
Imogen smiled. By the sounds of things, her old friend hadn’t changed a bit.
‘Well, I … ’
‘No, don’t tell me now,’ Cressida interrupted. ‘I want to hear everything over lunch. Daphne’s. Monday. 1:00 p.m. It’s all booked,’ she said in her matter-of-fact manner which Imogen had always found equally endearing and annoying. ‘Try and make it, poppet. It’s terribly important I see you.’
Imogen felt a flutter of concern and intrigue.
‘Has something happened?’ she asked.
‘It could be about to,’ Cressida replied cryptically. ‘1:00 p.m. Don’t be late, darling. I have a meeting with Kate Moss at 2:30 sharp and don’t want to keep the old love waiting.’
Call waiting angrily flashed up on Imogen’s phone. It was Calvary. Shit.
‘Sorry, hang on, Cress. I just need to take this …’ She switched calls. ‘Cal, I am five minutes away … promise, promise … OK, bye.’ She pressed call retrieve. ‘Sorry about that, Cress. Where were we … Cressida … Cress?’ But she had gone. Shit. Imogen checked ‘calls received’ but the number came up as ‘unknown’. Shit. Shit. Shit. She threw her iPhone down into her bag in annoyance. What could possibly warrant a call from Cressida Lucas after all this time?
CHAPTER 2
‘Ah, so you’ve finally decided to grace us with your presence then I see,’ Calvary Rothschild remarked sarcastically as she ushered Imogen through the vast front door of her stucco-fronted Chelsea town house.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Imogen apologised, the tip of her nose lightly brushing her friend’s cheek as she went in for an air kiss. ‘Traffic was horrendous and then, well, you’re never going to guess …’
‘Later, darling,’ Calvary said dismissively as she made off down the hallway. Imogen trotted after her apologetically, the clack-clack sound of her new Louboutin Roger Vivier pumps amplified by the antique polished wooden floors.
Calvary had certainly accrued some rather impressive new pieces since her last visit, Imogen thought, glancing up at an imposing 12-light, rococo style chandelier that hung like a vast jewel from the ornate ceiling rose.
‘Antique French cut-glass crystal, darling,’ Calvary smiled without turning round. ‘Cost an absolute bloody fortune from Sotheby’s. And before you ask, yes, it was a present from Douglas,’ she added dryly.
‘Someone must’ve been a very bad boy this time,’ Imogen remarked.
‘Ha!’ Calvary snorted derisively. ‘You don’t want to know.’
Calvary couldn’t bear to discuss her husband’s latest infidelity; it was just too sordid even by Douglas’s standards. Returning home from a perfectly lovely lunch at Langan’s, she had heard strange noises coming from her bedroom and had gone to investigate, worried that Beluga or Cashmere had somehow managed to creep undetected into her walk-in closet and were busy chewing through her priceless Manolo Blahnik collection. Throwing open the bedroom door with purpose, the scene before her had caused her to stumble back through the doorway as if she had been winded by a heavy object.
Over the years Calvary Rothschild had become adept at coping with the humiliation of her husband’s indiscretions. She had taught herself how to forget if not to forgive. Learning how to brush it all under the expensive Persian carpet, it was all par for the course as far as her marriage was concerned. This time however, she was not to be the only casualty in Douglas’s latest mess. Others would be hurt too. Others she loved. This time, she could not forget.
‘Cal?’ Imogen lightly touched her friend’s arm in concern. This small act of kindness was enough to undo Calvary and she turned away from her, fighting back tears.
‘Don’t tell me he’s got another little floosie on the side again?’
Calvary drew audible breath.
‘Like I said, darling, you don’t want to know.’ She ran her hands lightly over her red Issa dress as if such filthy memories had left a residue, and, composing herself, opened the door to the drawing room.
‘About bloody time,’ the photographer remarked, making a point of looking at his Rolex. He was setting up his equipment in a corner of Calvary’s impressive regency themed dining room. ‘This is perfect,’ he gushed to no one in particular. ‘We’ll shoot them on the chaise longue underneath the Monet. With the reflection in the glass coffee table, it’ll be like they’re actually, you know, inside the painting.’