The Gigolo by Isabella King

still hanging thick on the air as a reminder of his threat William keyed Laura’s mobile number into his phone instead. She’d told him it was safe to use this if he was ever worried about approaching her house when her husband’s car was outside.
    ‘Hello.’
    ‘Laura, is it safe to talk?’
    ‘Yes, William. What’s wrong?’
    ‘I’ve just had a visit from your husband, but it was kind of weird. I was expecting him to rip my head off for what I’ve been doing for you but instead he told me to keep away from Kara Kavanagh. Do you know her?’
    William heard Laura laugh at the other end of the line.
    ‘Yes, of course I know her. Kara Kavanagh runs one of my husband’s companies. Her squeaky clean image attracts more business than my husband’s ever would. Don’t tell me she has to pay for her sex?’ Laura laughed.
    ‘So he doesn’t know about us?’ William was keen for reassurance and ignored Laura’s comment.
    ‘ No, of course he doesn’t.’
    William wanted to ask if Kara might be his mistress but if it was true, and Laura had no idea, it really wasn’t the sort of devastating news that should be delivered over the phone by him.
    William hung up . He found himself disappointed that Kara had the weighty influence of Jack Finnegan on her side. He thought they might’ve had something special, and the more he thought about it the more he began to smell a rat.
    He picked up the phone and dialled Kara’s mobile.
    ‘What? ’ Jack Finnegan answered.
    William disconnected the call but far from discouraging him it made William even more concerned for Kara.
    He waited until it got dark and went out to her house. He got the cab to stop at the end of the road and he walked the last few metres, checking for any signs of Finnegan’s Bentley, but the road was clear and quiet.
    There were no lights on in her house. Either she wasn’t there or she’d already gone to bed. He knocked softly and put his ear to the thick wooden door hoping to hear something from within. Nothing happened so he pressed the doorbell. He could hear it buzzing in the hallway. He stepped back to check for lights at the upstairs windows but it remained dark.
    William was forced to give up. She obviously wasn’t there. She was probably keeping Finnegan’s bed warm.
    When William was on his way back home his phone beeped in his pocket. He took it out and looked at the screen. It was a text from Kara. William smiled and opened the message: 
    – Leave me alone and stop calling. I’m with Jack.
    William didn’t believe it was from Kara. She would’ve just said fuck off and not bothered to explain why if it had been her.
     
     
    CHAPTER NINE

     
    Kara woke feeling punch drunk. She looked at the empty bottle of vodka sitting on her night stand and groaned as a wave of nausea washed over her.
    She ran to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet bowl wishing now that she hadn’t attacked the bottle with such vigour last night. William’s gold ring still sat in the bottom of the pan. She flushed it away. Tears blurred her vision. The last thing she needed right now was to be reminded of what a fool she’d been. She had to get a grip of herself.
    I f Jack was true to his word at least she no longer had the threat of her blackmailer hanging over her head, although she was less sure about the future of her job. Jack had left here last night in a boiling rage – that much she did remember before she’d passed out again.
    Kara showered . She was mourning the loss of William’s ring and the future she’d stupidly began to imagine they had together, but her stomach still lurched each time she thought about him. Even though she knew he’d been paid to entertain her she couldn’t get him out of her head. The bastard! He really had been good at his job.
    Kara dressed and called for her car, grabbing a mug of black coffee to take with her on the journey.
    She painted on a smile for the doorman, and again for the receptionist. At least her