Italian Tycoon, Secret Son

CHAPTER THREE

WHEN she awoke, Joan was there.

‘Renzo sent me in with food an hour ago, but you were dead to the world,’ she said. ‘Now, I’m under strict orders to keep an eye on you and make sure you eat as soon as you awake.’

Mandy sat up, rubbing her eyes. ‘Where does he get off giving people orders?’

‘He doesn’t, really. He just gets his own way with that smile. It’s far more effective than anything else, sort of wicked and gorgeous. It invites you into a conspiracy with him, and you know that it would be the most delightful conspiracy in the world.’

Now Mandy knew what she had against him.

‘Does Peter know you feel like that about our great and glorious leader?’ she asked tartly.

‘Every girl on this trip feels like that about him. Except you, but then you’re just “ornery”. I can’t think why, especially when he’s been so nice to you today. Oh, yes-I see. I should have thought of that.’

‘Thought of what?’

‘When he was giving you that massage-I should have stayed here, shouldn’t I? I thought he was the perfect gentleman, but I ought to have known better.’

‘What are you saying?’ Mandy demanded.

‘Well-you know-he probably let his hands wander too far. That’s it, isn’t it? He “took advantage of you”.’

‘No, he didn’t,’ Mandy said, exasperated beyond endurance. ‘He was totally professional and his hands didn’t wander one inch from where they should be.’

‘What, not even the tiniest-’

‘No!’

‘Ah,’ said Joan wisely. ‘Now I see.’

‘There’s nothing to see. It’s time I got up,’ Mandy said firmly. ‘I’ll eat out there. Shall we go?’

Joan’s knowing eyes saw too much.

Mandy edged tentatively off the bed, fearing the worst, but she felt good. Dr Renzo had been very effective, she thought, pulling on some clothes, pleased to find that it was easy.

The others raised a cheer as she appeared and asked kindly how she was. Renzo didn’t speak, but he observed her carefully and served her food with his own hands.

‘Eat it all,’ he said. ‘You’ve got to keep your strength up.’

While she ate he watched over her like a guard dog, or a nanny. Suddenly her thoughts about his amorous intentions seemed ridiculous, and she began to chuckle.

‘Careful,’ he said gently. ‘What’s so funny?’

‘Nothing-nothing-’ she gasped.

‘Well, don’t choke yourself for nothing. Steady.’ He was patting her on the back. ‘That’s better. Now can you share the joke?’

‘No way,’ she said. ‘Some jokes just can’t be shared.’

‘They can be the best,’ he suggested.

‘That’s true, and this one-Oh, don’t get me started again.’

He looked at her curiously, and seemed about to say something, when a shout of, ‘Hey!’ made everyone look up.

It was Henry, standing at the window.

‘It’s snowing,’ he bawled.

At once they crowded to the window to see the soft flakes drifting down. Renzo slipped outside and Mandy joined him.

‘I don’t like this,’ he said, staring intently.

‘It’s not very bad, is it?’ she asked. ‘It’s only a light fall.’

‘Yes, but if it keeps on for long it can have a destabilising effect. You get too much light, powdery snow that hasn’t had a chance to firm up and compact with the rest.’

‘You mean, we couldn’t go on?’

‘It might be a good idea to turn back.’

‘I hope we don’t have to,’ she said with a little sigh. ‘It’s so lovely up here-and just a little bit of snow-’

‘The trouble with you English is that you live in a moderate climate,’ he chided her. ‘You don’t really understand that snow can be dangerous. But look high up.’ Renzo indicated the flakes and, beyond them, the white peaks rearing up in the darkness. ‘Snow like that isn’t just affecting life. It is life. At the best it’s a challenge, at the worst it’s an enemy.’

‘Hey ho! That’s that then.’

‘No, it’s too soon to know how bad it’ll be. Don’t despair yet.’

‘Me, I never despair,’ said a voice behind them, and they both groaned at the arrival of Henry. ‘Come on,’ he rallied them. ‘Where’s your sense of adventure?’

‘I put it to rest on the day I accepted responsibility for bringing people up here,’ Renzo said through gritted teeth.

Now he was a guard dog again, shepherding them both back inside, commanding everyone to bed, chivvying them until they obeyed.

‘How’s the leg?’ he asked Mandy.

‘Fine. Everything’s fine. Dr Renzo’s Linctus is great. You should patent it.’

‘No, I keep it for special occasions. Sleep well.’

To everyone’s relief, the snow stopped during the night, but the day was overcast, making Renzo frown. As breakfast finished they were startled by the sight of a group coming out of the clouds on skis, heading towards them. When they arrived, it soon appeared that they had turned back.

‘It’s getting bad up ahead,’ said the leader, a bearded young man called Toby. ‘We’re going down before it gets worse.’

‘Right, then so will we,’ Renzo declared. ‘Sorry, folks, but safety first.

‘Everyone get packed up and ready to go. And that includes you, Henry. Henry? Where is he?’

‘I haven’t seen him this morning,’ one of the men said.

Even then nobody guessed the truth. Renzo simply shrugged and said, ‘Tell him to get packed up, and then hurry.’

It was another five minutes before one of the young men approached him and said worriedly, ‘Henry’s vanished. We found this.’

It was a note in Henry’s schoolboy handwriting:

Some of us aren’t afraid to go on. See you up there, losers!

‘He’s gone ahead on his own!’ Mandy breathed. ‘How can he be such an idiot?’

‘Because he is an idiot,’ Renzo said savagely.

The look on his face made his audience recoil. They were used to seeing Renzo friendly, amusing and firm, but nothing had prepared them for the bleak fury that confronted them now.

‘Scary,’ somebody muttered.

Mandy agreed. Suddenly he become a new man, one capable of terrible deeds. She wondered how she could ever have thought him lightweight.

He began to curse in Italian, speaking softly but in a way that made the underlying violence more alarming. At last he controlled himself and said, ‘I have to go after him. The rest of you are going down with the party that’s just arrived. Get moving.’

Nobody felt inclined to argue with him in this mood. Mandy slipped into the bedroom and packed up her things ready for departure. A resolution was growing in her. She couldn’t tell from whence it came, but instinctively she knew that she must not let Renzo go after Henry alone.

‘Are you ready?’ Renzo asked when she appeared.

‘Yes, but I’m not going down. I’m coming up with you.’

‘No way. That fool could do anything.’

‘Then you might be glad of backup,’ she said defiantly.

‘Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but he’s capable of landing us all at the bottom of a ravine.’

‘Fine, I’ll let you tackle him, and if he takes you down with him, I’ll still be alive to tell the world what happened to you.’

He stared at her, speechless.

‘Look,’ she persisted, ‘I’m coming whether you like it or not. I can either go with you in relative safety, or I can go on my own and take my chances.’

‘Is there any use saying no to you?’ he snapped.

‘None at all, so why are we wasting time?’

Joan and Peter emerged at that moment and Renzo appealed to them. ‘Can you talk some sense into her? She thinks she’s coming with me.’

‘Great idea,’ Joan said. ‘I’ll come too to keep an eye on her.’

‘Me too,’ Peter said.

Renzo tore his hair. ‘When we get out there, you do as I tell you, and if we see Henry, you stay clear.’

Toby was gathering his party ready for departure, asking if anyone was joining them. Mandy, Joan and Peter folded their arms stubbornly, but the rest trooped out, ready to descend the mountain. There were goodbyes all round, and then Renzo was left alone with the other three.

‘You’re mad, all of you,’ he growled.

‘Yup, you’re stuck with us,’ Mandy affirmed. ‘Some people would call it loyalty.’

‘Most people would call it stupidity.’ But his face softened as he said, ‘Thank you.’

As the others busied themselves with final preparations, Renzo moved closer to Mandy, murmuring, ‘You haven’t got the infernal nerve to try and protect me, have you?’

‘What, delicate little me?’ she teased. ‘No, the one I’m trying to protect is Henry-from you.’

‘You might have a point there.’

They fitted on their skis, Renzo checked the ropes that connected them, and they set out, climbing slowly and carefully, their eyes skinned for any sign of Henry.

‘It’s a pity we can’t shout,’ Joan observed. ‘I’ve got plenty of names I’d like to call him.’

‘Don’t,’ Renzo said firmly. ‘If there’s any name-calling to be done I’ll do it, at close quarters.’

But the day moved on without any sight of their quarry. Mandy hoped fervently that he was safe, but only for Renzo’s sake. If one of his party came to harm he would get the blame, however wrongly. She felt a powerful surge of anger towards Henry.

It grew colder and bleaker as they climbed. Now there was no sun and the world was grey. Peter, whose courage was fast deserting him, was the first to express doubts.

‘I wouldn’t mind finding a hut right now.’

‘What about that one over there?’ Joan said, pointing in the distance.

‘It’s deserted,’ Renzo said. ‘Can you see that it’s on the edge of a precipice? It wasn’t on the edge when it was built, but the ground has fallen away ever since, until it’s no longer safe.’

They moved on up, anxiety growing on them, until suddenly Renzo said, ‘I can see him.’

Henry was up ahead on a ridge, turning to watch them, waving like a victor.

‘Damned fool!’ Renzo snapped. ‘He’s actually pleased with himself.’

Henry was dancing up and down, a mad manikin in the growing shadows. ‘Come on,’ he called. ‘It’s great up here.’

‘You come down,’ Joan called back.

‘Hush,’ Renzo said frantically. ‘Don’t you know better than to shout in these mountains? Do you want to start an avalanche?’

‘Hi!’ bawled Henry from the ridge. ‘Come on up.’

‘Stay here,’ Renzo said. ‘I’m going to get him. Don’t make any loud noises.’

He disconnected the rope that linked him to Mandy and began to head up the slope, while Henry danced and shouted.

‘He really is going to cause trouble,’ Peter said.

As if to confirm it, there was a soft rumble from the distance. Although little more than a sigh, it had a threatening sound in this place where silence was normal.

‘I’m getting out of here,’ said Peter. ‘Let’s go, Joan. Mandy?’

‘We can’t just abandon Renzo,’ she objected. ‘He knows what he’s doing.’

‘He might, but Henry doesn’t. Joan-’

‘Yes, I think I’ll go too.’

‘Mandy?’

‘I’m staying here,’ she insisted. For her, there was no real decision to be made.

‘OK. See you around.’

In moments the others had uncoupled themselves from her and hurried away. Up ahead, Mandy could see Henry beginning to ski down until he reached Renzo. Even at this distance she could tell that he was on a ‘high’.

She began to move up to join them, arriving just in time to hear Henry say, ‘You’ve got no sense of fun, man.’

‘The thing about fun is that you need to be alive to enjoy it,’ Renzo said, quietly firm. ‘Now shut up and come down with us.’

Henry made a face behind his back, looking to Mandy for silent support. But she shook her head. He glared and when Renzo tried to hook him up to the rope that would connect them he backed off hurriedly.

‘No way. I’ll go down but I’m damned if I’m going to be tied to you.’

‘Stop fooling about,’ Renzo demanded.

‘I mean it. Just keep away from me.’ He said the last words on a shout, skiing away fast.

‘Let’s go,’ Renzo muttered.

He connected her to the rope and they began the descent. Mandy heard the swift rushing noise of the skis on the snow. The sound seemed to build up in her ears, growing more ominous until she realized that she was listening to something different-something terrifying. The snow was moving.

Suddenly the movement was everywhere-behind her, beside her, around her, growing louder.

‘Renzo!’ she shrieked.

‘We must get ahead of it,’ he shouted. ‘Quick as you can! Don’t do that!’

The shout was jerked from him as she glanced over her shoulder and saw the snow sweeping down on them, faster every moment, thundering, threatening. She knew in that instant that they would never escape it, but she skied on, still roped to Renzo, feeling him draw her forwards in a frantic attempt to outrun the danger.

Then thought stopped, sensations ceased to be separate and blended into one storm of fear and horror. The whole world was white, above and below her, behind and in front. Nothing but white existed. Nothing ever had or ever would again.

She didn’t see the wall that loomed up behind the white, didn’t know it was there until she slammed into it. Her skis hit first, saving her from some of the impact. Even so, she was left breathless and half stunned. A scream of fear and dread broke from her and she looked around frantically.

‘Renzo! Renzo! Where are you?’

‘Here.’ His voice reached her from a few inches away but she couldn’t see him underneath the snow.

‘Where are you? Oh, God!’

To her desperate relief, she felt his hand groping out of the snow to touch hers, seize it firmly.

‘It’s all right,’ he said hoarsely. ‘Don’t panic, we’re at the hut I showed you. If we can get inside, we’ll be safe. Try to move towards me.’

It was hard to move with her skis impeding her but, with him drawing her towards him, she finally managed it, parting the snow until she could just see him.

‘The door’s just to my left,’ he said. ‘Let’s hope it isn’t locked.’

For once, luck was with them. After rattling the door for a moment, Renzo managed to get it open, but at once snow began to pour in through the gap.

‘We have to get in fast,’ he said, almost dragging her sideways and through the door. ‘Push!’ he yelled.

Together they shoved hard, pushing the door closed with agonizing slowness, forcing the threatening snow back and back until they had defeated it, at least for the moment.

‘Thank God!’ he gasped. ‘It’s a heavy door. It should hold.’

‘Does that mean we’re safe?’

‘Of course we are. We can hole up here until they find us, which shouldn’t be long.’

As he spoke he gave her a bright smile, and its very cheerfulness told her that he didn’t believe a word he was saying. They were trapped, perhaps for days, perhaps for ever.

But this wasn’t the time for talk. There was too much to be done.

‘Let’s get these awkward things off,’ he said, beginning to pull at his skis. ‘Mandy? What’s the matter?’

‘Just a minute,’ she choked. ‘I just-’

‘Here, sit down,’ he said, guiding her to a sofa, making her sit down and kneeling to remove her skis. Then he sat beside her and put his arm around her. ‘All right, give yourself time.’

She was shaking violently, tears pouring down her face.

‘They’re dead,’ she cried. ‘They must be dead-Joan and Peter, Henry-they’re out in the open-they must be swept away-’

‘We don’t know that,’ he tried to soothe her. ‘Mandy, Mandy-’

Renzo pulled her against himself in a big hug, then rocked back and forth, murmuring soothing words and stroking her hair. But nothing could stop the tears. Submerged in agony, she flailed her arms, thumping him fiercely.

‘They’re dead-they’re dead-’ she screamed. ‘Let me go.’

Mandy was struggling to free herself, taking him by surprise so that she was out of his arms before he could stop her. Now she was running here and there in an agony of grief and guilt, colliding with walls, recoiling, running again she knew not where, anywhere if only she could flee the horror inside her head.

He reached for her but she evaded him, heading for a door that led she knew not where. In her blind urgency to escape, she flung it open, not hearing Renzo’s hoarse cry of, ‘No!’ and was halfway across the floor of the room before she realized that the far wall had completely vanished.

Something thundered into her from behind, knocking her to the floor, landing on her, keeping her pinned down while she peered over into the abyss.

‘All right, I’ve got you,’ Renzo said. ‘Just edge back slowly.’

She couldn’t move. Her eyes were fixed on the endless drop into which she had nearly pitched headlong.

‘Gently, gently,’ Renzo urged, pulling her inch by inch until she was a little way back from the edge. Then he seized her suddenly, yanking her to her feet and back through the door, which he slammed shut, then stood leaning back against it, holding her.

‘That…was a very silly thing to do,’ he said in a voice that shook.

‘I…didn’t know…’

‘No, you can’t see that side from where we were. I should have warned you.’

She began to calm down. ‘How could you have warned me? What chance did you have? I was the idiot.’

‘Mandy,’ he murmured against her hair, ‘are we going to pick this moment to argue about who’s the idiot?’

‘No, I guess it’s not a very good idea,’ she whispered.

‘Come on, let’s go somewhere safer.’

He drew her away into another part of the hut, where they could no longer see that the building was half gone, could almost pretend that it wasn’t so.

The place was small and basic, but looked as if it had once been comfortable, and the rooms at the back were still serviceable.

‘Everyone got out six months ago,’ Renzo said. ‘When they knew the place was unsafe they started removing furniture, but then there was a sudden lurch closer to the edge and they ran for it. Since then some more of the land has fallen away and taken the front of the hut with it. But we’ll be safe here for a few days.’

‘But how will we get out? We can’t go forward or back.’

‘When something like this happens the rescue service sends out helicopters. It may take a while but they’ll find us, because I’m going to use the radio to let them know we’re here. I’d better contact them now and tell them to look out for the others.’

But when he took the radio from his pack it lay useless in his hands, refusing to respond as he urgently pressed buttons.

‘It’s dead, isn’t it?’ she asked gently. ‘But we each have a cellphone.’

‘Let’s try them, although I’m not sure if the signal can get through here.’

He was right. Neither phone was any use.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Renzo said firmly. ‘The ones who went down ahead of us will tell them our rough direction. People get rescued all the time.’

‘Yes, but-’

‘Mandy, I’ve been in bad situations before. I’ve even given up hope and then found I was mistaken. We have a lot going for us. This hut is protecting us. If they don’t find us we can survive here until the weather improves.’

‘But how do we get out of the door?’

‘We claw our way through the snow if we have to. Trust me, I know what to do.’

But, as if to defy his bravado, a vibration seemed to go through the hut. For a moment everything shuddered, almost as though the frail structure had lurched closer to the edge. Instinctively, she reached out to him and felt his arms close tightly about her.

No more pretence now, just the two of them seeking refuge in the only place it existed.

‘It’s all right,’ he murmured against her hair. ‘I’m here. It’s going to be all right.’

And now she could believe it, simply because he said it. It made no sense, and yet it made every sense.

‘Now,’ he said with an attempt at cheerfulness, ‘let’s concentrate on what’s urgent-getting settled, keeping warm, finding something to eat.’

‘Right,’ she agreed, knowing that there was nothing to do but follow his lead.

The darkness was total. Night had fallen outside, and no moonlight could reach them through the snow piled at the windows. Only the rooms directly over the abyss were moonlit, and they avoided them.

There was no heating and none of the lights worked, but luckily Renzo’s torch still functioned and by its beam they managed to explore a little. There was a bathroom, with water still on tap from a tank outside, and finally the kitchen. There they found bottles of water and some glasses.

‘And canned food,’ Renzo observed. ‘Thank goodness they didn’t have time to remove this. We won’t starve, although the cuisine may be a rather weird mixture.’

Still using the torch, they groped around to find a table and two chairs.

‘I don’t know what this is,’ Renzo said, opening a can. ‘Cross your fingers.’

Using this principle they created a make-shift meal consisting of custard and fruit pieces, washed down by bottled water. As they ate he talked, reassuring her, trying to make this sound like a normal day, until at last she whispered, ‘Don’t. Please don’t.’

‘All right,’ he said. ‘We ought to get some rest anyway. We’ve both had the stuffing knocked out of us.’

She didn’t press him further. There was no knowing how deep was the snow that held them trapped, or how solidly it was frozen. Their chances of survival were poor, and in his heart she guessed he knew this, and suspected that she knew it, as well.

But it was too soon to confront that prospect.

Only one bedroom was left, with two narrow beds, a foot apart. Fully dressed, they fell into these and pulled the blankets up to their ears.

‘Goodnight,’ Renzo said.

‘Goodnight.’

With the lights out she might almost have thought that everything was fine, except for the cold that made her huddle up. She wondered if Renzo was cold in the other bed.

If you let your thoughts dwell on the reality you could go mad, she thought. Because reality wasn’t reality. What was happening was impossible, so it wasn’t really happening at all. It was only in her head that the snow was all around, which meant that if she thought hard she could make it go away-only it wouldn’t go away, no matter how frantically she-

‘Mandy, Mandy, wake up!’ She thought that was Renzo’s voice but she couldn’t hear him properly because someone was screaming. ‘Mandy, hush, hush!’

Then she knew it was herself screaming, but she couldn’t stop until he drew her close, burying her face in his shoulder until she fell silent.

‘OK, OK, are you awake now?’

‘Yes,’ she choked, clinging to him.

At last she stopped shivering and he released her, just a little.

‘You were having a nightmare,’ he said softly. ‘I’m not surprised, but don’t worry, it won’t be much longer.’

‘Renzo, you don’t have to tell me kind lies,’ she said quietly. ‘I can take the truth.’

‘We could still be rescued-’

‘I know. But there’s every chance that we won’t be, and that’s a fact.’

He grew very still, not answering but holding her close, and a feeling of contentment spread over her. It was incredible in the circumstances but it was as though his arms had the power to fend off disaster. She found she could even manage a mild joke.

‘You don’t have to protect me. I’m not really that delicate, you know.’

‘No, I guess you never were,’ he murmured. ‘You tried to tell me, but I wouldn’t listen, would I? That’s the way I am. I believe some people find me intolerable because of it.’

‘Tell me who they are and I’ll go after them,’ she said at once. ‘I won’t let anyone bad-mouth you.’

He laughed against her hair. ‘That’s all right, then. With you to defend me, what could I have to fear?’

‘Don’t let go of me,’ she said. ‘Stay here.’

‘Wait a minute.’

He drew away, returned to his own bed and pushed it up against hers.

‘That’s better,’ he said, taking her in his arms again.

Now it was easy to drift back to sleep, and this time there were no nightmares.