Beyond the Odyssey by Maz Evans

Author:Maz Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicken House

17. Marriage Guidance

Charles Equinas was a happy man. After all, why wouldn’t he be? He had everything a man could want. Money? Charles had plenty. A beautiful girlfriend? Charles had several. Good looks? Charles paid people to tell him so.

The past five years had been everything he could have dreamt of and so much more. Throughout his career as a lawyer, he had helped clients to make their wills and dispose of their money after their deaths. And Charles had found an entirely safe place for it – his own bank account. For decades he had been leaving himself money in other people’s wills and had amassed a significant fortune. As he stood on the veranda of his villa in the south of France, he raised a glass to all the people whose money had put him there. The idiots.

Charles was just deciding whether to play golf or take the yacht for a spin when he heard a commotion downstairs. He wasn’t expecting anyone, but nor was he unduly worried. He had hired the best security team money could buy to protect him. Nothing and no one could get past his guys.

‘Hello, Charles.’

Every nerve ending in Charles’s body signalled Code Red. That voice. He hadn’t heard it for years. Five, to be precise.

‘Long time no see,’ said the woman. Charles would normally refer to all females as ladies. But not this one. He knew her too well.

‘Not long enough, it seems,’ he said drily.

‘Aren’t you going to offer me a drink? I’ve had a long, long journey. You’re not an easy man to find.’

Charles’s mind raced to cover all the angles. If she’d found him, others could. Everything he had let other people work so hard for was at risk. This was more dangerous than a game of Russian roulette atop an icy clifftop in roller skates. And he knew his visitor to be the most dangerous opponent on Earth. He had to play this one as if his life depended on it. Because it did.

He turned around and walked slowly to greet his ex-wife.

‘You’re looking well,’ he said, ‘for a middle-aged woman.’

‘You too,’ said Patricia Porshley-Plum, ‘for a dead man.’

‘Too kind,’ said Charles with a slight smile. He’d forgotten how delightfully chilly she could be. The air around them froze as they smiled icily at one another. ‘Let me get you that drink. My staff will fetch whatever you want.’

‘Ah – they’re my staff now. I only had to offer them double the pay to come and work for me too. There’s no loyalty these days. Besides, we have business to discuss.’

‘We do?’ said Charles, hoping his eyes didn’t betray the terror pumping around his heart. ‘Then let’s go into my office.’

Charles ushered his ex-wife into a large leather chair on the other side of his desk.

‘What can I do for you?’ he asked.

‘I want a divorce,’ said Patricia plainly.

Charles wrinkled his brow.

‘Er – dear heart, as far as the world is concerned, I’ve been dead for five years.

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