Free The Golden Locket (Unbreakable Trilogy, Book 2) by Primula Bond

The angry words end here. And next time you should meet up alone, without me and Serena getting in the way.’
    ‘You two girls have been more help, more use, than you can imagine.’
    Gustav answers her but it’s me he is staring at, the dark fire glowing in his eyes and pulling me towards him. A secret flame ignites inside me.
    ‘Yes. We need to be alone now,’ I say quietly.
    ‘Happy New Year, G,’ Pierre says, and lifts his other arm to grasp Gustav. Gustav mirrors the gesture, his hands on Pierre’s shoulders. Pierre has to look up slightly to meet Gustav’s eyes. They stand for a long moment then stiffly move apart. ‘I’ll be the one to choose the next meeting. OK?’
    Gustav goes to the door and murmurs something to Polly. I am about to sink back in the sofa with relief when I realise Pierre is still standing above me.
    ‘Happy New Year, Serena, and here’s my wish for you.’ He bends down to me and whispers in my ear, so quietly I can barely make out his words. ‘That you are still here to celebrate with us this time next year.’
    I wait for the closing of the door. The chime of the lift. Wait till I know they will be at ground level and walking out on the pavement at this upper end of Broadway.
    And then I push brother and cousin out of my head and take my man. I get up, coil my arm around his waist then hesitate, as if it’s Gustav who has scars all over his skin. We stare for a long time out of the window, over the rooftops of Manhattan.
    ‘I’m worried about what he said just then. That he confided in Margot about the fire, and his burns. That kind of tragedy is something she would use again and again, if she could.’
    ‘Pierre is scarred inside and out. You’re the only person who can help him.’ I pause. ‘We can’t trace everything bad that happens back to her.’
    ‘Can’t we? Let’s pray that you’re right.’ Gustav turns me so that I’m lined up against him, body to body. Groin to groin. He buries his face in my hair, takes the long strands in his hands and yanks my head back so that he can look down into my eyes.
    I press against him, feel the hardness. He needs me badly. It’s going to be rough, and hard, and I can’t wait. The golden locket taps in time with my heartbeat.
    ‘But I still don’t like the way he gets a kick out of shocking people.’
    Gustav sighs. ‘I used to understand him so well. He was always troubled, and no wonder. That was my role in life, to clear his head, give him confidence, face the world. Can you see now why it was so catastrophic when Margot took him over?’
    ‘Everything is so much clearer now, Gustav. You and he have a long road to travel. But it started here, and that has to be positive.’ I aim the remote at the music player. ‘But, as you said at Christmas, I wonder if we can just think about ourselves for a little while now?’
    As the soft jazz croons through the room, I start to sway to the music. I let the white dress fall off my shoulders but when he starts to drag me down onto the sofa I shake my head and lead him out of the sitting room. Away from the arena of so much discord and into our bedroom, our glass-walled, starry-ceilinged eyrie.
    He follows me, a dark shadow in his rumpled dark clothes, the lights of New York glittering like hot coals around us. We don’t even pull the blinds. As I walk to the huge bed I let the dress slip right off me, and the whisper of air over my skin distracts me at last. I glance over at him. He’s stopped in the middle of the room, still watching me. I remember the first time I visited his town house in London, how he made me dance for him, how embarrassed I was to perform in front of that dark, watching face. But now he needs all that and more.
    ‘You were too long in Lugano.’
    I lie down on the bed, naked, stretched out before him, and extend my wrist where the bracelet glitters. Once the silver chain ensnares me everything else will disappear.
    He groans and at last I see the rise in