Pleasure Island by Anna-Lou Weatherley Read Free Book Online Page B

‘That education of yours really did pay off, didn’t it?’
    Rupert had managed a small, thin smile, though inwardly he was surpressing a diabolical mix of outrage and despair. Mia Manhattan being a fellow island guest had been his worst nightmare realised. He had history with this woman – unpleasant history.
    During the early 90s, when Mia had been at the tail end of the height of her career and he had been a young, up-and-coming barrister, Rupert had been bequeathed the misfortune of representing her in a lawsuit that her then-record company, Polyright Records, had taken out against her for having failed to deliver an album on time and in accordance with her contract. Rupert had been brought in by her attorneys, Clinton Smyth and Jameson’s, to take care of business.
    He hadn’t truly expected it to become the long, bitter and acrimonious battle that had dragged on for almost half a decade, practically bankrupting her in the process and undoubtedly damaging her – until then – unblemished career. Mia had hardly worked a day since, largely citing her ‘inept legal representation’ as the main reason, something which Rupert was vehemently resentful about to this day. She still brought it up in interviews, dragging his good name through the gutter.
    However, Mia’s attempted decimation of him in the eyes of the media had been bittersweet; arguably, and somewhat ironically, it had actually helped raise his profile, but it had also given rise for future clients to be suspicious of his abilities, giving him a dubious reputation before he’d even had the chance to prove himself. Even today, over a decade and a half later, his name was still associated with that damn vengeful woman’s case.
    Similarly, the whole business had all but broken Mia, leaving her finances and career in ruins, not to mention her professional reputation. If the press had been unkind to him they had completely annihilated her, painted her as a stereotypical difficult diva who viewed herself above the need to deliver on her promises, not too far off the money as far as Rupert Deyton was concerned.
    This was the flipside of fame; every miserable bastard she’d ever had a cross word with in her life had come crawling out of the woodwork like lice, eager to jump on the bandwagon of haters, stick the knife in, in exchange for a few bucks. Her career had never fully recovered from it. Neither in truth had Mia herself.
    It was common knowledge that following the trial’s less-than-favourable outcome, she had suffered a complete mental and physical breakdown and for the most part of five years had been strung out on medication that had rendered her a reclusive zombie. It was only thanks to her then husband’s continuing love and support throughout that she hadn’t gone on to top herself.
    Mia momentarily closed her eyes, the memories of that ghastly period in time too painful for her to revisit. It had been undoubtedly the second-worst experience of her entire life, the only saving grace being that somehow the press had never discovered the truth about the first.

6
    P ut quite simply , the Gulfstream G650 business jet was the platinum standard in private business aviation. Outclassing any other business jet, it boasted extreme, superior comfort as well as being the fastest and safest way to travel via airspace. Martin McKenzie owned five of them in his vast collection of luxury aircraft.
    â€˜I’m gonna have a plane like this one day,’ Billie-Jo announced with such breath-taking self-entitlement that Nate was in no doubt she meant it. ‘Look at it, it’s fucking awesome,’ she said, running her neon-pink false nails along the jet’s pristine white-leather interior, while simultaneously wondering if 3am was too early for champagne plus a cheeky livener to get the show on the road. Fuck it, they were on holiday, right?
    â€˜Hmm.’ Nate was busying himself with the