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could equal him – but his daughter could. His Lucky.
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    Right from the beginning Lucky Santangelo was a bright-eyed excitable child. Her younger brother, Dario, was smaller, more delicate. There were only eighteen months between them, but even when they were young, Lucky took charge .
    Maria was a wonderful mother. Gino spoiled them rotten. All the time it was presents and kisses and hugs. And special hugs for Lucky, who responded to him far more than Dario .
    On her fifth birthday they threw her a fantastic party for fifty children. Clowns. Donkey rides. A huge chocolate cake. And Gino on hand to sweep her up in his arms and smother her with love. Lucky remembered it as the happiest day of her life .
    A week later Gino left on a business trip. Lucky hated it when he went away, but there were compensations, such as taking his place in the big double bed he shared with mommy, and all the wondrous presents when he came home .
    Only this time there were no presents, or kisses, or laughter. This time there was only the pain of her mother’s sudden and brutal murder, her naked body left floating on a raft in the centre of the swimming pool for Lucky to discover when she got up in the morning .
    Memories, for a while, were a blur. Policemen. Photographers. Guards. Then a plane trip to California. A new house with bars on the windows, alarms, and guards with dogs – patrolling the grounds. Life changed completely for Lucky and Dario. Maria gone forever. And Gino. So different, angry and sad. No more laughter and playing, or hugs and kisses. In fact he was hardly ever there. He was either in his New York apartment or Vegas hotel. It was almost as if he didn’t want to spend any time with them. They were cared for by nannies and tutors and maids .
    The pain hardened inside Lucky, while Dario withdrew into a world of make-believe. They had everything money could buy. But all they really had was each other .
    When Lucky was almost fifteen a decision was made to send her to a boarding school in Switzerland. She was both excited and fearful at the prospect, but the thought of getting away from the Bel Air mansion was certainly tempting .
    L’Evier turned out to be a strict private school run by a thin-nosed woman who demanded ‘respect and obedience’ from her girls. If it hadn’t been for her friend, a classmate, Olympia Stanislopoulos, Lucky would have hated it. Olympia’s attitude was ‘screw school. Let’s get out and have fun.’ And Lucky did not argue. Together they obeyed the rule of lights out at 9.30 p.m. And at 9.35 Lucky and Olympia were climbing out of a convenient window. It was only a ten minute ride to the nearest village where waited boys, booze and fun. It took them exactly two semesters to get expelled .
    Gino arrived to collect his rebellious daughter, his face a mask of thunder. He flew her back to New York and promptly enrolled her in an even stricter school in Connecticut. It did not take her long to contact Olympia in Paris, and together they planned an escape. With a little help from a couple of credit cards she was able to get a flight to France, where Olympia met her. Then it was a fast drive in a white Mercedes convertible all the way to the South of France, where they broke into Olympia’s aunt’s villa and took up residence. The memories were sweet. Even when Olympia moved in her boyfriend, ‘Warris the hustler’, as Lucky christened him .
    The memories were not so sweet the night their fathers arrived. Gino Santangelo and Dimitri Stanislopoulos. Then it was back to the Bel Air mansion – Dario was now away at school .
    There were times when she hated her father. A furious blazing hate which burned deep. Other times she loved him more than anything else in the world. And she wished it could be like it once was. Desperately she craved his attention, but that seemed the last thing he was prepared to give her .
    On her sixteenth birthday he surprised her by flying her to Las