A Thousand Glittering Lights

Chapter 28

Ellie calledVic again and again. Left messages. Tried her DMs. Called her home… and got nothing. She didn’t want to believe her closest friend in the world, the woman she saw as her sister, could have been actively working to hurt her all this time. She had to listen to Vic’s voice. Give her a chance to explain. And then she would know what to do.

Eventually, just as she was climbing in her car to drive there in person, Vic answered. “Hello, Ellie.”

“Thank God, Vic. I?—”

“I can’t speak to you now, Ellie, I’m busy,” Vic said. Her tone was distant, threaded through with irritation. “I just answered to tell you to stop calling me. I don’t want to speak to you.”

The words hurt, and, for the first time, Ellie didn’t hold back. “Did you try to kill me, Victoria?”

“Did I what?”

“Did you try to kill me?” Ellie’s voice cracked. “I want the truth.”

“What? God! How can you…? Are you insane?” Victoria’s words were fast and high pitched. “Wait. When did someone try to kill you?”

“I’m talking about my cycling accident, Vic. It was intentional.”

“It was… what? I don’t understand.”

The shock, confusion, and horror in Vic’s voice was undeniable. And despite everything, Ellie had known her for enough years to know it wasn’t an act. Vic wasn’t pretending to be surprised. She was genuinely appalled. And that meant she was in danger.

“Just listen, okay. You’re my best friend. I love you. And I need you to listen.” Ellie paced through her cottage to stand at the living room doors, looking out at the garden. “I don’t know how to say this. Don’t put down the phone. Just let me finish. Please.” Ellie looked back at Josh where he’d settled onto the sofa to watch her with undisguised concern and tried to give him a reassuring smile. “Someone broke into my house while I was in London.”

Vic sucked in a shuddering breath. “God. Sorry, Ellie. Are you okay? Yes, of course you are. You just said you weren’t there. You should… I…” Vi’s voice trailed off, and when she spoke again her tone was firmer. “What does that have to do with your accident?”

“The intruder’s name is Liam Taylor. He came into my house. He used my name to try to hack my computer. And Vic, he was part of my accident. He was the one who pushed me to the front so the SUV could drive into me”—her gut tightened painfully as she told the story, but Vic needed to know the truth—“and he was working with Warren.”

“Warren?” Vic said roughly. “No. That’s just… No.”

“Where are you now?” Ellie asked. “Are you with him?”

“I…” Ellie could hear Vic breathing, the sound rough and unsteady.

“You need to leave, Vic. Right now. Please. It’s not safe for you there.”

“I’m not… I mean. He’s out at the moment.” Victoria took a longer, slower breath and seemed to gather her thoughts. “How do you even know this? Did the police catch the intruder? Did he say that he was working with Warren?”

Hell. How was she going to explain? “A witness sent me a video of the crash. Liam’s brother, Josh, was with me when I watched it, and he identified Liam.” Damn, this was hard. “Liam admitted that he was working with Warren just before I got hurt. Liam pushed me forward so the SUV could knock into me…. I think Warren was driving. I think he tried to kill me.”

There was a long silence before Vic spoke, the ice back, her tone even more cutting than before. “So, basically some guy you’ve never even mentioned until now says he recognized his brother and magically knows all of this. But the police aren’t involved at all. You’ve never actually spoken to this mythical Liam. And you have no real evidence Warren was anywhere near there or involved in any way. Damn it, Ellie, this is going too far.”

“It’s complicated?—”

“Is it though?” Vic spat. “You’ve always been against Warren. You’ve always been jealous of me—of us—and you’ve done everything possible to keep us apart. And now you’re accusing me of trying to kill you! You really are insane.”

Blood pounded in her ears, but Ellie forced herself to stay calm, to stay reasonable. “I suggested you split up after your birthday party because I saw Warren kissing a stranger outside the club toilets. I told you at the time.”

“No.” Victoria’s denial was instant and absolute. “Warren warned me about how controlling you were becoming. He warned me that you would try to split us up before you came up with that story. And that’s what you do, Ellie; you make up stories.”

Ellie swallowed against the tension in her throat. “None of that is true, Vic. Warren is trying to drive a wedge between us because he knows that I care for you and want you safe.”

“Warren wants what’s best for me. He’s protecting me from you.”

God. How was this happening? “Vic, we’ve been friends for years. I would never lie to you about something like that. You know this.”

“I don’t know anything.” Vic’s voice was full of tears. “I feel so betrayed.”

Josh stood up and walked over to wrap his arms around her and Ellie leaned heavily against him, letting his solid strength support her.

Shouting wouldn’t help anything. She had to find another way to solve this. She took a deep breath. “Let’s sort it out together. Just please, get away from him for a couple of days.”

“I can’t?—”

“You can always come here, always. Or if you can’t come here, go north and see your cousins. Is your mum in the country? Go to her. Or stay in a hotel. Just please, get out of there.”

“No, Ellie. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Can I come up and help? I can show you?—”

“No. You accuse me of this, and then you want to visit? Absolutely not.”

“But—”

“I said no. If you come here, you’ll make everything worse.”

Hell. She was certain now that Vic wasn’t involved, but even more convinced that Warren was. The problem was, Vic was right: she had no proof. And in the meantime, Vic was still with Warren. “If you change your mind, just call me. Please. Vic—” Victoria disconnected the call before Ellie could finish.

She’d thought everything was crumbling around her before. But now… What was she going to do? Ellie looked out at the dark garden and the forest beyond. The sound of the night whispered in through the open doors. Leaves rustled, the breeze murmured. And somewhere out there, a pair of owls were working to keep each other safe.

They knew who Josh was now. They could start calling hospitals looking for him, although merely finding his unconscious body wouldn’t do much good. They needed a witness. Someone who could speak to the police. Someone who could help her save Josh at the same time as helping Vic.

She turned to Josh, knowing he was not going to like her next suggestion. “How do you feel about visiting your brother?”