A Thousand Glittering Lights

Chapter 31

Everything was wrong.Warren had tried to take everything from her. Vic was still with him. They were standing in the cold wind outside the hospital where Josh’s body lay, unconscious and locked in darkness. Liam was staring at them—her—like she was insane. And Josh looked like he was going to finally tip over the edge and kill his own brother. Except… it also felt right.

All her life, she’d battled to be perfect. Battled and tried, and worked, until the pressure had almost crushed her. Now, nothing about his situation was perfect. But for the first time, it didn’t matter. Josh was beside her. They would figure it all out. Together.

“Did you mean it?” she asked Liam. “That you’ll help?”

Liam shoved his hands into his pockets, looking even more dejected. But he didn’t try to weasel away. “Yes, I’ll help.”

“Warren started all of this,” Ellie said. “It’ll never be over until we’re rid of him. That has to be our priority.”

“Absolutely,” Josh agreed, far too quickly. Just by looking at his face, she knew he was already imagining several scenarios for how that could be achieved.

She scowled back at him. “Not by killing him.”

Liam’s eyes widened, and he took a step back. “I don’t want anything to do with killing him!”

“You didn’t seem to have a problem with attacking Ellie—” Josh started, turning his glare onto glare at his brother.

She cut him off. “None of that is helpful now.” She stepped between them, focusing on Liam. “Nobody is killing anybody. We need to do this properly, which means getting the police back and making a statement.”

Liam chewed the inside of his cheek. He looked like he wanted to be sick. “What kind of statement?”

“The kind that—” Josh started, but Ellie spoke over him.

“I’ll keep you out of it as much as I can. I promise.”

Josh growled, and Ellie ignored it. Liam was his brother; she wasn’t sending him to jail for being selfish and na?ve—especially when she needed him to help her. Her priority had to be Josh and Vic.

“Can you follow me back to my house?” she asked. “Actually, you already know—” She caught sight of the muscles tightening in Josh’s jaw and stopped herself with a strangled cough. “Never mind. Can you follow me?”

“Ah… no,” Liam admitted. “I don’t have a car.”

“Where’s your BMW?” Josh asked, but Ellie shushed him with a look.

“That’s okay, you can come with us… ah, me.” She started walking, but Josh didn’t move.

“Ask him where his car is. Please.” It took everything she had not to roll her eyes, but then Josh continued, “He loved that car.”

“Where’s your car, Liam?” Ellie asked, unlocking hers and pulling the seat forward so he could climb in the back.

“I sold it. Last week.”

She raised an eyebrow. “After you broke into my house?”

“Yeah.” Liam looked at his feet. “It was awful. I didn’t want to do it, and then you caught me and… Hell.” He swallowed. “The truth is, I knew it was wrong. Even before I got there. The next day, I sold my car, and I used the money to pay my mother back.”

“Oh. Well. That’s….” She didn’t really know what that was. But he was trying. And Josh’s eyes had gone from arctic to somewhere more like the Irish Sea: cold and dangerous, but slightly less deadly.

And then something Liam had said earlier caught up with her. “You had a key to my kitchen door. How? Where did you get the key?”

Liam looked away, suddenly even more interested in the stones at his feet. “Warren got it from his girlfriend.”

“Victoria gave him my key?” Her voice broke on the question. She’d been so sure, and now?—

“No, he made a copy when he borrowed her car,” Liam explained.

Josh took hold of her hand and squeezed it gently. “Given everything we’ve learned about him, it sounds true.”

She squeezed back. It made sense. And Vic wouldn’t have done that to her. She had to believe that. No matter what else had happened.

“I’m really sorry,” Liam said again. And for the first time, she started to believe him. Even Josh looked like he might not kill him in the next few minutes.

“Okay,” she sighed. “Let’s get Warren out of our lives, and then we’ll take it from there.” She nodded to the back seat. “Jump in.”

“But that’s tiny!” Liam protested. “Can’t I sit in the front?”

“No!” Ellie and Josh both growled at the same time, and she couldn’t help but look at him and laugh. Josh’s lips turned up and he almost smiled, and it just made her want to laugh harder.

“Tell him ‘nix,’” Josh said. She rolled her eyes at him, and he shrugged.

“Fine.” She looked at Liam. “Nix.”

Liam stared at her. “What did you say?”

“Nix,” she repeated, while Josh muttered, “Follow the fucking rules,” under his breath.

She chuckled, grinning across at Josh. “He can’t hear you.”

“Obviously,” Liam grumbled, “since he’s unconscious.” He stared at Ellie, his expression full of confused suspicion. And she couldn’t blame him. From his perspective, her behavior must have been weird at best. Especially when she walked around to open the door for Josh—Liam would definitely not have been happy with the door opening by itself—and made a show of putting her bag in the footwell.

In the end, he climbed into the back seat without complaining, and Ellie took the reprieve.

The drive home was weird. Josh was silent, occasionally glaring at Liam as if plotting something dire. While Liam spent the time looking out his window as if he was imagining climbing out and making a run for it. It was a relief to turn down the single track to her cottage and pull onto her own driveway.

Until she saw the familiar car already parked there, and her adrenaline spiked all the way back up.

Victoria lifted her head from where she’d rested it on her steering wheel, watched Ellie park, and then slowly climbed out. She was wearing a tight black sheath dress that showed off her unusually prominent collarbones, and stilettos that must have made the drive a nightmare.

Ellie made her way across to Victoria, meeting her in the middle of the drive just as two doors slammed behind her. She winced, wondering what Vic and Liam would say, but they didn’t seem to have noticed. They were too busy staring at each other. Vic with confusion, Liam with guilt.

“What are you doing here, Lee?” Vic asked.

Ellie stopped, frozen by the words. “You know Liam.” It wasn’t a question. “You straight-up told me he didn’t exist.”

Victoria brushed her hands down her skirt, trying—and failing—to smooth the wrinkles. “Not Liam. Lee. He’s—” She blanched. “He’s one of Warren’s friends.”

Liam stepped up beside her. “It’s Liam,” he admitted. “A bunch of the football lads shortened it to Lee, and it stuck.”

“And you’ve met before?” Ellie asked.

Vic shook her head, mouth opening and closing as if she had no idea what to say.

“A few times,” Liam answered for them both. “I think I’ve been to at least four parties at Victoria’s house over the last few months. Everyone was there.”

It was worse than a slap. All those times she’d invited Vic to get together and she’d been too tired or working late. All those missed calls.

Victoria grimaced. “I?—”

“How many times did you fob me off and push me away?” Ellie whispered as Josh came up beside her, his expression going back to a deathly glower. “Why, Vic?”

“I just thought… maybe if we had some time apart, you would get over your… jealousy.” Victoria had the grace to look ashamed as she said it. But then she lifted her chin, a gleam of stubbornness returning. “I didn’t want to fight. I wanted to keep my job. And I was busy. Warren had a lot of entertaining. He tried to protect me from you…” Her voice trailed away.

“I hate Warren!” Ellie spluttered. “I detest him. But I have only ever tried to look after you.”

“He said?—”

Ellie cut her off. “I don’t want to hear what Warren said.” Her eyes felt hot, and her cheeks were burning. She had never been so angry in her life. And she had the horrible feeling she was going to cry—not because she was sad, but because she was so furious.

Josh took one look at her and wrapped his arm around her. He pulled her close into his side and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I’ve got you,” he said softly.

He was warm and safe, and he felt more like home than anywhere she’d ever lived—even her cottage. She let him hold her, no longer caring what it looked like to anyone else.

A part of her wanted to rage at her friend, but she couldn’t, not when Victoria looked so fragile. “Why are you here, Vic?” she asked instead.

“After I spoke to you, I wanted to prove you wrong. I wanted—” Vic shook her head as if clearing a disagreeable thought. “I remembered that Warren borrowed my car on the day of your accident. I wanted to show you that he was far away from you.” She bit her lip. “I wanted to prove that everything you said was a lie, so it could just be over.”

Victoria rubbed her wrist distractedly. “I checked the satnav for recent destinations. I probably wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but the SUV that hit you was stolen from Duncton. It stuck in my mind. Duncton Wood was one of my granny’s favorite books and—” She swallowed heavily. “None of that matters. The point is, Warren borrowed my car to go to a meeting in Guildford. That’s where I thought he was on the day you were hit.” Her voice dropped to a rough whisper. “But he actually went to Duncton.”