Chapter 37
I practically ran into the house when I got back to Sandpiper Shore, one half of me hoping to find Makis sat at the kitchen table, the other half knowing full well he wouldn’t be.
He wasn’t of course.
I looked around the kitchen to see if there was a note saying that he’d be back in a day or two when he knew what was going on.
When I walked into the lounge, my laptop was sat on the coffee table, open.
I turned it on, not knowing what to expect, and my heart sank when the screen showed the URL of my personal banking site – the message said it had timed out due to inactivity.
I relogged on and went to my account balance, checking to see if there had been any transactions.
The balance was zero. Fuck. I clicked onto the ‘my transactions’ section.
There had been a withdrawal of fifteen thousand pounds the day before.
And there was no sign of the money that Makis was apparently going to pay in.
The next tab was open but timed out too and that was for my business banking account. If I could see more details, I could see how much I’d been hacked for. A feeling of dread in my stomach, knowing what I would see, I logged back in. This time, there was no surprise that the account was also zero.
I ran into the guest room to see if his stuff was still there.
There was no indication that he’d ever been around.
Not a trace. My own bedroom looked like it had been completely ransacked, clothes scattered everywhere and drawers left open, the floor half strewn with clothes and papers.
How could I have been so stupid as to have let this man into my house?
Why did I not heed the warnings that my friends had given me? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
Just because he looked like the man I loved didn’t mean anything, and I could see that now.
Back in the lounge, Jo and Emma were stood waiting for me, their expressions showing they were eager for me to tell them something.
Anything. But I couldn’t speak. I flung myself onto the sofa and ran my hands through my hair.
This was mad. Two days ago, I’d been excited about the idea of my business expanding and that I was going to see Demetri and get our lives somehow back on track together.
Jo spoke first.
‘Michelle. Did you have anything of value in the house that he may have taken?’
I shook my head. ‘I don’t really have anything…’
Except the most valuable thing to me – probably not in monetary value but certainly emotional value. ‘Oh no… He wouldn’t. Please… no!’
Practically running back into my bedroom, I looked in my top drawer where I kept the jewellery box that Mum and Dad had bought me for my twenty-first birthday. The lock had been smashed open and all of my own jewellery as well as Mum’s, including Mum and Dad’s wedding rings, had gone.
‘You complete and utter bastard, Makis.’ I sank back onto my bed.
‘How could you?’ I whispered to myself. How could someone be so cruel?
More than that, how could someone whose brother was the kindest, most gentle person I knew be this awful?
Or so I had originally thought. Maybe they were both just as bad as each other.
The bed dipped as Jo and Emma sat either side of me. Jo put her arms around my shoulders.
‘We’ll get it back, love. I promise. I don’t know how but we will. And if I ever see Makis again, I will kill him with my bare hands.’
I smiled through my tears, so grateful that these two were by my side.
The trill of a phone ringing broke into my thoughts and Seth’s name appeared on the screen. I grabbed it straight away, needing to speak to my brother more now than I ever had before.
‘Chelle, is that you? You sound funny. You OK?’
‘Have you got a minute? I have something I need to tell you.’
The whole story came flooding out, including the most shameful part. That I had allowed someone to take the jewellery.
‘I feel like a complete and utter fool, Seth. I’m so sorry.’
‘Chelle, now you listen to me. You have nothing to be sorry for. You put your trust in this man and he’s the one who should be sorry.
Well, he will be if I ever get my hands on him.
’ It seemed like Makis would have a big queue of people ready to smash him in the face, if they ever came across him. ‘Do you want me to come over?’
The sob that came from my throat was immense. In the last twenty or so years, all I had wanted was for me and Seth to face the world together. To take on anything that was thrown at us, but he hadn’t been there for me and I’d had to do it all alone. I was tired of doing everything alone.
After a long pause, I replied.
‘No, it’s fine. I appreciate the offer. More than you can ever know. But you’re the other side of the world. If I need you, I know that you are just a phone call away but thank you. That offer means the world to me.’
After a few more minutes we ended the call. Jo had brought me some hot sweet tea for the shock and Emma had poured me a brandy. I didn’t know which one to drink first.
‘We just want you to know that you’re not alone, Chelle. We’re here for you.’
I smiled again. I knew this hadn’t happened often in the last few days. I knew that my friends and my brother had got my back and at that precise moment, knowing that was the only thing that was keeping me sane.