CHAPTER FORTY-ONE – HATTIE
My phone screams at me at six-fifteen a.m.
The most diabolical thing about it isn’t the offensively loud ringtone I forgot to put on silent. It’s not even my father’s name on the screen, because that isn’t a shock in the slightest.
It’s the time.
Six. Fucking. Fifteen.
In the morning.
What kind of savage is awake and calling someone at this time?
“Hello?” I mumble, pulling the phone to my ear as Finn stirs beside me.
“Harriet! What did you do? Your sister was taken to the police station five minutes ago!”
Oh.
I take it all back.
There’s nothing diabolical about this. This is fucking beautiful.
But why am I the one getting the blame?
Oh, wait. Never mind. I always get the blame.
“Good morning to you, too,” I say, yanking myself up to sit.
“Harriet!”
“Yes, yes, stop shrieking at me and let me wake up.” I yawn and hold the phone away from me as Rosalyn joins in the screaming of my name, followed by some incomprehensible noise.
Honestly, you’d think I was the one who’d shown up and cuffed Jasmine myself.
“If you’re going to yell, I’m hanging up,” I warn, injecting some harshness into my tone as I set my phone to record the call. “I won’t speak to you while you address me in this manner.”
My father forces Rosalyn away, but not without some borderline hysterical complaining from her. “Harriet, what do you know about this? Why was Jasmine arrested?”
“Jasmine was arrested because she’s behind this entire situation. Presumably,” I add. “I can send you proof if you’d like.”
“You—was it not enough to do what you did with the engagement? Must you ruin the rest of her life, too?”
Finn sits up and grabs for the phone, but I swat him away and bark out a humourless laugh.
“Haven’t we already had this conversation, Daddy dearest?
” I say dryly. “I’m not ruining Jasmine’s life.
She did this all by herself. She contacted that person and paid them to spin those lies about me.
Did you expect the palace to sit and do nothing?
Did you expect me to sit and do nothing?
I know you try not to pay attention to me, but I might have thought you’d start after everything that’s happened so far. ”
“She didn’t… She wouldn’t. She’s not like that. It’s a misunderstanding!”
“A misunderstanding? That she contacted Zachary and fronted him ten grand with a promise of forty more if he lied about me? The police don’t arrest people without proof. Tell me exactly what’s a misunderstanding about that.”
“Help her.” His tone is tight, almost as if he’s clenching his teeth together. “Help her before the press get wind of it.”
“No.”
Finn smiles and grabs the remote. The TV blinks to life, and my lips quirk up at the rolling text on the TV.
“What?”
“No,” I repeat. “I won’t help her. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the press already know. I’d turn on the news if I were you.”
“What are you—” He’s cut off by Rosalyn wailing in the background, and there’s a lot of shuffling and slamming, followed quickly by a string of swearing. “Fix this!” he yells down the phone. “Fix this right now!”
“Didn’t you hear me the first time? I said no.”
“Harriet, you ungrateful girl! Are you determined to ruin this family?”
“Yes. Yes, as it happens, I am.” I clench my free fist, but Finn instantly moves to uncurl my fingers. “And if I were you, I’d stop screeching at me and start behaving yourself before I release your precious daughter’s birth certificate.”
If it weren’t for Rosalyn’s hysteria in the background, you could hear a pin drop.
Alas, the woman rather resembles a banshee when she’s upset.
“Shut up, Rosalyn!” my father snaps. “Meet the lawyer at the police station, for God’s sake! I’ll deal with Harriet.”
Deal with me?
“I’d like to see you try,” I say flatly. “You’d have to pay attention to me to do that, and you’ve already proven you’re terrible at it.”
“You—” He stops himself short of whatever he was going to say. When he speaks again, his voice is notably weaker. “What do you mean, a birth certificate?”
“Jasmine’s birth certificate. You and Rosalyn went to great effort to hide her birth, but you should know better than anyone that nothing stays hidden forever.”
“How did you get that?” he asks hoarsely. “How did you… No. There’s no way you have that.”
“Are you sure? She was born in London. The Portland Hospital, wasn’t it? You sent Rosalyn, her mother, and her sister to London before she was unable to travel, rented her a place to live, then flew out for the birth and again a few weeks later to register Jasmine.”
He says nothing.
Then, “What exactly are you trying to say to me?”
“I won’t help Jasmine. She’s attacked me directly here with lies.
And not just small, social media fodder, either.
Things I could have been arrested for,” I say firmly.
“And things that probably did happen to many of the children I saw pass through that godforsaken house I was forced to grow up in. That isn’t a joke.
The suffering of others is not a tool for her to use. ”
More silence.
“I refuse to help her. And if you try to buy her out of this, I’ll release that birth certificate, and the entire country will know what lying hypocrites the Sinclair family is.
” I slip my fingers between Finn’s as he takes my hand.
“For once in her life, let her face the consequences of her actions, and she might learn how to act appropriately.”
His response is a cold, dark laugh. “You know, if I knew you were this ruthless, I might have given you a senior position at the company.”
“No, thanks. I’ve seen Titanic. I know what happens to sinking ships.”
Another one of those cold laughs comes crackling through the line. “You do realise you’re blackmailing me, don’t you?”
“Oh, I’m fully aware of that,” I reply brightly. “I also know you aren’t going to tell anyone. If you do, you have to admit what it is I’m blackmailing you with, and you’ll never willingly do that.”
“You’re far smarter than I ever gave you credit for. Then again, you are your mother’s daughter.”
“I am,” I say firmly. “And I’m smarter than you ever realised because my life has been so much harder than you ever cared to find out.”
“I let her deal with the consequences, whatever they may be, and you won’t release her birth certificate. Is that the deal?”
“Yes. Even if she gets charged and faces court. You let her handle it. Pay for her lawyer, sure, but you cannot buy her way out of this. Rosalyn, too.”
The line crackles with what sounds like him hissing out a breath. “Fine. You have my word. Our help will not extend past financial assistance for legal representation. Jasmine will have to face up to the consequences of what she’s done.”
“Thank you.”
“You’ve recorded this phone call, haven’t you?”
For the first time, I grin. “From the very beginning.”
He laughs bitterly. “I should have guessed.”
Yeah.
He should have.
“Do you even care about this family at all?” he asks.
“No. Not in the slightest.” The words leave me easily. “Ever since I returned, all I asked for was some kindness, and even that couldn’t be given. I learnt long ago not to care about people who don’t care about me, so why should I care about the Sinclairs?”
Finn presses a kiss to my shoulder and rests his head against me.
“Very well,” my father says after a moment. “If that’s how you feel.”
“It is.”
There’s a shout in the background.
“You should go,” I say. “I doubt Rosalyn will take this news well.”
I can just picture him rubbing his hand across his forehead.
“I’ll deal with her. You just keep your word and make sure that birth certificate stays where it belongs.”
I smile, looking down at mine and Finn’s intertwined fingers. “Don’t worry. I won’t share it with anyone.”
“See to it that you don’t.” Those are his final words before the line goes dead.
I end the recording with a snort and toss my phone onto the bed by my feet. Finn turns to me, a twinkle in his deep blue eyes.
“You won’t share Jasmine’s birth certificate, huh?” His lips curve into a wry smile. “You worded that very well.”
“You noticed?” I grin and flop back down onto my back so I’m looking up at him. “Strictly speaking, it’s not mine to share. I never dug it out, and Alec is the one who has it in his hands. Whatever he does with it is his business.”
“Does Alec know that?”
“He will.”
Finn chuckles and lies down next to me, opening his arms for me to roll into. “How do you feel now? Jasmine will have to stand on her own two feet for once, and you have your father and Rosalyn backed into a corner.”
“I don’t know,” I say honestly, closing my eyes as his heartbeat pounds against my cheek. “I don’t think I feel anything, to be honest. I thought I might be happy or satisfied, but I’m just… I don’t know.”
“That’s not surprisingly. Revenge isn’t always a big, flashy moment like it was at my birthday. This is a far more realistic version of it.”
“Perhaps I’m just accustomed to the feeling, given how successful I’ve been.”
He chuckles. “That, too. Are you still going to make sure Jasmine’s birth certificate is released?”
“Yeah. They’ve lied to too many people. We don’t even need to share it, just have someone tip off a reporter that she was born in London. They’ll do the rest.”
“Will you rest then?”
I pause. “What do you mean?”
“When the truth is out.” He runs his fingers through my hair. “You deserve to be truly happy, Hattie. I want you to have something to live for once you’ve achieved everything you wanted to with that family.”
“I have something.” I tilt my head back and meet his questioning haze. “I have my family. The one I chose. The one that chose me.”
He smiles and brushes his thumb across my cheek.
“And the charities,” I continue. “I can help people.”
“You can, and you will.” Finn’s voice is impossibly tender. “I believe in you wholeheartedly.”
I press my lips to his, and warmth floods my body.
Yeah.
I believe in me, too.
***
The past four weeks have been some of the messiest, most chaotic of my life.
Jasmine was questioned, charged with aiding and abetting a crime, and bailed out shortly after.
My father—and by extension, Rosalyn—have kept to their word.
Neither one of them have tried to get Jasmine out of the situation she’s put herself in, much to her chagrin.
Part of her bail conditions are that she can’t contact me, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t heard of her endless complaints thanks to Valentina.
Zachary was charged with a slew of things I couldn’t name if you asked me to.
It seems he wasn’t the clean-cut victim he portrayed himself to be.
After he was reported to have been the source and my statement was broadcast, three of his exes went to the police and reported how he’d abused them during and after their relationships.
He’s probably going to jail. Jasmine is anyone’s guess. Oscar is pretty certain she’ll try to claim a similar story, but she’ll have it harder given their messages. Either way, there’s a quiet belief within the palace that she’ll get off largely scot-free thanks to her surname.
The name everyone now knows has been hers since birth.
I will never forget hearing that my father was screaming at the police officers at the entrance to the palace. After Valentina gave her reporter friend Victoria a nudge in the right direction, the media blew up with the truth of Jasmine’s birth.
It was, to quote Alec’s mother, the ‘scandal of the century,’ which I’m led to believe is really quite the statement. She’s promised to fill me in on what it beat out, so I’ve been invited for lunch, much to Alec’s chagrin.
Apparently, the last thing Arabella Kilon needs to know is how to produce a blade from her sleeve.
I think he’s a bit of a killjoy.
An investigation has been opened into my father and Rosalyn for falsifying records. I have no idea what, if anything, will come of it, but it doesn’t matter. Their worst fears have come true. Their reputations have been completely destroyed by such a heinous lie.
My father is a cheater.
Rosalyn is a mistress.
Jasmine is the unfortunate soul born into a dirty relationship.
And as a result, Sinclair Corp is on the verge of collapse.
Everything I’ve ever wanted is coming true.
Everyone knows the truth about the people in that house.
Their reputations are shot.
The business is shattering.
And I’m going to be the Crown Princess.
I’m surrounded by love. I’m surrounded by kindness. Nobody around me considers me an inconvenience or a burden. I’m not a pest or a nuisance or somebody that needs to be hidden away.
For the first time since I was seven, I have a family. A real family. I love, and I am loved, in ways beyond my wildest dreams. None of this warmth was ever anything I considered when I returned to St Peters two years ago and planned to rip the Sinclairs to pieces.
I never believed I was worthy of it.
I still don’t, sometimes.
Sometimes, my mind gets the better of me. It tells me I’m not good enough, that I’m an imposter, that I should leave before everyone else realises it.
When that happens, Finn holds me close, counts to four until my ears bleed, and kisses my hair.
Rowan brings me tea. Beatrix comes with a warm hug, and Louis appears with cake.
Oscar fills me in on the local gossip courtesy of his sister, Alec distracts me with information nobody else knows, and Valentina smothers me with mood boards of clothes she wants to buy.
None of these people are normal.
But they’re my family.
They choose me just as much as I choose them.
I glance back over my shoulder. Sophia and the security team are close enough to get here in a few seconds, but far away enough that I have the privacy I need, and I lay out a small blanket at the foot of the grave.
I sit, crossing my legs, and set my mug of tea between me and the grave. My mother’s name stares back at me, followed by a simple line of who she was.
Mother. Wife. Beloved friend.
As if her whole life could be condensed down into those three things.
It doesn’t matter. Not now. Not to the people who love her. And I can say love, not loved, because now I know I’m not the only one who holds her memory as if it’s the most precious thing in the world.
In a life where people desperately tried to erase her memory, everyone now remembering her name is perhaps the greatest revenge I could have enacted.
“Hi, Mum. I’m sorry. It’s been a while.” I look up at the headstone and smile. “And boy, do I have a doozy of a story for you.”