Chapter 55 Freya
FREYA
“Freya!”
Tess’s eyes dart manically from side to side in a frantic effort to understand what’s going on.
I put a hand out to support myself against the doorframe, bidding for time, my brain unable to catch up.
“What are you doing here?” asks Tess, her voice high-pitched.
I shake my head to dislodge the part that doesn’t make sense. How can it?
“Can I come in?” I ask numbly.
Tess looks behind me as if expecting to see someone else. “Er, yeah, of course…,” she says, opening the door wider.
I stand on the doormat in a stupefied daze, waiting for the pieces of the jigsaw to fall into place.
“What’s going on?” asks Tess in a rush. “What are you doing here?”
I could ask myself that. But there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to know the answer.
I’m trying to reason in my head a feasible explanation for why Charlie’s satnav has led me here.
Why would he have Tess’s address? Why would he need it?
He doesn’t even know her, aside from when he met her at the meeting, that one and only time he came with me.
My eyes narrow as I look at her—as if it will help me see what’s behind hers. “I—I think…,” I start. “I—I think Charlie’s having an affair.”
Tess’s eyes widen, as if in surprise. “Oh, Freya … I’m so sorry.…”
She looks like she’s going to pull me in for a hug. I glare at her, warning her not to.
“Yeah, it seems that you were right—and it was just wishful thinking on my part that it wouldn’t happen to me again.”
“That’s so awful,” she says. “Especially with the baby and everything. What will you do?”
I look at her as if expecting her to know the answer. I could tell her that it’s already over. That he’s seemingly made his choice—and destroyed me in the process. But if there’s even a chance that this is what I fear it is, I refuse to make it easy for her.
“I’m not going to let him go,” I say. “My child needs its father—and you and I both know what we become when our fathers aren’t around.”
She blinks, one too many times.
“But if he’s in love with someone else, there’s not much you can do.”
My eyes narrow. “I can find out who she is.”
Tess’s jaw twinges. “And then what?”
I smile. “And then kill her.”