Chapter 39
THIRTY-NINE
ANNIE
Now
‘You never told me your parents were rich. Lord and lady of the manor, it would seem. Must have been a nice childhood…’ Jade met my brother’s eyes with a look of pure spite I hadn’t imagined she had in her.
I felt like I’d been dropped from a tall building, freefalling, trying to grasp hold of something that might make sense.
I’d spent a week jumping at every noise, waiting for Ryan to slam his fist into my front door, alternating between wanting to protect Jade and thinking this was all some elaborate game.
But now it was sinking in that Ryan had nothing to do with any of this.
He wasn’t coming. Hadn’t found me. The relief I should have felt at that realisation was notably absent.
Instead, I was just confused, and watching the way Jade regarded my brother, the disdain in her eyes, I suddenly experienced a feeling of familial protectiveness that had lain dormant so long I hadn’t known it was in me.
Thomas blinked. ‘Jade, the last time I saw you was six months ago. You were kissing me goodbye at the train station.’ He lowered his voice, his pale cheeks turning pink. ‘You said you didn’t know how you would sleep without me cuddling you.’
‘I managed just fine.’
‘You were pregnant. That day at the station. You had to have been.’
‘Yes. I met someone. The timing wasn’t ideal, and I didn’t intend for it to happen.’
‘You didn’t intend to cheat? Or to get pregnant?
’ He was trying to speak without emotion, but it broke my heart to hear how destroyed he was, how hard he was working to keep control of the torrent of hurt simmering beneath the surface.
Jade gave no indication that she was sorry, that she even cared.
She pressed a hand to her belly and sighed. ‘To get pregnant,’ she said, the words coming slowly, as if she were talking to a small child. ‘I took the morning-after pill, but clearly it didn’t work.’
It was chilling to hear her speak so clinically about her daughter.
Instinctively, I held Amala a little tighter.
She had fallen asleep in my arms as I swayed back and forth in the hot, dusty workshop, and I undid her babygrow down to her belly button, worried she might overheat.
I should take her back in the house; we should all get out of here.
I opened my mouth to say as much, but Thomas spoke first.
‘So… it’s over then. You’ve left me no choice.
’ His words were firm, but his eyes begged her to disagree, to fight for their short-lived marriage.
It reminded me of how hard I’d tried to make Ryan be the man I needed rather than the monster he was.
No amount of talking, begging, had made him change.
‘I’ll sign the divorce papers, and we can leave this marriage exactly where it belongs.
In the past. I don’t want to ever see you again. ’
‘You won’t have to,’ she spat. ‘I can get my lawyer to deal with yours. I’m very interested to find out how much I’m entitled to. Very interested indeed.’
He snorted. ‘ Entitled to? Babe, you cheated. You won’t get a penny from me. The prenup couldn’t have been clearer regarding that.’
‘Oh, and why don’t you remind me what it said regarding hidden assets?’
‘What?’
‘You know, that was the most interesting thing I learned doing my law degree. How a prenup can be watertight, but if you hide little bits and pieces – a house here, an inheritance there – it isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.’
‘I didn’t hide anything.’
She broke into a slow, cruel smile. ‘Darling Thomas, we both know you did. Now, I don’t want things to get nasty between us.
Not when we started out with so much love for each other.
I’m sure we don’t need to get lawyers involved if you’re honest…
reasonable . We can come to an agreement of a fair sum, don’t you think? ’
He shook his head, genuine confusion crossing his features, and I felt a cold wave of realisation as to why she’d come here.
She wanted the house. My house! A combination of indignant rage that the whole time I’d been hosting her she’d been after my sanctuary and righteous satisfaction that she’d had a wasted journey fizzed through my veins.
Thomas shrugged. ‘I have a small army pension, which I declared. I don’t own anything.
No property. No stocks and shares. And you read the clause that said you’d get nothing if you cheated.
I only did the prenup in the first place because I didn’t want us fighting over any pets.
Remember? The clause that said if I bought a dog, in the event that we separate, I get full ownership? ’
Jade made a choking sound, her eyebrows shooting up, and Thomas laughed.
‘There’s nothing else. You can whistle, love.
I hope you enjoy claiming benefits. I’m sure you can get plenty now you’re a single mother.
Or are you planning to go back to the other guy?
’ he asked bitterly. ‘Maybe you’ll have more luck fleecing him. ’
The look on Jade’s face told me that conning Amala’s father was indeed part of her plan.
‘Why did you come here?’ I asked, needing answers.
‘Because I wanted to find the paperwork. The deeds to the house. Your parents’ will. They aren’t in our flat – I’ve searched through all his stuff. Sarah told me they left a fortune, and I want my share!’
I met Thomas’s eyes. A vindictive pleasure in ruining this poisonous woman’s plans passed between us. For once, we were both on the same page.
Thomas took a deep breath. ‘I suppose that’s why you married me? For the money?’
‘Why else? Look at you!’ she exclaimed. ‘Do you think a woman like me wants to spend my weekends eating warm cheese sandwiches in the middle of some bloody tick-ridden field in the arse-end of nowhere? Have you even once taken me to a nice restaurant? A weekend away somewhere worth going, rather than the bloody YMCA hostel in Snowdonia? Have you bought me a piece of decent jewellery?’
She yanked a silver chain from inside her shirt, engagement and wedding rings hanging from it.
‘I had these valued. They’re a piece of shit.
Not even worth a grand between them. Is that how much I mean to you, Thomas?
’ She laughed bitterly. ‘I want more. More than you’re willing to give.
So yeah, I mean to take it, and then we can say our goodbyes.
It’s only because of the pregnancy that I’ve let it drag on this long.
I was too sick to have the energy to do anything before Amala was born, and,’ she added, gesturing with disgust to the blood on her jeans, ‘I haven’t exactly been at my best since she arrived.
You coming back early was a nightmare, to be honest with you. ’
He shook his head. ‘Sorry to inconvenience you.’
She sneered. ‘You can’t understand it, can you?
How it feels to have nothing? To realise you have the power to change that?
Do you really expect me to feel guilty over using what options I have to make my life better?
While you were swanning around in your blazer and tie at the local prep school, eating home-cooked dinners and playing tennis at the weekends, I was picking fleas off my little sister in sheltered accommodation.
Do you know what it’s like for two young girls to grow up in one room, with a single mother who brought men in to buy sex from her while we pretended to sleep?
Do you know what it feels like to go to bed hungry night after night?
To watch as your sibling wastes away. They took her…
put her in foster care, and I don’t know what those bastards did to her, but she was dead within the year.
You wouldn’t understand any of that, would you?
How could you? You had a silver spoon from birth. Only the best.’
I pressed my lips together. ‘I’m sorry you went through that. It sounds like a difficult childhood.’
She glared at me. ‘I’m not interested in your pity, Annie.’
‘No,’ I replied, moving to stand beside my brother, holding Amala with one arm and reaching out with my free hand to squeeze his shoulder as I looked coldly at the woman who’d dared to hurt him. ‘So it would seem. You’ve come for money.’
‘Obviously,’ she spat.
‘And you’ve been searching for paperwork? Proof that Thomas owns half this house and our parents’ fortune?’
‘That’s right.’
I nodded, then smiled.
‘I don’t see what’s funny. Like I said, we don’t need to involve lawyers.
You have two choices. Sign over the house to me, or – even easier – you can do a bank transfer.
I have an offshore account. It’ll be done and dusted in a matter of minutes.
’ She held out her hands, palms facing up, as if she were presenting lunch options at a conference, asking something so simple it didn’t require more than a few seconds of contemplation.
‘Give me what I came for and I’ll give you a divorce. ’
I met her eyes. ‘Thomas signed over the house to me three years ago. That was the last time we spoke.’
‘ What ?’
‘You heard me. He called me after the funeral, and when he found out I had moved back in here, he called me a money-grabber. Said that if I cared so much about the house, I could have it. You must have noticed he doesn’t have any interest in money. He didn’t want anything from our parents.’
Thomas cleared his throat. ‘I didn’t want anything that might change me as a person, make me become like them. I wanted to make my own life, be free of them for good. I’m sorry, Annie. For how I spoke to you back then.’
Jade stepped forward, shaking her head in disbelief. ‘No!’
I ignored her as I met his eyes. ‘It was never about the money for me, Thomas. It was freedom. From Ryan. I should have told you earlier what I was going through. Made you understand the kind of man he was. Asked for your help.’
Understanding dawned on his face, and he stepped back, joining the puzzle pieces. ‘Oh fuck… I’m sorry,’ he said, his voice gruff, full of emotion.
I shrugged. ‘It’s in the past.’
‘So he was abusive?’
I dipped my head in confirmation. ‘It’s a story for another time.
But yes. Badly, and for a long time. This place was my chance at freedom.
He never once came here, didn’t have a clue about where I’d grown up.
He never cared enough to ask, and that turned out to be a blessing. A chance for a fresh start.’
Jade held up a hand, cutting off our conversation. ‘Hold on. So you’re saying…’
Thomas looked at her as if she were a piece of dirt on his shoe.
‘You’ve wasted your time.’ He folded his arms, regarding her.
‘I have no claim to this house, and I didn’t take a penny from my parents.
I didn’t want to inherit privilege. I wanted to make something of myself, show them I didn’t need them.
That despite all the ways they thought I was a failure, I had made it on my own.
I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I’d used their money – the money they made being cold-hearted, narcissistic, smug—’ He broke off, taking a breath, then said simply, ‘I signed it all over to Annie.’
Jade was silent for a moment. ‘Right,’ she said softly. She dipped her head, and for a moment, she appeared utterly broken. Then she looked back up, her eyes meeting mine. ‘In that case, you’re going to pay me.’
I laughed. ‘Why would I do that?’
She broke into a smile. ‘Because if you don’t, I’m going to track down that delightful ex of yours and let him know exactly where he can find you.
Along with all the not-so-pleasant things you’ve been saying about him.
So,’ she went on softly, ‘why don’t you hand my daughter back to me and we’ll go inside and talk numbers? ’