Chapter Twenty-Eight Liv’s Flat
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Liv’s Flat
Amelia was on her way to meet Liv at her flat when her phone pinged with another text. She read it carefully and smiled. Everything was going to plan. She’d charmed all of Evie’s friends, had a date with Ross that night and now just needed Liv to complete the last piece of the jigsaw.
Liv answered the door and blinked hard as she saw the newly blonde version of Amelia, who said in a bored voice, “I know I look like your sister yadda yadda. Whatever.”
Amelia stepped into the cleanest, whitest and emptiest living room she had ever seen. She said incredulously “Do you actually live here or rent it out as an operating theatre?”
Liv shrugged. “I like things simple and uncomplicated. I’ve had enough chaos in my life,” she replied tersely.
“Well, this is certainly basic. It looks like a jail cell. A few cushions and a couple of plants around the place wouldn’t kill you.” She laughed, “All you need is a toilet in the corner and a poster of Rita Hayworth on the wall and you’ve got the full Shawshank Redemption.”
Liv had been trying to keep her temper, but this was just plain rude. “This is how I like to live,” she said icily. “If you don’t like it, you know where the door is.”
Amelia gave a harsh laugh. “That’s a nice way to talk to the person who is going to turn your life around for the better and give you the chance to finally get back at your sister.”
Liv sighed wearily. “Look, I told you I’ve already got things back on track. I’m doing OK and Evie isn’t even on my radar.”
“Oh keep telling yourself that and one day you might believe it, but I don’t buy it for one second,” said Amelia. “You know how she’s running that business? She’s used the money from your dad and from that fat fool Freya to set herself up.”
Liv felt her skin prickle.
“Surely that business should be yours too?” Amelia carried on. “It’s the money from your dad that’s made it possible. And, all the time, she’s talking about giving back to the community, supporting local artists … blah blah blah. All so she can look good and be Lady Bountiful.”
Amelia went in for the kill, “And you still owe her money, right?”
“How do you know about that?” Liv said, sharply.
Amelia shrugged. “Your sister likes to gossip, especially when you are the subject. All this talk of how she saved you. Sending you to rehab. To me it just looks like she likes to control you, Liv.”
Liv responded, “That’s none of your business. You obviously have your own issues with Evie. What the hell has she done to rattle your cage?”
Amelia ignored her, “And that time you nearly tried to drown her when you were kids … no one has forgotten about that. And – what else? Something about when a local lad died …?”
The colour drained from Liv’s face, “Who the fuck told you that?”
Amelia smirked, “Let’s just say Evie’s not as trustworthy about keeping your secrets as you would like to think.”
Liv’s mind was racing and she thought, ‘I finally believed I was safe and that no one would ever know what happened. I’ve worked so hard to put the past behind me and move on, and now this. And if Evie has blabbed to this hard-faced cow, then who else has she told?’
Liv had always been ‘the problem child’ in the family, making Evie the golden girl.
This had only festered as they grew older, with neither of their parents able to provide the love, stability or fairness both their daughters needed.
Liv spent far too much of her time thinking of ways to get back at her little sister.
Back in 2004, after Evie and her first boyfriend, Brodie, had quarrelled at a bar in Stromness, Liv had seized her chance.
She got Brodie blind drunk and spent the night with him in a hotel room.
She claimed they had slept together, and she was pregnant with his child: telling these spiteful lies during a fearsome confrontation with Evie and Brodie on the beach.
Evie had hurled a bracelet he’d given her as a gift into the freezing water; Brodie had waded in to try and find it and had drowned.
Liv lied that the tragedy caused her to miscarry, and Evie fled Orkney in horror, believing she was responsible for a double tragedy: Brodie’s death and the loss of her sister’s baby.
It was only after their father’s death, twenty years later, that the truth finally emerged. That Brodie had never slept with Liv. That there had never been a baby. That Liv had planned to ruin their relationship with her lies.
Amelia watched as Liv tried to regain her composure. Her breathing had increased and her eyes were darting around the room.
“Not got much to say for yourself, have you, Liv?” Amelia drawled.
Liv glared at her with deep loathing.
Until coming back home from rehab, Liv wouldn’t have given a flying fuck about what anyone thought of her, but it was all different now. She had built a life for herself and made friends with the people in her AA group.
They were understanding and forgiving and had all made mistakes in their lives, but Liv was terrified they would turn their backs on her as soon as they found out what she’d done.
Her stomach churned, she couldn’t bear the thought of them looking at her with contempt and pity, especially Rab. She knew for certain she wouldn’t survive if his friendship and respect were lost.
Amelia looked at her much in the same way a snake would look at a fat baby chipmunk. This was going even better than she’d hoped. Liv was obviously falling for her story and running scared.
She laughed to herself and thought, ‘As if Evie would tell me anything. But I have my own ways of digging up scandal and my source is impeccable.’
She said aloud, “You know, your sister really seemed to enjoy telling me all your dirty little secrets. She reckons you broke your father’s heart and made your mother so unhappy she lost her mind.”
Liv burst out, “That’s a lie. My dad was a spineless sack of jelly, and my mother was always crazy. I had nothing to do with him dying or her going off her head. That bitch Evie. I can’t believe she told you about Brodie.”
Liv was shocked at the level of betrayal she felt. With a lot of therapy and many long talks with Rab, Liv had begun to overcome her feelings of jealousy and resentment towards Evie and had almost decided to tentatively establish contact with her sister, who had said her door was always open.
She thought bitterly, ‘Evie has no intention of wiping the slate clean. She’s just been biding her time and now she wants to ruin my life.
I believed her when she said no one would ever talk about what happened, and now she has told this weirdo the whole story, but maybe she actually can help.
It might not be a total waste of time to find out what she has to say. ’
She looked at Amelia and affected a drawl, “OK, I’m listening. What’s your cunning plan?”
When Amelia had outlined what she wanted Liv to do, she didn’t wait for a reply but abruptly got up to leave.
At the door she turned round, “Don’t take too long to make up your mind.
And don’t even think about warning Evie, because I have many other ways to make her life hell that don’t involve you.
Remember, all I have to do is call your good pal Rab and all the others in your AA group and tell them all about your past. That’s all it would take to bring you down. It’s your choice.”
Liv sat alone in her cell-like room, mulling over Amelia’s plan and wondering if she could go through with it.
Evie would be ruined and left with nothing. Liv would be in the clear with money in the bank.
In her dark days as an addict, Liv had frittered away the money her parents had given her, as well as the modest sum left over when Granny Sheila’s cottage on Hrossey was sold.
Liv was now existing from one pay cheque to another and Evie was living in the family home, which Liv always thought should have been hers, by rights, as the eldest child.
As far as Liv was concerned, looking in from the outside, Evie had effortlessly built a successful business and was popular and well-liked. Once again, the golden child had triumphed, leaving Liv looking like a pathetic failure.
‘It’s not fair. It’s never been fair. All the odds have always been stacked against me.’ Liv sat in the growing dark going over and over in her mind what Amelia was planning.
‘It could work and I would be protected. No one would believe Evie. Even if she shouted the truth from the rooftops, but can I really live with myself if I go along with it? And what the hell has Evie done to this Amelia woman to make her so hellbent on revenge. She wouldn’t tell me but it must be something epic. ’
The one person she wanted to confide in was Rab, but she knew that was impossible, and she also knew she was in for a restless and sleepless night. Amelia had said she would be in touch.
Liv knew what she had to do.