Chapter 27
NOW
Late August
Wednesday
I couldn’t get the image of Ben’s face out of my mind. His anger. The disgust in his eyes. It had been so strong. So unexpected.
All the way home, my thoughts had been consumed with trying to unravel his reaction. I pulled into my parking space, picked up my laptop and notepad, and stepped out of the car. I crossed the car park towards the entrance of my building, still unable to make sense of it.
I didn’t even see her. Not until I was right in front of her.
I stopped dead.
Charlotte.
Standing right in front of the entrance. Blocking my path.
What was she doing here? She should have been out riding by now. She always rode first thing. Always.
Cold panic gripped my stomach.
How long had she been standing here, waiting?
‘What the hell are you doing here?’ I demanded. My words echoing the ones Ben had said to me only a few minutes ago.
Bitter irony twisted in my chest. Now I knew how he’d felt, being confronted by someone you despised, someone you blamed for destroying everything you had. Finding them standing on your doorstep, in your space.
The difference was, I knew what Charlotte had done to me. But I still had no idea why Ben thought I’d ever hurt him.
Charlotte didn’t answer. Instead, her gaze slid over me slowly.
For the second time today, I was acutely aware of my dishevelled appearance.
‘Rough night?’ she asked, amusement in her voice.
Unease prickled beneath my skin.
Did she know what I’d done last night? What I’d stolen?
My grip tightened on my laptop and notepad, pulling them closer to my chest.
‘I know what you’ve been up to,’ Charlotte said, stepping forward.
I swallowed. ‘What are you talking about?’ My other hand slipped into my pocket, my fingers closing around my car keys, my brain already planning my escape.
‘Stalking me on social media?’ She tutted. ‘That’s desperate. Even for you.’
My stomach dropped.
‘Yeah, Ryan told me.’ Her lips curved. ‘He tells me everything.’
I bristled. He’d betrayed me. Reported me to her.
‘It’s what a couple does.’
Her words landed hard.
A couple.
I shook my head, still unwilling to believe that’s really what they were.
‘Sitting in the gym car park. Watching. Waiting.’ Charlotte’s gaze sharpened. ‘And whatever else you’ve been up to.’
She let her words hang.
Bile rose in my throat.
I swallowed, forcing myself to hold her gaze. Not to look away. There was still a chance she hadn’t seen me at Corfe Castle. That she didn’t know. As long as I didn’t crack.
‘There are better ways to find things out about people,’ she said, a smug smile spreading across her lips. ‘If you’re smart enough.’ Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
‘What does that mean?’ I asked tentatively, not sure I really wanted to know.
‘You’ve been digging into my life,’ she said. ‘Surely you didn’t expect me not to do the same?’
I didn’t respond. How could I? She had a point.
‘You know, it never made sense to me what Ryan ever saw in you,’ she said casually. ‘I mean, you’ve got nothing in common. He’s confident, outgoing, adventurous…’ She scrunched her nose. ‘And you’re just… not.’
She let her observation linger for a moment, as though allowing it to really sink in.
‘But now,’ she continued, ‘it makes sense.’
‘Oh?’ I said, unable to silence my curiosity.
‘Ryan’s always had a soft spot for wounded animals. The helpless ones. The weak ones.’
My body stiffened.
‘I guess it makes sense that that applies to people too,’ Charlotte continued. ‘Especially someone so lonely. Someone who has no one.’
I wasn’t sure where she was going with this but I didn’t like it. I needed to do something, shift the focus.
‘Is that why you got rid of Ben?’ I asked.
Charlotte froze. For once, I’d stunned her.
‘He was my friend. The only one I had at Blackwater. Without him, I was completely alone. Besides Ryan.’ I gave a small shrug. ‘And you were already whispering in his ear, pulling him away from me.’
Charlotte’s eyes lit up with pride. ‘So, you figured it out, did you?’ she said, almost impressed.
‘How did you do it?’ I asked quietly. Demanding answers wasn’t the way to deal with her. A confrontation wouldn’t get me anywhere. But letting her think she had beaten me…
She laughed. ‘It wasn’t hard.’
I waited. Letting her gloat in her victory.
‘The two of you were so friendly.’ She emphasised the word as though it meant something more. ‘I merely pointed that out to Ryan.’
I gritted my teeth. ‘You made him think there was something going on between us?’
Charlotte pouted. ‘He was too trusting of you to think that. But Ben…’ Her smile shifted back into place.
‘It was easy to make Ryan question his intentions.’ She shook her head.
‘He really didn’t like the idea of one of the employees making moves on his girlfriend.
He wanted to fire him straight away. But that would have been messy. ’
‘You couldn’t risk him confronting Ben and realising your accusations weren’t true,’ I said slowly, as understanding seeped into my brain.
‘Exactly.’ Charlotte nodded smugly. ‘So, I told him I’d handle it.’
I inhaled sharply. ‘How?’
She looked at me so innocently. ‘I just told Ben what you’d said about him.’
‘What I’d said?’
‘That he’d made you uncomfortable.’
I shook my head. ‘That’s not true—’
‘But that’s what you’d told the Blackwaters.’ She smiled sweetly. ‘At least as far as Ben knew. They take accusations of sexual harassment very seriously…’
‘Accusations of—’ I stared at her, unable to even say the words. ‘That’s ridiculous. Ben never did anything like that.’
‘Technically, no.’ Charlotte shrugged. ‘But, as I pointed out to him, it doesn’t take much for accusations to spread, does it?’
My stomach churned.
‘He had a choice,’ she continued. ‘He could call you out. Deny it. Fight your claims. Risk everyone knowing what was going on. Risk rumours, doubts.’
She paused.
‘Or he could leave quietly.’
‘That’s why he disappeared so quickly, with no explanation. No goodbye.’
‘He took the sensible option. And I made sure he was taken care of, just like I promised him I would. A month’s wages, a good reference. It was very amicable.’
I took a shaky breath. ‘You made sure he blamed me.’
That explained everything. Ben’s silent disappearance, his anger at my arrival this morning. He hated me. How could he not?
A bitter taste filled my mouth. ‘How could you do that to him?’
‘It wasn’t about him,’ Charlotte said coldly.
‘It was about me,’ I said slowly. ‘You wanted to isolate me.’
‘I knew you needed people around you. Supporting you. Without that…’ She shrugged again. ‘Of course, had I known then what I know now, it would have been even easier.’
An icy chill crept through my veins. What did she know now?
‘Janine had some interesting things to say about you…’
Janine.
The name ricocheted through me.
Charlotte smiled and I knew she’d seen my reaction.
‘She’s so worried about you, you know?’ Charlotte said. ‘She always has been. She was afraid university would be too much for you.’
That would be a lot for you, don’t you think?
Janine’s words echoed in my brain, except it wasn’t just her voice I heard now. It was Charlotte’s too.
‘No wonder she was relieved when you met Ryan,’ she continued. ‘At least you had someone to lean on. Someone to get you through it.’
‘It wasn’t like that,’ I spat the words out. ‘Ryan and I, we were in love. We were—’
‘Right,’ Charlotte cut through my words.
‘That’s how you got him to go to Malta with you.
Being so in love and all.’ She scoffed. ‘I mean, it’s not like you could have gone alone, is it?
God, Janine was so terrified for you, even with Ryan there.
Another country? Another language? So far away from where she could keep an eye on you. Protect you.’
Heat crept into my face.
‘No wonder you came back with Ryan when his family needed him here.’ Charlotte spread her hands in front of her. ‘It’s not as though you could stay there without him, could you?’
My stomach dipped sharply.
‘Following him to the stables, being surrounded by horses that completely terrified you, was less scary than staying in Malta alone.’
‘That’s not true,’ I objected. ‘I came to support Ryan. To be there for him.’
‘Right.’ Charlotte dragged the word out, disbelief dripping from her voice, as she stepped closer.
‘I did,’ I said defiantly. She didn’t know what she was talking about.
‘Janine was so worried about what would happen if something went wrong and she wasn’t there to fix it. It wasn’t as though your dad was going to rush to help, was it?’
I flinched.
‘Dad’s got nothing to do with this,’ I snapped. How could she be so callous? From the little I knew about her relationship with her own father, she should have been more understanding. More sympathetic.
But then, she never had been.
Charlotte nodded. ‘Hmm, from what Janine said, he doesn’t really have a lot to do with anything concerning you, does he?’
I gritted my teeth. How dare she talk about my dad, like she knew anything about him? About us.
‘I guess he’s not really bothered about you at all. He—’
‘Shut up!’ I snapped.
I couldn’t stand it any longer.
The long night. The lack of sleep. The endless questions about Blackwater. The signature I didn’t remember writing. Ben’s reaction. And now this.
It was all too much.
My pulse roared in my ears.
‘You don’t know anything about me. About my family,’ I said, my voice rising. The control I’d been clinging to was starting to slip and I was unable to restrain the years of built-up hostility for the woman that kept interfering in my relationship. In my life.
‘Did I say something wrong?’ Charlotte asked innocently.
The frustration that had been building threatened to erupt. That sickly sweet smile of hers. I knew who she really was. What she was.
Vindictive.
Cruel.
Destructive.
‘Just get out of my way,’ I snapped, shoving past her towards the door.
Charlotte staggered back, her movement bigger, more exaggerated and dramatic than it needed to be.
I rammed my key into the lock, my hands shaking.
‘Are you alright?’ a woman’s voice asked behind me.
I took a deep breath, reassurances that I was fine already forming on my tongue as I started to turn.
But the woman wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at Charlotte.
My focus shifted, following hers. Charlotte’s hand was pressed to her arm where I’d brushed past her. Her expression was pained.
‘I—I’m okay,’ Charlotte said quietly, mustering a weak smile. ‘It’s just a misunderstanding.’ Her eyes flicked to mine.
‘Kirsty just gets a bit overwhelmed sometimes,’ she added softly.
The words sliced through me. She sounded like Janine.
Except, as the woman’s gaze shifted to me, apprehensive and cautious, I realised this was different.