Total pages in book: 235
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
“I didn’t.” She laughs. It’s nervous. Pray do tell me she’s not going to deny it? “I didn’t tell him, Jesse. Maybe he overheard.”
“Overheard you telling who?”
“I . . . well . . .” She stutters and stammers all over her words, withdrawing. “I don’t know.”
“You talked about it, did you? You talked about me and you in bed fucking after what happened to our daughters?”
She swallows. “Jesse—”
“Don’t.” I hold a halting hand up. Why I’m asking this after all these years, I don’t know. I knew Sarah was the reason my parents knew what happened in the lead up to Rosie’s death. After all, they called it. They warned me to stay away from her. And I didn’t. But I didn’t care that they knew because it gave them a reason to hate me. It gave them a reason to step away and leave me alone to waste the fuck away and slowly kill myself. No more confrontations. No more begging and pleading with me to be a better son.
They never asked you to be a better son, bro.
“Fuck,” I bellow, kicking the gravel, making Sarah flinch. Stones ricochet off the paintwork of the Aston, the pinging sound pretty.
They asked you not to throw your life away. It was you who told yourself you were to blame. You who thought you were lesser than me. You who told yourself Mum and Dad didn’t love you.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I kick the side of the car, resting my hands on the roof and leaning in. I feel so fucking lucid. Seeing the world with new eyes, remembering the past differently. Sarah told them in an attempt to sever my relationship with them completely. So I would never leave The Manor. And it worked. I think I always knew it, but I never dared let my mind go there. Because I helped her achieve what she wanted and what I thought I needed. And she nearly achieved the same thing with Ava. Destroyed that relationship too. Why does she think that’s love? Fuck. Will she ever let me go? “We’re having twins,” I say to the roof of the Aston. “Ava and I are having twins.” Another chance. “You can be here, Sarah. Take what you need from The Manor, but me and you are done.” I swing the door open, but before I can slip into the seat, a taxi pulls up around the fountain.
“It’s Ava’s brother,” Sarah says, her voice undeniably wobbly. “I didn’t have a chance to let you know I’d let him in.” She walks off as Dan gets out of the cab. The fucker. I’m in no mood for him. And given he’s broke, a taxi from the city is a bit extravagant. In fact, it screams desperation.
“And how are you going to pay for that?” I ask, making him stall as he pulls a card out of his pocket, his eyes studying me.
“With a credit card.”
What am I doing? I haven’t got time for this. I have somewhere I need to be. “I’m late,” I say, getting behind the wheel.
“Wait, Jesse.” Dan’s soon by the passenger door, his face uncharacteristically pleading. I look up at him, and he sighs. “I’m fucked, okay? Totally fucking fucked.”
“You want money from me?” I ask, astounded.
“I need money.”
The fucking bastard. He treats me like scum and then has the audacity to come begging. Lord, please, give me permission to lay the cheeky fucker out. “You disrespect me, try to come between me and my wife, then you have the nerve to come here to my manor and ask me for money?”
“They want paying,” he breathes quietly.
“Who?”
“The loan sharks.”
I slowly get out of my car as I look at my wrist, conscious of the time. So it’s not just legitimate borrowing he’s defaulted on? “Dan, look at my face.”
His eyes lift. Pathetic.
“Does it look like a face that gives a fuck?” I drop down to my seat and start the engine, revving it, taking my anger out on the Aston rather than Dan.
“They’ll kill me,” he says in between revs and, fuck my life, he has my attention. I look at him. Like, really look at him. I’ve seen desperation on a man before. Usually in the mirror.
I turn off the engine and get out. “Is that why you’re here? In England?”
He nods.
“Do they know you’re here?”
Another nod.
“Fuck.” I pull my phone out and call John. “I need you to go get Ava from work. Her brother’s turned up. He’s”—I look at him, knowing it’s with disdain—“in a spot of bother with some loan sharks.”
“I’ve got a feeling this is going to be expensive,” John rumbles, with zero humor. “I’m not far from her office.”
“Thanks. Bring her here.” I walk back into The Manor, Dan on my heels. “This way,” I say over my shoulder, showing Dan to my office.”