Page 113 of Original Sin

‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Tess. ‘You provide Jack with a life he loves and a home he’s loved in. That’s far more important.’

Her depth of feeling and sense of injustice surprised her. She dimly remembered seeing flashes of fighting spirit in her father shortly after her mother left them. But it was temporary, a precursor to his slide into the depression that left him a broken man.

‘Listen to me Kevin,’ she said firmly, ‘we will not let Melissa get custody of Jack.’

Kevin shook his head. ‘I know you want to help, Tess, but Melissa knows that Jack is looked after by our neighbour and she’s going to use it against me to show I am not a good father.’

‘Well, I’m not going to let that happen.’

‘You? Are you a lawyer?’

‘No,’ said Tess, ‘But I know someone who is.’

They both turned as they heard the front door open, to see Jack standing in the doorway holding a loaf of bread.

‘Is everything okay?’ he said hopefully.

‘It’s going to be,’ nodded Tess. ‘It’s going to be just fine.’

CHAPTER THIRTY–FIVE

‘You’re working late.’

Liz looked up, startled. She was standing at her assistant’s desk by the clutter of office equipment – fax, binding machine, shredder – waiting for a document to come off the printer.

‘Late? Not especially,’ she said. It was eleven p.m. and frankly she was amazed to see William. All the lights on this floor were off and there was little sign of life, except for the low buzz of a vacuum cleaner. Most days her brother left the office by six thirty, and at drinks, launches, or networking events he stayed less than an hour. Benefit dinners and parties were even worse; if you wanted to find him, he would be standing by the door holding Paula’s coat, waiting for his wife to finish socializing so he could go home. Which is why Liz was on full alert now: if he was in the office so late, there must be a very good reason for it.

William perched on the desk and began drumming his fingers on the edge nervously.

‘I’ve been upstairs with marketing since eight this morning,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot of due diligence questions to sort out.’

He nodded to where she was shuffling papers in the binding machine. ‘Shouldn’t you get your assistant to do all that?’

Liz hated having been caught off guard, but hid her annoyance by pushing hard down on the lever. ‘I’m saving you money,’ she said.

William folded his arms in front of him and looked at his sister intently.

‘Liz, I have to know if you are happy with all this.’

‘All what?’ she asked flatly, putting down her document.

‘Selling Asgill’s. Spinning off Skin Plus. I know you expressed doubts in the board meeting and I know how important Skin Plus is to you, but it’s a good offer from Canopus. You have a sharp, clever brain, Liz: you must know this is the right thing to do.’

Sharp, clever brain indeed, she thought. How she could run circles around him. How she was going to.

‘Yes, I’m upset, William, I won’t deny it, but not for the reasons you think. I’m not upset for greed or hurt pride.’

‘I don’t think that,’ frowned William. ‘So why are you upset?’

She paused, tried to look as solemn as possible.

‘I just don’t think Dad would have wanted us to sell out,’ she said quietly.

A half–smile curled up on his face. ‘Come on, Liz, you of all people wouldn’t’ make decisions based on sentimentality. Anyway, we’re not closing down by any means – we’re simply offloading the weakest parts of the business and starting again, debt free, with a brand that has much more potential.’

She had to turn her face away from him, pretending to fiddle with her documents, so he would not see the anger in her eyes.

‘It’s too late to talk about all this,’ she said.