Page 87

Chapter 86

Liv

I stand with my back against the front door, my hand pressed against my breastbone as my heart tries to jackhammer its way out of my chest. I’ve won a war the enemy had no idea it was fighting. And in doing so, I’ve protected my business and my family. Margot and Anna might have turned down my offer for now, but they’ll come crawling back in a day or two to tell me they’ve crunched a few numbers and decided investing in my studio is, like I said, a wonderful opportunity. And the most reassuring part of this is that if ever I run into financial difficulties again, I’ll have two people who will always come to my aid.

Because they have too much to lose if they don’t.

I had no qualms at all about blackmailing Margot because it’s her fault my studio is failing. She’s learning the hard way that you don’t try and seduce my husband, hit me with a car and leave me for dead without there being consequences.

Of course I knew about her clumsy approach towards Brandon. He tells me everything. And it really didn’t bother me. Besides, I guessed it was about to happen. On the night of my birthday party, I was in the garden when I saw them together in the dining room, away from everyone else. She had one arm under her tits, pushing them up and out. Brandon could’ve rested his beer bottle on them. Whatever he’d said amused her because she threw her head back and laughed.

I know my husband is a flirt because I’ve watched him charm countless women – and men – into signing up to his personal training. But Brandon knows if he ever goes beyond appropriate, he’d be out of the door before he could put his dick back in his pants. I remember wishing Margot luck, because no matter what she might’ve convinced herself was going to happen, Brandon would always be in my bed, not hers. I didn’t see the kiss; he told me after our guests had gone home. And then I screwed him long and hard, a reminder to him that he’ll never find better than me.

Blackmailing Anna pricked at my conscience because I’d genuinely liked her. I’d felt protective over her and I thought she’d liked me too. So I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, convincing myself that I’d misread her reaction to the CamMe footage of Margot standing over my unconscious body midway through her hit-and-run. I went to her house unannounced, but she didn’t answer the door. I was about to leave when I spotted the electric garage door was only half unrolled. I attempted to pull it down for her but it wouldn’t budge. I ducked under it to go inside because if it was like ours, there would be an override button attached to the wall. I located it near to the floor, and there, half a silver ring poked out from under an empty refuse bag. I picked it up, thinking it resembled the band Anna wore. There were flecked brown marks on it like mud, that wouldn’t brush off. I slipped it into my pocket to give to her when I eventually saw her again.

An intermittent beeping caught my attention. I turned my head to the corner of the garage and spotted a huge chest freezer, its bubble wrap packaging still in a pile next to it. I gave it the once-over, and fearing her food might be defrosting, I pushed the lid down more firmly. But the beeping continued. It was the same with my second attempt. Finally I lifted the lid to slam it down.

Inside, it contained only one object. The shape of a human body wrapped in plastic bags.

I let go of the lid as I staggered backwards, losing my balance and falling over a weights bench. I froze, unable to make sense of what I’d seen. Eventually, I mustered up the strength to rise to my feet and look inside again. Poking out from a torn section was an exposed hand with the image of a lion tattooed on the back of it. Drew had the exact same design on his hand. Together with the ring on the floor, I had no doubt as to who this was.

I pulled my phone out to call the police, but after pressing the second nine, something stopped me. My finger hovered above the key as I tried to come up with a reason why someone as considered as Anna would be keeping her dead husband’s body in a freezer. She must have killed him. Why? Had I missed the signs she was in an abusive relationship? Or was she the abuser? Or had it been a terrible accident and she’d panicked? Whichever way you looked at it, the right thing for me to do was to call for help.

Yet I didn’t.

Instead, I put myself first.

Because I also knew that the right thing to do was to benefit my ailing business and family. So I drew in the deepest of breaths and set about taking photographs of what I had found before leaving as quietly as I’d arrived and telling Brandon nothing on my arrival home.

This morning, Margot, Anna and I have finally met one another for the first time. The killer, the attempted murderer and the blackmailer. We all know where we stand.

My heart is no longer hammering.

I pass the mirror in the hallway and stop, just to check that I still recognise myself. I didn’t want to be this person again. I thought that by moving out of London I could be different. I could be my own person, not one reliant on others. But I gave it my best shot and it didn’t work. You might want to change, but life and the behaviour of others can so often conspire to stand in your way and fuck around with you until you have no choice but to revert to type. So now, I understand that I am who I ought to be. Who I was and who I am.

And finally, I’m good with that.