here for her,” I explode. “I’m here for revenge. I’m here to make her suffer. And my plan is working.”
Javier’s disapproval radiates off him. He takes a long, deep breath. “I’ve been by your side for a long time, Dimi. I’ve stood there while you’ve done some questionable things. But this…this has gone too far.”
“Leave if you don’t like it,” I snap.
Javier’s face cracks with pity. The bastard thinks he knows what’s going on. He thinks he can see through me. “I’m not going anywhere. You should know better than that.” His words slide into the cracks of my armour. My jaw stings. I want to say so many things to him. I…I just can’t.
I turn away. There’s something lodged in my chest, making it hard to breathe.
“I’ll be in my room if you need me.” Javier’s footsteps move towards the door.
I see from my window that Alena is standing by the open door of the car looking back at the house. I think she sees me at the window watching her. For a moment, our eyes lock. My heart tugs towards her. My stomach twists with a creeping kind of horror.
She can’t leave.
I imagine myself running after her. I don’t know why. I don’t care if she leaves. I don’t fucking care, you hear me, heart?
“Dimi?” Javier has paused at the door. “Don’t fight so hard for revenge that you lose everything you need to be happy.”
49
____________
Alena
The backs of my eyes sting as the driver pulls away from the front of Worthington Manor and down the carriage driveway. I’m filled with mixed feelings. Worthington Manor has been a home for me, Emily has been family. I know that even Edgar, despite his detached, sometimes cruel manner feels affection for me.
Neither of them have come out to say goodbye, both of them choosing to do it last night after dinner.
Dimitri didn’t say goodbye. He didn’t even look at me once during dinner.
I tuck these thoughts away and wipe under my eyes. I turn around to watch as the manor disappears. My heart twists when I see Dimitri standing outside the front door, watching me go.
My exile is a five-bedroom stone house in the Cotswold district, three hours south from Yorkshire, cold and dusty from months of non-use. My husband has let me know that he will send a housekeeper to me soon. Percy, his driver, unloads my single bag into my bedroom, tips his cap to me outside. “You’ll be missed back in Worthington Manor.”
“Thank you, Percy.”
“Mrs Hobbs baked you her famous shepherd’s pie. I put it in the fridge for you to reheat later.”
I nod, blinking back tears. Apart from Mrs Bates, my husband’s staff were always kind to me. They too, had been a kind of family, I realise. One which I didn’t fully appreciate until now.
Once Percy drives off, the car kicking up gravel and dust behind him, I am alone.
Alone with my thoughts.
I walk through each bedroom, opening windows, airing out the rooms. It’s so quiet here. So quiet. I walk to the room that is to be my new bedroom. It has plenty of space and a nice view over the back garden. I can’t see the surrounding area like I could from my old bedroom window, a stone wall sitting rudely in the way.
I unpack my suitcase slowly, my thoughts ever flying back across the moors to Dimitri and Emily. Guilt weaves through me. I left her alone with him.
I tried everything, I try to reason with the guilt. I begged Dimitri not to go through with ruining a young girl’s life for the sake of revenge. I tried to get Edgar to disallow the engagement. I ruined my friendship with Emily trying to get her to turn him down.
There was nothing more I could do. Dimitri won.
If I stayed I would only be making myself suffer and giving Dimitri an audience.
I turn and start at the figure in the doorway.
50
____________
Alena
I drop the shirt I’m holding, my hand going to my throat. Terrance is standing in the doorway to my room.
“Terrance.” I force my voice not to shake. “Don’t you know it’s rude to sneak up on people?” I was so lost in my thoughts I hadn’t heard his car come down the front driveway. I hadn’t heard him enter or move through the house. “What are you doing here?”
Terrance smiles, cold and cruel. “I know who Dimitri really is.”
My skin prickles. I pick up the shirt I dropped and brush it off, acting