Beautiful Revenge (A Good Wife #1) - Sienna Blake Page 0,63

clear my throat. “I know where to go.”

61

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Alena

“Thank you, Richard,” I tell him again. He is letting Emily, Edgar and me stay in the tiny gardener’s cottage on the school grounds in exchange for doing some work about the place. Just until I find a proper job. Just until we can get on our feet again.

Richard nods and pulls me in for a quick hug. “I can’t believe what Mr Wolf did. He seemed to have such a good heart.”

“He does.” I pause. “He’s too sick with anger and revenge that it can’t shine through.”

“I hope he realises soon what he’s done.”

I don’t tell him that I think it’s too late.

Richard glances over my shoulder. “Will they be okay?” he asks in a low voice.

I glance back. Edgar is sitting slumped in a sofa, a bottle of cheap wine in his hand. The only movement he makes is to drag the bottle up to his lips and gulp. He doesn’t even bother to wipe off the drops of wine that dribble over his chin and onto his expensive herringbone shirt, his tailored jacket now flung across the back of the chair.

In this tiny cottage there’s only one bedroom with a small double bed which Emily and I share. Edgar will have to sleep on the couch for the first time in his life.

Emily has stumbled out into the back garden like a zombie. She’s left the back door open and a slight breeze chills the inside. She’s never had to worry about closing doors to keep the heat in before.

I’ve been dirt poor before. I’ll survive. But Emily and Edgar? Both of them have only known comfort and riches. Neither of them has ever had to want for anything.

I turn back to Richard. “They’ll be okay,” I lie, forcing a smile.

After he leaves, I walk quietly over to Edgar. He’s nearly passed out now, his eyelids droopy. I tug the near-empty wine bottle from him. He grunts and mumbles something. I hope this will not become a habit of his. I hope for his sake. And for Emily’s.

After I dispose of the bottle, I walk out into the garden and sit next to Emily on the wrought-iron bench positioned in a small patch of sun.

“What happens now?” she asks, her voice empty and hollow. It hurts me to hear her voice like this.

“I get a job, then a proper place to live. Life doesn’t end when you stop having money.”

She stiffens. “I see. What happens to me?”

I blink at her. Emily’s mouth is pressed in a thin line. Her hands are fists in her skirts and she’s glaring at the overgrown grass.

“What do you mean, what happens to you?”

A tear rolls down her cheek. “I knew you would leave me. I knew it.”

“Emily, what are you talking about?”

“Now that Papa doesn’t have all his money you have no reason to stay.”

“Emily, I’m not leaving you,” I say, horrified.

“I know about your contract with my father,” she blurts out. “You were going to leave him when you had a baby and got his money. I’m not stupid.”

My stomach stabs. Emily did know after all. She did know and she never said.

She never said.

I never told her.

“Emily,” I grasp her hands, “you are my family. I would never leave you. If you want, you can come live with me once I get on my feet. You’re an adult now. Your father can’t stop you.”

“You’re lying.”

“When I got the money for the baby, I was going to ask you to come with me. You, me and the baby.”

Emily’s face snaps to mine, her eyes wide, her mouth parted. “You…” Her eyes fill with water, which turns into fat tears that roll down her cheeks.

I brush those tears aside with my thumbs. “What did you say earlier to me? We’re best friends. Sisters. We will always love each other, no matter what.”

She flings herself into my arms and I hold her close.

For the first time in the last five years, I feel like I’ve done something right. Even though it hurts, I am taking my life into my own hands. With every breath, my strength grows.

62

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Dimitri

A few days later…

In the manor, I walk like a ghost through the rooms, as stark and empty as my soul. Mrs Bates resigned. Not sure where she is now. I told the remaining staff to take a holiday, paid them to leave me in my despair.

The dust is settling on all the old-fashioned tables and cabinets that are