Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,121

all that he had done, and also to check if he had spoken to Dale. She thought it unlikely that Dale would have called as he wasn’t expecting her back until this evening but her husband was nothing if not unpredictable.

Most of the lights had been switched out but she was relieved to see that one still shone in her section and she hastened her steps to make sure that she caught Stephen before he left. Rounding the corner she almost stopped in her tracks as she realised that it wasn’t Stephen still in their section but Olivia - probably the last person in the world she wanted to see right now.

She hesitated for a moment and then decided that she would just go to her desk, check that all was in order and then leave again. If Olivia chose to speak to her then so be it, but given the rumours that the girl had been spreading, Elise wasn’t going to waste any breath on pleasantries with her. It didn’t matter that the rumours were true, that was beside the point. Elise hated gossiping and in particular people that knew half a story and then made up the rest. She was of the opinion that people should live their own lives rather than everyone else’s and unless you knew the full facts, you should not judge, preach, gloat or revel in other people’s misfortunes.

As she approached her desk, Olivia turned and Elise drew in a sharp breath at the pure hatred that crossed the younger girl’s face as she registered who it was.

Slowly Olivia stood from where she had been crouched at the filing cabinet. “YOU....” she said, pure venom dripping from the single word.

Elise opted to ignore her and went to her desk where she opened the drawer, collected a couple of personal items, and checked for any important messages that may have been left. She had no need to get into this - whatever this was - with Olivia, and anything else, was just none of the girl’s business.

As if realising that she was being ignored, Olivia rounded the group of desks and started to walk up to Elise, clearly determined to have her say. Elise contemplated walking away; knowing that that would be the smart thing to do but she also knew that if Olivia didn’t get this off her chest, the atmosphere would rumble on and on and that would not be good for anyone at work. Perhaps the girl would just say what she needed to and then they could part, agree to disagree and leave it at that.

By now Olivia had reached her and was standing directly in front of her, eye to eye, as the women were of a similar height. Up close, Elise registered again how pretty Olivia was but her face was contorted by pure loathing and for the first time Elise realised how much the girl really did hate her.

“You bitch...” she hissed between gritted teeth, her voice low and deadly, “You fucking bitch. You knew he was mine. How dare you think that you can have what is mine?”

Elise blinked, momentarily stunned and not immediately following Olivia’s train of thought.

“Did you fuck him? I bet you did, you dirty bitch. Is it not enough to have one man waiting at home that you have to take someone else’s as well?”

Vaughn. She was talking about Vaughn.

“Even if you did fuck him,” she continued, “you know he’ll be coming back to me. What we share is way beyond anything you can ever give him. Who knows what he saw in a dirty whore like you but I know he’ll be back. I have everything that he needs and that night that we were together was the best night of his life. Why would he want someone that’s old and tainted, when he can have me?”

Elise didn’t reply, her brain was still trying to comprehend all that Olivia was saying. In those few sentences she had confirmed what Elise had always suspected, that Vaughn had slept with Olivia that night but she was also suggesting that there was more to it than that and that there was some kind of relationship going on.

She understood that the girl was angry and quite possibly a little deluded but she had no reason to disbelieve what she was saying. Surely you wouldn’t get this worked up over a man if you didn’t think there was something going on between you? What kind of promises