was still behaving like a diva, and had been most put out by Jade crashing through the floor-to-ceiling double doors, minus the anticipated client tray of tea and fancy biscuits.
‘You fucker,’ Jade snarled.
‘Who the hell are you?’ the actress demanded, raising one micro-bladed eyebrow.
‘I’ll tell you who I thought I was,’ said Jade as she darted around the huge boardroom table. ‘The next Mrs Harrison.’
‘Jade,’ Tom warned. ‘This is neither the time nor the place.’
‘Huh,’ Jade harrumphed, advancing towards Tom with wild eyes. ‘I’ve waited ten years for the right time and place, and it’s never been forthcoming. It never will be, will it? It’s all rubbish. For a decade you’ve drip-fed me false hope and bullshit. That’s almost a third of my life that I’ll never get back. Fuck you, Tom Harrison.’
‘Jade, we will talk about this later.’
‘Oh don’t mind me, dah-ling,’ drawled the actress, reaching into her Designer handbag and removing an electronic cigarette. ‘I haven’t had so much fun since my days on a movie set.’
Jade had ignored her.
‘I’ve just been told that Deanna left you two months ago.’
‘No, she hasn’t–’
‘Don’t lie!’ Jade howled. ‘I was talking to Cerys in Accounts. She couldn’t wait to buttonhole me for a chat by the coffee machine. She has a mate who apparently knows Deanna very well. Small world. Cerys gleefully told me that Deanna left you eight weeks ago. It was only last month you told me that Deanna had suffered a burst appendix, putting paid to yet another attempt to leave. Cerys also told me that Deanna knew you were having an affair, and that you had begged for forgiveness… pleaded with her not to go. But Deanna told you she needed time out. That she had some thinking to do. It doesn’t take much to work out that you’re hoping for a reconciliation. I’m nothing to you but a bit on the side who’s been brainwashed by broken promises. Too late I’ve realised that the only reliable thing about you is being a fucking liar and total shitbag.’
‘Oh dear,’ said the actress. ‘I’ve had a few shitbags myself, dah-ling. It always ended in tears. Recriminations galore. That’s why I’m here. Another divorce. I’ve lost count how many trouser crotches I’ve hacked to pieces over the years.’
But Jade hadn’t been listening to the actress. She hadn’t cared whether the woman ate married men for breakfast. This was her life. She wasn’t a celebrity rumoured to be a sex addict in her heyday. She was Jade Ferguson. An ordinary girl who’d regrettably fallen in love with a man claiming to be unhappily married to an unattractive, lazy, neurotic woman and – for the sake of his family’s mental well-being – had been toughing it out.
‘Was Deanna even in hospital?’
Tom had reddened.
‘I thought not,’ Jade hissed.
Maddened, she’d lunged at Tom, acrylic nails ready to inflict serious damage.
Tom had stood up faster than an Olympic sprinter leaving the starting block.
‘Too slow, dah-ling,’ said the actress to Jade. ‘You’re better off cutting up his suits.’
Jade had paid her no attention. With eyes full of menace, she’d picked up the hefty super-sized stapler languishing on the boardroom table. That action alone had seen Tom leaping up and grabbing the chair he’d been sitting on. He’d brandished it in front of him, using it like a riot shield to ward off a violent demonstrator.
‘Jade, I’m warning you now. Leave this boardroom, and we’ll say no more about it. I’m sure my client will be the soul of discretion. But if you continue with this behaviour, I’ll make sure you never work here again, and that the house you’re living in is taken away forthwith.’
‘BUGGER OFF,’ Jade screeched. ‘I don’t want this bloody job or your fucking house.’
The actress had tutted.
‘Never turn away property, dah-ling.’
Fuelled by anger and adrenalin, Jade had abandoned the stapler and aped Tom, picking up another chair. Charging forwards, she’d used it like a battering ram. There had been an undignified scream from Tom as he’d slammed backwards against the boardroom wall, his abdomen and private parts squashed by two lots of office furniture.
The din had alerted the receptionist. She’d erupted into the boardroom, alarmed to discover the senior partner pinned up against the wall while his PA screeched, “Take this, you tosser… and this… and this.” Paling, she’d called Security.
‘Oh, spoilsport,’ said the actress, her derma-filled lips pouting. ‘I haven’t been so entertained in years.’
Jade had been instantly fired for gross misconduct. She’d been escorted off the premises clutching her