Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“I don’t know… everything I could… which wasn’t much,” she said.
“Okay, well you’ve done your civic duty then,” I replied. “Well done.”
“They think I might be involved in whatever you are involved in!” she accused me.
“You took that risk when you lied about who you were and walked right into my business trying to sabotage things,” I said calmly. I kept reminding myself to be cool, act like none of it mattered, like she was nothing to me. It was hard.
“Sabotage what?” she burst. “You’re embezzling?”
“Look, I don’t know what you wanted to do, or why, but you have done it now, so I don’t see what else I can help you with,” I said, almost hanging up as I felt the anger build up inside me.
“Keegan, Clover House stole Cre8ure from us. I needed to prove it. It was the only way to stop our family business going down the drain,” she said. “I wanted to find out the truth!” She had balls, I had to give her that.
“You wanted to find out the truth,” I repeated. “And how is that working out for you?”
“So, tell me then, tell me the truth!” she demanded.
“Which version of the truth would you like? The police seem to have all kinds of proof, financial irregularities stretching back for months, apparently.”
“I trusted you,” she said, and there was hurt in her voice that I didn’t understand.
“I trusted you, I guess we were both wrong,” I replied.
“I would never have helped you steal from my family or defraud your own!” she spat.
“I would never have asked you to!” I returned, my voice raised now.
There was a long silence, but I could hear her breathing heavily. I closed my eyes. I wanted to have it out with her, to hear all of what she had to say, to listen and understand. But at the bottom of it all was the fact that not only had she lied about who she was, she had continued the deception, and that meant that it was all a lie, everything that had happened. I had told her everything I had to tell, things I hadn’t told anyone else, and she had sat there and pitied me and spent those few precious nights in bed with me, and never told me who she really was, or why she had done it. The time for hearing her reasons had passed. I was out.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“Far away from all of it, somewhere where I don’t have to kowtow to what anyone expects of me. I’m done with it all,” I said, my anger only increasing at the concern in her voice.
“I never meant for this to happen,” she said. “I have my reasons for doing what I did.”
“Freya,” I said her name tenderly, and it hurt to say it. “I can’t do this. Whatever you have done or not done, I am sure I will hear about it in court. Please do not contact me again.”
I hung up and lifted my arm to throw the phone into the sea, then caught myself and stopped. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt angrier with another person. How could I believe her version of events? I didn’t think she had set me up like Sean had hinted – there was no reason for her to do that, but she had certainly been there to watch me, to judge me. I thought about her inviting me on the night out with the Design team, I played right into her hands showing up drunk and upset. She had danced in front of me. She must have known I was watching, and she had me right where she wanted me. She did the same on the Dublin trip, the green dress, telling me that she was taped into it, long lingering goodbyes in the hallway. She was playing me, and I had been thinking with my dick. I picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it into the water. How could I have been so stupid? I made up my mind not to give her any more headspace, and instead, I turned my thoughts to what I was going to do next.
I had to continue like none of this was happening. I had to carry on. I couldn’t go back now. I had to believe that I was going to get out of this, and if that meant going forward with my plans with less money, or without the family business as a safety net, then that was what I was going to do. My phone buzzed again, and I checked it quickly to see if it was Freya calling back, but I knew it wouldn’t be. It was my father, and I couldn’t face talking to him right now. I ignored the call, swung my jacket over my shoulder and went back to the bike, sitting glistening in the sunshine.