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‘Of course they are, darling,’ Serena cooed at Lizzie’s father. ‘You grew up with them.’
Darling? Serena had definitely put her father up to this.
‘And you can stay out of it,’ Serena sneered as Lizzie crossed the hall to see what Serena was putting into her pocket. Seeing it was one of the valuable antique paperweights had grandmother had used to collect when times were better, Lizzie pulled it out of her mother’s pocket and returned it to the shelf.
Grabbing hold of Lizzie’s shoulder, Serena shoved her roughly out of the way. ‘No one’s going to stop us taking what’s rightfully ours,’ she exclaimed angrily.
‘And that’s where you’re wrong.’
They all turned to face the door.
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘CHICO!’ LIZZIE’S BREATH left her lungs in a rush.
‘I might have known I’d find you here, Serena...Reginald,’ he said quietly.
The menace in his voice made her shiver, so goodness knew how her parents felt, Lizzie thought as Chico unwound the scarf from his neck and shut the door. He didn’t need to shout as they did to establish command, because Chico had a quiet strength that didn’t call for the posturing of her parents.
‘You’re getting careless,’ he observed, trapping them in his unwavering stare. ‘You should have remembered to close the door when you came in, but I imagine you were in too much of a hurry to plunder the house.’
‘Get out!’ Serena shrieked, cowering behind Lizzie’s father, who was swaying alarmingly now.
‘I’ll leave when I’m ready to leave. But as we’re all gathered here in one place I think this is the ideal moment to air some long-held grievances, and pick out the truth from the lies.’
‘You’re the liar,’ Serena flared self-righteously.
‘I haven’t said a word yet,’ Chico pointed out. ‘But that’s you being true to type, isn’t it, Serena? I’m guilty of all charges, regardless of whether I even know about the crime. What was it I was supposed to have done to you, Serena? I think we could all do with reminding about that, don’t you?’
‘I’m surprised you dare to ask such a question in front of my daughter. Come here, Lizzie. Come to Mummy. I’ll protect you.’
‘I don’t think so,’ Lizzie exclaimed, hardly daring to look at Chico in case his feelings didn’t match her own. She had no intention of looking to her parents for support. It was too late for that. ‘I prefer to make up my mind free of bias, if you don’t mind, Serena. As I was little more than a child at the time, and mostly ignored, I’m interested to hear what you all have to say.’
As Serena stripped off her fur coat Chico realised that Lizzie’s mother was dressed for seduction in a low-cut dress that skimmed her skinny figure like a second skin. He almost laughed out loud. Never waste an opportunity. That was Serena’s motto. Who knew what opportunity the funeral might throw up? she must have thought. He was careful to keep his distance from the woman, though now she’d got used to him being here, Serena had left the shelter of her husband’s swaying body to prowl around Chico. She made his hair stand on end—and not in a good way. He thought about tossing her in the lake to cool her ardour, but with all the jewellery she was wearing she’d probably sink.
To his surprise, it was Reginald who spoke first. Drawing himself up, Lord Fane said slowly and with considerable deliberation, ‘You don’t belong here, boy. This is a time of family grief, and if you had any decency at all you would realise that and leave.’
‘So, you’re not here to strip the place bare?’ Chico enquired mildly.
Serena erupted. ‘How dare you?’ she flared. Coming to stand in front of him, she lowered her head like an angry bull. ‘You’re just an urchin from the slums.’
He almost laughed. He certainly had no answer to Serena’s accusation. Firstly, he was hardly an urchin as he towered over everyone in the hall—and though he would never have mentioned it, he could buy and sell Rottingdean ten times over out of his petty cash.
‘Isn’t it rather vulgar to discuss class at a time like this?’ he murmured, fixing Serena in his mocking stare.
‘It’s never the wrong time to discuss class,’ Serena assured him, drawing herself up. ‘I see you don’t deny the charge?’
‘Why should I deny the charge, as you call it, when I’m proud of where I come from? My goal has never been to deny my background, but to build on what I’ve learned from it, so I can help others in the future.’
‘Like you tried to help me?’ Serena demanded, her voice turning weepy now she had realised that her bullying tactics wouldn’t work on him.
‘Since you mention it, yes, I did talk to you to begin with,’ he admitted. ‘I even sympathised with your so-called plight, until I realised what you were really like, and what you were after.’
‘What I was after?’ Serena demanded haughtily. ‘Would you care to explain that?’ She glanced at Lizzie, perhaps thinking he wouldn’t sink to discussing sex in front of her daughter.
And she was right. Chico’s attention was wholly focused on Lizzie now. ‘Your mother kept those letters from you, because she felt bitter towards me for not falling for her as she expected me to. I needed you to speak up for me, Lizzie.’
‘And I would have done,’ she said fiercely, holding his stare for the longest time.
‘I never replied, because I never got the letters, because you kept them from me,’ she accused her mother.
‘I was protecting you, darling,’ Serena insisted.
‘From this terrible man?’ Lizzie gazed at him, with a plea for forgiveness in her eyes.
Her parents, on the other hand, couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes, he noticed. It was hardly surprising, when they had been well and truly brought to book.
‘You were trying to lure me into your vile world, Serena, and when I refused to have anything to do with you, you made false accusations against me.’
As Lizzie’s mother drew her head back in a mockery of surprise he thought Serena had lost her way. She should have been on the stage.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she protested, clutching her chest as if she were about to faint.
‘Serena!’ Lizzie’s father exclaimed.
‘There’s no point in lying about it now. We just need him out of here, and if an apology is all that’s required, then please do it.’
‘Please, just do it,’ Lizzie added quietly, as if she couldn’t wait for this to be over and for her parents to leave.
Her father beamed at her, no doubt thinking Lizzie had returned to the fold, but Chico knew that Lizzie just wanted to have a life free from their deceit.
‘Very well, I lied,’ Serena exclaimed angrily, as if everyone else in the room were to blame except for her. ‘Someone had to answer for all the gossip in the village, and it wasn’t going to be me.’
‘So I was your scapegoat?’ Chico suggested mildly.
‘Why not you?’ Serena demanded.
‘So, to recap,’ he said, gazing at Lizzie as he spoke to Serena. ‘I never touched you—I never forced myself on you—I never joined in your games?’
‘As if I’d have let you,’ Serena sneered. ‘A boy from the slums? Are you mad?’
‘Mad? No,’ he assured Lizzie’s mother. ‘Though you didn’t seem to be quite so fussy at the time.’
‘You were young and ripe,’ she said carelessly.
Even Reginald had the good grace to look shocked.
‘I can see now that I had nothing else to offer you but my youth,’ he agreed.
‘Then, or now,’ Serena stated haughtily. ‘So, if you don’t mind, now that you’ve got all that out of your system, I’d like you to leave.’
‘You’d like me to leave?’ He glanced at Lizzie, who had gone pale, but who was standing her ground. Learning about the fate of his letters must have been a shock for her, though he guessed that this further proof of her parents’ abominable behaviour hadn’t helped, and he was keen to redress the balance for her.
‘What would you like me to do, Lizzie?’
