‘And yet you still tried to ruin everything. How could I, poor little Felicity, who’d once been a part of your world, when I was so rudely kicked out, have the audacity to, as you put it, claw my way back in? Not content with that, when my life imploded, not only did I not roll over and beg someone to help me, but I went out and dared to find a good man and a good life. So, just like you always did at school, you found a way to try and ruin it.’
‘You were the same. Don’t go painting yourself as some angel.’
‘I agree. I was a bitch. And although it seemed like the worst thing in the world at the time, what happened back then was the best thing for me. I thought I wanted to be back in that world. That I needed to prove to everyone, and myself, that I deserved to be there. But I was never happy. I’d seen the other side then. I’d seen you and the others for what you are. Thank God for Adrian being so spineless and dumping me to marry someone with a more “reliable” lineage, because if he hadn’t, I’d have been trapped in that world.’
‘Oh, and you thinkthisis your world now?’ She dropped her voice to a stage whisper. ‘Newsflash. It isn’t.’ Her voice rose again. ‘Your so-called friends here know, just as you do, that, when it comes down to it, it’s all about the money for you.’
‘So you thought you’d test me. See if I had a price?’
‘Everyone has a price, Felicity.’
‘No, Araminta. They don’t. You do, as does your cousin. But good, decent people don’t.’
‘You just wait. You’ll go begging to Magnus for that job. But guess what?’ She sneered. ‘You’re too late.’
‘So are you.’
‘What?’ Her face contorted, in the very small way that it could, into confusion.
‘I’m not that girl any more. You don’t intimidate me and you can’t buy me. Your family acted disgustingly towards the man I love and I would never take a single penny from them for that reason alone. But even if that wasn’t the case, I’d still have had no interest. I get to choose now and I choose not to associate myself with people like you and your cousin.’
‘Then you’re even more stupid than I thought you were. Enjoy your “life”,’ she made air quotes, ‘here. Of course, you do realise that the moment you leave, they’ll all be talking about you behind your back.’ She glanced around coldly. ‘Your so-called friends.’
‘I think you’ve said quite enough.’ Jules stepped forward. ‘You can leave now.’
‘I’ll leave when I bloody well choose to, not when some country bumpkin tells me to.’
There was a collective gasp and, from the kitchen, Jesse stepped through into the café.
‘My sister said leave. I suggest you do so.’
Araminta looked at him, then at me, and a small smile crept onto her over-plumped lips.
She might be a cow, but she’d never been slow. ‘Oh-h-h-h. So the perfect man didn’t work out for you after all, then?’
Julie’s head snapped towards me, then Jesse, but neither of us reacted.
‘That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?’ I said. ‘To break something that made someone else happy. Congratulations. But in the end, I win. I know I’m nothing like the person I was at school, a person I’m now thoroughly ashamed of. You, on the other hand,’ I walked to the door and opened it, ‘are entirely the same. Now, my friend asked you to leave.’
She glared at me for a moment, then turned and left.
I closed the door after her and felt all eyes on my back. When I turned around, Jesse had gone.
I returned to my chair, Jules watching me open-mouthed as I did so, hooked my bag onto my shoulder and left.
* * *
I’d been home nearly an hour when I glanced out to see Jules’ car hurtling down the drive. Jesse had been about to call a friend to get a quote for finally having a proper one laid, but that task was something I’d need to add to my own to-do list now.
I opened the front door as she skidded the car to a halt and got out, knowing why she was there.
‘What happened?’
‘It didn’t work out.’
‘But… but why? Was it because of all that stuff that woman said?’
‘Partly.’
