‘Wait, I need to come with you,’ Lettie insisted.
‘But you have to park the car somewhere. I’m fine.’ She gave Lettie an apologetic look. ‘Sorry, I can’t wait. I have to get to them and stop Zac and Callum from confronting him before something dreadful happens.’
Lettie groaned. ‘Fine. I’ll catch you up. We can’t lose Rhys, not now we’ve seen him.’
Melody got out of the car and slammed the door, immediately setting off at a run. She had no intention of losing Rhys again. She’d had enough. She was going to put a stop to this nonsense once and for all, and she had no intention of letting the men do her dirty work for her.
‘Melody!’ Lettie called.
Ignoring her friend, Melody gritted her teeth. She could find out what Lettie wanted soon enough. She saw Rhys stop and turn to look in her direction. Damn, Melody thought, guessing he had heard Lettie calling out to her. Callum’s step faltered but Zac kept running. Seeing Zac, Rhys looked stunned for a split second before taking off again. He turned and ran down one of the back streets.
‘Damn.’ She had no idea where he was going and if she lost him now, she doubted she would find him again.Melody kept running, ignoring a couple of surprised looks from holidaymakers out shopping.
He ran down another street and unable to keep him in her sight, she was relieved Zac and Callum were following. She lost them for a moment, then saw a sign saying Hue Street. She was unsure where it would lead them. Assuring herself that Rhys couldn’t have expected to see them coming after him or have any of this planned, she doubted he was taking her down a dead end. Even if he was, she decided, she was too furious to care.
She lost him again, then hearing Zac’s enraged voice followed by a commotion, turned left down another street and saw he had cornered Rhys by some large wheelie bins. He must have taken one of the small lanes and bypassed the pair of them. She was relieved to see he had caught Rhys.
‘You OK?’ Callum asked her when she reached him.
‘A little out of breath,’ Melody said, spotting Lettie bringing up the rear. ‘You could have stayed with the car,’ she said, hating that her three friends were getting so deeply involved in her drama.
Melody saw Rhys’s eyes narrow dangerously. She recognised that look, it came before he lashed out. Zac’s fists clenched and he moved forward. Determined not to let Zac get into trouble on her account, she ran forward and pushed her way in between them.
‘I can deal with this now, Zac,’ she said, turning her back to him as she glared into Rhys’s steely eyes.
‘No chance. I’m not leaving you to deal with this creature.’
‘It’s fine. I’ve got this,’ Melody said. ‘But thank you for tracking him down, guys.’
Rhys laughed. She ignored his mocking.
‘Are you sure?’ Zac said after a moment’s hesitation. She looked at him and saw his concern and loved him even more for wanting to protect her.
‘One hundred per cent certain.’
Melody folded her arms so Rhys couldn’t see how badly her hands were shaking, although she wasn’t quite sure whether it was through nerves or having needed to run after him. Her legs were a bit shaky too, she realised.
‘Why are you still here, Rhys?’ she snapped, turning her full attention back onto his contemptuous smirk.
‘Why shouldn’t I be?’
She noticed Zac’s hands were closing into fists then opening again out of the corner of her eye but was glad that he left her to deal with Rhys when she had insisted on doing so. He was clearly struggling to keep control of his temper. But she needed to do this for herself.
‘Because there’s nothing here for you,’ Melody said as calmly as she could manage through gritted teeth. ‘Surely even you must understand that by now, Rhys? Our marriage is over. Well and truly finished. Let’s be honest, neither of us have been happy for months now.’ He went to argue, but she shook her head slowly. ‘It’s true and, what’s more, it’s about time you took responsibility for the way you’ve treated me. Your behaviour was disgusting, but hitting me, well, surely even you must have known that was going way too far. Maybe you even subconsciously knew that by doing so I would leave you, so that you didn’t have to make that decision for us.’
It was the first time the thought had occurred to her but now it had she suspected that’s exactly what he had done. He was a coward; it was as simple as that.
He glared at her for sharing their private moments, but she didn’t care, aware that doing so took away some of the power he felt he had over her.
Melody held up her hands and pointed over her shoulders to Zac and Callum who she knew were still behind her. Lettie joined them, out of breath for the second time that afternoon.‘I’ve told my friends everything,’ Melody said, aware how much he would hate to think others had been made aware of the way he had treated her. ‘I’m not embarrassed to tell them how the man I married ended up treating me.’
‘Friends.’ He spat the word. ‘Don’t tell me you and farmer boy here haven’t got something going on.’
‘We have.’ She was taking a chance that her admission might push him too far but was past caring. ‘You no longer have any say about the choices I make, Rhys.’
She felt less afraid of him with every word. Her shoulders felt lighter and she wanted to be open about her and Zac, but more than anything had every intention of letting Rhys know exactly where he stood.
His mouth opened to say something but nothing came out.
