Chapter Twenty-Two
Evie
‘How’s the hand?’ After she’d spilt the coffee, Bonnie had leapt forward and turned the cold tap on, thrusting Evie’s skin beneath it before the burn settled. And then she’d given her an ice pack wrapped in a tea towel, which by now had started to warm through in the heat of the kitchen.
‘It’s fine, which is more than can be said for my pride.’ Evie gestured to the photographs now turned face down on the table. It’d been harder to tell Bonnie the truth than Lizzy, or Jack. Nicole and Bonnie both trusted her, and Evie had lived in constant fear of revealing her true self; she’d been petrified of how anyone close to her would react. She felt it was a level of betrayal to keep this from them, but when the truth had poured out, Bonnie had locked up the front entrance and they’d hidden out in the kitchen as Evie told her the whole sorry story: everything from her teenage years, to caring for her mother and her father disappearing, to the reappearance of Uncle Brett in her life.
‘I don’t understand what he has to gain by publishing those pictures of you.’ Bonnie shook her head. ‘He’ll ruin your reputation, but there’s nothing much in that for him.’
‘Except he gains the upper hand,’ said Evie glumly.
‘And he could ruin my business in the process.’
‘I’m so sorry, Bonnie. I always thought I’d leave, run to New York and that would be the end of it. I never thought he’d pursue me like this.’
Bonnie looked into the space between Evie and the kitchen door. ‘All those expos, all that media coverage. If he wants to, he could ruin everything.’
‘I’m so sorry.’ Evie exhaled. ‘I threatened to go to the police once, but I was so scared, I didn’t dare. All I wanted to do was make a go of things on my own, away from him. And now, all I want is to keep everything I’ve found, everything I’ve worked for.’ She felt tears threaten again and bit down on her lip.
Bonnie handed her a tissue. ‘I’m sorry, Evie. I’m not angry at you.’
‘You’re not?’
‘How could I be?’ She tilted her head to one side, understanding. ‘You were a child when this all started, and that man is a predator. No child deserves to live in fear as you did. Uncle or not, he should be punished.’
‘I don’t want to go to the police now.’
‘Why? I’ll vouch for you.’
‘Don’t you see?’ Tears fell freely down her cheeks. ‘If I shop his own brother, no matter what he has done, Dad will never come home. I’ll never know why he left me. I wasn’t good enough then for him to stay, so ruining his brother’s life will only push him further away.’
‘Oh, Evie.’ Bonnie’s hand covered hers. ‘If he’s the sort of father worth having, he’d do everything in his power to support you.’
‘So why did he leave me? I look at Jack Churchill and he doesn’t get on with his father, but they’re there for each other. His father has kept a business going so Jack has a future. Jack was by his father’s side when he had a heart scare. Whatever has happened in their lives, their family has stuck together. What do I have to do to have the same in my life?’
Evie fell against Bonnie, and Bonnie let her cry on her shoulder. She soothed her with her words. ‘You’ve done nothing wrong, you hear me? Nothing.’
After Evie’s tears subsided, Bonnie said, ‘I understand why you did it.’ She took out a block of chocolate from the kitchen cabinet, winking at Evie as she passed her a few squares. ‘You were fighting for survival in the only way you saw how. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell me. We’re friends now, more than employer and employee.’
‘When my uncle threatened to put the images onto social media, I knew his goal. It was to embarrass me, and anyone who’d ever helped me get out of the life he had for me in Connecticut. He would’ve made sure your reputation was tarnished for taking on a street girl, someone who made her money taking her clothes off. Who wants to be featured in a bridal couture magazine in a dress designed by a girl off the streets, a glamour model who bared all? And bringing any disrepute to you and The Perfect Fit Couture was more than I could bear. Without this chance you gave me, I don’t know where I would’ve ended up. In this business, reputation is everything.’
‘Oh, Evie.’ Bonnie shook her head, but she didn’t deny Evie was right. She’d taken years to build up a reputation, and the thought of losing it in an instant couldn’t be thrilling at all.
‘I didn’t ever want Nicole to know either. She gave me a chance when she found me living on the streets and I didn’t want to lose her respect. There are certain things you do and certain things you don’t do in society, and taking your clothes off isn’t something I see many people approving of.’
‘Listen, take the afternoon off, Evie. Go to Nicole’s, tell her everything.’
Evie shook her head.
‘It’s not a request, it’s an order. It’s time you were honest with her, and if I know Nicole, which I think I do, she’ll admire you for that, never mind anything else.’
Evie collected her coat and her bag, and knowing what she had to do, emerged into the crisp autumn air on the New York City streets, wondering whether she was taking the final steps in her existing life and whether if, in a few hours’ time, she’d still be able to hold her head high in this new version of herself.
She was so consumed with her thoughts she didn’t notice the man stepping out of the shadows as she arrived at Nicole’s apartment building; the man who slipped into the elevator as Evie laughed with Reggie the doorman when Mrs Aberman’s poodle pooped in the foyer; the man who grabbed her the second the elevator doors closed, covered her mouth to stop her screams.
