‘Christ, Simone, what have you done?’ Dominic is yelling.
I can’t hear Simone’s reply.
Seconds later, his head appears. His hand flies to his mouth when he sees me huddled on the narrow ledge.
‘Oh, thank God, you’re all right.Areyou all right?’ he calls.
My wrist’s broken, my arms and legs are covered in grazes and my ribs are so sore every breath is excruciating, but I’m not in pieces at the bottom of the cliffs. ‘I’m fine,’ I shout back.
‘I’m coming to get you.’
‘No, Dom, it’s too dangerous. Call Demetriou. He’ll send help.’
He ignores me, pacing up and down, looking for a safe route to the ledge. At first it seems hopeless, but then he calls, ‘I’ll use the bushes.’
I look up to where he’s pointing. Sure enough, a handful of bushes are growing out of the rock, but their roots are half exposed to the elements. There’s no way they’ll hold his weight.
‘No, Dom!’ I cry, but he’s already lowering himself over the edge.
Half of me can’t bear to watch, the other half can’t tear my eyes away as he edges closer, clutching a branch while reaching for the next hold. Stones come loose, skittering past me and down to the sea. My heart is racing, my palms slippery with fear.
Soon he’s close enough for me to see the sweat on his face. He scrambles down beside me. I reach up with my good hand and he helps me to my feet. We cling to each other, my head tucked under his chin, his arms around me. I can feel his heart beating through the thin material of his T-shirt. Eventually, he breaks away.
‘We should go.’
‘I can’t. My arm—’ Tears smart as I motion to my broken wrist. ‘Get Simone to go for help.’
His expression hardens. ‘Not going to happen.’
‘You don’t know that. Surely she realises how much danger we’re in? She still loves you, anyone can see that.’
Dominic stares out to sea. When he speaks again, his voice is low.
‘You’re wrong.’ He drags his hands down his face, suddenly older, almost gaunt. ‘It’s taken me twenty years to realise that Simone is incapable of loving anyone but herself.’
I drop my voice instinctively. ‘You make her sound like a raving psychopath,’ I mutter. As I say it, I realise it’s not as ridiculous as it sounds. Simone claimed she killed Felix in self-defence, but I only have her word for it.
‘I’m not saying it’s her fault.’ Dominic meets my eyes. ‘It probably stems from her childhood. Either that, or it’s in her DNA.’
‘Not being loved alters the brain chemistry of a child,’ I say.
That’s what my social worker, Lisa, used to reckon. She said as much to Gran just before she became my legal guardian. Gran’s eyebrows had shot so far up her forehead they were in danger of disappearing under her hairline. ‘But Amber is loved,’ she’d cried. ‘Ilove her.’
‘Simone put me on a pedestal at university and has been playing power games ever since,’ Dom says. ‘It’s just taken me this long to see it.’
He looks crestfallen and I reach out with my good hand and touch his cheek.
‘When did you realise?’
His shoulders droop. ‘When she admitted she’d killed Felix and asked me to help her hide his body. I know what you’re thinking. I should have said no and called the police. But she told me she couldn’t go on if I did.’ He looks me in the eye. ‘I wasn’t lying when I said she tried to kill herself at uni. Though now I’m wondering if she really meant it or if she was doing it for effect.’
‘No one downs a packet of pills and a bottle of vodka for effect, Dom.’
He sighs. ‘Maybe you’re right. But whatever her motive, she was manipulating me then and she’s manipulating me now. Sheknewthat by threatening to hurt herself she guaranteed my help.’
I go to speak, then stop myself.
Dom squeezes my good arm. ‘What is it?’
