‘I’m sorry, Diane,’ Sadie says, flushing a little. ‘I know I shouldn’t have told them. It was unprofessional. But, look, I fulfilled my part of the deal. I broke them up for you. That particular job… it’s finished. Then another job came along and I took it, simple as that.’
‘Talking of which…’ I pull a cheque out of my bag. ‘Your fee, Sadie.’
She takes it from me. ‘Thank you, Gemma.’
I turn back to face Diane. ‘You hired Sadie to split us up, which she did. And then I hired her to get us back together again, which she did. She also showed us all the emails and bank statements relating to your transactions, so don’t even try to deny what you’ve done.’
Diane’s mouth is opening and closing, but no words are coming out.
‘What’s the matter, Mother? Don’t you like it when people go behind your back? It’s not very nice, is it?’
Diane is shaking her head. Her face is pale and I notice her hands are quivering. But I can’t feel sorry for my mother-in-law. She’s brought this upon herself. She’s been found out and she knows that Robert will never forgive her.
Diane comes over to stand before him. ‘Robert, you’re my son, and I love you—’
‘That doesn’t give you the right to try to run my life! I’m not a child any more, I’m a grown man, for Christ’s sake!’
‘But you can’t possibly believe—’
‘Don’t even bother TRYING!’ Robert’s face is crimson. I’ve never seen him so angry. His hands are balled fists and a muscle in his cheek pulses and twitches.
I take his hand and uncurl his fist, slipping my own into his. Putting my other hand on his arm. ‘There’s no point getting upset,’ I murmur. ‘We’ve said what we came to say. We should just leave.’
‘You’re enjoying this!’ Diane cries, pushing at my shoulder. ‘You’ve poisoned him against me. You wicked, wicked little bitch!’
I gasp at her outburst. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Diane swear. It’s like a slap in the face. I take a breath and tell myself to rise above it. She doesn’t have the power to hurt me any more.
‘Right,’ Robert says, pulling me to my feet. ‘That’s it, we’re leaving. You don’t talk to my wife like that. In fact, you don’t talk to Gemma ever again, full stop.’
‘Robert, don’t do this. You’re making a terrible mistake…’
‘Goodbye, Mother. We’re going now and we won’t be coming back. Don’t come anywhere near me or my family again. You’ve just lost your son and your grandchildren. Good job,Diane. I hope it’s made you happy.’
Robert and I are both trembling as we leave Diane’s house with Sadie. I feel as though we’ve been through a war. As Sadie drives away, I’m left with mixed feelings about the woman. Her job, her website, must be the cause of so much misery. I bet no one else on the receiving end of her ‘work’ has managed to discover that they’ve been played. How many relationships has she destroyed? How many happy couples and families has she torn apart because of some bitter, unhappy individual who has paid her a fee? I realise it won’t do me any good to dwell on it. All I can do now is thank God that I’ve been granted a second chance. And I’m not about to waste it.
Epilogue
One month later
She’s never been to East Anglia before. Strange, but the stormy sky seems bigger here, like the darkening clouds could swallow you up and you’d never be seen again. Dusk is falling as she pushes open the door to the wine bar, the soft, warm lighting beckoning her in. This is her second trip to visit Sadie. Of course, that’s not the woman’s real name, but she’s grown used to it now. She can’t think of her as anyone else. It’s funny to think they won’t be in contact again after this final meeting. Oddly, she feels like they’re kindred spirits, set apart from the rest of the world, moving through life in their own separate orbits. Their first meeting took place up north last year after she stumbled upon Sadie’s website. It’s amazing the sorts of things you can find on the dark web.
She checks her watch. She’s early, but Sadie is already here, sitting in a dim corner at the back, a glass of something clear in front of her. It could be water, it could be vodka. Weaving her way between the tables and past the busy bar area, she places a hand protectively over her bag, nervous about carrying so much cash out in public. But she had to bring the final payment along today. And it was worth every penny. She’s impressed with how everything has worked out exactly as Sadie promised. Well,almost. She would have preferred it if Gemma and Robert had actually split up. That would have been the icing on the cake. But Sadie warned against pushing it further. She advised keeping an eye on the original brief. Not to get distracted. Sadie cautioned that it would be tricky, if not impossible, to get between Gemma and Robert, and that it could ruin everything they had worked so hard towards. She was right, of course, but it still galls that their marriage is as solid as ever.
She reaches Sadie’s table, sits opposite her and takes a deep breath, stretching out the cricks in her neck from the long journey. She’s not used to driving this far. Usually, she just potters around Bournemouth, but at least she had a good audiobook to listen to, so that helped pass the time and keep her calm. She won’t bother with a drink. She was going to try to find a B & B after this meeting, but she decides she’ll probably just get in her car and drive straight back home.
‘Hello,’ Sadie says without getting up. ‘We’re all done then?’
‘Yes, all done,’ she replies, taking a seat opposite and crossing her long legs. ‘Robert’s had no contact with his mother since he found out what she supposedly did. They’ve refused all Diane’s attempts at any kind of reconciliation.’
‘I’m pleased for you.’ Sadie takes a sip of her drink. ‘It was a long road, but we got there in the end.’
‘We did,’ Amelia replies. ‘Thanks to you.’
Sadie dips her head in acknowledgement.
Amelia was first alerted to the dark web while searching for some contacts for her husband’s business. She had the idea that he could diversify from antiques to something less legitimate. James is not a successful businessman. He plays at being a big shot, but it frustrates Amelia how utterly business illiterate he is. She’s always having to guide him away from bad deals. Away from people who would take advantage of his good nature. If he didn’t have her at his shoulder, they’d be more broke than they already are.
Anyway, she came across Sadie’s website, ‘Break-Up Babe’, after it was mentioned in an online chat forum. Someone with the username ‘PissedOff555’ was searching for Sadie after she’d destroyed his family somehow or another – Amelia can’t quite remember the details. Sadie later changed her website name to ‘Relationship Assassin’, as this disgruntled client was getting too close to her. Now she’s shut that site down too. She must have to keep doing this in order to protect herself. Amelia realises it will probably be impossible to contact her again after today.
