Page 138 of The Jealous Girl

‘I thought he was gone. Out of our lives. But now…’ He shook his head. ‘Have you been in contact with him all this time?’

‘No,’ I replied honestly.

But the question hurt.

‘Do you even understand how bad things are right now, Kirsty? Not just for you, but for the stables. For me.’

‘I didn’t do anything wrong.’

‘That interview was relentless,’ he continued. ‘The police asked me where I was at the time of Charlotte’s death, can you believe it? Then they started asking about our relationship. Wanting to know why you and I broke up. How long Charlotte and I had been dating. If we were dating before you and I got back together⁠—’

‘Were you?’ I asked suddenly.

Ryan blinked.

‘You never actually told me what happened after I left, two years ago. Did you and Charlotte get together?’

‘What does that have to do with anything?’

‘It’s a fair question, don’t you think? You left me for her last week, then came back to me the day she died.’

‘So this is about me now?’

‘It’s about us.’

Ryan shook his head. ‘You manipulate things, just like she did. I came here because I was worried about you. Because I wanted to help you.’ He snorted. ‘Clearly you’ve already got all the help you need.’

He turned and left without another word.

I stared at the door, the sudden silence feeling strange and unsettling.

How had this happened? One minute I’d had them both back in my life. Ben. Ryan. On my side. Trying to help. And now…

I let out a slow breath.

I had no one.

48

NOW

Late August

Saturday

‘It does this sometimes,’ I assured the new receptionist as I leaned slightly across the desk.

I glanced at the guests waiting to check in. ‘Sorry for the hold-up,’ I said with a polite smile.

I lifted the room key encoder and tapped a few buttons. ‘It just needs resetting like this.’

She nodded quickly, her eyes watching my every movement intently, as though she was terrified of missing something critical.

I remembered that feeling. Learning how to manage the systems, how to deal with the long queues at check-in. The constant fear of messing something up.

‘Don’t worry, Emma. You’ll get the hang of it,’ I assured her, remembering how important my supervisor’s reassurance had been to me when I’d started at my first hotel.

She smiled gratefully.