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“Kirsty,” someone called out to her. “Great show. I voted for you.”
She tried to smile, but it was too difficult.
“Don’t stop to talk to anyone. You don’t want to endanger them, do you?”
Kirsty hated him for that comment alone. Even after years of knowing Brandon, intimately, she realised that she’d never known him at all. This man, this vile man, was so far removed from the man she thought she’d loved that it made her nauseous.
“You’re despicable,” she told him.
He smiled thinly.
They marched around the stalls and people chatting in the street. Underfoot, the now icy snow crunched in the areas where it hadn’t been totally compacted by the many feet. Bizarrely, Kirsty found herself wondering if anyone had thought to salt the street the following morning, otherwise the pavements would be covered in a deadly layer of ice. She knew, in some part of her brain, that her inane thoughts had more to do with the shock of the situation than the reality.
“Why are you doing this?” she said.
“Why do you care?” He seemed amused.
“Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?” She tried to pull away from him, but he held her tighter. “You left me broken and penniless.”
His smirk turned her stomach.
“I didn’t leave you without resources. Women like you can always find what you want in someone’s bed.”
He ran his gaze over her body and she shuddered. The thought that she’d let this man touch her was too much to bear.
“Was anything real?” she said. “Any of it?”
“You mean us?”
“I mean everything.”
He actually laughed.
“We had fun, if that’s what you mean, and I probably would have gone through with the wedding. Back then you were surprisingly useful and conveniently gullible. It was entertaining.”
“You used me.” She meant their relationship and her feelings for him, but he misunderstood.
“You were the best damn mule in the business. You could walk a fortune in blood diamonds through airport security, and no one blinked an eye. They were all too enamoured by your tits and legs.”
He ran a hand over her hip to cup her backside. Kirsty shuddered as she pulled away from him.
“Now, now, Kirsty,” he said with a smile. “You can’t fool me. Remember, I know exactly what you like.”
To Kirsty’s shame, she couldn’t think of anything to say in reply. Panic was taking over her brain. Panic from the repulsion she felt at his touch.
“I nearly pissed myself laughing that time we were flying out of Kenya and you tried to give away the necklace to a woman who admired it.” He acted as though they were old friends wandering down memory lane. All the while his fingers were digging into her backside and his knife pressed the skin over her kidney. “It was our thing, remember? We’d travel and I’d buy you some worthless piece of jewellery for you to wear on the trip. You were so pleased at the gesture and so damn bubble-headed that you never even noticed when I swapped them out for a similar piece once we got home.”
He laughed hard at that.
“Poor, dumb, Kirsty,” he said sadly. “I miss having you around to do my dirty work.”
Kirsty struggled to steady her breathing. She started to feel lightheaded and her fingers tingled. The initial shock of the night had worn off and anxiety was setting in. Only this time, there were no strong hands on her shoulders to make it stop. In fact, there was no Lake at all.
As they approached her shop, the Donaldson twins waved from their stall and cast curious glances at Brandon. The carol singers were still in full swing in front of her window. They sang of Good Will To All Men, which was weirdly out of place in her mind.
“Are you okay?” one of the
twins asked, while looking nervously at Brandon.
