AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I squint, my brain not wanting to acknowledge what I’m seeing.
The girl, pouting through scarlet lipstick and dark, smoky eyes, is Belle.
‘You bastard.’ I close the folder, shoving it back at him.
‘Keep them. Get them framed for your living room.’
‘Did you drug her, you sick fuck?’
He lifts his pint and brings it slowly to his mouth, staring at me over the rim.
‘Nothing too hard, don’t worry.Yet,’ he adds.
‘These must have been taken when she was seventeen.’
He nods, making a thoughtful face. ‘Guess so. Her portfolio is causing a stir already. She’s going to be popular.’
‘Popular withwho, for Christ’s sake? Belle wouldn’t have done this willingly.’
‘You clearly don’t know your daughter,’ he says, laughing. ‘She’s surprisingly…openfor someone who’s led such a sheltered life.’ He takes another sip of his pint. ‘She’s infatuated with me, of course. Will do anything I say.’
‘Not any more, she won’t.’
‘Now if onlyyou’ddo what I say, I won’t have to make these public, will I?’ He taps the folder.
‘You can’t do that.’
‘Look,’ he says, leaning forward. ‘Vaughn’s a patient man, but he has his limits. And you’re pushing them. But you always did, didn’t you? If you can’t pay him back, then Belle will have to work off your debt. Seems fair, right?’
‘I don’t give a fuck about Vaughn or his money,’ I say. ‘And neither do I give a fuck about you.’
He wiggles a finger at me. ‘Don’t be like that, Hannah.’ He spits out my name. ‘Being all hot-headed and disobedient got you into this mess in the first place, remember?’
I stare at him, my face pinched from anger. I swear, if there was a knife on the table right now, I’d stab him with it.
‘Did you see the last photograph?’ he continues. ‘Thought you’d especially like that one.’
I swallow, not wanting to rise to his bait, but equally I need to know what he’s talking about.
Slowly, I open the folder again, making a point of not focusing on the pictures of my girl…my heart is bleeding enough for her. I turn them over to expose the final picture and, again, my eyes take a moment to absorb what it is I’m looking at.
My hand whips up to cup my mouth as the retch comes…and with the other, I slam the folder closed. Then, without thinking, I swipe my arm at his pint glass, knocking it over and drenching him in beer.
He leaps up, yelling obscenities. A group of lads nearby by jeer and someone slow-claps at what they think is an accident.
‘You bitch,’ he spits at me, lunging for me across the table. But suddenly a strong pair of hands are around his shoulders, pulling him back.
‘Oi, steady there, mate,’ the man says. He looks like a rugby player and his reactions are quick. ‘No need for that. It was just an accident, right?’
Jack shrugs him off, raising his hands. ‘Yeah,’ he says, scowling at him sideways. He straightens his shirt. ‘Just an accident.’
When the rugby player man turns back to his friends again, Jack leans down. ‘Keep these,’ he says through clenched teeth, flicking the folder at me. ‘A little incentive, shall we say? I’ll be in touch.’
Then he grabs his jacket and leaves.
I sit there, stunned. Through the noise of the bar, I vaguely hear someone ask if I’m going so they can have my table, but I don’t reply. It’s still raining hard, droplets sheeting down the old, rippled glass of the pub window.
Belle. My beautiful daughter has been…tainted. A fragile butterfly caught in a spider’s web.
