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My walls of ice cracked, and the pain rushed in.
I dropped my head to the desk again, my eyes stinging. I let my lids fall shut as the tide swept me away. Maybe when I opened my eyes again, it would turn out that this whole weekend had just been a fucked-up dream.
But I knew I was only kidding myself.
SIXTEEN
I’d only just blinked away the last vestiges of my nightmare when the buzzer sounded. Padding into the lounge, I pressed the key button to let James in, seeing him on the video screen. His expression was grim, and it set alarm bells ringing.
The second I’d opened the apartment door, he thrust a folded newspaper at me. “I saw this at the petrol station on the way home while my dad was filling up the car. What the fuck, Fal?”
With trembling hands, I unfolded the paper, only to see the headline, accompanied by a large image of Zayde and his dad.
“Whatisthis?” My eyes widened as I turned to James, hoping he could make sense of what I was looking at.
“That’s what I’m hoping you can explain to me. Because this here—” He stabbed at the paper with the tip of his finger. “—says that it’s an exclusive interview about Zayde andyou.”
My legs gave way, and I crumpled to the floor, frantically scanning the words. Nausea rose in my stomach, and by the time I reached the “continued on page 12…” part, my hands were shaking too badly to turn the pages.
“You don’t thinkIwas behind this, do you? I didn’t do this, James. How could you think I would?”
He lowered himself to the floor next to me with a sigh. “I don’t think you would, but ever since I saw the article, I’ve been asking myself: is it true? The story?”
I stared down at the images on page 12. The tower block, with an inset image of the inside of someone’s apartment, and next to it, a large mansion and inset of an opulent room, which I knew for a fact wasn’t Zayde’s dad’s house. Nausea warred with rage at the thought that someone had laid his private life bare like this. It was vindictive and cruel, and to insinuate that he had manipulatedme?
“Parts of it are true,” I admitted. “But our relationship…it wasn’t like that. Not at all. He— We— I loved him once.”
“This is fucked up,” James murmured. He paused and then added, “And once? What happened?”
“Tim.”
“Fallon,” he said softly, placing a hand on my arm. “I know how much that tore you apart. I still miss him with everything I have, and I can’t even pretend to know how hard it’s been for you. But…you know that was an accident, right?”
“How can you say that? You weren’t even there! I saw what happened. Zayde…he…it was his fault.”
His mouth twisted. “Fal…are you positive that you saw what you thought you saw? Everyone agreed that it was an accident. The police interviewed everyone there. There was an investigation into the building. There was a reason it was condemned. That room…they said that you had a lucky escape. Zayde, too. Did you know that the whole level caved in that night? The flooring was ready to collapse. It was rotten all the way through and full of woodworm, and the fire easily decimated it. They said that it could have collapsed at any time, with or without the fire. We could have lost you all and whoever was in the rooms below.”
I took a deep, shuddering breath.What?“I-I don’t understand.”
“Do you want to talk me through what happened that night? It might help make things clearer,” he offered.
Could I? No. Not yet. This…what he was saying…it was too much to get my head around right now. “No. I can’t. I’m not ready.”
“Okay. It’s okay, really. I get it. Let’s focus on the article for now. We need to know who was behind it. Who else has this information and would drag your name into it?”
The pieces suddenly fell into place, and my blood went cold. “No. Itcouldn’tbe.” I stared at James, seeing the dawning horror I felt reflected in his expression.
“He wouldn’t sell out his own sister, would he?” Even as James spoke, I knew that he didn’t believe his own words.
“I know how he got the information. Yesterday, I was at the graveyard to visit Tim.” Quickly, I detailed how I’d found Joseph standing behind me, and when I’d asked him how long he’d been there, he’d ignored my question.
“But why would he do this? I can understand him wanting to hurt Alstone Holdings—not that I agree with him in any way—but I’ve seen a different side of him this past year or so, and he’s capable of a lot of things that I never thought he’d do. But to throw you under the bus in the process?”
I shook my head, my eyes filling with tears. Fuck. It felt like I’d been constantly crying since I’d been back in Alstone, and this was only my third day here. “I don’t know. I know he was visiting our father in prison after he’d been to the grave, so maybe…” Trailing off, I threw up my hands. “I don’t know. James, I feel so alone. And the Four…the girls especially have been so kind and welcoming, and now they’re going to hate me, and with good reason.”
James made a surprised noise in his throat, cocking his brow at me. “Wait, when did you meet them?”
“Oh. I met Jessa here, actually. I ran into her at the main door to the building, and she invited me to a party at the Four’s house.”
