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I told her about Crisp and his threats to expose my shoplifting and the smutty, doctored images I’d sent him back in my desperate days.
“Ooh.” She scrunched her nose. “He’s a pig. Have you told Mother?”
“Not exactly.” I knitted my fingers. “I’m ashamed of her knowing, to be honest.”
She smiled sadly. “I get that. But hey, you’ve had a tough road, and shoplifting is nothing. Really. Lots do it. For the same reasons.”
I turned hopefully towards her. “Have you?”
“I did not need to. Instead, I hooked up with slimy fuckwits like Bram.”
I nodded slowly. “Oh well, he’s not here anymore to hassle you.”
“No. But cops keep sniffing around. Lord Pike’s convinced Carson had something to do with it.”
“Did he?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care. Had it been reversed, I would have done the same fucking thing.”
Hearing that Bram might have been murdered left me rather speechless.
“So, are you going to leave Drake for Crisp?”
Gripping my glass, I sipped before answering. “I love Drake.”
“You’re still really young, sweets.”
“I know. But what the fuck am I going to do about Crisp?”
She shrugged. “Talk to Mummy. She’ll know. She always knows what to do in these sticky situations.”
“But she’s helpless around Rey. She couldn’t even close the Cherry bar, could she?”
“No.” She shook her head. “That is a bit of a mystery.”
“You know that Crisp wants to build an empire around the land close to Merivale. Take over the farms and develop under his name.”
Her eyes stretched wide. “Shit. That wouldn’t surprise. Only it’s Lovechilde land. He owns some of it. We’d all love to know how that came about.”
“He’s obviously got something big over her.”
“That’s pretty established. But what? Do you think you could try to wheedle it out of him?”
I exhaled loudly. “Don’t know. I hate him. I can’t stand the smell of him. Don’t even want to be in the same room as him. I just wish he’d leave me alone.” A tear trickled down my cheek.
She touched my hand. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’m sure Mother will sort this out. They’ll get him in the end.”
“I hope so, because he’s rotten.”
“We figured that out years ago. I would just love to know why Mummy puts up with him. Can I tell Mother what you told me?”
I nodded. Even if Crisp would have my head on a platter for sharing details of our private conversation, I didn’t care anymore.
The only things that mattered were Drake and my independence. Crisp’s threats to send Drake somewhere far away kept hounding me, however.
I shared that fear with Savvie, and she scrunched her face. “This isn’t the Georgian era, you know. We no longer send convicts of trivial crimes, like stealing bread, to Australia.”
I giggled. She was right. Rey didn’t have the power to have Drake extradited. It was all just a bluff.
