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Or maybe he’s gathering intel for Xavier.
My tears are brushed away, and I eye him suspiciously. “Why are you so calm? I just accused your best friend of murder, and you’re not jumping to his defence or calling me crazy.”
He clasps his hands in his lap. “You’re a smart woman, and there must be a reason why you’re spewing all this out. Let me hear your argument, and I’ll consider and then counter it.”
The smart thing would be to see this as a red flag. Most people don’t sit calmly when discussing a potential murderer. But then again, Huxley ordered the hit on my father. Though different methods, the principle remains. Even if he is working with Xavier, there is no harm in sharing my theories, as he probably already told him that he was meeting me.
I begin by telling him how I first met Xavier and the friendship that was built between us. “It was all fine until I moved into the guesthouse. He never overstepped. I think his obsession began when he watched me through the guesthouse cameras. He told me they were turned off, but he slipped up one day.”
Huxley looks confused. “What happened?”
“He said I was going to wear out the left side of the bed.”
“So?”
He made the comment long before Xavier and I ever shared a bed. I never thought much of the joke until months later.
“How did he know that was the side I slept on?”
He sighs. “It was just a joke.”
I clench my hands but move on. I tell him about Elliot’s theories. “We only ever spoke about Xavier in the BMW – the carhebought me. Elliot raised his concerns, and thentwoweeks later, he’s gone? That can’t be a coincidence.”
Huxley clasps his hands. “What did he find?”
“Nothing! He couldn’t find his mum or Caitlyn.” I can’t help but laugh. “My apologies, he found an Instagram account for Caitlyn, which is bullshit. No pictures of her face. No workplace. No friends tagged or commenting.”
I almost tell him about Caitlyn’s vague conversation with a fake account I made, but it offered no information or reassurance that it was her.
“That doesn’t mean she’s dead.”
My head drops back.I’m getting nowhere with him. Needing a few moments to collect myself, I turn around and pace the room. But no number of deep breaths nor reassuring thoughts ease the anxiety bubbling inside me. I need Huxley to believe me, or else Elise and I are stuck with Xavier.
I kneel in front of Huxley and grab his hands. “It doesn’t mean she’s alive either. I need you to believe me, Hux. None of this works without you. That’s the only reason I manipulated him into letting me go back to work. He wanted me at home, domesticated the way Emery was. It’s why I made him make you take me back as a PA.”
I wasn’t mentally ready for work and a baby, but the longer I stayed within those walls, I felt myself losing my mind. I thought Xavier would have put up more of a fight, but disappearing for an entire day was enough to push him over to my side.
“So, you used me?”
I squeeze his hands. “No! Not like that. I know I hurt you. If there was any other way, I’d never put you through being around me after what I’ve done. But your laptop is the only one that he can’t trace. I needed access to see if I could find her orsomethingto prove she wasn’t dead. I couldn’t find it, Hux,“ I cry.
Huxley goes quiet. His eyes dart from one wall to another. He purses his lips as he nods his head. “What about family? If they have been missing all this time, they would have been reported missing.”
“I couldn’t track anyone down. I need you to investigate it without Xavier realising.”
Huxley stands up and walks away from me. His back muscles are strained. “I’m not doing that! I was there when Caitlyn left. He was devastated. You can’t fake those emotions. He didn’t kill her. She got on a plane and left.”
“So where is she, Huxley?” I shout. “Where is Sara? She waseighteenwhen they broke up. How does an eighteen-year-old know how to vanish without a trace?”
I stand and walk until we’re face to face. Anger swirls in both our eyes as we stare at each other.
“You’re wrong,” he declares.
“He killed them. And Emery. And Elliot.”
He turns around to face me. For the first time, he looks at me like I’m crazy. “If he murdered your ex, why would he ask me to bring him back for you?”
My body stills. Xavier took my bait. When I asked Jordan to confront him, I thought Xavier would offer more than a lousy voicemail. I needed more. I needed something that could be traced. Xavier would eventually have to ‘find’ his body or some physical evidence.
