AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘I’m afraid so.’
Thea could hear his footsteps approaching. ‘There’s a strange echo on the phone.’
Thea stood up. He was but a few cubicles away. She’d never seen him look so shocked as when he spotted her right there in the office. ‘Thea! What on earth—?’
‘Am I doing here?’ Thea finished off his sentence. ‘What do you think?’
‘I have no idea. I thought you were going home. I’m in a meeting. I just came back to my desk to collect some paperwork.’
Thea’s eyes went wide. ‘Oh, my god. Is there no end to your lies? You’re not in a meeting, and you are certainly not going to Dubai, or back to Hong Kong. I doubt you’ve even been there, let alone lived there.’
He bit his lower lip. ‘Oh, Thea. I can explain—’
She held up the photo of him cheek to cheek with the woman Thea recognised from the taxi.
He’d almost reached his desk when he stopped and caught sight of the photo.
‘Oh really? Explain this!’ Thea threw the photo at him and ran for the lift.
She stopped at the lift door, frantically pressing the button. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him bend down and pick up the photo. He looked at her. ‘Oh, my god. Thea, please – wait. I love you. I … I shouldn’t have lied. I ... I don’t know why I said those things about myself when we first met. Well, I do. I didn’t think I was good enough for you. And the lie became bigger, and I didn’t know how to tell you the truth. It was stupid mistake. Let me make it up to you. I’ll leave her, I will.’
She had known he would come up with excuses. He was a master liar. She didn’t want to hear it. There was no excuse for the lies he’d told her, the way he’d strung her along all this time, along with the lies he’d told his wife. Her friends had been right: she should have dumped him ages ago. She ran into the lift when the doors opened, and kept pressing the button. Miles didn’t move from his spot beside his cubicle. He had obviously realised that chasing after her was futile.
‘Let me make it up to you. I’ll call round tonight. We can go out for a meal ...’
‘Are you insane?’
‘I’ll leave her. Things aren’t going well between us. I’ll disappear. We can disappear together.’
‘Don’t you dare!’ she shouted at him as the lift doors closed, crying uncontrollably. ‘Don’t you dare disappear and leave your family.’
‘Miss – are you all right? What happened?’ said the security guard.
‘I dumped him – that’s what happened,’ Thea said as she ran out of the building, thankful that at least the taxi was still waiting for her. She jumped in. ‘Please, take me home.’
Chapter 8
Thea slammed her front door shut and stood there looking at her spotless apartment. She felt numb. She jumped at the sound of her phone. There was a text, then a voicemail. She threw her handbag across the room without even bothering to get out her phone. It landed on the sideboard, knocking off the vase filled with fresh flowers, which shattered on the wooden floor.
‘If you think I’m even going to look at your text, or listen to your voicemail—’ Thea didn’t finish her sentence. She collapsed in a heap on the floor, tears rolling down her face, letting out a silent scream.
She hadn’t been lying there long when there was a soft knock on the door. ‘Thea? Is everything all right in there?’
Thea sniffed and wiped her runny nose with the sleeve of her coat. ‘Yes.’
‘I heard a loud noise, like glass shattering. Are you okay?’
Thea slowly got up from the floor. She undid the lock and opened the door. She could tell by Gracie’s expression that her friend was shocked at the state of her. Thea imagined what she looked like. Her normally sleek hair was all askew, some of it plastered to her tear-streaked face. She bet her mascara had run, and imagined her lipstick was a mess where she’d wiped her face with her coat sleeve.
‘Oh my goodness, child – what happened?’
Thea stepped forward and almost fell into Gracie’s arms, sobbing into her friend’s shoulder. She wished her mum was there. A part of her felt stupid; a woman in her thirties crying like a baby. ‘Sorry. I’m so sorry.’
Gracie held her shoulders. ‘Now, don’t you be saying sorry to me. What I want to know is, what has he done?’
Thea looked at her in surprise.
‘It’s got to be a man. And the only man I know in your life right now is Miles.’
