AllFreeNovel
Share Us
If it hadn’t been for Carolyn, I wouldn’t have had any misgivings at all. She would be hurt that I’d kept a supposed relationship with Ned from her. It bothered me that I couldn’t tell her the truth. But if I did, she’d be angry that I’d married him for money. Except that I hadn’t, not really, because I’d given him something in return, a way out of what to him was an impossible situation. To be honest, I couldn’t see why he didn’t just stand up to his father. But maybe, in wealthy families like his, there were certain things that had to be done out of duty.
I pushed myself up on my pillows, looked at the ring on my hand again. Once I told Carolyn that our marriage was a stupid mistake, it would be fine. And she wouldn’t be angry at me for long—I’d be able to tell her in a month, because yesterday was August 1st and Ned and I had agreed that we’d announce our separation on the first of September. Once we had, I’d move back to my apartment and carry on with my life. I’d have to leave my job atExclusives,because no one would expect me to continue working there once we’d separated. But then I’d look for another job to take me through to next September, when I’d finally be able to go to college.
It had actually been fun yesterday. When I arrived at the chapel, Ned had been waiting with a bouquet of flowers and two witnesses. The ceremony was over in fifteen minutes. Outside, we’d posed for a photograph and Ned had joked that his parents were about to get the shock of their lives. We’d walked back to the hotel, had more champagne and a celebratory dinner, then Ned had gone to his room, and I had gone to mine.
I stretched my limbs, sorry that I was going to have to leave this luxurious bed, this beautiful hotel. But I needed to get up, the taxi was coming at ten to take us to the airport.
The hotel phone on the bedside table rang and I smiled that Ned was acting like a husband, checking I was ready.
“Amelie?”
My heart leapt into my mouth; it wasn’t Ned, it was Carolyn. IfCarolyn was phoning me here, at the hotel—how did she even know I was here?—something must have happened.
“Carolyn, is everything alright?”
“Amelie, thank God. Why haven’t you been answering your phone?” She sounded close to tears and my panic increased.
“I left it on the plane, I’ll get it back later today, when we land, we’re leaving this morning. What’s happened, are you alright, is Daniel alright?”
“Yes, yes, what about you, how are you?”
“I’m fine,” I said, puzzled at the urgency in her voice.
“I didn’t know where you were, I tried to find out, I phonedExclusives,spoke to Ned’s PA, but she wouldn’t tell me which hotel you were staying at, she said Ned had left instructions not to be disturbed, and it was more than her life was worth. Amelie, I have to ask, how has Ned been toward you? He hasn’t tried to pressure you into anything, has he?”
My heart started thumping. Had she already heard about our marriage? “What do you mean?” I asked.
“It’s just that—Amelie, he assaulted Justine.”
“Assaulted her? Ned assaulted Justine?” I sat down on the bed, my legs suddenly weak. “I don’t understand. He can’t have.”
“He did, he turned up at her apartment late at night, he said he needed to speak to her about her contract. She didn’t want to let him in but he said he wouldn’t be long as Hunter was waiting downstairs in the car. He asked if he could have a coffee and while she was in the kitchen—well, he cornered her, began grabbing her, saying she had teased him for years, that she was an ungrateful bitch, that she owed him for giving her a job in the first place.”
My head was spinning, I could hardly understand what Carolyn was saying.
“But—when was this? Ned’s been here with me for the last few days.”
“Last Friday.”
I drew in my breath. The day before we left for Las Vegas.
“It was awful, Amelie,” Carolyn went on. “She only managed to stop him by grabbing a knife and threatening him with it.”
I clapped my hand over my mouth. “How is she, how is Justine?”
“She was very shaken, obviously, but she was angry more than anything. She called me as soon as Ned left, and I went over. But you should know, Amelie—she filed a complaint against him, for sexual assault. She didn’t want to at first, she said the police wouldn’t believe her, and that they would ask her why she let him into her apartment to discuss her contract instead of asking him to wait until they were in the office—which she did, but Ned insisted he needed to see her that night. She said it would be her word against Ned’s. But then she realized the seriousness of what he’d done and that if she hadn’t grabbed the knife, it could have ended in rape, so we went straight to the police station, and she reported it.”
“I’m glad she did,” I said fiercely. “He can’t be allowed to get away with it.”
“I can’t tell you how worried I was when I got your message saying you were on your way to Las Vegas, because I guessed you were with Ned. He hasn’t tried anything, has he, made you do anything you were uncomfortable with?”
I swallowed hard.Uncomfortable with.The words echoed in my head. I couldn’t tell Carolyn about the marriage, not now, not like this. “No, nothing at all. I’m so sorry you’ve been worried. I would have told you I was going, but it was a last-minute thing, he said he needed to go to Las Vegas on urgent business and asked if I’d like to go with him. If I’d known about Justine, I’d never have agreed.”
“Vicky said she’d let Ned know that I was trying to contact you and ever since, I’ve been waiting for you to call. I couldn’t get ahold of Lina either, and Justine hasn’t been answering her phone since I took her home. It’s such a mess, Amelie!” Her voice broke and shame flooded through me. “I needed to find you, make sure you were alright, so I started phoning all the hotels in Las Vegas.”
“Carolyn, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you’d been trying to contact me, Ned didn’t tell me. Maybe Vicky didn’t tell him.”
“Even if she had, he probably wouldn’t have passed the message on in case I told you about his assault on Justine,” Carolyn said, her voice heavy with disgust.
