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‘Freya, stop it. I don’t know anything about this. Where did it come from? Was it sent to you? Have you informed the police? Stuff like this is serious intimidation.’
‘It was tied to my front gate this morning for everyone to see, including some of the press. Well, one of the press. Apparently, we’re not as hot as George Clooney today.’ She couldn’t find the camera.
‘And you think I had something to do with it? Why?’
‘Now let me think! When did I start getting hate mail? Hmm, just after you reappeared. When did my beautiful house start getting broken into? Hmm, just after I met up with you again. When did our driver get attacked? Oh, let me fill in the blanks for you! When I started seeing you again!’ she ranted.
‘For God’s sake, Freya. Why would I be doing this to you? I care about you.’
‘Oh no. Don’t you say that. Don’t you say you care about me! If you cared about me, you would not have told me what you told me. You would not have got in touch with me again to tell me that…’
‘To tell you I’m your brother?’
‘Stop it. Don’t say that. I don’t want to hear it.’ She clamped her hands over her ears. The words still sickened her.
‘You have to hear it. Take your hands away and bloody listen to me,’ he ordered. He wrenched her hands away from her head.
‘Let go of me! Don’t you touch me! You make me feel sick.’ Her heart was racing and she was starting to feel woozy.
‘And how do you think I’ve felt about it since I found out? I’ve had to carry this around with me every day since I was seventeen. Our father bought my family’s silence and we never spoke about it again. There were so many times I wanted to get in touch with you, to try and make sense of it all, but I couldn’t cross him.’
‘You couldn’t cross him because he was dipping into his pockets and providing you with everything you needed to become a cardboard cut-out of him.’
‘What was I supposed to do? You know what my life was like on that council estate. I had no prospects. My future would either have been working my guts out in a factory like my father or pedalling amphetamines.’
‘It didn’t have to be that way. And there’s nothing wrong with working hard for a living.’
‘No, I agree, but struggling? Struggling to survive like my parents did for so many years? Letting my mother carry on selling herself just to put food on the table? Listening to her cry at night? Eric offered us all a lifeline and I’m sorry if that grates on you, but we took it.’
‘He bought you. Just like he buys everything in his life. You’re just another one of his possessions and he will use you and manipulate you forever.’
‘I don’t think he will.’
‘Believe me, I’m speaking from vast experience.’
‘This is going to sound really hard to believe, but… he cares about me.’
‘Oh my God! You’re kidding me, right? You think he cares about you! I didn’t realise you were so naïve. The only person Eric Lawson-Peck cares about is himself and the only other thing he cares about is his fortune.’
‘He’s aging, Freya. He’s nearly sixty years old and I think he’s taking some time to reflect on things.’
‘I can’t stand here and listen to this crap. My father will never change. He’s always been a piece of work and being eligible for his bus pass is not going to alter that.’ She turned away from him and made her way back to the car.
‘He’s left me everything in his will.’
‘Oh my! He’s not left it to me? How shocked and surprised I am. How hurt and insulted. I’m pleased for you, Jonny. It sounds like you completely deserve it, having been so close to the man for all these years.’
‘The money doesn’t interest me. In ten or so years’ time, I plan to be worth twice as much as him.’
‘Bravo.’ She opened the door of her car.
‘I want you to have the money. As soon as I inherit, I’m gifting it to you.’
‘I can’t be bought; you know that. I’ve no interest in the money either but for much better reasons than you. Like the fact taking anything from you or that man would be like selling my soul to the Devil.’
‘Are you saying the Every Day project or the Nicholas Kaden Foundation could do without a few billion dollars?’
‘It’s dirty money, Jonny. Anything my father’s associated himself with is soiled and that includes you.’ Her eyes flashed at him, shooting anger across the yards.
