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‘And how will you do that without telling them about the part you’ve played in all this? What do you think they’ll do when they find out you’ve been lying to them all this time? You’ll be out on your ear faster than you can blink.’
‘If they show me the door it’ll be worth it to stop you.’ Maybe they wouldn’t. If she found the right words, perhaps they would understand and give her the benefit of the doubt. But what about Rhys? Would she give him another chance if their situations were reversed? The answer made her insides twist.
‘Worth losing everything – are you sure about that? When they kick you out, you’ll be left with nothing. No job, no home. You’d have to crawl back to Mummy and Daddy and tell them they were right about you all along.’
‘I’ll find another job, and I’ve got my flat. Stop trying to scare me into doing what you want, Simon. It won’t work.’
‘But who will employ you without any references? Those snobby bastards won’t have a good word to say about you, and if you think I’ll give you a recommendation after this then you’re even more naïve than I thought possible. Oh, and that flat you like so much? Whose name is on the lease, again?’ His voice was almost a purr of satisfaction as he dealt one devastating blow after another.
God, he was right, she really had been naïve. Fire burned in her chest as she tried to hold in a sob. ‘You’re a monster.’
‘Now, now, no need to be like that. As long as you keep my secrets, I’ll keep yours. And don’t worry about coming back to clear out that flat, I’ll have someone box up your things and send them on.’ He said it as if he were doing her a favour. ‘Will they be coming to you there, or shall I use your parents’ address?’
Facing Rhys the next morning had felt impossible so Tasha took the coward’s way out and sent him a text claiming her headache had turned into a full-blown migraine. It wasn’t a complete lie, which made a change, she supposed. After a sleepless night of her crying and raging against Simon, her head felt as if it were going to burst. He’d wanted to come and see her, of course, but she couldn’t let him see her until she’d had time to work out what the hell she was going to do. One kind word from him and she feared she would fall weeping into his arms and confess everything.
She dragged herself downstairs and put the kettle on to boil and was hunting around in her rucksack for a couple of paracetamol when there was a knock on the patio door. Tasha whipped around, worried for a moment that Rhys had let his protective instincts override her wishes, but it was Hope who peered through the glass at her. Gathering the belt of her dressing gown around herself, Tasha hurried over to unlock the door.
‘You poor thing,’ Hope said the moment she let her in. ‘Rhys messaged me and told me you weren’t well and asked me to pop round and check on you.’
‘He didn’t need to do that.’ Tasha managed a wan smile. ‘I’ll be okay. I’m going to have a drink and a couple of tablets and try and get some sleep.’
Hope placed a hand on her cheek. ‘He said you’d been up all night. I hate having migraines. They make me sick as a dog.’
Tasha knew the feeling, but the only thing making her sick was the poison of having to keep lying to these lovely people who deserved so much better from her. ‘Yeah, they’re not much fun.’
‘Well, I won’t keep you. I just wanted to grab the phone so you won’t be disturbed. Is that it?’ Before Tasha could stop her, Hope was bending down to pick up the phone she’d tossed onto the sofa last night.
‘No!’ Tasha grabbed Hope’s arm. ‘That’s mine.’
‘Oh, sorry. It looks the same.’
Hope glanced down at where Tasha was still gripping her and she let go with a blush. ‘Sorry. I can’t think straight with my head like this. It’s over on the table.’ She retrieved her work phone then handed it to Hope. ‘I ended up putting a sticker on the back because I keep muddling them up myself.’ She gave a weak smile as she showed Hope the Easter-egg sticker.
‘Okay, well, I’m going to leave you in peace. Get some sleep and let one of us know if you need anything.’
‘I will. Thanks again for coming to check on me. And tell Rhys not to worry.’
Hope laughed as she gave Tasha a quick hug. ‘Might as well ask the sun not to shine.’
With the help of a relaxation app on her phone, Tasha managed a few hours’ sleep, and after a hot shower she felt in control of herself enough to call the only person in the world she could trust.
‘Hey, this is a nice surprise,’ Danni said, her bright smile filling the screen. ‘What’s up?’
‘Oh God, I’ve made such a terrible mess of everything, Danni. What the hell am I going to do?’ She poured out an explanation before her sister could respond.
‘You’ll have to tell them,’ Danni said, her pretty face scrunched into a deep frown. ‘You can’t let him get away with it.’
‘But if I tell them, they’ll kick me out and who could blame them?’
‘They sound like decent people from what you’ve told me about them. I’m sure they’ll understand that you never had any bad intentions when you came to work for them.’
‘I still lied, though. And if I have to leave now then Rhys will be back to square one. He works so hard, Danni, the last thing he needs is to have to find a new manager for the campsite just when the season is starting to ramp up.’
‘That sounds like an excuse to me.’
Tasha swallowed hard. ‘It’s true that the thought of losing him breaks my heart, but it’s more than that. If I have to walk away then I want to do it on my own terms. There’s so much left here to do, and I feel like I owe it to them to finish the job first. Besides, I don’t trust Simon to keep his word. What if he wasn’t just trying to make me feel guilty and I really have given him a way to try and take the estate? I need to be here to keep an eye on things while I try and work out what it might be.’
‘That sounds like a dangerous game to play. One that’s going to end up with you getting your heart broken if you’re not careful.’
