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And now it’s too late. She’s set her course and I know her, she’s all in. No turning back. She is full throttle or not at all.
“I’m taking Tommy with me. He’s agreed to it. He can resign from your company, Jackson, or you can invoice me for him. Whichever, I don’t care.” She’s mentally moved out already and she's onto practicalities.
Jonno has phoned his ma and she’s on speaker trying to get Evie to come to the phone.
“James, Bucky, coming or staying?” she says to the boys.
“Evie. No, enough,” I say. “They’ve seen enough, don’t do this to them.”
She smirks at me and, to be honest, there’s not a shred of respect in that look. “Practising to be a dad, are you Russell?”
I hear Xan gasp at the name. Bug puts his head down. Gabe is trying to escape through the floor.
“James,” she starts.
“Fucking stop it, Evie. Just stop it.” She hates me anyway. I might as well go big now. “They’re going nowhere, and neither are you.”
She starts to laugh, full on laugh. “Fuck off, Russell. Who do you think you’re dealing with? Your bitches, your models, your fuck buddies, your boyfriends?” She’s glaring at Xander and Gabe. Xander goes to touch her and she flinches but doesn’t step away. “Stay away from me. You’ve touched me enough.”
Jonno looks at Xander like death is coming for him. “You touched her against her wishes? I fucking knew something was wrong when I saw you lot in that fucking tent. Where was my sister?” He’s shouting, heading for Xander, and punches him and then Gabe. “You wankers did not have the guts to come clean.”
“I never touched her like that. Evie, tell him.” Xander is practically begging her, and I can see the pain on his face. “I never touched her like that. Please, Evie, tell them.”
She points to Gabe. “He tried to hem me in so I couldn’t leave.”
Jackson loses it, and jumps across the table and starts to hit Gabe. James stands to either help hit Gabe or grab Jackson, I’m not sure which. Bucky grabs Xander and is trying to throttle him. All the while, she stands in front of me and smiles, her lips curling in disdain.
“Great to be part of a family, isn’t it? You wanted it all, Russell. You thought you could just take it all, with no consequences. Carry on your shit life and drag me and them down into it to make you feel better. Well how does it feel, Russell? Good?”
“Evie, please stop this. Please,” I’m begging her at this point.
When I move to gently pull her to me, she pulls back, hissing, “Get away.”
Then Isobel decides to wake up. Oh, good god. “Stop,” she’s screaming hysterically. “Stop it, Evie. I’ll leave, stop it.”
The complete derision on Evie’s face tells me this is not going to be pretty. “Sit down and shut the fuck up. Woe is me, Isobel. So frail, so meek, I’ll sacrifice my happiness for the greater good, save yourselves, leave me.” Evie’s voice changes from whiny to pure venom. “So in love with the idea of Kellen, now in love with Jude. Well, let’s get to why I hate your guts, bitch! Just a clue, it’s not because you set your nasty hand to his cock.” She points to me and Isobel blanches, her breath audibly catching in her throat.
She then gentles her voice for dramatic effect. “Shall we tell them a story, Issy? About a girl riding a bike. A four months pregnant, seventeen year old, terrified girl riding a bike to come back to see the man she loves more than life itself, to tell him about their baby. A pitch black night, no moon and lots of clouds. She’s frightened enough as it’s nearly midnight. So fucking frightened, but I loved him.” She wafts her hand towards me, but she won’t look at me. “Loved the baby already. So dark, wasn’t it, Issy? But I knew I had to see him, even though I’d seen you all over him. I needed him to know about his baby and how much I loved him.”
She pauses, gathering herself together. “But you couldn’t have that, could you? If I married him with a baby, that’s it, he’s gone. No more Marcus for you. No big fancy house, no title. No way to please mummy and her bestie. You just could not understand that someone loved him more than you, more than anything. And that he loved me back. Only me. Had you planned it already? Or was it a lucky coincidence when you saw me on the lane whilst driving home from destroying my future?”
The room is silent now, horror dawning on Isobel’s face.
“You knew it was me?” Isobel whispers in shock and dismay.
My heart sinks. She tried to fucking kill my son before he was even born. All my babies had died for no reason, and she tried to kill him.
“You were seen. Good thing you swerved at the last minute. More luck or do you actually have a conscience in that conniving brain of yours?”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. All this time, no wonder Evie hated her.
“Marshall found me in the ditch bottom, bleeding. He saw the whole thing, but couldn’t tell who was in the car. But I knew. I saw her,” Evie tells us. “He carried me home to Greystone Farm. I was taken to the hospital as the bleeding wouldn’t stop. I thought I was losing James. The boys didn’t know about the baby,” her eyes flicker from brother to brother, “but their ma did.”
She smiles at James. “We were young and healthy. Strong. It was decided I was not safe, bearing in mind who was in that car. That’s when Marshall moved us here. He owned this house. Let me live here free, gratis, and we moved in straight away.
“Rowena wanted it kept quiet. Said it was only an accident. Marshall said it was attempted murder—not so great if you’re connected people. And Issy was so young. It would ruin lives and enough had been done already.”
I’m slack jawed in shock. My fucking family, not enough that they never bothered to tell me about my son. They covered it up when someone tried to kill him-them. Would they ever have told me. If he would have died. I’ll fucking deal with my mother. But my first target is Isobel. Top of my hit list.
