Page 136 of The Jealous Girl

I tipped my head to the right as I let his words sink in. He was right, but… ‘Denise had been through a lot. She almost lost her husband and then suddenly she’s confronted with me living in her house, a perfect stranger, who she hadn’t even known existed. I can’t blame her for being inhospitable. She was probably scared I’d whisk Ryan away again. Back to Malta. Or somewhere else.’ I smiled ruefully. ‘And she wouldn’t have been wrong. That was our plan.’

‘I don’t just mean Denise.’ Ben shuffled. ‘I never liked the way Ryan treated you either.’

‘What are you talking about?’ I glared at him. ‘Ryan loved me.’

Ben shrugged. ‘Maybe. But he wasn’t there for you, was he?’

‘His dad had had a heart attack, Denise was struggling, he had the stables to run. He was busy.’

‘Not too busy for Charlotte.’

I focused my attention on the mug in my hands, feeling the warmth in my fingertips. Ben was voicing the same objections that I’d had about Charlotte’s presence in Ryan’s life, and yet, somehow, hearing it come from him felt wrong. I felt disloyal. ‘They worked together,’ I said, feeling the need to defend Ryan. ‘Of course he spent more time with her. She could help in ways I couldn’t. He relied on her.’

‘He abandoned you for her two years ago, and again last week.’ He gritted his teeth.

‘No, he didn’t leave me the first time. I left him.’

He arched an eyebrow. ‘Did you?’

‘Yes, I packed my stuff, called a taxi and⁠—’

‘I’m not talking about the practicalities. I mean, who left first emotionally?’

I opened my mouth, but no sound would come out.

‘That’s what I thought,’ Ben said, as though I’d proved his point. ‘And what’s he going to do now that Charlotte’s dead? Come running back to you again?’

I clamped my mouth shut.

Ben groaned. ‘He already has, hasn’t he?’

‘He said he missed me. That leaving me for her had been a mistake.’

‘No kidding,’ Ben said immediately. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘I don’t know, yet. There’s too much going on right now to even start to think about that.’

Ben nodded. ‘Right. Yeah, of course. We need to focus on clearing your name.’

With my hand lingering on the latch, I glanced back over my shoulder at Ben as he gathered the papers that were scattered across the coffee table and snapped the laptop shut.

He gave me a quick nod, and I pulled the door open.

‘Are you alright?’ Ryan asked, stepping straight inside and wrapping his arms around me. ‘I can’t believe the things the police are saying⁠—’

He stopped, his arms falling from me instantly.

I stepped back and followed his gaze through to the living room, although I could already guess what had caused his reaction.

‘What the hell is he doing here?’ Ryan demanded, marching into the room.

‘Ben gave me a lift home from the police station after my interview,’ I said, slipping past him and positioning myself between them.

Why was he being so hostile? It wasn’t as though we were doing anything wrong. We had nothing to hide.

My gaze shifted to the laptop and stack of papers resting on Ben’s lap.

Well, maybe not nothing.