‘About?’ Diana asked curiously.
‘Your husband.’ The girl’s gaze skittered down and back again. ‘I work at Fenton’s Bespoke Plumbing. I’m the receptionist there, and…’ She paused and drew in a long breath, as if bracing herself. ‘I’ve decided to report him, Mrs Fenton. The things he does, the way he treats people, it’s not right.’
She stopped, her expression uncomfortable. ‘I thought you should know. It might have implications for his family, and…’
‘I see.’ Diana nodded slowly. The day of reckoning could be fast approaching. ‘You’d better come in,’ she said, stepping back into the hall.
Half an hour later, Abbie, who’d been more in need of the brandy than Diana, had filled her in regarding her husband’s behaviour, which didn’t come as any surprise: his harassment of staff, his bullying, the sexual innuendo, inappropriate body contact, the touching. Diana knew the man she was married to. She was aware of his reputation. She hadn’t loved him as a woman should love a husband, but finding herself pregnant, she’d chosen a life of luxury. It hadn’t taken her long to realise she’d chosen unwisely.
‘There’s something else,’ Abbie said. Though Diana had assured her that anything she told her about Robert and any consequences of reporting him wouldn’t destroy her, she looked more worried than ever. ‘It’s about Jason. Your son-in-law…’ the girl went on falteringly. ‘You know he came to see Robert regarding financial backing for his company?’
Diana straightened in her chair. ‘I do,’ she said, keeping her tone impassive, though her radar was on red alert.
Abbie nodded, and then took a breath and continued, ‘I’m not sure what he told him, but whatever it was, it knocked Jason sick. I mean, physically. He looked as if someone had punched him when he came out of Robert’s office. He was obviously in a terrible state of shock. It was seeing that, seeing what he could do to his own son-in-law, that made me decide I should do something about him.’
Diana’s heart froze.The bastard.
Thirty-One
JASON
Coming in through the front door, Jason sighed despondently. The house was empty – cold and uninviting. Karla wasn’t here. He’d known she wouldn’t be, but he’d had no idea what to tell Diana when she’d rung him at the office. She’d obviously been worried, thinking her daughter was ill and not able to get hold of her. But telling her that she wasn’t, that she was out – drinking, clubbing, staying out all night sometimes – and that he was worried too, about her state of mind… How was he supposed to tell her mother that? From their earlier conversation, he guessed Diana didn’t have any idea about what her delightful husband had disclosed to him. As much as he would like her to see the man for what he was – someone who had no shred of humanity – he couldn’t share the information. If Karla found out it would crucify her.
There was no way, therefore, to tell Diana why he’d refused the money Robert had so generously offered him – not for his company, but to disappear, preferably off the face of the earth. Robert Fenton hated his guts. At least Jason now knew why. Did he really still think he could buy him off – as if any amount of money could compensate for what he’d done? He wouldn’t take a penny from him if his life depended on it, never mind his business, but he would gladly disappear. If it wasn’t for his children, for the fact that he desperately didn’t want to leave Karla like this, he would put as much distance between himself and that man as he could.
Ushering Holly and Josh into the hall, he focussed his attention on them. They needed him to hold it together, though Jason wondered how he could. If not for Jessie lifting him from his bleak moods, he wasn’t sure he would be coping.
‘Go get your PJs on, kids. I’ll make us some hot chocolate,’ he said, steering them towards the stairs. They were exhausted. Their routine was all over the place. So was their diet. Jason was going to have to do better than fast food if he wanted to feed them a balanced diet, as Karla always had.
Watching Josh slope towards the stairs, his scrawny shoulders drooping, Jason’s heart sank. The kid’s body language said it all. His son was worrying himself sick. Holly, too. Unsurprisingly. You could cut the atmosphere around here with a knife.
‘I’ll bring your drink up, Josh,’ he called after him. ‘Don’t forget to—’
‘Brush my teeth after I’ve drunk it. Iknow,’ Josh threw moodily behind him.
Jason drew a hand over his neck. He was entitled to that. Jason couldn’t help but wonder how the kids were holding it together either. He was grateful they were. ‘I was going to say, don’t forget you have your after-school coding club tomorrow,’ he said. ‘You’ll need to make sure you have your notebook.’
‘I’m not going. Don’t fancy it,’ Josh called back – and closed his bedroom door.
Right.Jason swallowed a tight knot in his throat. He wouldn’t, he supposed, not now his father had shown him that running his own software company was a fast road to failure.
He really had lived up to Fenton’s prophecies, hadn’t he? He’d messed up his family’s lives spectacularly. Where was Karla? What was she doing? Suppressing a combination of anger and fear, he took a breath and turned to Holly, who was loitering uncertainly in the hall. She would normally have dodged into the lounge and put the TV on – her usual ploy to postpone bedtime.
‘Hot chocolate?’ he asked her, with a hopeful shrug.
Holly didn’t appear too enthusiastic but answered with a small nod, possibly to placate him. If there was one thing Jason had realised since his world started falling apart, it was that his kids were smarter than he’d given them credit for.
‘I’ll put the kettle on and bring yours up, too.’ He attempted a reassuring smile.
Holly didn’t look very reassured. ‘Dad, where’s Mummy?’ she said, stopping him in his tracks as he took a step towards the kitchen.
Jason swallowed hard. That she’d referred to Karla as Mummy, rather than Mum, told him how scared his little girl was – and that almost tore his heart from his chest.
‘Out with friends,’ Jason answered, his voice catching. ‘Work colleagues,’ he quickly amended, hoping that might help to justify why she seemed to be out almost permanently. ‘I expect she’ll be home soon.’
Holly nodded again, her gaze dropping to her trainers, her expression ‘not buying it’. ‘When she does come home’ – she looked up, fixing him with huge blue eyes that were so like her mother’s, and so full of confusion, that Jason felt his heart crack another fraction inside him – ‘could you tell her we’re her friends, too?’
Stunned, Jason tried to answer, but the words got stuck in his throat.
