“I don’t know what you mean,” Edward said, voice cracking. For the first time, his gaze shifted to something just shy of William’s shoulder. Whatever drew Edward’s attention made his eyes widen slightly, his breathing becoming harsh with panting. “I – I…”
William was almost sure he saw something red and glistening reflected in Edward’s eyes. He would’ve turned around to see what stole Edward’s attention, but the anger at his response had the next words exploding out of him.
“I know, Edward. I knoweverything. You emailed my solicitor and gave your details to them. How long did you think you’d keep it from me?” It took but a moment for William to get so close to Edward that he didn’t even realise he was moving. He held the phone screen up mere inches from Edward’s face. “You knew about me before you got here. That’s not only it, is it? You knew all about Archie, the manor. All of it.”
Edward’s silence was incriminating.
“Howdareyou, Edward,” William shouted, louder this time, enough for the glass to quiver in their frames. “How dare you allow me to be so vulnerable with you… When all the while, you knew my story but decided to play into this narrative that you didn’t. Was I some joke to you? Did you pity me so much that you thought you’d let me open up, bleed myself dry just for your amusement?”
Edward’s face crumpled the moment William released his first tear.
“Please,” Edward said, head tilting, hand raising to William’s face. “Don’t cry.”
“I’m not.”
Edward’s thumb brushed at his cheek and William felt the tear be cleared from his skin. He blinked and more fell.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” William snapped. “Ever.Everagain.”
Edward reacted like he touched a bare flame. He withdrew so quickly that it was a surprise that his fingertips didn’t bubble and blister. “I promise that you’ve never been someone I pity. Not in the sense you might think in this moment. I need you to know that.”
“Then why the need for all the lies? Why not tell me the truth the moment you turned up?”
Edward looked back into the corner of the room, and William saw the flash of red again – wet blood red, like Archie’s coat. But the glance was so brief that he couldn’t be sure, and something screamed at him not to turn around and see.
“I was going to, but when I told you my name, and you didn’t react, I thought it was best that you didn’t know about me. It was, if anything, a lapse in judgement. Then I found myself sinking so deep into the lie, I wasn’t sure how to get out of it. Believe it or not, my decision was to help you.”
A tight pain sang in William’s chest. The room was suffocating him, all the damage and the ruined walls. He needed fresh air so suddenly, and not from an open window. He needed to get out before the walls drew in and devoured him whole. “You don’t get to decide what’s good for me. You don’t even know me.”
Edward reached out and took William’s arm before he could turn away and flee. “I do know you.”
“Ha.” The sharp laugh that William released even surprised himself. “Actually, you are right. You do know me, don’t you? Poor, crazy William Thorn. You know so much about me, and yet I know jack-shit about you.”
“Let me explain.”
William snatched his arm back. “Go on. I’m fucking waiting, Edward.”
“You’re right.” Edward swallowed hard. “I – I did know Archie before coming here, before meeting you. I was speaking with him regarding Hanbury Manor before I… he passed. I was trying to convince him to sell the property to me, explaining to him about my family ties here. At most I just wanted him to let me visit, to give me the time I needed to find out what happened to Teddy.”
Lies and truth had blended and mixed so seamlessly that William was almost surprised that Edward’s reasonings were the same.
“He never mentioned you to me,” William spat as if that could hurt Edward.
Something niggled at the back of his mind as if his words had just unlocked something that William couldn’t quite reach.
Archie was good at keeping secrets, too. He lied about his affair and his meetings with Edward…
The question came to William so thick and fast that the realisation alongside it was an aftershock. Suddenly, his anger dissipated, and he was left with the sickening realisation of his own truth slowly coming through. “When did you meet with him?”
Edward swallowed audibly, the prominent lump in his throat bobbing. “I think you already know the answer to that.”
No.No.
William’s jaw tightened as if every muscle, large and small, seized. “I need to hear you say it. Tell me.”
Tell him.
There they were again, those two words marked across Hanbury’s walls.
