When she let me out later she was drunk, crying about how Claire rejected her. Claire didn’t want to know the mother who abandoned her apparently.
Claire was lucky. Just like you. Because neither of you had her as a mother, did you? She birthed you, gave you red hair and blue eyes and freckles and all the nice things. I was the one who lived with her misery.
Don’t give me any of that crap about what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. No it doesn’t. It wears you down. It makes you nothing. It makes you invisible.
Until I met my man – my Magnus – and I learned how to channel all that hatred in my heart.
Resentment is poison and I swallow it like fine wine, enjoying the sensation of the dark liquor swirling through my blood.
The blood that we share, dear sister.
CHAPTER 48
FAYE
They’ve left me alone in the dark again. I’m still tied to this chair, completely alert and entirely at their mercy. I don’t know how long I’ve been here. Sometimes I lose myself to moments of confusion. But right now I see everything clearly. Under the heavy weight of darkness, my other senses feel keener, and my ears react to the sound of an insect scurrying across the floor. No, it’s bigger than an insect. A mouse. Or a rat.
Then I hear voices. Magnus and Dina. They’re directly above me. The conversation is muffled but I can decipher odd words thrown in the right direction. I shut my eyes and focus all my energy into my ears.
“Tomorrow,” he says.
She says something I can’t make out.
Then he follows up with, “I’ll drive her to the bank.”
I swallow. Could this all be about money? He’s welcome to mine if it means letting me go, if it means keeping Penny safe.
He continues to speak but I can’t hear what he says. But another sound turns my blood to ice. Dina laughing. They’re enjoying this, they’re taking pleasure in my pain. My own sister, orchestrating and revelling in my trauma.
A door shuts above me, and I hear Dina crystal clear.
“You’ll get what is owed to you, my love.”
“And what’s mine is yours,” he replies.
I shudder at the affectionate tone they share.
I have no idea how unhinged this man is, but what I’ve experienced of him so far tells me I don’t want to find out. As for Dina… She was so sweet, so warm when I met her. How could I have got it so wrong? How did I not see how sick and twisted she really is? I’ve been so focused on finding Claire that I didn’t think about Dina at all, and I never considered what Rachel Lacey was actually like as a mother.
The woman who spat out spiteful words and slapped me across the face. How cruel has she been to Dina over the years? She’s created a monster.
My mind whirls from one question to the next. How do I get away from here? Will anyone know I’m missing? Nathan is unreliable, Alistair isn’t speaking to me and I have no idea where Penny is. I can’t bear thinking about Penny. What has he done to her? He may have been bluffing when he said he had her, but I can’t be sure. The more I think about my daughter in danger, the more I strain against the ropes around my wrists. I ache all over. My body is exhausted. I try to steady my breathing, taking in deep breaths. Hours pass and then I start to drift to sleep, finding snatches of peace while in hell.
I’m suddenly woken by footsteps overhead. The door opens and I lift my head, blinking into the darkness. There’s the barest glimmer of light revealing two figures.
The woman is holding the door open. I see a flash of her features. The frown, the furrowed brow. Dina.
The other figure is a man, carrying something heavy on his shoulders. What’s his name? My brain is foggy. Tim. No. Magnus. That’s right, Claire Blackburn’s stepson. He walks in and hefts the load from his shoulder onto the floor. The sight of him makes my blood run cold. What is he doing?
Dina steps towards me. She scowls and raises her hand, balling it into a fist, and then she hits me hard in the face. My neck snaps back, my cheekbone on fire.
“You’ve no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.” She’s smiling now.
“Come on,” Magnus says. “We’ll be back soon,” they walk away, closing the door.
As the door closes, it shuts out all the light, but just before it slams, I work out that the lump on the ground is a person. And when I finally complete the dots, I scream until my throat is sore.
The lifeless body lying three feet away from me is my daughter.
