“It’s Warren, isn’t it?”
Vic shook her head, looking away, but she didn’t deny it.
“I knew you were back with him. God.” The words spilled out. Too judgmental. Too harsh. But it was too late to take them back.
Vic swung her arctic gaze back to Ellie. “Youmight be happy in your imaginary world where you live with your book boyfriends and fantasy men.I’mtrying to make a real relationship work.”
That hurt. Ellie knew she was a perfectionist. She knew she sometimes hid in her fantasy worlds rather than face the messy, unpredictable dangers of the real world. And Josh… was that what she had done? Invented him?
No. Vic didn’t even know about Josh. Ellie pushed those worries away. “How can you say that, Vic? We’ve been friends for years. You know the truth.”
“Do I?” Vic scraped her hands over her face, smudging her mascara.
It was jarring. In all their years of friendship, had she ever seen her friend less than perfectly put together? A horrible suspicion began to form. “Did you tell Warren about the sale? Is this all his idea? Damn it, Vic.”
Victoria glared at her, high red streaks marking her cheeks. “You don’t get to police my relationships, Eleanor. You don’t tell me what I can share and what I can’t.”
“I’m not policing your relationship, Vic! See who you want. Sleep with who you want. But I wish you could see that you’re worth so much more than that arsehole who has never made you happy, who has never prioritized you in any way.” Ellie gave herself a second before voicing the rest, Vic was not going to take it well, but it had to be said. “But actually, Icantell you what you may and may not share. You’re an employee here and?—”
Vic’s face pinched. “Fuck you, Ellie.”
“We’re friends, Vic. We’ve been friends for a long time. So I’m going to forget you said that.” Ellie gripped her hands together to stop them shaking. “I’m worried about you. I don’t think he’s good for you. And now he knows things about my company that?—”
“Why should it be yours?” Vic demanded. “I work just as hard as you do! That’s my blood and sweat and tears out there too!”
Ellie held her gaze. “It’s mine because I created it and nurtured it and loved it for all these years! It’s mine because it means more to me than a number on a bank transfer. It’s mine becauseIam your boss.” Ellie took a breath, working hard to hold her outrage from spilling out any further. This wasn’t her friend speaking. Vic’s words were straight out of Warren’s mouth. And before she decided how to handle Vic’s actions, she needed to know exactly what she was dealing with.
She clasped her hands together even tighter as she found her control and held it. “What did he promise, Vic?”
“This has nothing?—”
Ellie leaned forward and locked eyes with her best friend. “What. Did. He. Promise?”
Vic stared out the window in silence for long minutes. Long enough that Ellie assumed she wouldn’t reply. But eventually she answered quietly, “We’ll get married. He doesn’t want to start our life together in debt.”
And there it was. “How much debt is he in?”
“He got scammed. You know how hard he’s worked to set up himself up as a trader.”
Ellie didn’t know that at all. She knew Warren liked to stay at home in sweatpants doing things on his computer no one else was supposedly clever enough to understand. But she couldn’t say that. Not now.
“He knew someone who could get him in on an IPO on this mining company that had developed a new way to extract rhodium,” Vic continued. “Do you know how much rhodium is trading at right now? Twenty-five thousand dollars per ounce. It was going to be huge.”
Hell. Ellie was gripping her hands together so tightly that they hurt, and she forced them apart as she waited. There was only one possible way that could end.
“It was a scam.” Vic swallowed thickly. “But he’d already put everything up as collateral.”
Ellie’s heart broke for her friend. And she had a horrible feeling this story was about to get worse. “How much debt is he in?”
Vic’s shoulders slumped. “Over a million pounds. Not including his mother’s house—” She took a ragged breath. “—and mine.”
“He lost your house! How could he even… How does he…?” Ellie’s stomach clenched. “How is that possible?”
“I gave him permission,” Vic admitted. “I signed the forms and let him use the deeds as surety.”
Ellie reached out and took Vic’s hands, holding them tight, wishing she could surround her in support. And maybe it was a measure of her distress, because Vic didn’t pull away. “Why did you do it?” Ellie asked.
“Because he was so excited. He was so sure he was going to make it big, and I wanted that for him. He loves me, and I could do this one thing. And I had to trust him, right? If we’re going to have a life together, we have to trust each other.” Vic’s voice dropped to a whisper. “We were going to be happy.”
