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Fliss’s mind was crammed with a thousand thoughts, overwhelmed by how sad it was that she had never known the truth until now. She had missed out on so much … And, she realised with a start, it meant that Tara was her half-sister, Bill her half-brother.

‘I know I should have told you before now. Be assured that I genuinely cared for your mother,’ Neville said, heedless of the pained look Elizabeth gave him. ‘I’m sorry for not being in your life, but it … it wasn’t possible. When Jacqui told me that she was pregnant, and she was determined to keep you, I promised her that you would always be looked after.

‘When she passed, I … I wanted to do something more. Tara was thriving at her school, and I wanted you to be given the same opportunities. I never dreamed that you and she would … Anyway. The more I got to know you, the more I saw what a wonderful young woman you had turned out to be. I worried that if I told you the truth, it would be like exploding a bomb in your life and I didn’t want to do that. So I kept quiet. But now that you know, I hope we have time … That we can get to know one another … Make up for all the lost years …’

Fliss didn’t know what to say, or how she felt. It was all too raw, and she didn’t trust her feelings right now. Suddenly, she felt close to tears.

She remembered how angry she had been at John, the man she considered to be her father, for keeping secrets from her when, in fact, he had done his very best her whole life. He had raised another man’s child, putting Fliss first every single time. Neville, on the other hand, had only been concerned with saving his own reputation.

‘Do you expect me just to accept your apologies?’ she began, but broke off as there was a commotion outside in the corridor, then a banging on the door.

‘Come in!’ Lord Oliver looked exhausted by the interruption.

The door opened and Sally entered, looking furious. She was holding a mobile phone in her hand.

‘I’m so sorry to interrupt,’ Sally apologised breathlessly, as she looked around the room, taking in who was there and seeing the expressions on their faces. ‘But you need to hear this.’

Chapter 39

‘I confiscated Jasper’s phone, because he was filming people at the party secretly, which I’d expressly told him not to do,’ Sally explained, her lips pursed in a tight line. Fliss didn’t think she had ever seen Sally look so angry. ‘It was unlocked, and I went through it, deleting any pictures and videos that he had taken tonight. But I think you all need to see what I found there.’

She walked towards Lord Oliver and everyone crowded around. As Sally pressed play, she turned the volume up to max. The picture was dark and grainy, but the audio was unmistakeable as Bill slurred his way through a phone call, apparently with a journalist.

‘… that’s right, Tara Oliver, the Z-list actress,’ he was saying, spite dripping from the words. ‘Kit Forrest’s wife. With Harry Swan, the director. But how much will you pay me? This is an exclusive, and there’s more where that came from, but the price has to be right …’

Fliss looked at Kit, who was stony-faced.

‘… You know I’m good for it,’ Bill was saying. ‘What about that tip-off I gave you before, about Fliss Courtney and Kit Forrest? Your guy got some pretty good photos out of that, didn’t he? And I can get you more on Fliss too. I sent you those photos before, didn’t I? Just give me time to get the papers I need, and I’ll give you a story that’s bigger than any of this. As long as the money’s right of course …’

The video rolled on, but Fliss was no longer listening. Her heart was hammering, blood rushing in her ears. Bill was the one behind all of this? The two of them hadn’t had the best relationship, but she hadn’t realised he hated her …

She looked up to see Lord Oliver shaking with fury. ‘Where’s Bill?’ he demanded. ‘Bring him here.’

‘I’m already right here, Daddy,’ Bill said, stepping into the room, he had an open bottle of Hennessy in one hand and was clearly incredibly drunk. ‘Looks like I arrived right on time.’

‘How dare you! How could you?’ Sally burst out, and Fliss felt for her. It sounded as though her heart was breaking. However angry Fliss felt with Bill in that moment, she knew it was worse for Sally, finding out what an utter traitor her husband was. The rest of them had known as much for years, but Sally had always stood by Bill.

Bill simply rolled his eyes. ‘You made it too easy for me, darling – all that lovely gossip you told me every time you got off the phone from Fliss, after one of your endless catch-ups. The journos just ate that right up – and it was a nice little payday for me too.’ He laughed to himself, taking another slug from the bottle.

Sally looked horrified as she turned to Fliss. ‘My God, I’m so sorry. I had no idea, Fliss, honestly …’

‘It’s OK,’ Fliss assured her, though right now it seemed anything but OK. ‘It wasn’t your fault.’

‘But it was,’ Sally wailed, hot tears gushing down her cheeks, and Fliss knew that it wasn’t simply concern about what had happened to Fliss that was causing her distress. It was the realisation that parts of her marriage had been a lie, that the truth she had tried to deny all these years was now impossible to ignore; Bill was a snake who didn’t care about anyone but himself.

To Fliss’s surprise, it was Lady Oliver who spoke up. ‘Bill,’ she said, shaking her head with disappointment. ‘What a stupid, stupid boy you are. You had everything – every opportunity, the best education money could buy, and you threw it all away. I’m ashamed of you. You’re lazy and entitled. All you care about is money, and getting it in the easiest way possible, no matter the cost to anyone else.’

‘Should I have done what you did, Mother?’ Bill rounded on her. ‘You’re calling me lazy and entitled, but you were weak and spineless. Keeping Dad’s secrets for him’ – he jerked his chin in Neville’s direction – ‘all in search of an easy life. Getting the money and the house, the title and the acclaim, all in return for looking the other way when it came to his sordid affairs. Because Fliss’s mother wasn’t the only one, was she? He was running around with half the pretty young actresses in London behind your back. Are there any more half-siblings I should know about, Dad?’

‘That’s enough!’ Lord Oliver said sharply. ‘God, I’m embarrassed to call you my son. How dare you speak like that to your mother, and to your wife? I can’t for the life of me understand why you’ve treated Fliss the way you have. What did she ever do to you?’

‘I think I know why,’ Fliss said quietly, staring at Bill through narrowed eyes, as though trying to see right to the rotten core of him. ‘You knew, didn’t you? You knew – or at least suspected – that Neville was my real father.’

‘What?’ Sally exclaimed, her jaw dropping at the revelation.

‘I’ve known for years,’ Bill admitted, ignoring his wife, remembering back to that summer …

It was a couple of weeks before Tara’s sixteenth birthday. Bill was already eighteen and about to go to university. He’d failed the Oxford and Cambridge entrance exams and no amount of Oliver string-pulling could get him a place. He was heading to Durham in September instead.