The First Mistake(90)

‘Why would he do that?’ asks Alice.

Beth shrugs her shoulders. ‘For the money, in the short term – he stole some jewellery and personal possessions that might have fetched a few hundred pounds, although their sentimental value was a lot higher. And I paid a ransom, for want of a better word, to get my dog back, which would have gone straight into his pocket.’

Alice looks at her, bewildered.

‘But Nathan likes to play the long-game, so in creating those distressing situations, not only did he earn financially from them, but he earned my trust – made me think he was my saviour.’

Alice remembers Nathan making her feel exactly the same way. A wolf in sheep’s clothing.

‘And when the time was right, he pounced,’ says Beth with tears in her eyes. ‘When he knew he had my trust – when he knew I felt secure – he stole one hundred and fifty thousand pounds of my family’s money.’

Alice’s eyes widen, unblinking as she stares at Beth.

‘But why would Nathan need your money? He had more than enough of his own when I met him.’

‘He didn’t have a pot to piss in,’ says Beth scathingly. ‘Everything he came to you with was ours – he took every penny that my mother had, and didn’t the pair of you have a grand old time spending it. I bet you couldn’t quite believe your luck, could you? But whilst you were living the high life, my mother was slowly dying of embarrassment and shame.’

Alice’s blood runs cold.

‘It broke her heart and took her soul. It was everything she and my dad had worked for, and without it, she couldn’t carry on living in the house that she cherished, the house that she had shared with my father.’ Beth’s face crumples as the tears come. ‘And I allowed him to do it.’

A part of Alice wants to reach out to her old friend, but she stops herself – the trust that they’d once shared shattered.

‘So she sold the house, and less than two weeks later died in her sleep, her pride unable to survive the move.’ Beth blows her nose on a tissue.

‘I’m sorry, but—’ begins Alice, wondering how any of this has anything to do with her, but Beth cuts her off.

‘She didn’t speak to me again after what happened. And above all else, I’ll never forgive him for that.’ She looks at Alice. ‘So, what did you do with all our money? Did he pay off the house? Did he plough it all into AT Designs? Or did the pair of you just have a fine time spending it? Either way, you’ve not done too badly out of my family’s life’s work, have you?’

‘I think you’ve got the wrong man,’ says Alice. ‘And you’ve certainly got the wrong woman. I was more than capable of standing on my own two feet when I met Nathan, financially, if not emotionally. Tom received a significant inheritance after the death of his parents and it was largely put into the company, which in turn paid off the mortgage. I was totally self-sufficient by the time I met Nathan. I didn’t take anything from him, nor did he offer. The house is mine, the company is mine, the site in Japan will be mine.’

‘So, you’re telling me that he brought nothing to this marriage, nothing of any financial value?’

Alice shakes her head. ‘Not a penny, and yet now I’m told he’s entitled to half of everything I own.’

‘You’ve spoken to a solicitor?’ asks Beth in surprise.

‘Yes, earlier today,’ admits Alice. ‘I’ve asked for some advice on where I stand if we separate. Something’s not been right for a while, but seeing his reaction to you at Olivia’s party yesterday, I knew for definite. I guess you must have really surprised him.’

Beth smiles wryly. ‘He wouldn’t have been expecting me, that’s for sure.’

‘Now I know why you went out of your way to avoid him,’ says Alice. ‘I’d not thought about it before, but last night, I remembered all the times you could have bumped into each other, yet every time you’d somehow manipulated yourself out of it. You must have both felt like you were sitting on a timebomb, working out ways to avoid each other whenever I was around. But yesterday you made a conscious decision to do what you did. Why now, Beth?’

‘You don’t get it, do you?’ says Beth. ‘That day, when I saw you both outside my flat in Guildford, was also the last time I saw him – until yesterday.’

Alice feels winded. ‘What?’

‘He disappeared off the face of the earth and it was only a good few years later that I saw a picture in the paper, of you receiving a design award. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to recognize the woman in the car that day, but I knew it was you the minute I saw it. So I used you to track him down.’

That admission, more than anything else, cuts Alice the deepest.

‘Now I’m here to claim back what’s mine.’

‘You want money?’ asks Alice, her voice tight. ‘That’s what this is all about?’

‘I want what’s rightfully mine. What he stole from my family.’

‘And you’ve waited this long to get it?’

‘I needed to take my time, work out the best way to do it, pounce at the most opportune moment, just like he did with me. I had to be sure he had the money to give.’

‘So how are you going to go about getting it back?’