The First Mistake(93)

‘Mrs Davies, are you okay?’

‘I need to stop the transaction,’ she says, breathlessly. ‘We’re not completing.’

Five minutes later she’s waiting in the manager’s office as he prints off confirmation that the transfer has been halted. If her fears are unfounded, then she may have just lost out on the deal of the century. A no-brainer, as Nathan would say. But if her instinct is right . . .

Beth’s words ring loudly in her ears. Don’t let him anywhere near it.

Her chest falls and rises heavily, every fibre in her body fighting against the growing possibility of Nathan being more corrupt and cruel than she could even begin to imagine.

Her phone rings and, seeing it’s Nathan, she hesitates, as if it’s going to stop him from saying what she thinks he’s going to say. Knowing that if he does, it means that everything Beth has said is true.

‘Jesus, Alice,’ barks Nathan down the line. ‘What the hell are you playing at?’

‘What’s up?’ she says, as calmly as she can, though even she can hear the quiver in her voice.

Don’t say it. Please don’t say it.

‘Why have you stalled completion?’ he says, and with those five words, Alice’s world comes crashing down around her.

She hangs up and with shaking hands calls Beth. ‘You won’t be getting any money back from Nathan,’ Alice says.





45


The deceit is crippling, like an unknown force rippling through her body, slowly shutting down her vital organs, one by one.

Beth drives the car in silence, the pair of them contemplating their next move whilst Alice’s phone rings off the hook.

‘How can you be so sure that Nathan’s the vendor?’ asks Beth eventually.

‘Because the vendor is the only other person who would have been told that completion’s delayed,’ she says.

‘And you were buying it for a million pounds?’ asks Beth incredulously. ‘How much do you think Nathan bought it for?’

‘It’s worthless!’ says Alice, as she bangs the dashboard with a closed fist. ‘He’d have got it for a song because nothing can be built on it. It’s no man’s land.’

‘Shit,’ says Beth. ‘He was going to do it all over again.’

Alice leans back on the headrest as a text from Matt pings through on her phone.

Good news! Looks like the payments to Visions are all kosher as they’re a subsidiary of Excelsior – the vendors on Japan! Will talk you through when you’re back in the office.

‘What do you want to do?’ asks Beth.

Alice counts to ten in her head, concentrating on taking slow deep breaths in and out. ‘I want to kill him, is what I want to do.’

‘Who was that disgusting man?’ asks Beth, sounding as if a lightbulb has gone on in her head that no one else can see. Alice waits for her to offer more.

‘That creep who owned Temple Homes. The one who assaulted you.’

Alice shakes her head, not knowing what he’s got to do with anything. ‘David,’ she says. ‘David Phillips.’

‘Where’s that site? The one he wanted you to work on.’

‘Bradbury Avenue,’ says Alice, a slight irritation to her. How was this solving the very big problem of Nathan?

Beth snatches a look at her watch. ‘Will it still be open?’

‘What, the site?’

Beth nods.

‘I don’t know. Why?’

‘Call David and find out if you can meet him there.’

Alice turns in her seat. ‘Why would I do that?’

‘Just ask him to meet you there now.’

‘Absolutely not,’ snaps Alice. ‘I never want to speak to him again.’

‘Just do it,’ says Beth, her eyes not leaving the road in front of her. ‘I’ve got an idea.’

‘And what do I do if he says yes?’

‘We’ll revert to Plan B.’

Alice begrudgingly looks up his number, unsure of whether she deleted it from her phone after their encounter. She almost hopes that she has.

When she sees it, she fights the urge to lie to Beth. ‘I don’t want him to think that what he did was okay,’ she says quietly, remembering his hands on her behind, his rough fingers kneading her breast.

‘Believe you me, he won’t get away with it,’ says Beth, ‘if you please just do as I say.’

‘Are you honestly asking me to trust you?’ says Alice, her voice high-pitched and laden with irony.

‘Yes,’ says Beth firmly, and for some reason Alice believes her.

‘David!’ she enthuses, superficially. ‘It’s Alice. How are you?’

‘Oh, Alice,’ he replies. ‘Well, this is a surprise. I thought after—’

‘It was a misunderstanding,’ she says. ‘And not something that should interfere with business.’

‘Well, I’m pleased you feel that way. I have to say, I was somewhat surprised by your overreaction.’

Alice bites her lip, desperately trying to stay calm.

‘Listen, I was wondering if I could take a look at the site after all? Just to get a clearer picture of your vision for the interior. That is, if you’d still like me to . . .’