The Wife Before Me(28)
‘What is it?’ Her alarm is instant. She knows that he is about to reveal something that will shatter the uneasy truce they have shared. He has met someone else? Her suspicions were right all along. Stolen hours in hotel rooms. She imagines them together, the woman faceless but dishevelled on a bed, and he, leaning over her, uncaring that Elena is trapped with two babies in a house she hates, her days blurred with meaningless chores. Seeing her agitation, Nicholas smiles reassuringly and takes her hands in his.
‘Nothing that won’t be rectified in time. There’s been a glitch on the market. Chinese-related. It affects our plans for the immediate future. It’s only temporary though and you must trust me to sort it out.’ Quietly, he explains how her stocks and shares in KHM have collapsed. The investment he was positive would wield such profits has been affected by the collapse of a Chinese bank. Ripple effects throughout the global market has made the stocks worthless.
He holds her hands more firmly when she struggles against him. He has been trying for months to recoup her losses, and those of the other investors, who have also been affected. It seemed, for a while, as if the company would go under but Nicholas has managed to avoid this catastrophe. His partnership is still intact and Elena’s investment will return in time to its full value, when the market settles. He makes it sound like a wild beast that has escaped its leash, temporarily. She hurls furious questions at him but is unable to listen to his answers. How could she have been so trusting? Isabelle had often spoken about the reliability of KHM and had always received a healthy return on her investments. But that was when it was called Keogh & Harris Investments, before Nicholas became a junior partner. Her stomach cramps with panic. She pulls free from him and pushes him aside. Sobbing, she stands, her legs shaking so much she is afraid they will not hold her upright. She leaves the bedroom and crosses the landing, unsure where she is going, what she will do, how she will cope with this revelation. The only certainty she has is that her future has turned to dust.
‘Come back to bed.’ He is close behind her. ‘Everything will be back to normal, eventually. You have to trust me, Elena. It’s just a blip. It happens all the time but the market always recovers.’
Unsure and uncaring whether he is anxious or contrite, she turns at the top of the stairs and flails back at him.
‘Listen to me.’ He fends off her blows and reaches towards her. Unable to keep her balance, she claws the air for support and, for an instant, it seems as if she is suspended, motionless in mid-air. Then she falls. As her face smacks off the wooden staircase, she thinks of Amelia falling from a ladder with the same graceless abandon.
When she recovers consciousness, Nicholas is bending over her. Pale and gaunt from shock, he presses tissues to her forehead. Her head hums and the red mist before her eyes breaks into jagged stars. He helps her to her feet and talks about calling an ambulance.
‘No… no, I don’t need an ambulance.’ She is insistent at first, fighting back panic as she imagines Yvonne moving in and looking after the children, but the blood seeping from her head tells her that an ambulance is vital. Has she fractured her skull? Her body will be one dark bruise tomorrow. How ironic that this one will have been self-inflicted.
The paramedics are attending to Elena when Yvonne arrives to look after the children. Her face floats into view and away again, yet not before her shocked expression is replaced by a wary glance from her son to Elena, who is being lifted onto the stretcher. She suspects, Elena thinks, but her thoughts are dulled, her mind unresponsive.
Nicholas holds her hand as the ambulance driver hurtles towards the hospital. The siren is a screech inside her head but even louder is an insidious, taunting question. Did she fall or was she pushed?
Fifteen
Susie is unable to hide her shock when she enters the small, private ward where Elena is recovering. ‘I fell down the stairs.’ She sounds, she thinks, more defensive each time she repeats this information. ‘I was wearing socks at the time. Not a good idea on a wooden staircase. Thankfully, awful as I look, I’m going to be okay.’
‘Your poor face. Oh, my God, Elena.’
‘I thought I’d fractured my skull but it’s okay. I’m just badly bruised, that’s all. I’ll be fine in a week or so.’ She is familiar with the palette to recovery; the mottled purple turning to a murky brown before fading to amber, then a sickly yellow. She is briefly tempted to confide in Susie before Nicholas arrives, but shame holds her back. Her inheritance is worthless, frittered away by a man who claims to love her but has brought her to the depths of despair with his recklessness and violence. His chastened expression has done nothing to relieve her fury. It doesn’t matter how often he apologises for the vagaries of the market and reassures her he will recoup his losses; he has taken her means of independence from her. Now, with their children binding them ever closer, she is unable to see a way forward without him.
‘I’ll be discharged tomorrow. I can’t wait to see the children again. The nurses have been wonderful. They’ve helped me to pump milk so that I can continue to feed Joel when I go home.’
‘They’re so sweet.’ Susie is enchanted by the photographs on Elena’s phone. ‘Guess what? They’ll have a new little friend in six months.’
‘Oh, Susie! That’s wonderful news.’