Silver Tears(59)

Farther out to sea, there was an illuminated freighter passing by, looking like a prostrate skyscraper.

I felt the coarse surface of the wood under my fingers and drew the oar toward me. I placed it gently at my feet and glanced across at Tomas and Roger. They were standing hunched over the sea chart, examining it with looks of concern.

I took a deep breath. The first raindrops fell, moistening my brow. I opened my mouth, stuck out my tongue, and closed my eyes. Gathering strength.

I stood up, still holding the rail. The next moment, I filled my lungs with oxygen and then I screamed like I’d never screamed before. Perhaps it was the fear I’d felt in the last few days when I’d been locked in the cabin finally being aired. Tomas and Roger pitched toward me.

I pointed dumbly into the water.

“There,” I gasped, before taking another gulp of air and screaming again.

They pushed past me and peered into the water and at that moment I took a step back and gripped the oar. I raised it. Swung it at the two of them. I knew I had to hit them both at the same time. As the oar came careering toward them, Tomas turned around. But he didn’t have time to react or do anything to protect himself. The oar hit them at chest height and flung them over the rail. Just before I heard the splash from the water, I heard a cry.

I let go of the oar and stumbled forward to watch them disappear and die.

Tomas had somehow managed to catch hold of the rail and was holding on desperately. His gaze was filled with horror as our eyes met. I contemplated him silently.



“Please, help me,” he begged.

His hand was cramping and his knuckles were turning white. He tried to grab hold with the other hand to heave himself up. Quietly, I leaned forward. I opened my mouth, put my teeth on his finger, and bit down.

He roared with pain.

I sunk my teeth in, biting all the way down to the bone, and eventually he let go. He fell, screaming. Hit the surface. Then he disappeared beneath it and there was silence.





David called just as Faye had parked the car in the underground garage and was heading upstairs in the elevator. He explained he was going to be late. Hassle from Johanna. Again. She was demanding money from him, otherwise she was threatening to call around to his colleagues in the world of finance to slander him.

“The other day, she said she was going to report me to the police for assault. I’m only putting up with this for the girls’ sake. But I can’t wait until this is over—when it’s just you and me.”

“Me too.”

David sounded so resigned. If only Ylva had heard this call, she would probably have reconsidered her attitude—and then some.

Sure, she’d been to dinner with Johanna a couple of times. But people showed off their best sides in social settings—they’d rather donate a kidney than show a crack in the perfect fa?ade. Humans were herd animals whose worst nightmare was exclusion from the community. Of course someone like Johanna Schiller could show her warm, human side for a couple of hours. And there was nothing to say that she had always been the way that David now described her as being. People changed, as she kept saying. She, of all people, knew that.

When Jack had left Faye, she had also descended into a spiral of madness. She had completely forgotten who she was. And why.

She said goodbye to David—he promised he would be there at nine—just as the elevator stopped on her floor. She opened the door quickly, looked left and right to make sure that Jack or her father wasn’t waiting for her, and then rapidly unlocked the door and security grille.



The apartment was empty and desolate. Beautiful without feeling like a home. A home needed life, other people, a story.

Faye put down her bag, opened the sliding doors onto the terrace to let in some air, and settled down on one of the white sofas in the living room. She missed Julienne and her mother so much. She pulled out a folder of Revenge papers with outlines for the American products she needed to approve, but she skimmed the documents without enthusiasm. Sighed. Put them down on the coffee table.

She couldn’t do it. Not tonight. Why should she spend loads of time on the American expansion when she was going to lose her company anyway?

She reached for her mobile and sent a text to Alice.

I have to get out tonight. Meet me by Strandbryggan and I’ll make sure David comes there.





At Strandbryggan, the party was already in full flow. A DJ was playing Avicii, a yacht adorned with the restaurant’s logo was just casting off, and on deck there were two dozen happy twenty-somethings bouncing up and down.

“I feel old,” Faye muttered as they stood in line.

“Not me. Quite the reverse, as it happens. I’m sucking up their youth,” said Alice. “By the way, this is the first time we’ve seen each other since you and David decided to move in together. Congratulations.”

They hugged and Faye took in Alice’s warm scent of vanilla.

Alice was more beautiful than ever. She was wearing a short white dress along with some stratospheric heels that were catching the eye of all the young guys. Faye couldn’t help but smile. A couple of years ago she would have been annoyed and jealous of the attention.

Alice smiled at two guys with face tattoos. The unique thing about her was that she fit in wherever she went. Men of all classes, all backgrounds, all ages, were dazzled by her.

Bringing her on board Revenge had been a stroke of genius, Faye thought to herself with satisfaction.