Silver Tears(78)

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—

Faye put her head back and studied the beautiful nineteenth-century fa?ades. When she had first arrived in Stockholm from Fj?llbacka, she had been wide-eyed at all the beautiful old buildings. Now, almost twenty years later, she was rich enough to buy a whole block of the city. It was a strange feeling.

She shifted her gaze to the left, toward Stureplan and Biblioteksgatan, where the nightclub known as Buddha Bar had once been. She remembered that enchanting summer night in 2001 when she had met a lovely, kind boy called Viktor. Too kind, she had thought back then. How might her life have looked if she hadn’t chosen Jack? If she’d let Viktor live and killed Jack instead?



She looked up toward the window again. Up there on the fifth floor, David was waiting. And Henrik. Each in a separate office.

Alice and Ylva had texted to say that everything was in place and that neither of the men had seen the other arrive. The scene was set. Faye tried to make out what she was feeling—whether she was nervous, angry, or upset.

But no, deep down she felt only happiness. Wild, pure happiness. Everything might have been so much worse if she hadn’t had Ylva and Alice in her life. They had saved her. They had saved each other.

She keyed in the door code and waited for the elevator. A little while later, she passed between the empty desks in Revenge’s open-plan office, taking delight in the smell of freshly brewed coffee. The lights were on in the conference room. She saw the back of David’s neck and his broad shoulders as he chatted to Ylva and Alice. Alice’s smiling mouth was moving, but the thick glass door deadened any attempt to hear what the conversation was about.

Faye opened the door and David turned around and saw her. He stood up and held out his arms to embrace her.

“My darling, finally. I’ve missed you so much,” he said. “Frankfurt was awful without you.”

Faye walked past him without looking at him, pulled out a chair at the head of the table, and sat down.

She crossed her legs.

“Faye…what? What’s going on?” he asked in surprise.

The smile on Alice’s face was gone. She gave him a hostile stare. David seemed to notice the atmosphere in the room had changed.

“I’ve brought you here today to introduce you to our new investors,” Faye began, stretching out her hand toward Ylva and taking a folder from her.

Faye opened it, examined the papers inside, and nodded.

“Yes, you may wonder what I meant by that, given that I’m no longer in control of Revenge. Partly thanks to information you passed to Henrik. But he’s right here in the room next door. And believe me, Revenge will soon be mine again. If I were you, I’d take care to avoid being associated with Henrik Bergendahl in the future. You’ll soon understand why. But until then, I think this says it all.”



She placed the uppermost document on the table and pushed it across to David, who shuddered.

“This…I can explain,” he stammered.

Faye snorted.

“You’re not going to explain anything. You’re going to listen.”

For the first time, she fixed her eyes on him. She pushed three sheets of paper stapled together toward him. The heading said Joint petition for divorce and the names on the paperwork were David Schiller and Johanna Schiller.

“This is for you to sign.”

“But what’s this? I’ve been trying to get this divorce through for months. You know that.”

Faye burst out laughing. Alice and Ylva chimed in. David looked from one to the other with his mouth hanging open.

“My dear, it’s all over. You’ve spent your life deceiving women. That’s finished. Trying to buy your way into Revenge with your wife’s money while claiming you were in the middle of a divorce was…creative. And then covering yourself by feeding business secrets about the American expansion to Henrik.” Faye nodded to the first document she had given to David. “I’ll give you this, you’re not lazy. But it’s over now. Do you understand? You should be happy to avoid prison.”

David swallowed. His face became redder.

“I…”

“Shut your mouth,” Faye roared.

There was a knock on the door and she waved in a dark-haired woman wearing an elegant Chanel dress.

“Hello, dearest ex-husband,” said Johanna Schiller, pulling out the chair nearest to Faye.

David’s jaw dropped again.

He blinked furiously, looking between the two women.

“She’s trying to trick you, Johanna,” he said. “Don’t believe her lies. She just wants your money. I had an affair, I had a moment of weakness, but it was never more than that for me. Never. It’s you and me, Johanna. I love you.”



Johanna began to titter.

“I would never deceive you,” he went on, pointing at Faye. “She came on to me.”

David suddenly slammed his fist onto the table. His face was transformed with anger. He looked like a furious little boy.

“Stop it,” said Johanna, shaking her head. “Sign the papers and fuck off. We’ve got a board meeting.”

David leaned toward her.

“Are you the new investor?”

“Yes, you’re broke,” Ylva murmured.

Johanna nodded cheerfully.