Page 77 of Below the Deck

Lucy sat up straight in her chair. ‘Well,’ she said. ‘That depends.’

Rory rubbed at his temples. ‘Depends on what, Lucy?’

‘I’m sure you remember the conversation we were having earlier. I still want justice for my family, and everyone whosuffered after the takeover of Willowbrook. If you can make amends for that—’

‘And resign from Ashworth,’ Talia interrupted. ‘So as not to risk any inappropriate behaviour towards women there again …’

Lucy picked up her thread: ‘Then I think we’ll all be willing to let this go. No one else needs to find out about what you’ve done.’

Eleni nodded in confirmation. ‘Agreed,’ she said.

Rory gaped at the group. ‘But …’ he spluttered. ‘It’s my company! I built it up from nothing. You can’t just expect me to abandon it, for God’s sake.’ He gave an exasperated huff, then stared out to sea for a moment. ‘Although – well, I suppose I could step back a little. Give up the CEO role and take another position on the board. I’d have to speak to the other executives first, of course – tell them I plan to retire and see what they’re willing to offer me …’

‘And what about Willowbrook?’ asked Lucy.

He scowled at her. ‘I will make sure you’re properly compensated. You’ll have the money you need for your brother’s care, for the rest of his life. I suppose I could throw in some severance pay – perhaps your three months’ notice – for you too.’

A slow smile crept across Lucy’s face. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘You’re doing the right thing – finally.’

‘But hang on – what about the other families?’ asked Mark. ‘Will you compensate them too?’ Rory sighed, lifted a hand to his brow, but said nothing. ‘Come on, Rory,’ Mark went on. ‘How much could you sell your shares in the company for? A few hundred mill? You can afford to give at least half of that away …’

‘Half?’ Rory spluttered. ‘Come on, now! I mean … ah, Lucy – Mark – I’m sure we can come to some sort of agreement that all parties are happy with.’

‘I’ll send you a list of everyone who was affected by the deal,’ said Lucy. ‘You can give all the other families exactly what you’re giving mine.’

‘Fine,’ Rory mumbled. ‘I’ll get my lawyer onto it when we get home. You have my word.’

Lucy glanced at Mark, who gave her the slightest nod. She looked back at Rory. ‘Then we accept,’ she said.

Rory gave a weary sigh. ‘And may I have your word too?’ He stared at Lucy and Mark for a moment, then shifted his gaze to Eleni. ‘That knowledge of my previous … ah … indiscretions will not leave this boat?’

Eleni murmured her agreement, and Rory turned back to Talia. ‘And you’re sure – quite sure, darling – that there’s no future for us?’ His lip wobbled; his eyes were damp.God, he really does love her, doesn’t he?

Talia looked away from him and stared out to sea. ‘I’m sure,’ she murmured.

Just then, the officers appeared back on deck, carrying a stretcher with Nick’s corpse, wrapped in a black plastic body bag. Eleni clutched a hand to her mouth as she watched them; next to her, Talia began to cry quietly.

She closed her eyes for a moment and saw, behind her lids, the final seconds of Nick’s life: the blood pouring from the artery in his neck, the terror and pain on his face. A wash of horror flooded her system. Eleni had killed him – she’d ended his life. AndSamwas going to take the rap for it.

There was a scuffling sound from the staircase. Sam wasyelling in protest as two police officers brought him down to the main deck, in handcuffs.

‘They set me up!’ he was shouting. ‘I didn’t do it – it was the three of them – those fuckingwomen!’

Oh, Sam. You messed with the wrong people.He was an idiot for thinking he could outsmart the three of them; for believing he could use them to his advantage. He’d misjudged Eleni – he’d misjudged them all.

Nick had misjudged Eleni too. He might have believed he was in control – and for a long time, he was. But the balance of power had shifted two months ago, when Eleni worked out that her husband was sleeping with Talia.

He must have thought Eleni was so stupid. That she wouldn’t notice the evenings he came back, supposedly from work, smelling of sex and sweat and another woman’s bedsheets. She already knew that part of his pattern of abuse was infidelity – and Talia was by no means the first.

Eleni always had to keep a close eye on Nick in her attempts to stay safe: to not trigger his anger; to not upset him or make him jealous. She was hyper-vigilant to his every word, his every mood. To protect herself and her boys, she had to seeeverything– it was the only means of control she still had left.

So of course she’d noticed the night Nick and Talia met; the way Nick devoted his attention to her at the awards night, turned all his charm in her direction. She’d even seen him type his number into Talia’s phone that evening – right in front of her, for God’s sake.

Nick changed his phone passcode regularly, but only ever by one digit. Once, a few years back, he’d told her an oldversion of it when he was drunk. It was an attempt to show his wife she could trust him –see, you can look at my phone; just take it, read every fucking message if you want. She’d done exactly that – but of course, he’d been sly enough to delete anything incriminating beforehand.

Ever since, she guessed his new passcodes and did a subtle check when she suspected something. For someone so desperate to stay in control, he’d become careless this time. Maybe he thought he held the cards firmly enough, or that he’d got away with it so many times before, that he was safe from suspicion.More fool him.

One day in April, he left his phone in the bedroom while he went for a shower. The boys were quiet in front of their tablets. Eleni grabbed the phone, only needing a couple of guesses at the passcode, then as fast as she could, she trawled through his messages. He’d muted and archived the ones from Talia, of course, and saved her under a different name –Tom Gym Buddy; how laughable, how clichéd – but it was obvious who they were from. The profile picture of Talia and Rory. The messages mentioning their spouses by name.