‘You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?’ I say, my words slow and measured. ‘That I’m some naive mother who doesn’t have a clue. Well maybe that was once true. But now you’ve broken up my family, I’m not going to let you get away with it.’ I stare at this sleek, composed woman and wonder who she really is. Does she work alone? Does she have any kind of conscience?’
Sadie shrugs. ‘But I have gotten away with it, Gemma. Your family is… broken.’ She sits opposite me. ‘What? You think you can report me to the authorities, is that it? By the time you can convince anyone to take you seriously – which I highly doubt you will – my website will have disappeared. You won’t be able to trace me. And then I’ll pop up somewhere else with a new name and a new site. Simple.’
‘I don’t care about you or your site,’ I snap. ‘I don’t care what you do next. I just want to know who hired you. Tell me that and I’ll leave you alone.’
She smiles and shakes her head. Gets to her feet again. ‘You’ve had a wasted journey.’
I tell myself to stay calm, to not raise my voice. ‘If you leave, I’ll follow you. And I’ll keep following you until you tell me who hired you.’
‘That’s very dramatic, Gemma.’ She smirks, but I can tell she’s rattled by the tightness of her jaw and the stiffening of her shoulders.
‘Not dramatic. Just the truth. Look around the room. I have plain-clothes security here.’
Sadie’s smile falters. She does as I suggest and glances around. Dave gives her a wave, and a couple of my female security officers nod in our direction.
‘You think you’re the one in control here,’ I say, my confidence growing. ‘But you’re not. You actually don’t know who you’re dealing with, Sadie, or whatever your name is. I have over two hundred security staff on my books, most of them ex-military. I could make you disappear if I wanted. No one would miss you… you don’t exist, remember?’ I’m surprised at how steady and authoritative my voice sounds, considering how on edge I feel. I would never do anything approaching what I’m threatening, but I figure this is the only language Sadie will understand. I hold my breath, waiting to see if she’ll heed my bluff or walk away.
‘Do you know what?’ Sadie says, sitting opposite me once more. ‘I’ve already been paid my fee, so what the hell. Whatever happens now is none of my concern. You want to know who hired me…’
‘That’s why I’m here.’ My palms are sweaty and my body starts to tingle with anticipation. Who would do such a terrible thing?
Sadie fixes me with a stare. ‘My client was Diane Ballantine.’
I feel my jaw drop and I immediately clamp it shut. ‘Diane?’ Can Sadie be telling the truth?
‘Your mother-in-law paid me a ridiculous fee to split up you and Robert.’
I know I’m not Diane’s favourite person, but for her to do something like this… it’s wicked. It’s outrageous. For the moment, I have no words as her revelation sinks in.
‘I’ll tell you something, that woman really hates you.’ Sadie leans back in her chair and slowly shakes her head. ‘But Robert… well, he can do no wrong. Diane didn’t think you were good enough for her youngest son. She wanted you out of the picture.’
‘But… it makes no sense!’ I cry. ‘She kept telling me to stand by Robert. To do the right thing for the sake of the children. For the family.’
‘It’s what’s known as a double bluff, Gemma. Diane knows you can’t stand her. She knew that trying to push you one way would make you lean in the other direction. She used that to her advantage – with my guidance, of course.’
‘But why wait this long to do it? Robert and I have been together for years.’
‘I don’t know.’ Sadie shrugs. ‘My job isn’t to find out why. I just do what the client asks.’
I narrow my eyes. ‘How do I know you’re even telling the truth? You could be saying all this simply to get me off your back.’
‘I’ve got no reason to lie.’
I can’t take my eyes off Sadie. Off this confident woman who is so different from her previous persona. This Sadie is a professional. A businesswoman. She’s talking about the wreckage of my life as though it was a game of chess, a series of moves and counter moves. But she’s mistaken if she thinks the game is over.
‘You know,’ she says, ‘before she hired me, Diane tried a honey trap on you first.’
‘She didwhat?’
‘She invented a handsome businessman who would take you out to dinner and put a move on you. She had someone positioned at the restaurant to take photos of the two of you getting cosy. Only you didn’t bite.’
I run a hand over my hair, surprised to find it’s the wig. I feel like ripping the damn thing off. ‘I just… I can’t believe…’ I clench my fists. Bloody Mick Cosgrove! It had to be him, didn’t it? I can’t think of anyone else who’s made a pass at me recently. That man really shook me up. Diane must have a low opinion of me if she thinks I would be seduced by anyone, let alone by Mick Cosgrove’s vile groping. It dawns on me that he probably wasn’t even the real Cosgrove. The whole thing must have been a set-up. All those hours I spent working on a fake pitch… I’ll strangle the woman when I next see her. How dare she treat me like that!
Something else hits me. ‘The graffiti!’
Sadie frowns. ‘The what?’
‘Someone spray-painted my car—’