Eve got into the back seat and closed the door of the car, just as she saw Edward coming towards Hil, the children by his side.
‘Go,’ she told the driver and turned her face away from Cranberry Cross so they wouldn’t see that her heart was broken, and Christmas was now ruined for her forever.
36
‘Darling, I love the crime novel, just love it,’ Serena said as soon as she answered Edward’s phone call. ‘A huge shift for you but good on you for being courageous enough to move with the times. Your last book didn’t sell as well as the others. I think people’s world vision is becoming smaller since it’s such a risk to travel now and so expensive. I offset my flight to New York by planting fifty trees in Surrey. We must do what we can, don’t you agree?’
‘Why did you fire Eve?’ Edward was seething as he paced in the study.
‘What, darling? I didn’t fire her. She resigned.’
‘Why? Why did she resign?’
‘Darling, I don’t know why – you know these millennials. They switch modes like they’re playing a computer game. They just move on, no loyalty; always in it for themselves.’
Edward looked out over the empty gardens. Nothing on the trees, no one on the paths, no birds in the sky.
‘She was going for a promotion. She told me about it.’
Serena sighed. ‘Yes, I know. She was close – I told her that. But once you told me you wanted her to stay on assisting me, so I could work on your books and she could assist us, then there wasn’t any chance she could move departments. Not when our biggest author wants her to stay where she is.’
‘Serena, Jesus, that’s not what I said.’
‘Oh didn’t you, darling? I can’t remember. I’m very busy. Don’t worry about Eve. There are a thousand Eves out there. I have a lovely one who has a double degree from Cardiff. She’s fabulous and has a penchant for crime also. Her father is a silk, so she knows all the inside information. She’s working in reception but I can promote her today if you want?’
Edward couldn’t believe Serena’s words. He knew she was ruthless but this was Machiavellian.
Eve hadn’t answered her phone and he had tried to follow her car but the police rang him and said Amber’s lawyer was on the phone and they needed his statement as soon as possible.
‘Serena, I need you to listen to me.’ He spoke slowly, and quietly. He couldn’t afford to lose his temper at this moment.
‘I need you to bring Eve back, and I need you to give her the promotion she is due.’
‘Darling, I don’t think so. To be honest, she wasn’t a great assistant.’
‘She’s not meant to be your assistant. She’s an editor. She studied at Leeds, she knows story inside out, she has an exceptional eye for dialogue and detail. She’s remarkable, and might I say it, Serena, she’s better than you realise?’
Serena started to interrupt but he went on.
‘You bring her back or I will pull the novel and find a new publishing house.’
Serena’s voice changed. ‘Edward, if you do that you will owe us over five hundred thousand pounds to buy back this book.’
‘Oh, Serena, I won’t just buy back this book, I will take all my books,’ he said as he lifted the lid of the box Eve had left in the snug. The pen he had given her for her birthday. It was telling that she had left it on the desk. She wouldn’t be an editor while under Serena’s command at Henshaw and Carlson.
‘That will cost you millions – more than you can afford,’ she stated. ‘You would be ruining the company and your reputation.’
‘I don’t give a shit about my reputation, Serena, or the money. I will sell every last thing I have to make sure I get what I am worth and Eve gets what she’s worth. Do you understand?’
Serena was silent.
‘I’ll make the call now,’ she said after a moment.
‘Goodbye.’
He put down the phone and collapsed into his armchair.
A few minutes later the children came into his study.
