Verity glanced down at a very comfortable-looking Barbara, who was now cradled in her arms like a baby and then shoved the mass of orange fur in my direction. I held Barbara up against my chest, turning quickly to put her down on the counter but the bloody cat wasn’t having any of it. She dug her claws into my arms, refusing to let go. I sighed. It seemed that I was going to have to continue this interaction holding an obese cat, which only added to my sense of having lost control of the situation.
“Please, Verity,” I said, my voice now hoarse. Something here was very, very wrong. It was me that should be angry with her. The hurt expression on her face should have been mine. “Let’s just start from the beginning. I think there’s something I’m missing about now and what happened twenty years ago.”
“You’ve made it perfectly clear, Harry, that you don’t give one single fuck about what happened twenty years ago. You even, for some sick twisted reason of your own, pretended not to even recognise me.”
“But Verity I–”
Her low voice cut me off. It was just above a whisper and laced with pain. “The time we spent together at school was alifelineto me. I valued it. I thought you did too. There were things I couldn’t… Let’s just say that back then I was riding out a storm, and you were my calm in that storm for a while. Maybe you were just putting up with me, but you were kind… at least you were kind up until you weren’t. So, in order to end this, I’ll thank you for that. Thank you for bringing me peace and making me happy when I needed it. But I never want to see you again.” She stepped to the other side again to try to pass me, but I mimicked her movement. I felt like something incredible was slipping through my fingers like sand. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I knew I had to keep her here. I knew if I let her leave now, I’d regret it.
“What storm?” I asked in confusion. “Please just wait and we can–”
“Get out of my way!” she shrieked. Tears had formed in her eyes again and her arms were straight down by her sides, her hands bunched into small fists and her knuckles white. She looked like she was going to shatter any moment.
“Okay, okay,” I said, trying to keep my voice even and calm. Barbara for once seemed to read the room correctly and allowed me to put her down. I turned to Verity, my hands lifting up to show my palms in surrender. I glanced behind my shoulder towards the door and then back at Verity. “Did you drive?”
“Harry–”
“It’s just I don’t think you’re in a fit state to drive at the moment.”
“My state of mind isnoneof your business.”
“Just let me drive you where you need to go.”
“No fuckingway. I didn’t drive here, you prick. It’s London. And I’m getting an Uber.”
“I just–”
Clearly having had enough of my delaying tactics, she shoved past me. I could have stood my ground, but her eyes had this wild look and her tears had spilled over now. I had no choice but to move out of her way. Once she had a clear path to my front door she ran, actually ran away from me, slamming the door behind her.
“Shit,” I muttered as I moved to the living room at the front so that I could look for her out of the window. She was standing looking down at her phone but then glanced back up at the window as if sensing I was there. On seeing me she shoved her phone back into her bag, spun on her heel and power-walked away down the street. I could see her arm going up to her face. It looked as though she was swiping away tears.
I watched her until she disappeared from view around the corner, and then considered my options. I couldn’t very well follow her now – she wouldn’t take kindly to it, and it would be more than a little stalkery. But I had to know that she was okay. My mind flashed back to the conference room and I remembered how her hand had squeezed Max’s. At the time I’d wanted to rip his arm off, my indifferent act totally thrown for a moment before I could get a hold of myself again. I should have known that, when it came to Verity, indifference and casual dismissal were not going to be possible. Not with the strength of my feelings towards her.
Well, she was obviously close to Max. I remembered him from school as well. Max, Verity and Heath had been thick as thieves. Pushing my jealousy to the back of my mind I sighed as I sat on the sofa and pulled out my phone, going to my emails and searching for the full contact details for their company. Then I swallowed my pride and rang Max’s number.
“Max?”
“Who’s this?” his gruff voice answered.
“It’s Harry. Harry York.”
“You pulled that stick out of your arse yet, mate?”
I could see why Verity took on most of the client-facing work. “I’m phoning about Verity.” There was a pause.
“What about her?”
“She… she’s just left my house and she’s a little… emotional.”
“What?” his voice had risen now, his tone edging from irritated to angry.
“We… look, she’s upset, and I wanted to let you know. I’m not sure if you and her are together or–”
“Together? Mywifewould have something to say about that. Verity’s like my sister. What made you think we’re together? And why the fuck is Verityemotionalwhen in the twenty-five years I’ve known her I’ve seen her cry once? If you’ve done owt to upset her, I’ll be down to those fancy offices of yours to sort you out. Billionaire or no.”
“Look, I don’t want to go into details. But, please, I’m worried about her. She said she was getting an Uber. I live in Chelsea. I don’t know if you lot are still in London, but I wanted to make sure that–”
“You leave her to me,” Max growled. “Stay away from her. Iknewthere was something dodgy about you. V says you were an alright sort at school, but your money’s turned you into a right conceited bugger. Not sure what you’ve been playing at with Verity but best you fuck off now. You get me? And you can take your building and shove that up your arse and all.”
