Unveiled

‘What!’ I drop the door handle, staggering back. ‘Oh God.’ I start shaking. He won’t be able to kill Charlie. That thought alone has sent my worry into panic, but the added knowledge of what that woman could do to him has just catapulted that panic into terror. She’ll undo everything he’s worked so hard to fix. It will be like that video happening all over again. My throat starts to close off on me. I can’t breathe.

‘Livy!’ Sophia shouts, snapping me from mental meltdown. ‘Two, zero, one, five. Remember that number. You also need to know that I destroyed the pistol. I have a flight to nowhere. Call William. You need to stop Miller before you lose him forever.’ She hangs up.

I drop my phone and stare blankly at the screen. Before I can give any amount of reasonable time to consider my next move, I’m on my way to the door, panic flaming.

I need William. I need to know where the Temple is. But first I try Miller, shouting my despair when it goes to voice mail, so I hang up and try again. And again. And again. ‘Answer the phone!’ I scream, smashing the call button for the lift. He doesn’t. It goes to voice mail yet again and I try to gulp down some air to talk, praying he’ll pick up the message before accepting a drink at the Temple.

‘Miller,’ I pant down the line as the doors begin to open. ‘Call me, please. I’ve—’ My tongue turns to lead in my mouth and my body stills when the inside of the lift comes into view. ‘No,’ I whisper, stepping back from the source of my fear. I should turn and run, but my muscles have seized and are ignoring my brain’s screaming commands. ‘No.’ I shake my head.

I could be looking in the mirror.

‘Olivia.’ My mother’s navy eyes widen a little. ‘Olivia, baby, what’s the matter?’

I’m not sure what’s telling her that there’s more to my shock than simply finding her in the lift. I back away.

‘Olivia, please. Don’t run from me.’

‘Go away,’ I whisper. ‘Please, just go.’ I don’t need this. I don’t need her. I have far more important things that need my attention – things that deserve my attention, need my attention. My resentment begins to build at the prospect of her delaying me. If time wasn’t of the essence, I’d attack her with the sass I inherited from her. But I don’t have time for her. Miller needs me. I turn and rush to the stairs.

‘Olivia!’

I ignore her desperate cries and barge through the door, taking the concrete stairs two at a time. The loud clicks of her heels on the stone rings out around me, telling me she’s in pursuit, but I have Converse on and they win over heels any day of the week, especially when you’re in a hurry. I pass floor after floor as I fumble with my phone, trying to dial William as I try to escape my mother.

‘Olivia!’ She’s shouting and obviously short of breath. This only motivates me to sprint faster. ‘I know you’re pregnant!’

‘He had no right to tell you,’ I seethe as I rush down the stairs, my fear and worry converting into unrelenting fury. It’s eating me from the inside out, and while I’m scaring myself with how fast it’s taking over my body, I silently appreciate that it will probably do me a favour once I’m away from this selfish, harlot of a bitch and I make it to Miller. I need some fire in my belly and she’s stoking it perfectly.

‘He told me everything. Where Miller is, what he’s doing, and why he’s doing it.’

I skid to a stop and turn, seeing her slump against a wall, exhausted, though her white trouser suit still looks pristine, as does her bouncing, glossy waves. My defences fly up like iron and I curse William and his betraying arse to hell and back. ‘Where is the Temple?’ I demand. ‘Tell me!’

‘Not so you can walk into that carnage,’ she says, looking adamant.

I bite down on my tongue, praying for some calm. ‘Tell me!’ I scream, my sanity running away with me. ‘You owe me this! Tell me!’

She winces, hurt, but I can’t find any compassion for her. ‘Don’t hate me. I had no choice, Olivia.’

‘Everyone has a choice!’

‘Did Miller?’

I recoil, disgusted.

She steps forward tentatively. ‘Does he have a choice now?’

‘Stop it.’

She doesn’t. ‘Is he willing to do anything to keep you safe?’

‘Don’t!’

‘Would he end a life for you?’

I grip the stair rail, squeezing it until my hand is numb. ‘Please.’

‘I would.’ She moves closer still. ‘I did.’ I’m frozen in place. ‘My life ended the day I walked out on you, Olivia. I disappeared off the face of the earth to protect you, baby.’ She reaches me and I watch in shocked silence as her hand lifts carefully and comes slowly towards me. ‘I sacrificed my life so you could have yours. You weren’t safe with me in your life.’ Her soft touch rests on my arm, my eyes rooted on it as it drifts down my skin until she reaches my hand and squeezes gently. ‘And I’d do it all over again, I promise you.’

I’m immobilised, desperately searching for any insincerity in her voice or words. There’s none. All I hear are heartfelt words and a voice quivering with pain. Her fingers entwine with mine softly. We remain quiet. The barren concrete stairwell is cold, but there’s warmth spreading across my skin and settling deeply, and it’s all coming from her – the woman I’ve spent the best part of my life hating.