Public Property (38 page)

‘
It was tied to my front gate this morning for everyone to see, including some of the press
.
W
ell
,
one
of the press.
A
pparently we’re not as hot as George Clooney today
.’ She couldn’t find the camera.

‘
And you think
I
had something to do with it? Why?
’

‘
Now let me think! When did I start getting hate mail? Hmm, just after you reappeared. When did my beautiful house start getting broken into? Hmm, just after I met up with you again. When did our driver get attacked? Oh
,
le
t me fill in the blanks for you!
W
hen I st
arted seeing you again!’ she ranted.

‘
For
God’s
sake
,
Freya
.
W
hy would I be doing this to you? I care about you
.’

‘
Oh no
.
Don’t you say
that
.
D
on’t you say you care about me! If you cared about me you would not have
told me what you told me.
Y
ou would not have got in touch with me again to tell me that
…’

‘
To tell you I
’
m your brother
?’

‘
Stop it
.
Don’t say that
.
I don’t want to hear it
.’ She clamped her hands over her ears. The words still sickened her.

‘
You have to hear it
.
T
ake your hands away and bloody listen to me
,’ he ordered. He wrenched her hands away from her head.

‘
Let go of me! Don’t you touch me! You make me feel sick
.’ Her heart was racing and she was starting to feel woozy.

‘
And how do you think I
’
ve felt about it since I found out? I
’
ve had to carry this around with me every day since I was seventeen. Our father bought my family’s silence and we never spoke about it again. There were so many times I wanted to get in touch with you, to try and make sense of it all but I couldn’t cross him
.’

‘
You couldn’t cross him because he was dipping into his pockets and providing you with everything you needed to become a cardboard cut
-
out of him
.’

‘
What was I supposed to do? You know what my life was like on that council estate
.
I had no prospects. My future would either have been working my guts out in a factory like my father or pedaling amphetamines
.’

‘
It
didn’t have to be that way
. And there’s nothing
wrong with working hard for a living
.’

‘
No, I agree, but struggling? Struggling to survive like my parents
did
for so many years? Letting my mother carry on selling herself just to put food on the table? Listening to her cry at night? Eric offered us all a lifeline and I’m sorry if that grates on you, but we took it
.’

‘
He bought you
.
J
ust like he buys everything in his life.
You
’
re just another one of his possessions and he will use you and manipulate you forever
.’

‘
I don’t think he will
.’

‘
Believe
me,
I
’
m speaking from vast experience
.’

‘
This is going to sound really hard to believe
,
but
…
he cares about me
.’

‘
Oh my God!
You
’
re kidding me
,
right
?
You think he cares about you! I didn’t
realise
you were so naïve
.
The
only person Eric Lawson-Peck cares about is himself and the only other thing he cares about is his fortune
.’

‘
He’s aging
,
Freya
.
H
e’s nearly sixty years old and I think he
’
s taking some time to reflect on things
.’

‘
I can
’
t stand here and listen to this crap
. My father will never change.
H
e
’
s always been a piece of work and being eligible for his bus pass is not going to alter that
.’ She turned away from him and made her way back to the car.

‘He’s left me everything in his w
ill
.’

‘
Oh my!
He’s not left it to me? How shocked and s
urprised I am.
How hurt and insulted
.
I’m pleased for you
,
Jonny
.
I
t sounds like you completely deserve it, having been so close to the man for all these years
.’

‘The money doesn’t interest me.
I
n ten or so
years
time
,
I plan to be worth
twice as much as him
.’

‘Bravo.’ She opened the door of her car.

‘
I want
you
to have the money
.
A
s soon as I inherit
,
I’
m gifting it to you
.’

‘
I can’t be bought
,
you know that
.
I
’
ve no interest in the money either but for
much
better reasons than you
. L
ike the fact taking anything from you or that man would be like selling my soul to the
D
evil
.’

‘
Are you saying the
Every Day project or
t
he Nicholas
Kaden
Foundation could do
without a few billion dollars?’

‘
It’s
dirty money
,
Jonny
.
A
nything my father
’
s associated himself
with
is soiled and that includes you
.’ Her eyes flashed at him, shooting anger across the yards.

‘
I never stopped loving you
,
Freya
.’

‘
Don’t you understand how that sounds? Whatever we felt for each other back then was wrong and disgusting
.
I have memories in my head that keep replaying
and
I don’t ever want to see
them
again
.’

‘
We did nothing wrong
,
Freya
.
W
e didn’t know
.’

‘
That doesn’t make it alright. God
,
what sort of freak
am
I? My mother sleeps with my boyfriend
and now I’ve slept with my half-
brother. Anymore and they could
probably dedicate a whole episode of
Jerry Springer
to me
.’

‘
So
, where do we go from here?’

‘
Where do we go from here? Well
,
I suggest you go that way and I
’
ll go in the opposite direction. You didn’t expect us to get together and all b
e one big happy family did you?’

‘
I didn’t expect anything, but
would that be such a bad thing?’

‘
You’re serious
,
aren’t you? You think you and I and
our
father can put our differences aside and let bygones be bygones!
Jonny
,
you
’
re completely insane
.
I can hardly bear to look at you
.’

‘
I never had any siblings growing up
.’

‘
Well
,
go back to Daddy
.
A
sk him how many other prostitutes h
e slept with.
There might be a whole new multi-
cultural family waiting out there for you
. We might even have to expand
Friends Reunited to fit us all on there
.’

‘
Can you blame me for wanting to be part of your life? We’ve missed out on so much
.’

‘
Jonny, perhaps I
’
m not being plain
enough. Stop sending me letters.
S
top breaking into my house and ruining perfectly good photos of Nick and
I
.
A
nd stop with the floral tributes. I don’t want your money
.
I don’t want your help with
the
Every Day
project
and I don’t want to see you again. For all I care you can go ahead and build a giant Recuperation Inn on this very spot
.’ She’d yelled so loud her throat hurt and tears were pricking her eyes.

‘
I never meant to hurt you
.’

‘
Then you didn’t try very hard
.’ She got into the car and slammed the door shut. Her fingers shook as she turned the key. She performed a u-turn, leaving Jonathan in her dust.

She trembled a
s she drove, her emotions overloaded. Her eyes brimm
ed
with tears and she wiped at them with the back of her hand.
All the good times she
had with Jonathan, all the memories they
’
d shared together and the love they
’
d felt for each
other
had
been destroyed
.
Recalling
their time together would never be the same now their relation
ship had changed so drastically. All Freya felt now was hurt and disappointment of the severest kind.
The foundations of her life had been built upon lies and deception and here she was, preparing for motherhood. She knew all the things she wanted to teach her child, things she had to learn for herse
lf through trial and experience.
B
ut would she really be able to do it when so much of her world had been based on untruths?

She needed to stop thinking about it so much
.
S
he needed
to get
absorb
ed
in something else. She
turned off the main road and
headed for
County Bridge
.

At
Whitewood House
,
Nicholas
sat in the study
trying to read through
the same
script
.
Ordinarily, he’d be reading outside but t
he weather had worse
ned
. The sky was filled with grey clouds that threatened snow and there was a biting wind that chilled you to the bone.
He took off his glasses and
laid
them on the desk
, rubbing
at his eyes. All he could hear was banging and drilling as
the security team installed cameras
and more equipment to secure the house. He wasn’t getting very far and the lines had to
be
learnt before his trip to Africa.

There was a knock on the door.

‘
Ye
a
h
,
Roger,
come
in
.’ He put the script to one side and swigging back the remains of his cup of tea.