The women were standing near, almost a circle. She drew strength from their closeness, pulling back her shoulders and raising her chin. Despite the roar of blood in her ears, she would not be afraid anymore. ‘That sculpture wasn’t yours to destroy.’
Ed was glaring at her, eyes bright with rage. ‘Lexi hardly wanted it! It’s odd, Eleanor. A sculpture of her! These aren’t your friends. You’ve never had any friends. You’re a joke!’
The words shouldn’t have stung – after all, she’d heard so many variations of them over the years – yet there was still a part of her that flinched. That couldn’t help thinking: Maybe he is right.
The women drew tighter. A pack.
But maybe he isn’t, she thought.
‘You and Sam suited one another,’ Ed went on. He had always hated it when he failed to get a rise. Had to push further. An older brother knowing the exact tender place to pinch. ‘You suited one another because he was laughable, too!’
Sam. My Sam. The most glorious person she’d ever known. The man who she’d loved with her whole being. Who was kind and easy and never judged others. Who Ed had blindfolded and steered to the top of a flight of concrete steps.
‘What a pathetic pair you made!’
Ana stepped forward, a fierce vision, her red dress swishing once, then settling around her knees. ‘Watch your fucking mouth!’
It happened so quickly that Eleanor didn’t even have time to warn her. Ed lifted his left hand – his dominant hand – and swung the palm of it, swiftly, violently, across Ana’s cheek.
Her head snapped back.
Lexi’s mouth opened in a perfect O of shock.
Bella gasped.
They were all there. All watching. All saw the way Ana staggered back towards the wall.
Fell.
85
Fen
Fen flew up the stone steps, elbows pumping. A male voice, loud and scornful, cut across the others. Then she heard Ana shouting, ‘Watch your fucking mouth!’
Fen ground to a halt, head craned towards the villa.
It all happened so fast. Everyone too near the terrace edge. That low, low wall. She knew the fear of being pinned there by Nico, the terror of understanding there was nothing but night at her back.
From this angle, she couldn’t see who it was, not clearly. She only saw a figure stumbling, as if they were about to rest on the wall, but instead of sitting, they leaned back – too far back – arms widening into wings, legs lifting off the ground, rising.
In silent horror, she watched as the figure tipped over the edge of the terrace wall, falling through the night.
Arms windmilling.
A guttural, raw cry.
Dropping like a stone.
Red material swirling.
Down.
Down.
Down.
Then the dull, hard blow of a body against rock.
Silence.
Nothing more.
The sea stilled.
The sky blinking stars.
Fen was rooted to the spot, blood hot in her throat.
Then, from the terrace, she heard someone scream.
86
Lexi
The cry was piercing and wild, cutting high into the night. It echoed off the stone villa and the lonely, sheer cliff.
Lexi dug her fingernails into her throat, clawing her scream into silence.
No … no … no …
Robyn rushed forwards, gripping the wall as she peered down towards the rocks. ‘Oh my God …’ she gasped, shoulders beginning to shake.
No one moved. No one did anything.
‘Call an ambulance,’ Lexi whispered, her voice strange, hoarse.
But she knew.
They all knew.
It was a sheer drop of over a hundred feet onto jagged rock.
No one survives a fall like that.
87
Ana
Ana remained motionless. She felt as if all the blood had been drained from her body, a cool, hollow feeling suffusing her.
She blinked.
Stared at the empty space in front of the wall.
One moment she’d been standing on the terrace, listening as Ed said those awful things about Sam. She could not be witness to that, watching as Ed’s words destroyed someone else. So she’d stepped forward, told him, Watch your fucking mouth!
Without warning, his hand had cut through the air, connecting with her cheek. The slap had been bone-shakingly hard and she’d slammed into the wall, fallen to the ground. Her cheek had flamed with an instant, bright pain. She’d put her fingertips to her skin, amazed to find there was no blood.
When she’d dragged her gaze to Ed, he’d no longer been looking at her. He was staring at Eleanor, chin jutting forward, eyes narrowed. Ana realised it was not the first time Ed had hit a woman. It was all right there, pulsing in the space between brother and sister.