That last year we played; everyone got their presents – Mummy insisted. Auntie Fiona got a trust for her boys; Uncle Oliver got a company stake for them; Uncle Stuart got to take over Oliver’s position in the company and Mummy got a new family. And, lest we forget, Granny and Grandad got you.
They found a gas leak at The Hydes; it could have killed us all. And while the insurance company would not pay out, the lawyers and investigators found enough evidence to close the case. An unforeseeable accident. Of course, we wish there was someone to blame for the deaths of three dearly loved people, but life takes as often as it gives. The temperatures reached in the main building meant only DNA could be recovered. Uncle Oliver, Auntie Fiona and your father, all lost.
Sam, Tristan and Billy became orphans, that night like Mummy. But you still have me.
I will not tell you how they moved their parents, how the scene was set, how the men that came in the early hours made everything go away. Your grandfather set wheels in motion. Money, power, leverage makes the world go around. Sometimes knowing the right people for the job means knowing the wrong people.
But my hope is you never have to find that out.
Though, know this, if you ever need me to, my love, I will move the world for you. But no more than once. I have seen how chasing one mistake with another can become a habit.
They stayed up late, you see, after the rest of us went to bed. They must have fallen asleep in front of the fire, the rug caught and wooden doors warped with the heat. The smoke would have got them while they slept and the fire did the rest. If it hadn’t been for you, keeping me awake at night, I might not have noticed the heat, the smoke. I might not have been able to save those that I did.
I want you to know, Iris, my love, that Mummy tried to save Daddy. I mean that in the truest and the realest sense, but it was too late. And though he’s no longer here, the man I met that one magical night, the man I fell in love with – he will live on in you. You are the best of him and he would have loved you so much. And while Daddy might be gone, you will have so many people who love you.
And when you are older, I will tell you the story of the family I lost, and the family I gained. The favour Grandad asked of me and the price he paid for it. The son he lost and the daughter he gained. My story might not be a perfect rendition of the facts, but sometimes it’s easier to understand the truth of our lives through stories. Sometimes stories cut to the heart of things straighter, truer.
I know a mystery surrounds us, but the global interest in us, in my latest book, will be long gone by the time you are old enough to understand. They say the book is too close to life for comfort. That to write a thriller based around a real-life tragedy is distasteful in the extreme, but we all cope with what life throws at us in different ways. And people love a mystery.
Better fictional horror than the real sort, as your grandad would say.
Years from now you will inherit it all. The Holbeck fortune, the empire, the history, because you are the firstborn’s first child. You take your father’s mantle. Grandad and Uncle Stuart will hold down the fort until you are ready – if you want to be ready.
The family name is a heavy crown to bear if you over-think it. But I promise you, things will be different for you, my love. I will be here for you every step of the way – if you need me to be. You can choose the life you want to live, because you are not a Holbeck, not really. You’re a Reed, and us Reeds – we have no history to live up to at all.
We only have our future.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my wonderful editors, Bethan Jones at Simon & Schuster in the UK and Kara Cesare at Penguin Random House in the US, who both added so many layers to this story with their invaluable thoughts, questions and nudges. Huge thanks for making the editing process on this, and on every book, so creatively engaging and fun! I’m incredibly lucky to have you.
Massive thanks to the rest of the team at Simon & Schuster UK and everyone who helped to get this British edition safely into your hands: Suzanne Baboneau, Gill Richardson, Sarah Jeffcoate, Gen Barratt, Maddie Allan, Dominic Brendon, Jess Barratt and many more. Thank you for your hard work, enthusiasm and creativity.