Drew sucked in a breath. It wasn’t the reaction Chloe had hoped for, but probably the one she’d expected. ‘Oh.’

‘We were desperate. She looked so terrible and so battered down mentally when she did come to visit. Fraser had been throwing himself into his work, staying later and later, and eventually, confessing he was having an affair with Coffee Girl. But even though we were in the throes of divorcing by then, we stuck together on this. We both love her so much, we had to try and do something. Fraser had a business contact who knew Jordan’s father and he told Fraser the truth so we hired a PI to gather evidence. We had photos and videos of Jordan living the high life and even of the amount he’d been spending on poker and betting.’

‘Did you show it to Hannah?’

She gulped down her whisky before replying. ‘Yes.’

‘And I’m guessing it didn’t end well?’

Chloe cringed at the memory of the scene that had ensued when Hannah had found out what had been going on. ‘She went berserk. She said she knew all about it and so what? She said we’d been spying on her and that we’d always stifled her and we didn’t respect her choices. We were petty minded, obsessed with money – which was so unfair, I could hardly speak. She said we were boring and conventional and she was ashamed of us.’

As she lifted her drink to her lips, her hands weren’t quite steady around the glass. ‘She said that she knew about Jordan’s real life and he was ashamed of being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but had to go home to keep his parents happy – as his mother was dying. She said he’d said she could go with him, but she’d hate it.’ Chloe sighed. ‘His poor mother does have a long-term illness, but she’s certainly not terminally ill.’

Drew screwed up his face in disgust. ‘Wow. Nice bloke. I loathe him already and I’ve never had the misfortune to meet him.’

‘I tried not to, I really did and I tried to convince myself he had issues, but you know, some people are just vile. Fraser was less sympathetic and hit the roof and called him all the names under the sun and said Hannah was naïve and childish for staying with him.’

‘Ouch.’

‘I was furious with Fraser for that. It alienated Hannah even more and entrenched everyone’s positions. She told us never to contact her again. I lost my cool and said I’d rather Jordan had been destitute and homeless rather than a feckless manipulative con merchant.’ Chloe closed her eyes, recalling every word she’d slung at Jordan and the look of absolute devastation in her daughter’s face.