Duplicity

ELODIE HART

Copyright

Copyright © 2025 by Alchemy Publishing Ltd

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Dedication

This one’s for my dear friends

Susie Tate & Rosa Lucas.

THANK YOU

for workshopping the heck out of this one with me.

Brendan’s betrayal and grovelling are all the better for your help and wisdom!

Xxx

Contents

Content Advisory

British Lingo

1. Marlowe

2. Marlowe

3. Brendan

4. Brendan

5. Marlowe

6. Brendan

7. Marlowe

8. Marlowe

9. Brendan

10. Marlowe

11. Marlowe

12. Brendan

13. Marlowe

14. Marlowe

15. Marlowe

16. Brendan

17. Marlowe

18. Marlowe

19. Brendan

20. Marlowe

21. Marlowe

22. Marlowe

23. Brendan

24. Marlowe

25. Marlowe

26. Brendan

27. Marlowe

28. Brendan

29. Marlowe

30. Marlowe

31. Marlowe

32. Brendan

33. Brendan

34. Marlowe

35. Marlowe

36. Marlowe

37. Marlowe

38. Marlowe

39. Marlowe

40. Brendan

41. Brendan

42. Brendan

43. Marlowe

44. Marlowe

45. Marlowe

46. Brendan

47. Marlowe

48. Brendan

49. Brendan

50. Marlowe

51. Brendan

52. Marlowe

53. Brendan

54. Marlowe

55. Brendan

56. Brendan

57. Brendan

58. Marlowe

59. Marlowe

Epilogue

A Note from Elodie

Have You Read Audacity?

Dive into the Alchemy series with Unfurl…

Content Advisory

Duplicity is meant for a mature audience and contains adult themes. Please be advised that you can expect the following:

• Graphic depictions of a child suffering from a congenital heart defect
• Sex work
• Group sex
• Deliberate humiliation of the FMC by the MMC in public

British Lingo

A&E = Accident & Emergency = ER

Bellend = the head of a penis = excellent British insult!

Council estate = housing project

Fly tipping = illegal dumping of rubbish on the street

Fringe = bangs

GOSH = Great Ormond Street Hospital, a famous children’s hospital in London

GP = general practitioner = medical doctor (same as an MD)

MP =Member of Parliament

NHS = National Health Service

Plait = braid

Stag party = bachelor party

“The dole” = unemployment benefit

CHAPTER 1

Marlowe

The skin around her little rosebud mouth is tinged with blue.

It’s visible even on my phone screen, as are the tear tracks and the ominous pallor of her cheeks, and it makes my stomach lurch.

‘It’s going to be okay, my love, I promise.’ That’s all the reassurance I have time for. In this moment, getting my daughter to the hospital is more urgent than talking her through this. ‘Have you called an ambulance?’ I bark at the unlucky teaching assistant who placed the video call to me. Miss Lewis, her name is. She’s new to the school, which means she’s new to dealing with Tabby’s condition, and nothing about that is good. The phone screen jerks back to the TA’s face: young and terrified.

I get it. Believe me.

‘Yes. Miss Conway told me to⁠—’

I cut her off. ‘Good. Will you go with her to the hospital?’

She blinks. It’s clear she hasn’t thought this far ahead, but it’s not really a request she can decline. Sending an eight-year-old girl off in an ambulance by herself is not an option. ‘Yes. Yes, of course.’