What was going on with Mum? She had a strange look on her face, like she was in pain. Did she believe Eva about Nathan? I didn’t even know she suspected Eva or Dan of being behind his death. Why didn’t she tell me? And what was in the text Tobey just received? He hadn’t shown it to me, but its contents now had him perched on the edge of the sofa and coiled like a spring. Tension and something far, far colder were positively vibrating through him. I could’ve been sitting right across the room from him and I still would’ve felt it. Was he about to race over and pounce on Jarvis? Lord knows that’s what I wanted to do. That man over there, standing behind Eva, was responsible for all the heartache everyone I cared about in this room had gone through in the last thirty-six hours.

Placing a hand on his knee, I steeled myself to whisper, ‘Are you OK, Tobey? Bad news about Troy and Libby?’

‘No.’ That was the full extent of Tobey’s reply.

‘Tobey—’

‘Trust me, Callie,’ said Tobey. He turned to give me a fleeting smile. ‘Please just trust me. OK?’

I nodded, my lips pursed together so tightly they were in danger of going numb. Why did it feel like I was fifteen minutes behind everyone else in the room? It was not a sensation or a situation that I was finding easy to digest. In fact, it stuck in my throat.

Was Tobey lying? Had something happened to Troy and Liberty and he was trying to find a way to tell me? He’d asked me to trust him, but it was so hard with all the secrets he liked to keep.

What wasn’t he telling me now?

fifty-eight. Sephy

‘As we seem to all be assembled, let’s start with you, Tobias,’ said Eva, like a queen on her throne. ‘What brings you here?’

‘My daughter, Liberty,’ said Tobey, his tone curiously even. ‘I just received instructions regarding a proposed money transfer of several millions from the person who kidnapped her and Callie’s brother, Troy. The kidnapper sent me a video of my daughter locked in a car with Troy as proof that he has them both, along with their offshore account details. Would you know anything about that, Eva?’

Eva and Tobey regarded each other. I swear, you could’ve heard a feather drop.

‘Not a thing,’ Eva replied at last.

I neither knew nor cared what was going on between these two. All I wanted was my son home safely.

‘The men who killed Libby’s mother, and the demand that I publicly admit to killing Dan, I suppose you don’t know anything about those either?’ said Tobey.

Eva shrugged. ‘Well, that was just business, sweetie. Just business.’

Tobey nodded slowly. ‘That’s the reason you turned on me? Business?’