BooksBarbecue
Back Fancy Meeting You Here
Chapters (52)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. DEDICATION
  3. PART ONE
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. PART TWO
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. THIRTY-NINE
  44. FORTY
  45. FORTY-ONE
  46. FORTY-TWO
  47. FORTY-THREE
  48. FORTY-FOUR
  49. FORTY-FIVE
  50. FORTY-SIX
  51. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  52. ABOUT THE AUTHORS

‘No, thank you.’ Chloe looked at Evie with a flicker of gratitude. ‘Look, I don’t want to be here any more than you want me to be,’ she said bluntly. ‘But you used me, Hugo.’

Split up and rearranged in any other sentence, those three words—you used me—would have been harmless. But here, forced together side by side, they were like soldiers on the front line, preparing for an assault. Evie was frozen, too taken aback to say anything.

‘We both know that your book isn’t all yours,’ Chloe said.

Evie felt Hugo’s body tense beside her and she let out a gasp of a laugh. ‘What?’ she spluttered, looking at Hugo and expecting him to look as dumbfounded as she felt. But he was stone still, expressionless.

When Hugo didn’t say anything, Chloe spoke directly to Evie, ‘His entire book is based on a short story I wrote when we were together.’

‘Come on, Chloe, we’ve been over this,’ Hugo said wearily. ‘You must realise how ridiculous you sound. I’m a lawyer—if anybody understands intellectual property, it’s me. I know things didn’t end well, and I’m sorry for that, I truly am, but enacting this kind of revenge, it’s too much. I won’t let you blackmail me like this.’

Evie felt hot and cold all at once. She looked from Hugo to Chloe, who both sat stoic and unflinching in this messed up stand-off. She suddenly felt like she was privy to a fight that had been going on for much longer than Hugo had let on.

Chloe, calm as anything, cleared her throat and said, ‘I want a hundred thousand pounds to help pay off my mortgage. I know that’s petty change for you these days, but to me that’s some form of justice, even if the world never finds out the truth about my involvement.’

Silence. Breathing. A car honked on the street.

This is about money? Evie thought, desperately trying to make sense of what was happening.

‘Chloe, please, I was working on the manuscript for months after we broke up. You have no proof of any of this nonsense,’ Hugo said, equally as calm. ‘You’ve come here, besmirched my name, embarrassed me in front of my girlfriend. And it’s all just baseless threats over a lie.’