Briony was laughing with the rest when she turned her head and her heart froze inside her chest. Standing at the front of the little crowd was Henry Dumas. She could see him perfectly, and as she watched him looking at Kerry she felt the bile rise inside her. He would like Kerry, she was just his type. No more than a child.

Briony grabbed Tommy’s arm and pulled him from the room and through the hallway to the offices. Closing the door with a quiet thud, she faced him.

‘What’s Henry Dumas doing here, Tommy?’

He saw the whiteness of her face and shook his head.

‘I don’t know, he must have come with one of the others. Look, Briony, I’ll go out and keep me eye on him.’

‘I want him out of here now, Tommy, I mean it.’

‘You what? Our first night and you want me to sling someone out? Let me find out who he’s with first.’

Briony could feel her hands shaking.

‘You find out then, and after you find out, you give him the bad news. I don’t want him in this house. Not now, not ever.’

Tommy walked over to her and grabbed her arms.

‘Listen, Briony, you’re only a girl for all your grown-up looks and ways. If any of them knew you owned the best part of this place, there’d be trouble. As it is now they think I’ve got a sleeping partner. I let the word go round that it’s one of them, a rich bloke who’s invested in me. If I go out there and rock the boat with Henry Dumas, he could fuck all of this up for us. Get it? Do you understand what I’m saying?’

Briony saw the earnest expression in his eyes and felt the futility of it all. What Tommy said made sense. If Henry decided to make trouble for her then he could ruin them, and she knew he was capable of it. She heard Tommy leave the room and sat in the chair, staring at the blotter in front of her without seeing it.

You had to be rich as Croesus before you didn’t have to worry about anything. You had to be as rich as Solomon to know that you could do anything you wanted. Until then you had to keep your head down and kowtow to everyone and anyone. It was like gall to her, this knowledge. Henry Dumas had taken her childhood and her child. And still she had to pander to him. Indirectly, he still ruled her life.

Well, one day she would finish him. One day she would get even.