Mia’s teeth clenched, her jaw aching where she held it so tightly. There they all were. Together again. Miles Morgan and his awesome defence barrister, who had got him off, even though she knew exactly what that man had done to Mia’s sister. The woman who had defamed Jess, crushing every ounce of confidence her sister once had, until Jess told herself she wasn’t good enough to work any more. Until she gradually became less and less of a living person; until one day she drank far too much and drove her car too fast on treacherous roads, because she couldn’t live with what Miles had done to her, and what he had got away with.

Her sister had lost everything. In turn, so had Mia and their mum. And meanwhile there was Janie Wood walking down the road with that vile man, and she still had everything. Money. Family. Pride in that godawful office, which shone out like a blinding beacon across their beautiful town, like they owned every one of those who lived there.

Janie was the one who really needed to pay.

‘You all right?’ the barman asked, his gaze drifting to her empty glass.

‘No,’ she laughed. ‘Not at all.’

But he didn’t want to know about her worries. And his gin hadn’t helped; it had only served to make Mia even more certain that whatever she thought she might be able to do working inside Morris & Wood, it wasn’t working. It was revenge she was after, and she needed to up her game.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

By eight-thirty p.m. the fire was devouring the building. Janie stumbled down the path and towards the edge of the quay. Blue lights flashed their warning as the reflection of the flames licked the surface of the water as if they were dancing on it, while above them plumes of grey smoke billowed in the air.

There was a crowd of people gathered, spilling out of The Star pub and other nearby restaurants, all of them captivated and bewildered by the sight across the river.

Mia was running down the cobbled path, her face a ghostly shade of white, her mouth hanging open as she clutched a hand to the stitch in her side. She stopped abruptly when she saw the crowd.

Laura was hanging on the outskirts of it, immobile, her hands over her mouth, pressed into her face, slightly distorting her view, as if this somehow took away the depth of the horror unfurling in front of her.

It seemed to happen so quickly after that. A hand on Laura’s shoulder, making her spin round and nearly lose her balance. Mia clutching onto her, her face blank. Janie inching closer to the two women, step by tentative step.