Chapters (65)
And Clio. What about my new best friend Clio? Did the fact that we were sisters make any difference? Was the privileged life that Clio was living something that I should by rights have had? No. That was a ridiculous thought, and anyway, hadn’t Clio once told me that the Hall and all the money came from Grace’s side of the family? It was nothing to do with Dad. And also, for all the money and the silver spoon, Clio had been a shell of a woman when I first met her. She was only just starting to come alive now, now that she was escaping from the gravitational pull of all that wealth.
I realised that I actually felt sorry for poor Clio. She’d worked most of it out already and just kept the truth hidden inside herself to protect the rest of us, just like Grace had done. What would she have done if Dad’s secret hadn’t come out the way it had? Would she have continued to carry the burden shouldered by Grace for so long – a legacy passed from mother to daughter to protect herself and Hector?
Well, that was a joke. Hector didn’t need any protecting. I didn’t want anything to do with my new brother, and he had made it obvious that he felt the same about me, so that was easy. Except that he now appeared to hold the key to our entire life in his hands. Grace had said that we wouldn’t be evicted, but I very much doubted that Hector agreed with her. I was going to have to find a way to deal with him if only to keep a roof over our heads.
God, what a mess.
A text pinged and I snatched up my phone expecting it to be Clio, but it was Marlon. Despite everything my heart jumped when I saw his name.
Hi, it said. So are we still on for tonight?
I had completely forgotten our date but was delighted by the timing.
Yes! I quickly typed back. You have no idea how much I want to see you xxx
What the hell. If that made me sound too keen, then I didn’t care. I was keen, and I had just discovered that life was far too short to keep secrets.
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GRACE – NOW