The Millionaire's Wife

by Shalini Boland

  ‘Yes,’ she replies. ‘It was about getting pregnant. And do you think you’d have been talking about an abortion if you’d had the money to raise a kid?’

  ‘Like I said, it was nothing to do with being poor. It was about Fin’s state of mind. His crazy ideas.’

  ‘Believe what you want, Anna. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to money.’

  ‘But that’s what I don’t understand. Fin’s already wealthy. He killed his wife, he must have inherited her fortune, surely.’

  ‘You’d think so. But it was all in trust. Katie’s parents still own it. Fin got the house and a few hundred thousand, but not enough to retire on. He wasn’t savvy enough to realise it back then when he married her. He’s wiser now.’

  Something doesn’t add up about their plan for me to marry Will. It’s bugging me. ‘Why didn’t you just take Will for yourself? Surely it would’ve been easier. You marry him, you kill him, you inherit.’ I spit the words out at her.

  ‘Well,’ she pauses. ‘It was less suspicious this way.’

  ‘Less suspicious? No it’s not.’

  Sian sticks her chin out and crosses her arms. She suddenly looks defensive.

  Something occurs to me. My mouth drops open. ‘That was the original plan, wasn’t it?’

  ‘What are you on about?’ She starts chewing the inside of her lip.

  ‘Oh my God! I’m right, aren’t I? Will was supposed to fall for you!’

  Sian’s cheeks flame and her nostrils flare.

  Despite the horror of the situation, I give an incredulous smile. This means they didn’t force mine and Will’s relationship. It means we really did find each other. Sian wanted him for herself – to kill him and take his money. But instead, he fell for me, and I fell for him. ‘You must have been so pissed off,’ I say. ‘We ruined your plan.’

  ‘Yes, well it doesn’t matter what the original plan was,’ Sian snaps. ‘What matters is where we are now. Fin and I are in love and as soon as we get Will’s money we’re out of here.’

  ‘And how do you think you’re getting hold of Will’s money? You can’t inherit it. And you’re not getting a penny from me.’ But I don’t like the smug expression on Sian’s face. She’s still not telling me everything.

  ‘Once I realised that you and Will were going to be an item,’ she says, ‘Fin wanted us to leave you alone, to find some other rich guy for me to marry, but I persuaded him that this was better. That this would be a perfect opportunity.’

  ‘I don’t see how. Sounds like you just wanted to make my life hell.’

  ‘That’s a bonus, I’ll admit it,’ she says. ‘But no. Like Fin already told you, Will is going to meet with an accident and you’re going to inherit his money. Only now there’s a slight change of plans. I’m afraid both Will and his dad will have to die in an accident so that you can inherit everything.’

  My mouth falls open as she relays their outrageous plan.

  ‘Then,’ she continues, ‘instead of marrying Fin, like the original plan, you’ll transfer the bulk of the money into an offshore account that Fin and I have set up. We’ll leave you with just enough to carry on with your lifestyle so people don’t become suspicious.’

  ‘I think you’ve been watching too many movies, Sian. You’re mad if you think you can harm Will or Steve without anyone finding out. And anyway, how can you even think about doing something like this? You know Will. You know his dad. They love you like family. Why would you–’

  ‘Oh, shut up, Anna. You’re so predictable. So irritating.’

  Up until this point, I’ve been in shock, my brain rebelling against Sian’s revelations. But now, suddenly, that earlier flash of fury is back, my blood heating, joints locking, fists clenching. ‘Don’t you dare touch Will or Steve. I can tell you now, whatever you do, you’ll never get your hands on their money.’

  ‘Yes, I will, Anna.’ Sian walks towards me, now, coming around the central island to face me, only a few feet left between us. She reaches into the pocket of her wool coat and I take a step backwards, convinced she’s about to pull out some kind of weapon. I glance about me looking for something, anything, to defend myself, but the kitchen knife block is behind her. All I can see is the quarter-full bottle of Pinot Grigio on the counter next to me. I’m about to reach for it when I realise she’s not holding a gun or a knife, but a phone. It’s a cheap, plastic smartphone, not her usual rose-gold iPhone.

  ‘Watch,’ Sian says swiping at the screen a few times, then pointing it towards me, her eyes bright, a triumphant smile on her face.

  I cast my gaze from her face to the phone, hoping to God they haven’t hurt Will or Steve. Will should never have gone out on his own. A video plays. I step closer. It’s Fin. He’s filming himself in a dimly lit room – a wooden hut of some kind. Everything shrinks down to what’s on the screen. I can barely breathe.

  ‘Hi Anna,’ he says cheerfully, his voice tinny and faraway sounding. ‘Look who I’ve just met.’ Fin switches his phone so he’s now videoing the corner of the room, and as he does so, my insides turn to liquid.

  My hands fly to my mouth. ‘No,’ I gasp.

  ‘Yes,’ Sian replies.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Oh my God. Fin knows. I stare transfixed by the video. In the corner of an unknown room, my two-year-old daughter Olivia is playing with a doll, chattering away to it, seemingly unworried that she’s with a complete stranger – her father who she’s never met before now. How can he have found out that I never had the abortion? I never told him or Sian that I had the baby. I was so careful to hide her. To keep her safe.

  I never wanted to be an absent parent, but after Olivia’s birth, I was in no state to look after her. Diagnosed with post-natal depression, my parents offered to help me out until I got better. But I just got worse and worse, barely able to drag myself out of bed each day, dark feelings of despair washing over me, the fog in my brain refusing to clear. In the end, Pappa suggested I go and have a holiday in England, go and stay with Sian, have some fun. I didn’t want to go, but they bought me a ticket and practically pushed me onto the plane. They were desperate. Hoping a change of scenery with my best friend would snap me out of it. Hoping I would come back a changed person – back to the happy daughter they remembered.

  It worked.

  After a few weeks of moping around in England, I met Will. And sunshine returned to my life. I wanted to tell people I had a daughter, but I needed to keep the news from Fin. So, I hid my child away with my parents, terrified of what Fin might do if he found out I hadn’t gone through with the abortion, terrified that he might hurt her. And when Sian asked me about the termination, I told her I didn’t feel up to talking about it.

  I flew home every few weeks, ostensibly to see my parents, but in reality, it was to be with Olivia. To reconnect with her. As I was falling in love with Will in England, I was also falling in love with my daughter in Sweden. Getting to know her. Taking her to the park, making her meals, reading her bedtime stories. The dark clouds of depression had lifted and joy filled my heart. The only downside was that I still hadn’t told Will.

  And then he proposed.

  I accepted straightaway, telling myself I would introduce him to Olivia that week. But that week became the next week and the next month. Before long, it was clear to me that if I told him now, after all this time, he would be horrified at my deception. I didn’t know what to do. And then, just before Will’s thirtieth, a sense of calm came over me. It had been three years since I’d last seen Fin, way past his original deadline for us to meet up again. Surely nothing would happen now. I loved Will and he loved me – I would confide in him about Olivia.

  I was on the brink of telling him, when I received Fin’s text with the photo of his murdered wife, and this nightmarish horror began. How could I tell Will about Olivia now, with all this going on?

  ‘Where are they?’ I cry, leaning forward, attempting to swipe the phone from Sian’s hand. But she’s too quick and whips i
t out of my reach. ‘How did you find out about my daughter?’

  ‘Just a hunch,’ she says. ‘I’ve got a good sixth sense about these things.’

  ‘A hunch?’ I raise an eyebrow. ‘I don’t believe you. I never said anything to you about her. Never gave you any reason to suspect.’

  ‘Okay,’ she says, rolling her eyes. ‘Busted – I snooped on you. Sneaked a peek at your phone and saw the photos of Olivia your parents sent. I read your texts and worked out you had a daughter. I was hurt you never told me about her, Anna. Thought I was supposed to be your friend.’ She laughs and I want to grab her by the throat.

  ‘Why is Fin with Olivia?’ I ask. ‘What does he want? To be her father? They’ll never let him take her out of the country.’

  ‘Take her out of the country?’ Sian sneers. ‘He doesn’t want to take her anywhere.’

  ‘So what’s he doing with her?’ My voice rises to a screech and I exhale slowly through my mouth, trying to calm myself down.

  ‘Once Will and Steve have met with their accident and you inherit their millions, you can transfer it to our bank account, and we’ll let you have your daughter back. And if you don’t, well, you can just imagine what Fin’s going to do.’

  Her words hang in the air like daggers. The room is closing in, shrinking down to me, Sian, and her phone. My whole family is in danger because of this evil woman standing before me. How did I never see it? How did I ever trust her? I reach out beside me and my fist closes around the neck of the wine bottle, the glass cold against my fingers. Raising it high above my head, I charge at Sian, spitting rage.

  Her smug expression falters and she staggers back. But I am pure animal fury. This woman is threatening my child. I’m going to smash her face in. As I bring the bottle down, she raises her arm to protect her face and the heavy base connects with her wrist, rather than her head. The glass doesn’t break so I raise it again and bring it down once more. My aim is true this time, connecting with her temple. Still, the bottle remains intact.

  ‘Anna!’ she yells. ‘Get off me you crazy bitch!’ She drops her phone and grabs the front of my jumper. Tries to push me away.

  I stamp my trainer down on her bare foot and she howls in pain – pity I’m not wearing stilettos. Next, I swing the bottle out to the side and sweep it forwards, whacking it against the side of her head. A satisfying crack rings out as the bottle breaks against her cheekbone, drawing blood. Sian screams and brings her hands to her face. I drop the shattered bottle and lunge forward. Grab the knife block which sits on the counter behind her. I raise it up high and bring the whole thing down on top of her head. All the knives jolt out of their slots, flying through the air. I don’t pay them any attention. I don’t care where they land. Whether they cut me or her.

  My breathing is ragged as I watch rivulets of blood stream down Sian’s face – whether from her cracked cheekbone or from the knife block, I can’t tell. Her eyes roll up into her head and she crumples down over the stainless-steel range cooker, then slides to the floor, unconscious.

  I’m panting like a demented creature. Triumphant yet terrified. What have I done? Is she dead? What’s going to happen now? What about Olivia? I need to find her. I set the empty knife block on the counter and cast my eyes downwards, scanning the glass-strewn floor for Sian’s phone, praying it isn’t broken.

  It’s there! I spot it underneath one of the kitchen stools and bend to retrieve it. A noise startles me, makes me aware of my clattering heart.

  ‘Anna?’

  It’s Will. I grab the phone and straighten up, turn around to see my husband standing by the entrance to the kitchen.

  ‘What the hell? Your face is bleeding. Are you okay?’ I realise Sian is obscured behind the huge kitchen island. Will can’t see her.

  ‘Will . . .’ I begin, but I don’t know what to say. My mind is still focused on Olivia. ‘I need to . . . Just stay there, hang on a minute.’ I swipe at Sian’s phone, desperate to see the video of my daughter. To see if I can work out where Fin is keeping her. While I’m swiping the screen, Will makes his way over to me.

  ‘Jesus! What’s going on? There’s glass everywh– Is that Sian? Anna, talk to me.’ He’s pulling at my arm, but I shrug him off as I tap the video and it starts to play. ‘What’s happened to Sian?’ Will brushes past me and kneels down in front of her. ‘It’s okay. She still has a pulse. Was it Fin? Was he here?’ He gets to his feet again and grabs me by the shoulders, giving me a gentle shake. ‘Anna! Talk to me!’

  I drag my eyes away from Fin’s face on the screen and stare at my husband as though he’s a stranger. The scent of night air clings to him and his eyes are wild with confusion.

  ‘I’ll call an ambulance,’ he says, pulling out his phone. ‘Or have you already called them?’

  I snap out of my trance and snatch his phone away with my free hand. ‘No!’ I say. ‘No ambulance.’

  ‘But what about Sian? She’s–’

  ‘I said no. Please, Will. Just trust me. Everything’s changed now. I . . . God, I need to tell you everything.’ I take a breath. ‘Will, I really need your help.’

  Chapter Twenty Four

  ‘Anna, you better tell me what the hell’s going on here. I was worried before, but now you’re really starting to scare me.’ He crosses his arms over his chest and narrows his eyes.

  ‘I know, I know. I’m sorry. It’s all gone wrong. I thought it was just Fin doing this, but Sian’s in on it, too, and now they’ve kidnapped Olivia. Will, I don’t know what I’m going to do.’

  ‘You’re not making any sense.’ He glances wildly from me, to Sian on the kitchen floor, and back to me again. ‘We need to call an ambulance. She was breathing a second ago, but I can’t tell how serious her injuries are. Give me my phone.’

  ‘No! Will, please, just forget about Sian for one minute.’ My voice veers towards a scream and I run my hands through my hair, gripping my scalp as if that will slow my racing brain.

  ‘Anna,’ Will says. ‘Why aren’t you helping Sian? Calm down and tell me what’s happened. Who’s Olivia?’

  ‘I’m so sorry, Will. I should have told you before, but I was scared that Fin would get to her – take her away from me, or worse. And now . . . and now it’s happening anyway.’

  ‘Take who away? Sian?’

  ‘No. Will . . .’ I place my hand on the sleeve of his coat. ‘Will, I have a daughter.’

  He stares at me, eyes wide, mouth hanging open.

  ‘I’m so sorry. I know I should have told you.’

  ‘Jesus Christ, Anna. Do I know you at all?’ He turns away and walks over towards the dark bay window in front of the sofa, stops and stares out at the blackness. ‘More secrets,’ he mutters. ‘Lies and secrets.’ Then he spins around to face me. ‘How many more skeletons are there? Do you have an evil twin I don’t know about? Bodies in the basement? This is starting to get way too crazy.’

  ‘I promise there’s nothing else. I was going to tell you last month, but then I got that awful text and–’

  ‘Last month? Last month?’ He shakes his head rapidly, then locks his fingers behind his head. ‘What about telling me two years ago when we first met? That would probably have been the ideal time to let me know you have a secret child. I suppose she’s Fin’s daughter, right?’

  I nod, pulling at my hair. ‘But he never knew she existed. When I got pregnant, he wanted me to get rid of it – of her – but I just couldn’t do it.’

  ‘So, you lied to him, too? You lied to Fin about his child. Good God.’ He exhales.

  ‘Yes, but only to keep her safe. I thought he’d be a danger to her. And I was right. He’s got her, Will. He’s got my baby.’ Tears are dripping down my cheeks, salt water stinging my dry lips, but I wipe them angrily away. I can’t afford to fall apart now. Not when I have so much to do. Not when I have to rescue my daughter from a madman.

  ‘And Sian?’ Will says. ‘Is there an explanation as to why your best friend’s lying unconscious on our kitchen flo
or? And why you don’t want to help her?’

  I cross the room to get closer to Will. But his expression is thunderous so I stop once I reach the sofa, unbalanced by his glare. ‘I just found out Sian’s part of it.’

  ‘What? What do you mean?’

  ‘Apparently, she’s been with Fin since before I met you. I never suspected. She just admitted that she . . .’ I take a breath.

  ‘That she what?’

  I squirm beneath his gaze.

  ‘Anna.’ His jaw tightens.

  ‘She was the one who was supposed to marry you.’

  ‘What?’ His gaze slides over towards the kitchen where my ex-best friend lies on the floor.

  ‘I only just found out myself,’ I say. ‘She told me that when you and I met at the tennis club that first time, it was supposed to be Sian you fell for, not me. She wanted to marry you for your money. Instead, we ruined their plans because you and I fell in love.’ The words tumble out of my mouth, and I’m willing him to understand what's going on. To realise that it’s not just Will being taken for a fool. It’s both of us.

  Will’s jaw slowly drops down. He doesn’t reply.

  I keep going. Spilling all the gory details. Getting everything out in one painful splurge. ‘She also told me that she’s the one who killed Fin’s wife. They planned it between them.’

  ‘Jesus,’ Will murmurs.

  I shake my head. ‘It gets worse. They want you and your dad to have a fatal accident and then they want me to transfer your money over to them. Otherwise, they’re going to do something terrible to my daughter.’

  ‘This is insane.’

  ‘Looks like Sian is worse than Fin,’ I say. ‘If it wasn’t for her, I don’t think any of this would have happened. Fin would have left me alone.’

  ‘Shit.’ Will runs both hands across the top of his head and clenches his jaw. ‘Shit!’ he cries, louder this time. ‘And Remy?’

  I shake my head. ‘She doesn’t love him. Being with him was her way of keeping an eye on both of us. But, Will, listen . . . The worst part is that Fin has my daughter. And Sian said . . .’ my voice trembles and I take a breath. ‘Sian said that if I didn’t kill you and transfer your money over to them, that Fin would hurt Olivia. That I’ll never see her again. So that’s when I bashed Sian over the head with a wine bottle.’