“I couldn’t have put it better myself.”
He sealed the thought with another soulful, earth-rocking kiss. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted more in the world than to be with someone who made me more me, or thought I made him more him. We were the best versions of ourselves with each other.
We were more.
Thirty-One
Nathan
I stood one side of Audrey, Madison stood the other, the three of us holding hands as the police car drove off carrying Mark with it. It was just gone four in the morning and about as quiet as it ever got in Lancaster Gate.
“At least I don’t have to lie next to him anymore,” Audrey said. “I didn’t get any sleep last night at all. I just lay there until he fell asleep and then I got up and went into my study. That reminds me . . .” She pulled out a USB stick from her jeans pocket. “I found this. I started stress cleaning about half past two and when I was doing the skirtings and moved the curtains, they knocked against the wood. Someone—I suppose it was Mark—had picked a hole in the seam of the curtains and hidden this in there.”
“Wow,” Madison said.
“That could be the evidence the police need,” I said. “He obviously didn’t want it found.”
“You know what gets me? He hid it in my study. He has a study. Why not hide it there? Or in the sitting room or somewhere. But a place that’s completely mine? It’s almost as if he was using me as a cover.”
Audrey was going to need time to heal from Mark’s betrayals. It wouldn’t happen overnight. And I wasn’t going to say anything, but it was likely to get worse before it got better. The next thing to deal with would be the press.
“I think you’re going to have to brace yourself for the next few weeks,” Madison said, sharing my thoughts as usual. “It sounds like an obvious thing to say, but he’s not the man you thought he was, which means a lot is going to come out that you weren’t expecting.”
Madison was right. God knew what would be revealed in the coming weeks. And if it went to trial, it would be even worse.
“I hate to say it,” I said, “but the way that went down, I don’t think he’s going to plead guilty.” Mark had come out of the house calm and smiling. It had only been when he’d seen the three of us lined up on the pavement that he’d lost it. But he didn’t shout his innocence or plead for help. He’d been venomous and insulting. As if what was happening was our fault—mine and Audrey’s. As if we were responsible for his arrest. I supposed that summed up his character in a nutshell. He never took responsibility for anything.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have come,” Madison said. “He clearly didn’t like us being here.”
“I particularly liked the bit where he told me I was an ungrateful whore,” Audrey said.
“Well, I beat you. I got called a jealous, small-dicked prick,” I said, faintly amused.
“As if you’d ever be jealous of him,” Madison said.
“You’re a thousand times the man he is,” Audrey said. “I hope they don’t grant him bail.”
“No way,” I said. “He’s too much of a flight risk. I know they’ve frozen all the accounts but the police don’t know what they don’t know.”
“You two should go,” Audrey said. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“No way,” Madison said before I could.
Audrey glanced toward the door where one of her lawyers was speaking to a policeman. I counted twelve police officers and five lawyers file in when they brought Mark out. They were going to tear the place to shreds.
“First, we need you to pack a bag,” I said. “I get you want your privacy and need to be able to shed your tears in private, although my shoulder is available any time you need it. But you don’t need to stay here. Not while the police are going through things, and not when the story becomes public.” Journalists would be camping out here by ten this morning. “You’re welcome to stay at mine but I’ve booked you in at the Savoy. You can stay there for as long as you need to.”
“Nathan,” Audrey said. “You can’t do that—”
“I can and I have. And I don’t want to hear you protest. Anything you need, I’m here for you.”
“And so am I,” Madison said. “I might not be able to stretch to the Savoy, but I booked us all a table at Duck and Waffle. I thought we might all need a drink.”
“Can I stay drunk for the next twelve months?” Audrey asked.
“That’s a no from me,” Madison said. “We have a book to write. But today? Your husband’s been arrested and your house is being ripped apart by police—today we can drink.”