Page 93 of The Island Villa

“You’re saying that everything you told me about my dad was a lie?”

Her mother flinched. “You have to understand I was trying to protect you. I didn’t think you needed to know the truth. He was dead. What did it matter what he was really like? It was in the past and it was supposed to stay in the past.”

She’d only ever seen her mother sure and confident before. Her mother was a winner. A superstar. There wasn’t a problem in life that she couldn’t handle. Or so she’d thought, but now she was seeing another side to her. She saw uncertainty and vulnerability. She saw regret and fear.

Fear.

Cassie watched as Andrew tightened his hold on her. Saw him soothe and support her mother through this trauma.

Her father. Her dad.

She couldn’t make sense of it.

It was like reading a novel, expecting it to be romance and discovering that it was crime fiction.

“I don’t understand.” She started to shake. First her hands and then her legs. “You told me so many positive stories about my dad.”

“And that’s what they were. Stories.”

The horror of it clung to her, covering her skin like a film of sweat.

“But I believed them.” Maybe she was the one who was naive. “I believed what you told me.”

“Why wouldn’t you? It’s what I do, isn’t it? It’s my talent. Probably my only talent,” her mother said. “I write fiction. And almost every single thing I told you about Rob Dunn was fiction. And I know I should feel guilty for not telling you the truth. But how could I? How do you tell a little girl the truth about her daddy, when the truth would keep her awake at night?” Her mother’s voice broke and her eyes filled. “How do you?”

Cassie felt tears on her cheeks too. She brushed them away.

Her dad.

She’d never known him, but she’d always felt as if she knew him. She’d conjured him from her imagination with the help of her mother’s stories. She’d created someone who had been part of her life. He’d been a real person to her, and now she could feel him fading. She wanted to reach out and grab that image before it vanished forever.

“So you’ve told me the fiction.” Her mouth was dry. Her lips were dry. “Could you tell me the facts? All of them. Unedited.” Maybe she’d live to regret that request, but she knew that she needed the truth.

Cassie didn’t even realize Adeline had moved until she heard the scrape of a chair and felt her sister’s arm slide round her.

Later, she’d think about the fact that Adeline had moved to comfort her even though she must have been feeling plenty of emotions of her own, but for now she was just grateful for her support.

Her mother wiped her eyes and took a sip of water.

“I met Rob in a bar, exactly the way I told you. He was charming. Andrew and I had separated by this point.” She put the glass down, her unsteady hand sloshing some of it over the edge. “I was at a very low point in my life. I was vulnerable, and Rob was caring, attentive and good company. He was exactly what I needed, or so I thought. He told me he ran his own tech business and could live and work where he liked, so he’d chosen Corfu. It wasn’t true, but when someone tells you something, you don’t automatically assume they’re lying, do you? You don’t fact-check everything you hear. Or maybe you do. Maybe it’s different now, with social media, and dating apps, and everyone presenting a false front to the world. Who is to say what’s real and what isn’t? Maybe you always question what people tell you, but I didn’t. I believed he was what he said he was. Who he said he was.”

Andrew took her hand. “You don’t have to relive this. I could tell them the rest.”

“No. I need to do this.” But the way she clung to his hand hinted at the scale of the ordeal. “I believed everything he told me because it didn’t occur to me not to. I thought I was worldly and wise, but I was neither. Rob Dunn was a skilled con artist. A manipulator and a master of invention, better at playing a character than I ever was at writing one. Had the circumstances been different, I might have admired his creativity. He knew exactly what I needed, and he gave it to me. He’d read my books. Studied them. He knew how romantic heroes behaved, and he modeled himself on what he read. He reeled me in like a fish on a line. Nothing was too much trouble. He listened. Bought me thoughtful gifts. Made me laugh. He treated me like the most important person in the world.”

Cassie sat without moving. She could sense the darkness that was coming. It hovered beneath the words her mother was speaking, an unseen menace. It was like witnessing an approaching storm and waiting for it to break.

She felt slightly removed from reality, as if she was watching this play out from a distance.

The food lay in front of them, forgotten.

“I became pregnant,” her mother said. “We’d only been together for two months. I expected him to be horrified, but he was delighted. At the time, I thought it was another demonstration of his love. Of this wonderful romance we were enjoying.”

“Control.” Adeline spoke softly. “He saw it as another way to control you.”

“Yes, although sadly I didn’t have your perception. It took me a while to see it. I suppose I was besotted.” The glance she sent Andrew was mortified and apologetic. “He was charming and attentive. And then Cassie was born and that was when everything changed.”

“Because he had to share you,” Adeline said, and Catherine gave a weary smile.

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