Page 108 of Endgame

‘Dominic locked Ariella in his house against her will, so I went over there and beat the shit out of him.’

‘Nice,’ Jasper says encouragingly.

‘Finally! Thank you! Everyone out here is running around behaving like I’m some kind of beast that needs to be locked up.’

‘I’d have done the same thing. She’s your girlfriend. That’s completely out of line.’

A sympathetic ear feels so good.

‘Then, he told Samir to get rid of her.’

‘Lara told me. He’s not even hiding the fact that he’s spitefully making her leave the country within two weeks.’

‘Wait, what?’

‘He’s given her two weeks to leave the country. How come you don’t know this?’

‘Things aren’t exactly rosy at the moment.’

‘What did you do, Caleb?’

‘Why doeseveryonealways assume it’s me?’

‘You do have a self-destructive track record…’

‘It wasn’t me, mate! I love her, but dealing with Ariella is fucking painful. She knew that guy fancied her and still kept running to him every time he called, insisting that they were just friends. Goodness knows all the filthy things he has done to her in his mind, and would have probably done to her if I hadn’t showed up.’

‘Goodness.’

‘She’d been happily wandering into the lion’s cage for months, taking fucking private jets with it, letting it lick her face twice and calling it a big kitten. And then she stood there, proudly telling me she could have run off with him at some point. I was sick of her shit.’

‘Uh-oh. What happened?’

‘I started to say something I shouldn’t have, but MsPat stopped me. So I didn’t.’

‘Could she have filled in the blanks? What did you not say?’

‘I was going to ask her if the baby was even a consideration. She put both of them at risk.’

‘What baby?’

‘Ours. She’s pregnant. You can’t tell anyone. We’re going to figure out how to tell Dahlia and Hugh together.’

‘Ah. Hugh.’

‘Yes, Hugh. I leave all five whole pounds in my name to Ariella even though she’s the most annoying person in the world. You can be the executor. She can choose between a single note or five shiny pound coins.’

‘Congratulations, mate. You know this means we’ll be new dads around the same time? I’ll be about three months ahead.’

‘Do you know what you’re having?’

‘Twin boys.’

‘Bloody hell. If we have a girl, there will be absolutely no play dates at yours.’

Jasper laughs. ‘You sound like Hugh.’

‘Ugh, Hugh.’ I mirror his earlier comment.

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