Page 79 of I Would Die for You

“Mr. Alderton, I’m truly sorry to have imposed on you,” says Ben, “but I just wanted to see your daughter.”

John’s nostrils flare. “She’s not for seeing,” he spits.

“But…” Ben starts.

“Not today. Notever.”

“Mr. Alderton, if you’d just…”

“Justwhat?” spits John, stepping up to Ben so that their nosesare almost touching. “You think being a high and mighty pop star means you can waltz in here, on today of all days, and demand to see my daughter?”

“Dad!” shrieks Nicole, taking hold of his arm, for fear he might hit Ben. “Let me handle this.”

John laughs sardonically. “You have no idea what’s been going on,” he says disparagingly. “This sorry excuse for a man got your sister arrested for drugs.”

A little piece of Nicole’s heart breaks as she looks at Ben’s confused expression, devastated, though not altogether surprised, that Cassie had been telling the truth. The shock is mirrored among the sea of faces of those around her—people who were there to honor the memory of her mother but are now being forced to witness the epic fallout taking place between those who loved her the most.

“She’s sixteen!” cries John as Ben looks on in bewilderment.

“Hey, what’s everyone—” comes a voice,Cassie’svoice, before stopping short.

Nicole’s head spins around, desperately looking for a way to prevent her little sister from being subjected to what’s going on. But it’s too late.

“What the…?” starts Cassie, open-mouthed and frozen in the corner of the room, seemingly unable to believe the apparition standing in front of her.

Ben looks at her, and then looks again, his expression changing beyond all recognition.

“You!” he chokes, his hand going to his head. “I-I don’t understand.” He looks around at the gawping faces around him as if they’ll provide the answer. “What areyoudoing here?” He makes a move toward Cassie. “Oh my god—are you OK?”

Cassie lets out an involuntary gasp. Nicole is on high alert as she watches, hoping with all her might that what’s playing out in front of her isn’t what it looks like. Because, despite herself, there’s still a tiny part of her that wants to pretend that the relationship Cassie imagines she had with Ben is based on nothing but wishful thinking.

“Don’t you take one more step…” warns John.

“I don’t understand,” says Ben, his face crumpling with confusion as he looks at Nicole. “Is she… is she yoursister?” It’s as if he’s desperate for her to say no.

When she says nothing, he clenches his jaw. “I tried to get her help,” he says. “You have to believe me. I did everything I could, but when I got back to the room, she’d disappeared.”

Nicole winces, hoping that he stops there, because neither Cassie nor their dad need the night in question to be relived.

“I think you should leave,” says Nicole, stepping forward.

“And then what happens?” he asks.

“You don’t ever come back!” yells John.

“But I’m afraid I can’t do that,” says Ben, defiantly.

“And why’s that?” John roars, pulling his arm back, as if getting ready to hit him.

Ben looks at Nicole with imploring eyes and the room goes silent. Everyone apart from the two of them seems to freeze in their positions, like toy figures whose windup clockwork has momentarily stopped as they wait for his answer. There’s a pounding in Nicole’s ears and her pulse beats through her skin like a thundering drum counting down the seconds to an execution. In the deafening silence that envelops the world outside her body, Nicole wills him to say the right thing,dothe right thing—whatever that is—to preserve the hearts that aren’t already broken.

“Because I’m in love with Nicole,” he says, with unabashed clarity.

There’s a wail—a gut-wrenching, bloodcurdling howl that reverberates around the room. Nicole instinctively puts her arms up to protect herself as a figure comes barreling toward her, but Cassie charges past her—past all of them—and out through the front door.

40

“I don’t know how you didn’t punch her,” says Amelia, as Cassie lies on the grass bank outside her caravan. Amelia’s mum is entertaining inside.

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