Page 110 of Owned By a Billionaire

“I have no reason to,” I said. “We know everything about each other, don’t we?”

“Oh, we do.” Her eyes filled with suggestion. “How about a little afternoon nap after that call?”

I smiled. “I think I can manage that.”

Chapter 36

Caroline

Theflatwasdarkand depressing, as I sat on the tattered armchair with a spring poking into my back.

Mary handed me a cup of tea. “Sorry, it’s not the whole tea service.”

I smiled. “It’s fine.”

“You really don’t have to do this. You’ve done enough. I’d be rotting in prison right now if you hadn’t bailed me out.” She gave a bitter chuckle. “Just delaying the inevitable, I guess.”

I shook my head. “I’ve been speaking to some experts who have defended and won cases like yours. At the very least, you stand a good chance of having your sentence reduced to five years.”

“All I want is for Manon to be spared a conviction.” Mary sighed. “The poor girl covered for me, and I feel like shit for dragging her into this. I shouldn’t have dropped that fucking knife.” She bit her lip. “Pardon the language.”

“I don’t mind.”

She held my gaze. Although she was mid-fifties, she’d gone gray and bore a face of wrinkles that spoke of a tough life.

“You knew Duncan well, didn’t you?” she asked.

An icy finger stroked my spine. “Yes.” I was still coming to terms with the name Duncan Marwood. Reynard’s real name. A name he’d shared with Meghan, his stepsister and murderer.

“You realize he murdered a boy when he was ten?”

My heart lurched. “Oh?”

She nodded. “He was a dark, twisted character back then too. When our parents got together and I moved in with him, he used to find frogs and trample on them. He would laugh and say that was what he’d do with anyone that got in his way.”

“How old were you then?”

“My dad got with his mother when I was six, and we moved in together when I turned seven. He was three years older.”

“And who did he kill?” I asked.

“Ewen, a boy at school. He used to bully Duncan, always making fun of his bright red hair.” She paused. “Ewen drowned in a local pond. When we heard about it, Duncan stared at me and gave me one of those looks someone gives when they’ve done something they’re proud of.”

“So you never really knew for sure?”

“Oh no, he admitted it to me. After he raped me. He told me all about it.”

I winced at her matter-of-fact tone. “Your mother didn’t try to stop it? Did you tell your parents?”

“He threatened to kill me.” She knitted her fingers. “He raped me for three years. Every Saturday night, my parents would go out. He’d be left there to mind me. I’d tried to run away, but he always found me.”

“What of your family? Why didn’t you tell them?”

“They passed away shortly after I left home at sixteen. I changed my name to Mary and became Mary Childs when I married. I lived in Scotland for a good part of thirty years.”

Her mouth went hard. “But then I returned here to kill him. I’d wanted to kill him for forty years. I carried it like a devil on my back. You see, he robbed me of a good life. I couldn’t stay married. I tried, but I would have nightmares. I made a terrible wife. I hated me husband even touching me.”

“And children?”

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