Page 69 of Take the Wheel

‘This is ridiculous! It’s myweddingday,’ Paris whined.

‘I don’t think the cops care about that,’ Nancy told her in a reasonable tone.

‘My god. Can’t you shut up!?’ Paris exploded her.

Ari didn’t know she’d moved until she was gripped by both arms. ‘Talk to her like that again, and these men will not be able to protect you,’ she said.

‘You see? She’s an animal,’ Paris said to the room. The room rumbled a sound of general disgrace.

‘You’re the animal. And athief,’ Nancy said.

Helen gasped at the word.

Paris looked at Helen. Nancy looked at Helen. Ari looked at Helen. One by one, everyone in the room was staring at Helen.

Helen looked back at everyone, her colour draining. She looked sicker than Margot.

Nancy wasn’t sure what had just happened. But it was something.

Fifty-Six

Ari couldn’t ignore it. Helen’s gasp had beenweird. It was sharp, almost involuntary, like she’d been struck.

Ari, Paris, and Nancy all turned to her at once, their scrutiny pinning her in place.

‘Something wrong?’ Ari asked casually.

For a fraction of a second, Helen looked truly unguarded, her usual smooth, cutting expression stripped away to reveal something raw underneath. And then, just as quickly, she recovered.

‘Just a touch of asthma,’ she muttered, shaking her head as if they were all imagining things. But she wasn’t quite meeting anyone’s eyes.

Nancy narrowed hers. ‘You don’t have asthma.’

‘I developed it after I fired you,’ Helen said quickly.

‘Iquit. And show me the inhaler,’ Nancy said.

‘I will do nothing of the sort,’ Helen said, eyes dark with warning.

Ari, ever impatient, tilted her head. ‘That wasn’t asthma. You looked like someone had just spilt your deepest, darkest secret.’

Helen scoffed. ‘Don’t flatter yourself.’

But there was something in the way she straightened her posture, the way her fingers tightened around the strap of her clutch, that made Ari’s instincts hum. She was coveringsomething. And it had nothing to do with Paris’s small-time theft.

Paris must have thought the same, because she stepped closer, her voice quieter now—lower and more deliberate. ‘Helen’s just shocked to hear such a baseless accusation of jewellery theft thrown at her favourite niece.’

‘Yes. That.’ Helen waved a dismissive hand, but she turned slightly away, angling herself towards the door.

‘I thought it was asthma,’ Nancy said.

‘That too,’ Helen said, exasperated. ‘Both things.’

‘Are you all quite finished?’ Margot cut in, her voice weary. ‘Honestly, I’d be better off watchingEmmerdale.’

‘You need to get to a hospital,’ Nancy reminded Margot.

Paris’s frustration flared again. ‘Oh, do shut up, Nancy. If I needed your opinion—’

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