Page 112 of Save Us
That pretty much says it all. But I need certainty.
“Did you fake Mum’s will, Dad?” I ask, surprising myself with the ice-cold emotionlessness of my voice.
My father looks at me. He opens his mouth and shuts it again. He seems to be lost for words.
“I asked you a question.” I look more closely at Dad. There are fine beads of sweat on his forehead now, even though his face is still as white as chalk. “Did you falsify Mum’s will so that you could take over at Beaufort’s?”
“I had no choice,” he says in the end.
Lydia inhales sharply. Meanwhile I’m gripping the back of her chair so hard that the leather squeaks under my fingers.
“Why is that?” I ask, deliberately coolly.
My father looks first at Lydia and then at me. “I didn’t slave away for this company my whole life just to be left empty-handed in the end.”
“The only reason Cordelia didn’t leave you a stake in it is that she knew exactly how greedy you are,” Ophelia says firmly.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about!” Dad hisses. His fists are clenched, the knuckles standing out white. “We always had a plan that we worked toward together. The twins were to go to Oxford, and then James was to take over the firm. We needed a structure, a strategy—and then she started wanting to bring you back on board, when I’d got rid of you years ago. It took ages to talk her out of that.”
I can’t believe the way he’s talking about our family—about Mum.
“Then keeping me out of the main company wasn’t Cordelia’s idea at all,” Ophelia says slowly.
“Of course not. Your sister always found it hard to see things through. Unlike Cordelia, I had a vision for Beaufort’s. And you were in my way.”
Lydia’s shoulders are tensing more and more. I can feel that she desperately wants to get up and leave the room, probably so that she can preserve the last few good memories she has of Dad. I feel the same. But at the same time, I know we have to do this. It’s the only way we can face the future without it hanging over us.
“So why did you want to chain me to the company at all costs?” I ask.
Dad snorts. “Because you always did as you were told.Because it just took a bit of force to keep you on track. It would have been better for me, and for the firm, to have you filling Cordelia’s place, and not someone with a will of their own, constantly trying to interfere.”
Despite everything Dad’s done to me over the years, I feel a painful stab in the chest as his words get through to me.
They show me that he never saw me as anything but a means to his own success. They show me how little he must love Lydia and me.
And although I’d thought I was done with Dad a long time ago, something inside me rips as his eyes meet mine.
“You’re a disgrace to the family, Mortimer,” Ophelia says, deadly quiet. “You’re not fit to stand in Cordelia’s shoes.”
He has nothing to say to that.
“Aren’t you even a tiny bit ashamed, Dad?” Lydia asks, her voice shaking.
“I only did what I thought was right.”
“Then your moral compass is seriously warped,” she retorts.
“Mum would be ashamed of you if she could see you like this,” I add.
“This is all well and good, but I can’t help wondering what you’re intending to do with this information.” He raises an eyebrow, but his supercilious look has lost its power. It’s as though the image I’ve always had of my father has finally shattered and I’m now seeing the reality that was hidden behind his façade. I can see his true self—and it’s not a pretty sight. Why the hell did I keep believing in him for so long?
“We have a range of options now, Mortimer,” Ophelia says. “The first is for you to resign and leave me to run the firm. The way Cordelia intended.”
The room is filled with silence. I see the cogs whirring behind Dad’s eyes.
“I’m afraid I can’t agree to that,” he says after half a minute.
“Fine. Well, in that case, my lawyer will begin proceedings to get the original will recognized. He has already spoken to Clive Allen, who is prepared to testify against you in return for us not pressing charges against him. He’ll say that you blackmailed him into reading the falsified will. Given the evidence against you, your chances of winning the case are pretty much zero, Mortimer. And you can imagine what will happen once the press gets wind of it.”
