Page 99 of Save Us
My stomach turns to water. “What do you mean?” I ask.
He ignores me. Instead, he starts typing something on his phone.
“What are you doing?” I ask. I hate how scratchy my voice sounds in this moment.
My father looks at me. We’re the same height, but he still makes me feel as though he’s looking down on me, always on the point of shaking his head in disappointment.
“I tried playing nicely. But you’re just obsessed with throwing away your future for no reason.”
There’s no mistaking the threat in his words. But I’m not going to let him intimidate me. Never again.
I take a deep breath. “There’s no need for you to push me down the right path. I will find my own way. And if you only came here to threaten me, rather than to congratulate your daughter on her pregnancy and to celebrate with her friends, you’d better just leave, and ideally leave us in peace forever,” I say as calmly as I can.
Dad smiles. “Did you know that Helen Bell takes thingshome from the little bakery where she works, nearly every day? Even though that’s not permitted?”
The blood freezes in my veins.
“Half a cake here, a bag of rolls there…”
“It’s only things that would otherwise be thrown away,” I say quietly. “The way you say it, it sounds like she’s stealing.”
Dad shrugs. “I wonder if her new boss will see it the same way. Do you really want to find out?”
I don’t dare move even a millimeter.
“And the food hygiene standards at the restaurant where Angus Bell works really seem to be appalling. I know several people who are prepared to swear that they got food poisoning after eating there. If that were to get out…” He shrugs again. “Not nice.”
The room suddenly seems unpleasantly sticky. I can’t breathe.
“What would the Bells do if they suddenly lost their income?”
“Dad…”
He clicks his tongue. “And then there’s your little friend. Ruby.” He puts so much scorn into his voice as he says her name that I’d like to punch him. But the shock of his words keeps me rooted to the spot.
“Do you really think she’s got a chance at Oxford? Not if she suddenly lost all her grants at the last minute, hmm?”
The world starts to spin around me.
“What would she do then? And seeing that her reference was written by a teacher who got kicked out six months later for sleeping with one of his students…?”
“You wouldn’t do that,” I croak.
“Have I ever made empty threats?” he replies.
My father is insane.The thought shoots through my head for the first time.He’s completely out of his mind.
“What did the Bells ever do to you?” I ask hoarsely.
Dad starts pacing up and down the dining room, his hands behind his back. When he reaches the window, he pauses and looks out into the garden.
“I’ve told you before that I’m prepared to do anything to preserve the reputation of Beaufort’s.”
“You’d destroy an entire family.”
He stands a little longer at the window, then turns back to me, his eyes piercing. “It’s in your hands, James.”
My head is whirling. I feel like I’m on the wall of death, pinned to the edge, unable to move as it spins faster and faster, rising higher and higher.
