Layla stood with her back pressed against the door and stared blankly at Steff. His expression was hard to read, but he kept his eyes on her, like he was waiting for her to speak.
She parted her lips, felt her tongue peel from the roof of her mouth. ‘All these years I was blaming Donnie for Kerry’s death, for our marriage falling apart because the drink turned me into a bitter and paranoid bitch, you were sitting on this in silence.’
The whispered words sat heavy between them, and Steff blinked. ‘You don’t understand, Layla.’
‘You’re damn fucking right I don’t understand, Steff. You’d better start explaining.’
He adjusted his balance, from one foot to the other, his shoulders loose and his eyes narrow. Then he took a step forward, and Layla’s instinct was to draw back. With the wall at her back, she couldn’t move further away from him.
‘Kerry was’ – he paused – ‘being difficult. You see, she hated the thought of you and Donnie together as much as I did. We were planning to make you see that he wasn’t good for you. We had your best interests at heart.’
Layla frowned. ‘What do you mean you were planning to make me see? Make me see what?’
He moved closer again. ‘That you were better off away from him. Donnie, he’s always been bad news.’
‘You’re supposed to be his best fucking mate. Why would you try to sabotage his life like that?’
It was Steff’s turn to look confused. ‘Because you deserved so much better, Layla. You weren’t put on this planet to be a gangster’s wife, especially not when the fucker treats you how he does.’
Layla expelled air and pushed him away. ‘What gives you the right to make that decision? And what the fuck did Kerry have to do with all this that caused her death?’
Steff shook his head; a look of despair crossed his face. ‘She found out.’
‘Found out about what?’
‘She saw this. I dunno, Layla, she just kind of lost the plot, told me I was sick in the head and that she was going to tell you that I was some kind of weirdo who was obsessed with you. But in doing that, you’d be left with no one to protect you from Donnie. You’d be stuck with him by yourself.’
Layla felt tears sting the back of her eyes and anger burn in her throat. ‘So you thought you’d arrange to have her murdered?’
‘It wasn’t like that.’
‘Jesus Christ, Steff,’ she screamed. Then she stopped, composed herself and thought about how she was going to get out of the house without him trying to stop her. She had to be calm, had to make him think that she agreed that what he’d done was for her benefit.
Her heart thrummed in her chest; she was unsure if she was going to be able to pull it off.
‘Look, I’m sorry. It’s just a lot to take in, that’s all. Can you understand that?’
He nodded slowly, before reaching out and taking her hand in his. ‘I didn’t ever mean to hurt you.’
She swallowed the nauseating lump in her throat and forced a smile. ‘I’ll be fine. I just need to go home, process all this and try to calm down. I’ve not been to the salon in a while. I’ll pop in there and check on things.’
Turning, she made for the door handle but felt Steff grip her arm, spinning her back to face him.
‘All this, it’s not real. I love you. I always have done. Isn’t that all that matters? I don’t want you thinking badly of me.’
Layla felt instantly sick, like she was going to throw up all over him. She hid her true feelings. ‘I don’t. I promise.’
‘Why don’t I come with you? To the salon, I mean.’
‘You don’t have to follow me, Steff. It’s not like I’m going to the police. I’m married to a gangster. They’d love that.’
Pulling herself from his grip, she smiled, leaned up and kissed him on the cheek and refrained from gagging, before opening the door. He followed her out to the street, right at her back. Every instinct in her body was telling her to start running, start screaming at him to get away from her. If she made a scene, he’d leave her alone for now, surely? But the fear inside gripped her like nothing she’d ever experienced. As much as her marriage to Donnie was over, all she could think about was what he would say if he knew that Steff had done this. Or did he already know? Maybe he was in on it?
‘Layla, I’m sorry.’
She took a steadying breath but didn’t stop walking. ‘I know you are, Steff.’
Reaching the sunbed shop, she pushed the door and almost fell inside, gasping for air in the hope that she wasn’t going to be sick. Sobbing, she made her way through to the bathroom at the back of the shop and stuck her wrists under cold running water to stop the impending panic attack.
How the hell had she missed this? There’d been red flags all over the place with Steff and she hadn’t seen them. Now that she thought about them, they were blatantly obvious. Whenever she talked about, or even mentioned, Kerry’s name he always subtly changed the subject. Of course he wouldn’t want to talk about Kerry; he’d arranged to have her silenced in the most brutal of ways, and Layla had been forced to see it.
The loud, gasping sobs spilled out, and Layla allowed the grief and guilt of what happened to Kerry to take over. She had to let it out. How could she have been so blind to it all? Was she that stupid?
After a few moments, she remembered what Susie had said to her before she’d left for Tenerife. If she ever needed a place to stay if things didn’t get better with Donnie, then she could go to Susie’s.
Splashing her face with cold water, she rinsed the tears away before heading out to the front of the shop. Darcie’s sudden resignation had meant that the shop had no one else to run the place, and Layla was only there some of the time. The place was going under, it wasn’t hard to work out.
She opened the safety deposit box from under the counter and took out the set of keys Susie had left with Darcie. Layla couldn’t stay in that house now, not after it had been trashed. Not after everything. She’d take Susie up on her offer.
Dialling Susie’s number, it rang a few times before going to voicemail. She left a message, letting her know that she was going to take her up on her offer of using the house as a place to stay until she was able to sort out some new accommodation. Surely Susie wouldn’t have offered if she hadn’t meant it?
Layla spoke aloud to herself, talked herself through what she was about to do next. She’d go home, pack some things and head to Susie’s. Wherever her husband was or whatever he was doing, he’d made it clear that he wanted her out of the house. So that’s what she was going to do.
Two of the men she’d grown up with, trusted the most in the world, were now like complete strangers to her. She needed to reassess a lot of things.