The Necklace They Gave Me Last novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: The Sidewalk

The video is everywhere and Dorian arrives with two guards to take the necklace on a public sidewalk. Susannah keeps it, and the butler turns up with a suitcase.

I woke to the sound of my phone buzzing itself across the nightstand.

The video had four million views.

Someone had cut it down to a short clip, and it started on my father saying "Sit down, Susannah" and ended on my back going across the lawn.

The caption read: "Sterrett heiress storms out of family dinner. Insiders say she hasn't been well."

Under it was a post from the company's page, from Dorian.

"Our family is heartbroken. Susannah has struggled for years, and we ask for privacy while we get her the help she needs."

I read it standing in my mother's cold bedroom in yesterday's dress.

The necklace lay under my pillow, and I had slept with my hand on it.

Out in the front room, someone was running water.

I pulled on my mother's old cardigan from the closet and went out.

Dermot was at the kitchen sink in last night's shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

He had found a jar of coffee at the back of a cupboard and made it in a saucepan.

The scar through his eyebrow was pale in the morning light.

He had slept on a couch with the sheet pulled off, and one side of his hair stood up.

I looked at him for longer than I meant to.

He set a cup on the counter and pushed it toward me with two fingers, and did not come any closer.

"Your terms," he said.

"I didn't say anything."

"You were thinking it."

I took the cup.

"They're calling me unstable," I said.

"I saw."

"Four million people think I'm unstable."

"Susannah." He waited until I looked up. "Don't answer it. Not yet. Anything you post now helps him."

Someone knocked on the front door.

It was not a polite knock.

Dermot crossed to the window and moved the edge of the curtain with one finger.

"Two men in dark suits," he said. "And Dorian's car."

My brother's voice came through the glass.

"Susannah! Open up. Let's not do this in the street."

I put down the cup.

"I'll do it in the street," I said.

Dermot caught my wrist.

It was the first time he had touched me since the pool house.

He let go at once.

"Let me go first," he said.

"No."

I put the necklace around my neck and tucked the stone under my collar, and I opened the door.

Dorian stood on the top step in a camel coat with his hands in his pockets.

Two men with earpieces waited behind him.

Across the street, a woman was walking a dog very slowly.

Next door, a man in a bathrobe had come out for his newspaper and was not picking it up.

"There she is," Dorian said, loud enough for the whole block.

"Good morning," I said.

"Dad's worried sick. You haven't answered anyone. Come home and we'll talk."

"You froze my accounts."

"Dad did. It was a precaution." He smiled at the street. "Because of your condition."

"My condition."

"You gave a speech at a dinner, Susannah. Then you drove off with a man who's been in love with you since you were nineteen."

I felt Dermot go still behind me.

I did not turn around.

"You have something of Mom's," Dorian said, lowering his voice so that only the front steps could hear him. "The founder's piece. Where is it?"

"Sold, according to Dad."

His smile slipped, just for a second.

"Hand it over," he said. "It's family property. The men will take it if they have to."

One of the men in suits stepped forward.

A second dog walker had stopped across the street, and I saw the glint of a phone raised at chest height.

I lifted my chin.

"Say it again," I said. "Louder. There's a lady with a phone."

Dorian's head turned.

"I said it was family property, and the men will take it from me if they have to," I said, projecting every word. "Go ahead. Take it off my neck on a public sidewalk, in front of the whole street."

The man in the suit looked at Dorian.

Dermot stepped around me and stood on the top step, between my brother and the door.

"Touch her and I'll file the report myself," he said. "With the building's camera as a witness."

Dorian's eyes went from Dermot to me.

"You always did like a stray, didn't you," he said to Dermot. "Fine. Keep it for now. You think Dad won't have you declared unfit by the weekend?"

He turned and went down the steps.

The two men followed him.

The car pulled away, and the man in the bathrobe finally bent for his newspaper.

I let my breath go.

My knees shook, and I put a hand on the doorframe.

"He said you've loved me since I was nineteen," I said.

Dermot looked at the street.

"Dorian says things to see who flinches," he said.

He had not answered, and I saw it.

A taxi turned onto Marlow Street and stopped at the curb.

The back door opened, and an old man in a grey suit got out, slowly, holding a battered leather suitcase in both hands.

It was the butler.

"Miss Susannah," he said. "I've resigned. May I come in?"

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