Chapter 18: Daphne's Drive

The man who climbed out of the sedan was Sylvia's driver, wide in the shoulders, with a polite face.

"Miss Pickman," he said. "Mrs. Codman asked me to bring you to lunch."

He had not looked at Dane yet.

Dane stepped between them.

"She's busy," he said.

"Mr. Fairweather." The driver's eyes finally moved, and stayed. "I'm told you shouldn't be within a mile of this family."

"Then tell me who's going to stop me."

For a moment nobody moved, and somewhere an engine ticked as it cooled.

Daphne put her hand on Dane's sleeve.

"It's fine," she said, brightly, in the voice she used at parties. "I'll come. Mom hates it when I'm late."

She was looking at him as she said it, and her eyes were begging.

Then her hand slid down from his sleeve, and something small and cold pressed into his palm.

A thumb drive.

"Read it before dinner," she whispered. "All of it. Don't let her see you."

She got into the back of the sedan.

The driver nodded to Dane and drove away.

At eight that night the study doors at Kellaway House were locked.

Iris sat at the desk with the laptop, Odette beside her in the green armchair, Dane standing at her shoulder.

There were four thousand messages on the drive.

Three years of texts between Sylvia, Philip and Daphne, copied from a phone that Sylvia believed was hers alone.

Iris read the first one with her hand over her mouth.

*Seat J beside I. Make her laugh.*

She read the one from the afternoon of the party.

*Booking confirmed. 1412, three weeks ago, under J. Everything ready. -L*

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Heiress Wakes to a Second Chance from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.