Beth stepped back at his anger. ‘Are you press?’ she said, narrowing her eyes.
The man laughed. ‘Do I look like a journalist?’
Beth studied him for a moment. ‘No, you don’t.’
He advanced on her, pulling himself up straight, pushing his shoulders back and owning his full height. ‘Why are you protecting her?’
Beth laughed, but it was hollow. ‘Protecting her? I’m not protecting her. Why are you watching her?’
‘That nasty, fear-mongering parasite? Let’s just say I have my own reasons to hate Amelia. Are you saying you’re not working with her?’
‘Absolutely not!’ Beth said. ‘I’m trying to stop her.’ She turned to glance at Jonan. He was standing behind her, his whole focus on the man. Switching to psychic sight, she saw him reaching out his energy, trying to calm his aura.
‘Stop it!’ The man retreated into the shadows of the doorway. ‘I know what you’re doing. You manipulating people’s energies to get your own way. You are like her.’
‘No,’ Jonan said, putting his hands up and stepping backwards. ‘I’m not like her at all. I can help protect you from Amelia. I can help you clear her interference.’
‘And then I’ll be stuck with your interference. I’ll do this on my own, thank you very much. Keep away from me. I just want to speak to Beth.’
‘It’s okay, Jonan. He won’t hurt me.’ Beth took Jonan’s hand for a moment. He looked at her, surprised as her fingers closed over his. She squeezed, nodding in what she hoped was reassurance. ‘I’ve got this.’
Jonan stepped back several paces.
‘What do you want from me?’ Beth spread her hands wide.
‘I want to know Amelia’s secrets. I want everything. Every bit of dirt on her spotless white suits. I want to know every bad thing she’s done, and every bit of damage she’s inflicted. Then I’m going to make her suffer. She’s going to pay for what she did to me.’
‘What did she do to you?’
‘She took my Molly.’
‘Molly?’
‘My wife. Molly was always happy and sociable. She was the one people turned to when they were down and needed picking up. She worked at the Children’s Refuge helping kids who had nothing. That was what she lived for, helping those kids, and having a family of our own one day.’ He looked at the ground and swallowed. ‘Things had been particularly tough for a while. Times were hard and there were a lot of kids in need. The charities had to work overtime to try and make any difference at all.’ His voice was quieter now, hoarse with emotion. When he looked up at Beth, his eyes were red. ‘When Amelia joined the charity as an Ambassador and offered support to the workers, it felt like a dream come true. Molly wasn’t interested in celebrities, but she was enamoured by Amelia. She talked about her all the time. That was fine, at first, until the stories got weirder and weirder. This was a long time before Amelia did that damn interview, but she was talking about spirits even then.’ He paused, eyes closed as he took a few deep breaths. ‘She had Molly terrified to go out, scared of meeting people through work. My social butterfly turned into a hermit. She cried night after night. Amelia visited often, but Molly was always worse after she left.’
He leaned back against the wall, his throat working as he tried to keep his breathing controlled. When he started speaking again, Beth moved closer, leaning in to hear his cracked whisper. Then one day she was gone. She’d left a note saying she’d she didn’t trust me anymore. She thought I had been taken over by spirits. I have no idea where she went. I relive that moment, over and over again. It haunts me every moment, waking and sleeping. She was everything, all I had. Our family was yet to come. Amelia stole her soul, poisoned her imagination and left her unable to think herself out of her mental prison. She obliterated the lives we were supposed to live.
Beth knocked a tear from her cheek and cleared her throat, but it was still hoarse. ‘I’m so sorry. I knew she was poison, but this…’ She shuddered.
The man shrugged his shoulders. ‘Amelia’s clever enough to cover her tracks every step of the way. Her fingerprints aren’t anywhere because she doesn’t touch with her physical hands. Her impact is far more sinister. My life is ruined. And I want to ruin her.’
‘What’s your name?’ Beth asked, stepping closer.
‘None of your business.’
‘Listen, I agree with you about Amelia, but I don’t have anything to tell you. I am doing what I can to stop her, but I want a positive solution from this, not mass hysteria. Giving you dirt to bash her with won’t solve anything.’
The man glared at her, and then his shoulders slumped. ‘If that’s all you have to say, you’d best stay out of my way.’
He strode towards her and would have walked straight into her if she hadn’t stepped to the side at the last moment. She watched him walk away, shoulders hunched, head down into the wind.
Beth shivered and wrapped her arms around her middle. ‘The game has changed,’ she said, not moving.
Jonan stepped forwards and put his arm around her waist, pulling her into his warmth. ‘We can’t fix this tonight. Tomorrow we’ll bring Bill home. Come back to mine. I’ll cook. Doriel’s out. It’s a rare chance for some peace and quiet.’
‘Do you want me to leave you to it? To your peace?’
Jonan reached up and stroked a strand of hair away from her face. ‘I’d rather you didn’t, but if you want to go home, I’ll walk you.’
Beth’s heart was pounding. She shook her head. She’d been to his house so many times. She’d even slept in his bed, but they’d never really been alone. The cramped quarters upstairs were difficult with three, would be impossible with four once Bill arrived. ‘No, I’ll come with you.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Beth
The flat was dark and quiet, quieter than Beth had ever felt it. Doriel wasn’t noisy but her presence had a definite buzz that electrified the room.
With her gone, Jonan’s energy felt so much stronger. It enveloped Beth, wrapping her in a sense of safety she hadn’t felt before.
Her heart beat fast, but without Amelia’s interference, she knew it wasn’t fear. She fell into the feeling, allowing herself to recognise the joy and anticipation that had been hidden underneath gnawing anxiety.
She felt her energetic connection to Jonan. Whenever he moved, she sensed him as though he were an intrinsic part of herself. They shifted around each other. Every mundane movement became beautiful as their link intensified.
Jonan lit the fire, and then moved through to the kitchen and started taking a rainbow of vegetables out of the fridge, green, red, yellow and deep purple. He found a small knife in a drawer and started chopping. ‘There’s wine on the rack in the lounge. Why don’t you open a bottle.’
‘I don’t know anything about wine.’
‘It’s okay, pick anything. It’s all there to be enjoyed.’
Beth went back into the sitting room and looked around. She had never noticed a wine rack but, sure enough, there it was tucked in the corner next to Jonan’s bedroom door. She pulled a bottle from one of the slots, and then went back into the kitchen and opened it with the corkscrew that lay on the worksurface. Delicious smells were starting to waft around the kitchen as the pan sizzled.