The Tangled Web

by Lacey Dearie

  She walked through the gardens, into the main building, past the mini market and through reception to the main entrance of the hotel. She left the car park and walked along the street. She doubted if any of them would follow her to the mini market, but if they did, she’d say she’d made a trip to the toilets on her way. And just in case they did follow her, all the way into the street, she decided to take a turn down a cul-de-sac and get a little bit lost before she pulled out her phone.

  The plan was working and it was almost too perfect. Everything was going exactly as it should. Vicky was preoccupied with her own drama, Flic was doing anything she could to busy herself with Vicky’s troubles and avoid tracking down George, and as for Adam…well, she hadn’t counted on him being here, but he was just a hapless idiot who wasn’t getting in the way at all.

  She checked over her shoulder once more and scrolled down her phone’s address book until she came to the number she wanted. She pressed the call button and waited. It went straight to voicemail, just as she expected. She would leave a message.

  ‘It’s Lumi. Everything’s going well. We’re all going to be at Aphrodite’s Birthplace at two o’clock today. It’s the perfect place to do this. It’s signposted as Petra Tu Romiou. They’re all preoccupied with one of Vicky’s dramas so they suspect nothing. Any problems, text me. I’ll see you there. I love you.’

  30

  16th July

  Lumi clutched her phone in her hand. They were almost at Aphrodite’s Birthplace. And he hadn’t sent her a message to say he was there yet. She cursed him. Had she been wrong to trust him in the first place? She didn’t know. Maybe he was as untrustworthy as she had been told. Maybe she had been taken for a ride, just like others had been in the past.

  No! She stopped herself. She had to stop thinking that way. She had to trust him. He had been so kind to her already. He had made her feel so special. She would know if someone was just buttering her up to get what they wanted, and it really didn’t feel like he was. And his side of the story sounded so convincing.

  She had to keep herself balanced. She needed a healthy amount of trust and caution. She had to trust that he would go ahead with their plan. She had to trust herself to stay on her guard and turn things around to her advantage if he didn’t keep to his end of the deal.

  Lumi looked to her right and saw a relaxed Flic sitting with her bare feet up on the driver’s seat in front of her. She was looking out of the window and smiling to herself. She looked so young and fresh and happy. Flic looked completely different in Cyprus, away from the heavy make-up, the fake tan, the cocktails and the bitterness she was carrying around on a daily basis. Here, she just looked like any other woman on holiday in her denim skirt and strappy top.

  Lumi felt her stomach tighten and her chest get heavy. A wave of guilt washed over her for what she was about to do. Flic would end up even more bitter after this afternoon. But it had to be done. She had ruined marriages and relationships for too many months and gotten away with it. She had to get what she deserved.

  She looked straight ahead and saw the back of Vicky’s head bobbing around as she chatted nervously to her brother. She wished there was a way to get her revenge on Vicky too, but she hadn’t had time to think of a plan. Perhaps she didn’t need to. Vicky was so miserable all the time. She was carrying a dark cloud around with her that might never go away. And Christos was managing to hurt her in ways that Lumi could never have dreamed up.

  She started to feel angry thinking about that bitch. Didn’t she know how lucky she was to have a beautiful baby girl, a job she enjoyed, a family who loved her, a house that was practically a mansion to live in? How could SHE be depressed? Vicky had everything Lumi had ever wanted, and still it wasn’t enough. She had to complain about being a single parent. From what Magnus had told her, Vicky’s ex-boyfriend didn’t even know about his daughter. There was a good chance if he did know, he would come straight back to Scotland to be with the two of them. And as for her job, she was spending her days helping families through the worst time of their lives, and arranging beautiful funerals for people who aren’t here any more. She was doing a worthwhile job, for good money, and still it wasn’t enough. She had to complain she wanted to be a writer, and she needed something to blog about. So she played her little game, ruining lives and sabotaging other people’s happiness, just so that she could have something to write about.

  If she could find a way to get justice by ruining Vicky’s life, she would. But it looked like Christos was about to break her heart yet again. She had her own finger on the self-destruct button permanently and she insisted on falling for the wrong men. Tough shit.

  The only person she felt sorry for was Adam. Poor stupid Adam. He was an idiot, albeit a good looking and friendly one. She was sure he was here to try and salvage his train-wreck of a relationship with Flic. Too bad that would never happen now. But he would meet somebody who really deserved him.

  She felt her phone vibrate in her hand. Yes! This had to be him. She opened the text message inbox.

  “I’m here. I’m in the gift shop. Keep them away from the shop and on the beach. I love you x”

  She smirked and took a deep breath to cleanse her of her nervousness. She could do that. She typed in a reply.

  “We’re just arriving now. Stay in the shop. I’ll text again when we’re on the beach. I love you too x”

  ‘That’s us here now,’ Adam chirped.

  ‘Ok, let’s go girls,’ Lumi said, opening her door and stepping out.

  ‘Girls AND boy,’ Adam reminded her.

  Lumi closed the car door over again and turned towards Adam. It was time to put her plan into action.

  ‘You mean you’re coming too? Why?’ she asked.

  ‘Well, why wouldn’t he?’ Flic snapped.

  ‘It might make things a little awkward if Vicky is confronting Christos. If her brother is there, it may seem less like a discussion and more like he is her bodyguard waiting to beat him up if he upsets her,’ Lumi rationalised.

  ‘I never thought of that,’ Vicky pouted.

  ‘Nonsense. Adam’s coming,’ Flic dismissed.

  ‘It’s not nonsense. He can come, but he has to wait until everything is fine. Once Vicky speaks to Christos and everything is ok again – or not so ok – Adam can come and enjoy the beach with us,’ Lumi insisted.

  ‘She has a point, Flic. It might intimidate Christos,’ Vicky conceded.

  Flic tutted. ‘Adam, what do you want to do?’

  He stroked his chin and appeared to be mulling over Lumi’s argument. ‘I think I’ll stay here for the first ten minutes. That should give them a wee while to talk without me being there and it won’t seem confrontational.’

  Lumi raised her eyebrows. That was a big word for him to use, she thought.

  ‘Alright then,’ Flic humphed. She turned to look at Lumi and appeared to be wrinkling her nose in distaste.

  Lumi smothered a snigger. If Flic hated her now, wait until she got her just desserts. Then she would really have a reason to hate her!

  ‘Right, I’ll go on ahead and find Christos, then Flic and Lumi, you two follow in a minute. Adam, you wait here for about ten minutes. You’re just a phonecall away if I need you.’ Vicky threw the car door open and banged it shut with force which suggested she was psyching herself up to appear angry rather than hurt.

  Lumi watched Flic put her shoes on and then examine her nails, while Adam played with the stereo trying to find an English speaking station. She announced that she needed some fresh air and got out of the car, ignoring Flic’s following jibe about the air being too hot to be described as fresh. She rested against the back of the car and looked into the window of the gift shop. And there he was, hiding behind a display of books. He winked at her and she felt a little shiver despite the sun blazing down on her. Just a few more hours and they would be together and wouldn’t have to pretend any more.

  *****

  Vicky forced herself to walk rather than run through
the tunnel to the beach. The place was crowded. Why did it have to be so busy? Of course it was busy, she told herself. It’s a major tourist attraction in the middle of summer. There would be something wrong if it wasn’t busy. She wished she could just blink and be there on the beach though, with Christos in front of her and nobody else. How were they going to talk about this properly with dozens of strangers around them?

  After the walk through what seemed like the longest tunnel in the world, although it was really quite short, Vicky reached the beach. She was disappointed it wasn’t a sandy beach, with grains of soft golden sand which would stay in her shoes for weeks to come and remind her of this day. She staggered clumsily onto the pebbles and sighed. Maybe it was a good thing it wasn’t sandy, she told herself. Maybe she wouldn’t want any reminders, if it didn’t turn out to be a happy day.

  Christos wasn’t hard to spot. He was sitting on the pebbles, looking out towards the sea, watching as groups of tourists discarded their clothes, ran into the spray and swam towards the rock which was where Aphrodite was supposedly born. Amongst the fair haired, the fair skinned and the would-be photographers, Christos stood out. Vicky paused for a moment to look at him. While everyone else wore obvious holiday clothes, Christos was dressed like a local, in his white t-shirt and jeans. His thick black hair looked even darker than usual. The only thing that gave him away as someone who didn’t live here was his pale skin. He was far too pasty to be a resident, even if this was his original home.

  As if her eyes were burning a hole in the back of his head, he turned almost as soon as Vicky started to walk in his direction. He smiled at her. It was a smile she had seen so many times before; whenever he came in to her office, whenever she spoke to him on webcam, when he came to deliver the flowers for her Dad’s beloved garden to her home, when she went into his shop, in hundreds of photographs. She had never hated his smile before, the way that she did today. What had once seemed friendly and approachable now seemed predatory.

  She didn’t return the smile and the closer she came to him, he realised that something was not right. His expression changed to one of wary concern.

  ‘What’s wrong agapi mou?’ he worried, in his half Cypriot, half Scottish accent which she had previously found endearing. Now it was just tedious.

  Vicky said nothing for fear that she might burst into tears. Instead she reached into her bag and removed the printouts of the chat he had with Jessica and the messages they had exchanged before he blocked her.

  His confusion was evident as he unfolded the papers but this gave way to anger as he realised exactly what he was reading.

  ‘You spied on me? For real?’ he blasted.

  Vicky shook her head. ‘No. I didn’t. Pamela did.’

  ‘She was supposed to be Kayla!’ he snarled. He threw the papers into the sea in frustration and put his hands into his thick hair.

  ‘She got fed up of you not responding. She changed tactics and didn’t tell me,’ Vicky croaked. She willed herself not to cry. She attempted to rein the tears in, but the angrier he looked, the weepier she felt. She had to stay strong. She lifted her chin defiantly and stared into his eyes.

  ‘You expect me to believe you knew nothing about this?’ he fumed.

  Something inside Vicky snapped. How dare he try and turn this around on her! She had done nothing wrong. She hadn’t asked Pamela to change tactics, and she wasn’t the one cheating on a long term partner, or anyone else for that matter. The tears began to wash down her face and as soon as they had escaped she released the anger she was feeling.

  ‘I don’t care what you believe! You’re the one that’s in the wrong here! You’re the one who has cheated on your girlfriend!’ she yelled.

  A few Russian tourists who had been about to lay down their towels and strip off for a swim started to mutter to each other and stare at Vicky and Christos.

  ‘What?’ he barked at them.

  They quickened their steps and marched away in the opposite direction. Vicky looked around her and noticed that everyone else seemed to be moving too and pretty soon they would be alone on their little stretch of the beach.

  She turned her attention back to Christos. ‘I don’t care how angry you are at me. I think you’re just angry that I’ve found you out and you don’t have anyone who will believe your sob stories about how mistreated you are by your girlfriend any more,’ she spat.

  Vicky took a deep breath, glad that she had gotten those words out, and turned to walk back towards the car.

  ‘Wait!’ he pulled on her shoulder and turned her to face him again. He put a hand on each of her arms. ‘Look at me. Please, Vicky, look at me.’

  She tutted and despite her better judgement telling her not to do so, she looked directly into his eyes.

  A few days ago, she would have been thrilled to be standing here on a foreign beach with the man she considered to be one of her closest friends. He was special to her. She had always thought that maybe, in another time and place, the flowers he delivered to her almost daily would be for her and not for the funerals. The chats they had would be over dinner at night rather than on a computer. Now, she felt like she had wasted so much time over those chats. It was time she could have been writing, or sleeping, or making other friends.

  Christos cleared his throat. ‘I’m angry, but I’m not angry at you. I’m angry at myself, because I had those chats. I should never have done it, but I tried to justify it by telling myself that I deserved a little bit of fun.’

  ‘You deserved to be a cheating slimeball?’ Vicky blustered.

  ‘No, I mean that I deserved to have this freedom because Jenny had cheated. And because she’s probably done it again since the one time I know about. I didn’t want to be the stupid fool who forgives her every time and doesn’t retaliate,’ he flushed. His face turned crimson as he spoke.

  ‘So leave her! Don’t just give her something like this to use against you. Leave her!’ Vicky cried.

  ‘It’s not that simple. We have children together. We have a life together. I love her. You know it’s not all black and white, Vicky,’ he shook his head.

  Vicky stared down at the pebbles below her and kicked a few around as she thought about what he was saying. ‘You have to talk to her. It’s no kind of life, cheating on each other and fighting all the time. Get it sorted,’ she commanded.

  Christos nodded. ‘I know. But I don’t want her to find out about this. It’s important. She wouldn’t understand.’

  Vicky stopped playing with the pebble and looked up at Christos again. Had she just been sweet-talked? Was he feeding her a few easy to believe lines to keep her quiet and get her on side again?

  She decided to try what Flic was so good at doing. She would just flip the switch and act like she didn’t care. She could have a good cry and bitch about him when she was back at the apartment. Right now, she had to pretend.

  ‘Whatever. I’m not going to say anything. It’s none of my business. Just find someone else to moan to in future,’ she shrugged.

  She turned again and attempted to walk away, but just as before he pulled her back and put his hands on her arms, willing her to stay.

  ‘What do you mean, agapi mou?’ he blinked, his face etched with concern.

  ‘Stop calling me that! And I mean I don’t want to hear it any more! I’m not interested in your problems. Tell it to some random girl you pick up online,’ Vicky hissed.

  He released her from his grip and watched her, open mouthed as she turned to walk away again. This time I’ll keep walking, she told her herself.

  ‘You’re jealous!’ he stated.

  She swung around and glowered at him. She could mask facial expressions, say words that she didn’t mean and act like she didn’t care, but one thing she couldn’t prevent was her body’s involuntary betrayal of her by blushing. She knew it was happening. She could explain it away as anger or sunburn, but the truth was she was embarrassed because he was right.

  ‘Who do you think I’m jealous of?
I don’t want a boyfriend who cheats on me online with women he doesn’t know, so I can’t be jealous of your girlfriend. And I certainly don’t want to be the one you use and then block. There’s nobody in this scenario with anything I want,’ she said, ending with a sweet smile.

  He ran in front of her as she tried to walk away and argued, ‘You wish it was you. You wish that if I had cheated with anyone, it had been you.’

  Vicky was about to disagree and put forward a feeble argument but she caught sight of Flic in the distance, kissing someone. She crumpled her face in bewilderment, wondering who she had kissed and why.

  ‘She’s a fast worker!’ Vicky panted, shaking her head in puzzlement.

  Christos lowered his eyebrows, wondering who the fast worker was. He noticed she was looking past him, towards the tunnelled entrance to the beach. He too turned around and he and Vicky stared in disbelief as they watched Flic push the man away, do a double take and begin to whack him with her handbag, while Lumi, crouching behind a rock, appeared to be taking pictures of the whole incident.

  ‘What the hell is going on?’ Vicky squinted.

  ‘Who is that?’ Christos asked.

  Vicky started to shake her head and was about to reply that she had no idea. Then she looked a little closer and she realised that she recognised this man from the night before.

  ‘That’s George Goodbody!’

  31

  16th July

  Flic pushed the man who had grabbed her away and made an attempt to retrieve her phone to call someone for help. This was outrageous! She had been assaulted on this beach and the attack was completely unprovoked.

  ‘You bloody pervert! I’m phoning the police!’ she yelled.