Quinn gritted her teeth and pushed the gun into his forehead again.
‘I know you’re angry,’ Hannah said. ‘And you have every right to be. But this is not the way.’
‘But what am I supposed to do with all this anger? There’s no justice, and it’s just not fair.’ She wrung her hands and the gun waved wildly.
‘Put the gun down, Quinn,’ Hannah said softly.
‘Please,’ Simon added. ‘I just want to see my daughters again.’
‘No!’ she cried. ‘You don’t get to go home ever again.’
Hannah clasped her hands together to stop them from trembling, then sidled up to Quinn to speak quietly into her ear. ‘Think of Patrick. They’ll trace the gun back to him.’
For the first time, Quinn faltered. ‘It was his father’s. I doubt it’s even registered to him.’
‘They’ll be able to trace it,’ she whispered. ‘It’s the first thing they’ll do when they find it. He doesn’t deserve this, does he?’
Quinn inclined her head towards Simon. ‘But he does.’
‘I know he does,’ Hannah said. ‘And I hate him, too, for what he did to you. But I don’t want you to carry this for the rest of your life. You don’t deserve that.’
Tears began streaming down Quinn’s face; Hannah knew she was on the verge of giving in, but she couldn’t afford to push her while the gun was still in her hand.
‘Quinn, put the gun down,’ she said again. ‘You’ve scared the shit out of him. Let him go home to his daughters, and you can move on with your life.’
‘How do I do that?’ Quinn said, her face sagging.
‘One day after the other,’ Hannah said. ‘With me by your side.’
Simon was still up against the wall, still scared, but Hannah could see that he thought it was almost over too, and it made her hate him.
At last, Quinn backed away until she came up against Simon’s desk. ‘You were my friend,’ she said to him. ‘I don’t understand how you could do something like that to a friend. I still think about it every day, how you diminished me. Now I feel like nothing. I hate you for that.’
The gun was still clasped in her hand, but loosely now. Simon moved his hands from where they were plastered to the wall and held them out. ‘I’m so sorry, Quinn. I’m sorry. I hate myself. Please let me go. Please.’
She looked up at him with her tear-stained face. ‘How would you feel if someone did this to your daughters? Someone they trusted the way I trusted you?’
His jaw worked. ‘I’d want to kill them. I’d want to tear them apart.’
‘Yeah. Exactly. So why don’t you regard the rest of us as human too?’ She carefully placed the gun down on the desk behind her. ‘Just so you know, I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it for me. Hannah’s right: I don’t need your blood on my hands. Not when mine is already on yours.’
‘Thank you.’ He took a step forward. ‘Thank you.’
Quinn turned away from him and Hannah moved forward to take her into her arms. Over Quinn’s shoulder, Simon paused for a moment, undecided, and when neither woman went to stop him, he turned to leave.
‘Crazy bitches,’ he muttered.
Blinding rage blistered through Hannah. She swung away from Quinn and snatched up the gun from the desk. It was smooth and heavy and cool. It felt good. It felt like justice. ‘Stop!’ she commanded.
Simon looked back and his expression wavered as he took in the gun pointed at his head once again. For half her life, Hannah had carefully chosen every word, every move, but now she shed all that control in an instant. And it was glorious. It blazed out of her, the power she’d pushed down and made small for so long. She was a volcano, the eruption about to destroy everything in her path. She lunged forward, slammed Simon back against the wall. Thrust the muzzle of the gun against his chest, where his heart was. Leant in close.
‘You fucking prick,’ she spat. ‘You had the chance to get out of here, alive, with no punishment! But you couldn’t resist one last jab, could you?’
‘I didn’t mean it,’ he stuttered. ‘It was just a stupid joke. I’m sorry.’
The fury she’d been holding onto all these years filled Hannah up, bleeding into every crevice of her, spreading through her like a drug. This was who she’d always been, and it had been useless to pretend otherwise. She stabbed the gun harder into his chest, and Simon leapt violently, as if she’d pulled the trigger.
‘Think about this,’ he appealed. ‘You’re a lawyer, right? You’ve got a family? Why would you risk all that for her?’ He glanced behind Hannah’s shoulder where Quinn still stood.
Hannah followed his gaze and smiled at her friend, who was watching her with eyes that were full of fear and elation and something like hunger. ‘I’d do anything for her.’
And she meant it. She knew now that she had always had this in her; part of her had known as soon as Quinn had called her. She could kill him. She wanted to kill him.
Then she felt Quinn come to stand beside her. ‘Where’s your phone, Simon?’ she asked calmly.
‘My pocket,’ he said. ‘It’s in my pocket.’
Quinn reached into the pocket in his trousers and pulled out his phone. ‘What’s your passcode?’
He told her, and she keyed it in and unlocked the phone.
‘You’re going to do two things,’ Quinn said. ‘One: you’re going to call the police station and confess to sexually assaulting me and the other five women. Feel free to add anyone else in while you’re at it. You’re going to tell them you’re on your way to the station to make a full statement. Then, when you’ve hung up, you’re going to call Karen, and you’re going to tell her you’re a fucking piece of shit. If you do those two things right now, we’ll drive you to the station ourselves.’
‘I can’t!’ Simon said. ‘I can’t do that.’
Hannah twisted the muzzle of the gun into his chest until he winced. ‘Do it, or I’m going to shoot you right through your black fucking heart. Dial the number, Quinn.’
Quinn did as she was told and held the phone up to Simon’s ear. He began to sob raggedly as he spoke to the person on the other end of the line, detailing everything he’d done, telling them that he’d lied, that Quinn had been telling the truth, that there’d been others and that he would come to the station and confess to everything. He looked like a broken little boy when Quinn finally took the phone away from his ear. His distress was beautiful to Hannah. The icy murder in her veins had felt good, but this – watching him supplicate himself before two women, watching him come undone, watching him ruined – this was the ultimate.
Hannah watched him as Quinn ended the call, hungry to see him grovel to his wife, but instead Quinn gave him a cheery clap on the shoulder.
‘You know what?’ she said. ‘You can call Karen later.’
Hannah eased the gun away from Simon’s chest but kept it trained on him. ‘If you breathe a word about what happened here tonight, I’ll find you and this time I will kill you. Do you understand?’
‘Yes,’ he said miserably.
‘Let’s go,’ Quinn said.
Quinn snapped off her gloves and threw them onto the floor of her car. Then she drove them all to the nearby police station while Hannah kept the gun pointed at Simon.
‘I think I’m going to come in with you,’ Quinn announced as they pulled into the car park. ‘Make sure you stick to the story. Want me to get you a cab back to your car, Hannah?’
‘That’s OK, I’ll walk. It’s not far.’ She tucked the gun carefully into her handbag. ‘I’ll keep this safe.’
Quinn took her hand as Simon stepped out of the car. ‘Thank you.’
‘Now we’re even,’ Hannah said. ‘But I would’ve done it for nothing.’
‘I know.’ They shared a smile.
‘Let’s catch up soon. We can watch Buffy and get smashed together.’
‘It’s a date.’
Ethan was sitting, motionless, at the dining table when Hannah walked in. He didn’t
even have his phone in front of him. Hannah stared down at his hunched shoulders. Something shifted inside her.
He looked up at her. ‘Is she OK?’
Hannah nodded. ‘She is now.’
He held her gaze for a long moment. Then understanding flitted over his face. ‘It’s over for us, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah.’ Hannah bit her lip. ‘I think it is.’
She could see the emotion beginning to rise in him before his jaw became hard.
‘I know I haven’t always been the best husband, but I’ve tried. I’ve really tried, Hannah, but you’re always keeping me at a distance.’
‘I know,’ she said. ‘I’m not blaming you. I don’t think we’ve ever really been right for each other. The wife you want just isn’t who I am. I’ve been trying to be that person for too long, and it’s killing me.’
‘It’s killing you?’ he said bitterly. ‘You never told me you didn’t want any of this. I didn’t force you into it, did I?’
‘You didn’t,’ she agreed. ‘You made it clear right from the start what you thought a family should look like, and I should’ve drawn a line in the sand then, and I didn’t. But that stops now. I need to start being true to myself.’
Ethan stood up, his face red. ‘Quinn put you up to this, didn’t she? She’s been trying to get between us for years.’
‘No,’ Hannah said. ‘Quinn has nothing to do with it. It’s my decision.’
‘I don’t deserve this, Hannah.’ His voice shook. ‘I’ve never hit you. I’ve never shouted at you, or stopped you from doing anything you wanted to do.’
Irritation prickled at Hannah. ‘Except when I wanted to go back to work, right? I’m sorry, Ethan, but you don’t get a cookie for not being an arsehole. This has been coming for a while. You must have felt it too.’
Ethan tried to maintain his angry expression, but then his chin started to quiver and he dropped back into the chair. Hannah’s indignation dissolved, and she crossed the room and put her arms around him. His shoulders shook; her tears slipped down to pool in his collarbone. They remained there for a long time until Hannah withdrew.
He looked up at her. ‘I don’t suppose there’s any chance you’ll change your mind.’
Hannah placed a hand on his cheek. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘but I’m done.’
He gave her a melancholy smile. ‘Figured as much. I’m sorry if you felt like you couldn’t be yourself with me.’
‘We’ve tried our best, but I think this is the end of the road for us.’ She stroked his cheek. ‘I’m going to have a shower.’
As she stood under the water, her face turned up to the spray, tears mingling with the water, sadness and grief and fear flowed through her. But there was a fierce rush of elation, too. She had no idea what the future held – no idea how she would make it all work – but, for the first time in years, she felt liberated. She felt free. She felt like herself again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THREE MONTHS LATER
QUINN
Hannah held up a bottle of wine when Quinn opened the door to her. Her eyes were bright, her cheeks flushed.
‘You look happy,’ Quinn said.
Hannah handed her the bottle. ‘And you look like you just spent a whole week sitting on a landscape gardener’s face.’
‘Jesus, Hannah!’ Quinn laughed. ‘Single life suits you.’
Hannah threw a grin over her shoulder as she stepped into the kitchen. ‘It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I’ve got the kids to myself eighty per cent of the time, and just when I feel like I’m about to go insane, Ethan takes them for his weekend and then I miss them like crazy.’
‘Do you miss him?’ Quinn asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.
‘All the time.’ Hannah smiled wistfully. ‘But not enough to go back.’
‘What about work?’
Hannah got two wine glasses out of the overhead cupboard. ‘I’ve applied for my practising certificate. Then I’ll probably have a heap of catching up to do before I can practise again. And then I’ll have to start looking for a job.’
‘How’s Grace going in childcare?’ Quinn knew Hannah had beaten herself up for months over whether to send Grace to childcare so she could rejoin the workforce. No thanks to the years Ethan had guilted her into staying at home. Fucking Ethan; though Quinn thought about him more with rough affection than animosity now he’d receded into the background.
‘She loves it,’ Hannah said. ‘She’s made a couple of friends already, and at least one of them will go to the same kindy as her next year.’
Quinn twisted the cap off the wine bottle and poured them both generous serves. ‘And you and Ethan are still swapping between the house and the flat?’
The children had remained at the house, with Ethan renting a flat nearby. When it was his turn to have the kids every second weekend, Hannah would stay in the flat while he took over the house. This weekend was his turn, so Hannah had been able to come over hours earlier than she would have in the past. Quinn very much enjoyed single Hannah.
‘For now, at least. I guess we’ll have to rethink things once we sort out the financial and custody arrangements.’ Hannah took a sip of her wine. ‘But let’s not talk about that now. I want to hear all about Patrick. Is the sex still good?’
‘Fuck yes. Excuse the pun.’
It was better than good. Quinn had just returned from a week staying at his house. While she had been thinking about what to do with her career, they’d fallen into a loose routine of spending time between Adelaide and Normanville, with breaks in between to give each other space. The arrangement suited Quinn.
‘So, when are you going to move in together?’ Hannah’s eyes twinkled over her wine glass.
‘Ugh, just don’t,’ Quinn said. ‘I like him. A lot. But I’m not ready for that. At the very least, I want to make sure I don’t get sick of banging him first.’
Hannah laughed. ‘Is that a possibility?’
‘It seems unlikely.’
In fact, the sex had only got better. She’d never taken the time to get to know someone else’s body before, nor had anyone done the same for her. Quinn was starting to see the advantage of being in a relationship … especially when she could bugger off home whenever she wanted. She knew she eventually would have to face up to any problems that came between them rather than running away, but one step at a time. There was still plenty of time to grow up. Anyway, Patrick was good for her. She was calmer around him. Less caustic.
‘I was thinking,’ Hannah said. ‘There were seven of you who lost your jobs because of Simon, weren’t there?’
Quinn counted the women on her fingers. ‘Including the one who moved interstate, yeah.’
‘Seven is the magic number for a class action lawsuit,’ Hannah said. ‘You could sue Alistair for unfair dismissal.’
‘I thought about it,’ Quinn said. ‘Especially after Samantha got in contact with me.’
‘Oh?’ Hannah looked quizzical.
‘She did a bit of digging, and it turns out Simon’s father is a silent partner at Big Sky and the majority shareholder. Alistair couldn’t fire him, so he just had to keep covering up everything he was doing.’
‘So why wouldn’t you go after him?’ Hannah said. ‘I could recommend a lawyer if you want?’
Quinn grinned. ‘Well, I had a better idea. I went to Alistair myself, after Simon was charged. He asked me to come back to the agency, believe it or not.’
Hannah’s mouth fell open. ‘You’re not?’
‘Oh, fuck no. But I told him what I knew and that there’d better be a generous payout for me and the other women, or we’d take legal action and he’d lose the whole agency.’
‘Wow. Hitting him where it hurts. Good on you.’
‘That’s not all,’ Quinn said triumphantly. ‘I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to do next … and we’ve decided to use our payouts to start our own agency.’
‘We?’
‘Jess
, Samantha, Andrea, Lalita, Freya. Equal partners.’ Quinn grinned. ‘I’ve already started sussing out some of my old clients. Between us we can run rings around all the dicks at Big Sky, anyway.’
‘That’s amazing.’ Hannah’s eyes shone. ‘You’re amazing.’ Then she raised her eyebrows. ‘You know, if you had your own business, you could always run your arm from Normanville.’
‘Shut up, you.’ Quinn wagged a finger at her. ‘Are we going to watch Buffy or not?’
‘Absolutely.’
They settled on the couch and Quinn put on the first episode. ‘I can’t believe this show started when we were at uni. And now look at us. In our forties and still watching a teen show.’
‘Only because it rules,’ Hannah said.
They watched in silence for a while.
‘Giles is such a fucking dork,’ Quinn said, ‘but I would probably still do him.’
Hannah threw her head back and laughed. ‘He would be very attentive.’
‘And very thorough, I think.’
‘Why does he dress like it’s constantly winter, though?’
‘Because he’s British,’ Quinn said.
‘But it’s California,’ Hannah pointed out.
‘He does nail that scarf, though,’ Quinn said. ‘Tell me you wouldn’t tap that.’
‘I’d probably tap that.’
Quinn stretched her legs out to rest her feet on the coffee table. ‘I can’t believe it’s taken us so long to finally start watching this again. We never got back to it after the accident, did we?’
Hannah crossed her ankles over Quinn’s. ‘We obviously needed another major life disaster to remind us.’
‘A “What Would Buffy Do?” kind of situation, you might say.’ Quinn looked sideways at Hannah. ‘Thanks again for what you did.’
Hannah smiled. ‘You don’t have to keep thanking me. We brought him down together, just like you wanted.’
They both looked back to the television and drank their wine. After a while, Quinn got up to get the bottle. She refilled their glasses and handed Hannah’s to her. Then she sat down beside Hannah and studied her profile for a few seconds. Hannah gave her a quizzical look. ‘What?’
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