Authors: Joanna Rees
Lance Starling followed close behind, shouting over the media, as the journalists clamoured to picture Brett. Thea watched as the officers led Brett into the back of an armoured police van. He
didn’t look in her direction as the doors slammed shut. Lance Starling got into a Maddox car behind the police van. Thea watched as the van pulled away, the siren blaring, cameras
snapping.
More police vans got into position now. Thea saw the giant glass revolving door of Maddox Tower swinging round as several officers came out carrying computers. In the foyer Thea could see a
crowd of Maddox employees, their hands to their mouths in shock and disgust.
Then Storm was coming out of the building too. She looked like a painted clown, she was wearing so much make-up.
‘My son is innocent,’ she declared, dramatically stopping in a pose as if she were at the end of a catwalk. She was wearing a low-cut silk blouse and high heels with a tight pencil
skirt. She looked ridiculous. ‘Whoever has instigated this slander has made a huge mistake. And they will pay.’ She stood defiantly in front of the cameras. ‘He’s innocent,
totally innocent,’ Thea heard her reiterate as the cameras closed in on her.
‘Miss Maddox, Miss Maddox,’ Thea heard a reporter say to her, as she pushed through the crowd towards Storm. ‘What do you make of these allegations against your
brother?’
‘I’m sure they’re all true,’ Thea said.
She could sense the frenzied atmosphere amongst the journalists. She knew what she was saying was truly sensational – that this was news-breaking gold – and yet she felt strangely
calm.
But Storm was far from calm.
‘You!
You!
’ Storm said, turning to Thea. ‘Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare say anything. He’s family.’
‘He’s not my family,’ Thea said. ‘And neither are you. Brett Maddox has been arrested today on utterly justifiable charges. I hope this is the start of a thorough
investigation into the despicable practices in his personal life. I also urge anyone who has any evidence, or has been affected by Brett Maddox in any way, to come forward and help the
police.’
‘She’s a liar!’ Storm screamed, pointing at Thea. ‘She’d do anything to get where my son has got. This is all her fault.’
Thea – along with the rest of the world – watched in horror as Storm launched herself at Thea, trying to scratch and hit her. She was immediately restrained by two officers, but that
drove Storm even wilder. She kicked and bucked, as the reporters stared at the spectacle. Then she turned and punched an officer in the face.
In the pandemonium that followed, more officers bustled into the throng to grab Storm, her blouse unhitching from her skirt as she screamed at Thea. Michael was by Thea’s side.
‘Are you OK?’ he asked, holding her elbow. ‘Did she get you?’
‘No, she didn’t,’ Thea replied as Storm was dragged away by the police. Thea watched as the policeman Storm had hit pushed her head down to make her sit in the back of the
patrol car.
‘Thank God for that,’ Michael said. ‘You’re going to have to do some serious damage-limitation after that little spectacle.’
‘Ms Maddox,’ one reporter shouted. ‘What are you going to do now?’
Thea stared up at the skyscraper and the huge M at the top. Then she smiled at Michael and squeezed his hand, knowing that he would support her.
‘I’m going to try and save my company,’ she said, walking towards the revolving door.
September 2011
Romy moved the room-service tray out of the way, then kicked off her shoes and joined Thea on the cover of the double bed in Thea’s bedroom in the Presidential Suite of
the Ritz Hotel in London. She smiled at her, glad that they were alone; that they had this last night to discuss everything that had happened.
Sitting barefoot on the bed in comfortable tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt now, Thea Maddox looked as far away from her corporate image as it was possible to get. But Romy had come to learn
never to underestimate her little sister. She was a formidable businesswoman – one who had completely turned around Maddox Inc. in the last year. And one of her first decisions as newly
instated Chairwoman of Maddox Inc. had been to sell Scolari back to Roberto and put him back in control of his company – a favour Romy knew she could never repay, and one that had delighted
Roberto.
‘What time will Lars be here tomorrow?’ Thea asked.
‘His train’s not in until eleven. So we’ll get a lie-in.’
‘That’s if we ever get any sleep.’
‘True,’ Romy said, with a sigh.
‘Although you should get some beauty sleep before you see him,’ Thea teased, knowing how much Romy was looking forward to her first proper holiday with Lars.
‘You’re the one who needs sleep,’ Romy reminded her. ‘When are you going to finish work?’
‘Soon,’ Thea said. ‘But I can’t sit around waiting. Anyway, I’ve already gone down to four days a week, and when the baby’s born I’ll take a full nine
months off. Hey, feel this,’ Thea said, rolling onto her back, grabbing Romy’s hand and putting it underneath her own on her swollen stomach. ‘It’s kicking.’
‘I felt it,’ Romy gasped. And – there – she felt it again: the tiny jab of Thea and Michael’s baby.
‘It never does that for Michael, although he puts his hand on it for hours,’ Thea said, smiling gently as she stroked her bump. ‘It must like its Aunty Romy already.’
‘You promised Michael you’d call,’ Romy reminded her.
‘I know. And I will, when it’s a more sociable hour for him over there. Anyway I still feel too shell-shocked after today, don’t you?’
Romy nodded. ‘Come on,’ she said, forcing a brave smile. She’d escaped the past once. She would not let it drag her down again. ‘Shall we look at the photos again?
Let’s focus on the good and not the bad.’
Thea nodded, pulling the album towards them. They sat up on the bed, side by side against the headboard, turning over the crinkled pages.
In all the press furore that had surrounded the high-profile arrests of Brett Maddox and Heinz-Gerd Solya, even more people had come forward, on both sides of the Atlantic, to
accuse the two men of other criminal actions.
A total of three American women so far had accused Brett Maddox of rape and sexual assault, amongst them a Senate researcher named Ally Monroe, the daughter of the woman Thea had once let into
the party in Maddox Tower. Bethany had made a fortune from a book auction to sell the salacious inside story of her abusive marriage to Brett. Thea had heard she’d even sold the film
rights.
In Europe, more and more people had come forward in connection with Solya and his past crimes, but the one that stood out was Petra Bletford from England, who had claimed to be the girls’
aunt.
After a blood test had confirmed this to be true, Thea had met Romy here in London this morning and earlier they’d visited Petra in her home in Kingston-upon-Thames. They’d sat in
her large conservatory, overlooking a well-kept garden, as Petra had told them the story they’d both been longing to hear.
Petra herself had come over to England when the Berlin Wall had fallen and had married an Englishman, Geoffrey, with whom she’d had two sons – now grown-up. Her children’s
photographs were on the wall. She had been a teacher for most of her working life and she didn’t sound German at all, but as she started speaking, Thea got the impression that memories were
flooding back.
‘This was your mother,’ Petra had said, opening the pages of an old photo album, the yellowing tissue paper crackling.
Thea leant in close to Romy, who had the album on her lap, looking at the black-and-white image of the woman. She was wearing a headband in her long hair, which swished out as she danced and
laughed in the sunshine. That was their mother? That pretty woman with blonde hair, just like hers, but a smile just like Romy’s?
‘Ana was always the one taking photos. It’s rare to have one of her,’ Petra said.
‘She was pretty,’ Romy said, sadly.
‘Yes, a real beauty.’ Petra turned to Romy and Thea. She put her hand on her chest. ‘If only she could have seen this day. If only she could have seen you two. I can hardly
believe it myself.’
Romy smiled softly at Thea and put down the photo album on the table. ‘Can you tell us, now we’re here, what happened? I know from your emails that it’s hard . . . that you
wanted to tell us in person what happened . . . ’
Petra sighed, clearly having prepared herself for this conversation. She sat, her hands crossed in her lap, as she told Romy and Thea about her childhood in East Germany and her little sister,
Anaka.
Thea listened, feeling ashamed. She’d had so much, when her real mother had had so little.
‘What was she like?’ Romy asked.
‘Romantic. Headstrong,’ Petra said. ‘It was no surprise when she fell for Niklas. He worked at the factory and was young and handsome. When she saw something she wanted, she
went after it and didn’t stop. And she was determined to marry him, right from the start.’
Thea glanced at Romy. From what she’d learnt already of her sister, it sounded as if she took after their mother. But Romy had already turned to stare at her, and Thea knew she’d
just thought the same thing.
‘So what happened to Niklas?’ Thea asked. ‘Was he our father?’
Petra shook her head. ‘Niklas worked at the steel factory, but one day he didn’t come home. Ana was frantic. She went to the factory and confronted the guy Niklas had worked for
– Hans Volkmar.’
Volkmar
. The man who’d taken the babies to the wood.
Thea would never forget his name.
‘He laughed at her, but she was determined not to give up. She started making a fuss to the boss, which is when Volkmar and another man – a scarier man – visited her at home.
Our home.’
‘A scarier man?’ Romy asked.
‘Solya,’ Petra said.
Romy stared wide-eyed at Thea, who gripped her hand, horrified that this monster she’d heard so much about had touched their mother’s life.
‘Solya took one look at Ana and wanted her for himself. He told her that Niklas was dead. When she fought him, he . . . well, he hit back. And . . .’
Petra looked away from them then. She pulled out a handkerchief from the sleeve of her blue cardigan and wiped the corner of her eye. She took a breath to steady herself.
‘A month later Ana discovered she was pregnant. With you.’ Petra’s eyes locked with Romy’s.
‘You can’t mean . . .’ Thea gasped.
‘That Solya’s
my father
?’ Romy said.
Thea felt her heart hammering. She could see the shock on Romy’s face. But Petra didn’t stop talking. There was clearly more to come.
‘Even so, she loved you when you were born,’ she told Romy, staring unwaveringly into her eyes. ‘God, she loved you. But word got out that she’d had a baby, and Solya
came to see her.’ Petra took a deep breath. ‘This time he was calm. He offered Ana money, and then new furniture arrived and clothes for you. He said he’d look after her. He told
her she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. But she told him that her heart would always be Niklas’s and that she wanted nothing from him. He was furious. Then, the same thing
– he raped her again . . . And he kept coming back, and she would try to fight it off, but always it ended the same . . .’
Romy’s hand was over her mouth, her eyes bulging with tears. Thea clasped her other hand tightly.
Petra looked over at Thea sadly now. ‘And then eight months later you were born.’
Thea felt bile rising in her throat. That animal – that
monster
– he’d done the same thing to their mother that Brett had done to her.
‘When she had you,’ Petra continued, ‘so soon after her first baby, she was ill. I thought we’d lose her, she was so weak. She wouldn’t let you out of her arms,
though – either of you. And for a while we thought it was all over.’
‘But what about Solya?’ Romy asked.
‘Ana planned to run away from him, when she was strong enough. But then he came back. He gave Ana one last chance. To submit to him, to love him properly. He told her that he would forgive
her and they could start all over again together.’
‘But she said no?’ Thea guessed.
Petra nodded. ‘Of course she did. She could never have submitted to that monster.’
‘What happened?’ Thea asked, her voice catching.
‘He did not ask her again. He beat her worse than he’d ever done before. He washed his hands of her and then he took his revenge.’ Petra blanched. ‘I will never forget
the sound she made when Volkmar took you both from her. I tried to fight him. Our father did too. But Volkmar was too strong. He said he would kill us if we went to the police.’ Petra shook
her head, wiping tears from her eyes. ‘Our neighbour had a gun, which he kept in his woodshed. That’s where we found Ana the next morning. She’d shot herself in the
head.’
Now, sitting here next to Romy on the hotel bed, Thea put her finger on the picture of their mother and her bright, lovely smile.
‘I’m so glad we were together today. I don’t think I’d have been able to cope if I’d been on my own,’ Romy said.
‘I can’t imagine how it must have been for her,’ Thea said. ‘Even living through everything Brett did – I can’t imagine being that scared.’
The thought of having her baby taken away from her terrified Thea, and her baby hadn’t even been born yet. The thought of her mother loving Niklas, and then losing him – Thea
couldn’t bear that, either. Because she couldn’t imagine losing Michael, and what that might do to her.
Now, once again, Thea imagined Solya in the woods forty years ago, playing God with two precious babies, the whole image so much viler now that Thea knew he’d known all along that they
were his own children. She thought of him deciding which one to give to Walchez, and the twist of fate that had sent Thea to America.
Thea couldn’t begin to imagine what it would be like to confront Solya. Their father was in jail now, awaiting trial in Berlin. Romy and Thea would have to go there to face him eventually.
But that was something to worry about another day.
The most important thing was that she and Romy were together. And that, more than everything else, made Thea feel that evil had not triumphed. Not Solya. Not Brett.