The Golden Locket (Unbreakable Trilogy, Book 2) (3 page)

‘We were all in masks!’ remarked Polly, finding her voice again and twisting her fingers in their sparkly fingerless mittens. Her elfin face with the ice-blonde crop and aquamarine eyes looked lost in the swathes of her purple suede and silver fur Afghan coat. ‘You might not have known it was him.’

‘I’d know my own brother! Gustav Levi is unmistakable, no matter how elaborate the disguise might be. He was always the one making the dramatic entrance, often with the sexiest woman on his arm.’ Pierre glanced pointedly at me then lifted his hands as if belatedly greeting Gustav. ‘But it’s a good thing he didn’t come that night, because neither of us likes surprises. We like to be prepared. And I’ve the advantage, Gustav. I’ve had time to mull over everything. Seeing that business card was a shock, but it was a kick up the butt, too. Did I want to pick up the phone and call you, put an end to these years of silence? I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t ready. In fact I nearly flew back to New York without seeing you. But then Polly needed my help to buy her cousin’s photograph, and I realised it was hanging in the Levi Gallery, so there was your name cropping up twice in as many days, as if you were somehow waiting for me, and, well, everything was starting to feel like it was meant to be. Or maybe a conspiracy.’

‘It wasn’t a conspiracy!’ Polly and I spoke in unison, our voices rising high like birds disturbed by gunshot.

We smiled at each other as I concluded the sentence. ‘How could we possibly have plotted to get you together when we didn’t even know you were brothers?’

‘No need to squawk like a pair of hens!’ Pierre put his hand on Polly’s cheek. ‘It was a figure of speech. Thinking of it as a conspiracy theory was the easy option, that’s all. I could blame it on destiny rather than having to decide what to do. But in the end it seemed like utter madness not to take a chance on seeing my brother again. Not to grab such a golden opportunity to heal some wounds. Get some answers.’ Pierre’s hand remained on Polly’s cheek as he turned to stare again at Gustav. This time it looked as if Polly was supporting him, not the other way round. ‘And just think. I might have missed him anyway.’

Gustav couldn’t seem to look at his brother, despite the fact that it was his turn to speak. Instead he kept his eyes on me. ‘So you really had no idea who he was, Serena?’

‘Don’t take this out on her, Gustav. That would not be a pretty sight.’ Pierre’s voice grew deep and dark. Just like his brother’s when roused. ‘God knows I didn’t expect you to roll out the red carpet, but ultimately you know that any hostility existing between us is almost entirely your fault.’

‘No, no.’ Gustav shook his head wearily. ‘Not only mine.’

I took a chance and pulled him closer to me. To my relief he leaned his forehead against mine and closed his eyes. His thick eyelashes fanned out on his cheek.

Across Gustav’s shoulder I saw Pierre frown. Was he surprised at our closeness, that I already knew how to calm Gustav when I needed to?

‘An old head on pretty young shoulders, this one, and no wonder, from what Polly tells me about her appalling upbringing.’

Now it was my turn to flare up. ‘Polly? What have you been saying?’

My cousin was still trying to take in what was going on. Her face went pink as she turned to me.

‘Nothing awful! Just the truth. I love you, Serena. Of course I’m going to talk about you to my new man, tell him how we’re like sisters rather than cousins, how I used to beg and plead to visit you in Devon because I knew how wretched you were, how we used to escape from your horrible parents and that horrible cold house on the cliffs and talk and smoke and sleep on the beach.’

She stopped, as if out of breath.

‘I’m sorry, Polly. I didn’t mean to snap at you.’ I closed my eyes for a moment. ‘For God’s sake let’s not you and me fall out as well!’

Gustav stroked my hair behind my ear and moved away. Pierre looked from him to me and back again.

‘Just because you and I haven’t spoken for five years, don’t go driving a wedge through other people’s lives, Pierre.’ Gustav’s voice was quiet, with a slight shiver to it. ‘Not when we have a chance to talk this through.’

‘You’ve obviously got a short memory, brother.’ Pierre smiled, but now there was something mocking in his tone. ‘You forget that I learned that kind of mischief-making from the mistress herself.’

Gustav stiffened beside me. I could feel the sharp hiss of his breath as if Pierre had slapped him. ‘Don’t you dare bring that woman into this discussion!’

‘The road always winds back to Margot in the end, though, doesn’t it?’ Pierre lifted his chin, and his shoulders and fists rose with it. ‘And by the way, you lost all rights to lecture me a long time ago.’

Gustav’s jaw tightened. There was a tangible shift in the air, as if someone had opened a window to let an icy wind blow through the room. I could practically hear Gustav’s muscles straining to control the fresh anger at the mention of Margot’s name, straining to stop this pivotal moment from going horribly wrong.

‘You came face to face with me tonight for a reason, Pierre. You could have just given the money to Polly and let her collect the picture on her own, but I’m glad you came. It’s time we broke this stupid silence. So what is it you want from me? Revenge? Blood? I can do those.’ Gustav clenched his fists, opened them again. Then patted his pockets with a harsh batting motion. ‘Or is it money?’

‘You’re putting words into my mouth. What’s wrong with cold hard curiosity? Seizing the moment?’ Pierre was icily calm as if determined not to match Gustav’s aggressive movements, but still he took a step closer. They were mirror images of each other. The uncanny likeness had been totally concealed by Pierre’s Halloween mask when I first met him, otherwise it would have hit me like a truck. ‘I could have ripped that business card into pieces. I could have left it five, ten years before giving you another thought. Maybe a lifetime.’

Any minute now their heads would butt, their antlers lock in battle. I fell away, powerless and frightened. The euphoria of an hour ago shrivelled like a bouquet of dead roses.

I watched Polly implode in the same way. She had even less idea of what this was about than I did. But we both wanted to avoid any conflict. We’d seen more than enough of that in the house on the cliffs.

‘There is no way I would have wanted this estrangement to last a lifetime.’ Gustav spoke through gritted teeth, as if the effort was hurting him. ‘You said you wanted answers. As it happens, so do I. But go on. I’m listening.’

‘What I did that night, screwing her then running off with your wife, I was driven to it. Because I was the one who was hurt and let down. And badly betrayed.’ Pierre rubbed his chin with the card. His eyes blazed at Gustav, dark and direct. ‘So I wanted to know how it would feel to be in the same room as you after all this time. After the disgusting scene I witnessed between you and Margot the last time I saw you. Maybe I wanted an explanation. Or, better still, an apology?’

Gustav spread his hands in the space between them, palms upwards.

‘An explanation. I can give you that. I can run through every ghastly detail of my hideous marriage up until the day Margot turned you against me. I can tell you that it was over, and she wouldn’t accept it, which is why everything turned so ugly. But why should I apologise when I did nothing wrong? When what hurt me the most was losing the little boy I’d taken care of all his life?’

Gustav’s voice was deadly quiet. I could see the very faint effect it was having on Pierre, despite his bravado. Blood flowing thicker than water. A slight softening around the eyebrows at the mention of his childhood.

‘You were my rock.’ Pierre’s voice wavered. He cleared his throat. ‘But don’t you see? Rocks should never crack, and, when they do, there’s no putting them back together.’

Polly and I pressed our hands over our mouths. My heart was sore in my chest.

Gustav closed his eyes as if stabbed by a sharp pain.

‘I still am that person. Or could be, if you would let me. But I have nothing to apologise for. What Margot has no doubt told you about me, about our married life, that I was somehow the dominating bully forcing her into unspeakable practices and she was the cringing, unwilling submissive – it’s all a tissue of lies.’

‘Well, you certainly haven’t forgotten what your wife is like. Because, yeah, she told me all that, and a whole lot more.’ Pierre seemed to grow in stature the more Gustav struggled. There was a really black fire in his eyes now. ‘But she didn’t need to tell me what was going on that night. I can only work with what I’ve got. Which is the eyes in my head.’

Gustav stepped out from behind the desk, fists clenched, face thrust forward. I could see the tension in the sinews of his neck. Even his hair looked stiff with rage.

‘I’m not the one who laughed in my face and told me I was scum! I’m not the one who ran off with his sister-in-law!’

‘Whoa! Cutting to the chase!’ yelled Pierre, stepping closer. ‘I’m not the one who turned that
little boy
’s home into a sick torture chamber full of depraved losers, then kicked him out into the street when he caught you indulging your perverted fantasies. I’m not the one who changed the locks, physically and metaphorically.’

‘None of it was intended to involve you. It was an accident! A mistake!’ Gustav put his hand up to try to stop the flow of insults and injury. ‘You asked for an explanation. So let me–’

‘There have been too many accidents and mistakes, Gustav. So let
me
tell our audience what the butler saw.’ Pierre interrupted, and gave a kind of maître d’s bow, swinging stiffly from his waist. ‘Gustav Levi giving his gorgeous wife Margot a sadistic hiding. The marvellous big brother who was so into his bondage and whipping that he couldn’t do without it, even though I’d clearly left a message that I was coming home.’

‘Don’t make the mistake of defending that bitch.’ Gustav’s hands looked ready to wrap round his brother’s neck. Their mouths opened simultaneously, teeth bared like wolves fighting over prey. ‘I don’t deny what I was doing, but everything was set up by her!’

‘I saw everything solid and real being ripped away from me. That image still haunts me, Gustav, when I can bear to dwell on it. You brought me up to be a gentleman. The sun shone out of your arse. But that was all obliterated, up-ended, if you’ll forgive the pun, in one fell swoop. There you were, bending over her, your arm raised in the air–’ Pierre swallowed hard. ‘If “that bitch” as you call her hadn’t rushed upstairs and found me when she did, I can’t answer for what I might have done to you. She distracted me, oh, in the nicest possible way! An image that haunts you, too, I bet? And thank God for her, because after that Margot was all I wanted. All I needed. Not the house. Not you. Her.’

Gustav staggered away from the skirmish, his hand over his mouth as Pierre flung the words out like stones. The fire drained away from his face. ‘Hold on a minute. What message?’

‘The message I left with Margot. I rang that morning and told her I’d be home early from uni. She swore she’d tell you to expect me, but no, you didn’t give a toss. You were too busy forcing her onto her knees for her daily dose of dominance.’

Polly fell against the wall, looking exasperated. ‘You didn’t tackle this at the time? Don’t you people ever communicate?’

‘I never forced her to do anything, but there was no time to explain any of that to you!’ Gustav shouted. ‘Not once you’d vanished. Pierre, you have to listen, Margot never gave me any bloody message! She planned all this. Every single detail.’

‘Always blaming Margot. Never yourself. You said yourself, you can’t deny it. You probably even filmed it!’ Pierre smirked and held an imaginary phone up to his ear. ‘Or perhaps we should summon Margot. One call is all it would take–’

‘Enough!’ Crystal’s voice was a thunderclap. Somehow she had materialised between them. Polly and I were on the edge of the dance now, and we drew close, our arms snaking round each other. Polly’s eyes were bleached of colour as she glanced first at me, then at the curious Mary Poppins figure of Crystal. And then at the exit.

I knew what she was thinking. Should we just get the hell out of here? Let them slug it out?

Ramrod-straight, Crystal marched round the two men like a sergeant major as the two Levis squared up to each other again. She raised her hand like a headmistress calling for silence.

‘Shame on you both! You’re acting like a pair of common cage fighters. You are
brothers
!’

‘So?’ growled Pierre, bouncing slightly on his feet. ‘Ever heard of Cain and Abel?’

Polly’s face said it all. She’d never seen this aggression in her suave boyfriend before.

And what it showed me was that mirror image again, distorted. Pierre was a version of Gustav that was younger, stronger, angrier and resolved to see the bad in people. The version I never thought I would meet.

Crystal stood her ground. ‘You first, Pierre. I’m ashamed of you, speaking this way. What has Margot done to that lovely polite boy?’

Pierre jabbed his finger rudely at her. ‘Ah, dear faithful Crystal. You always did worship the ground Gustav walked on.’

‘And so did you, Pierre Levi. Stamp and curse all you like, but you idolised him. Deep down, you still do.’ Crystal seemed to be rising off the floor with the towering force of her presence. ‘I’m not scared of you. Either of you. It’s time this was out in the open. I was there that night, remember? I know exactly what happened. I didn’t know about any phone call, but I still know who is right, and who is wrong. And I’m telling you, the person we should all be afraid of is Margot Levi.’

Crystal was magnificent. She was taller than ever, floating round the room, her arm up like Boadicea, a prophetess railing against the gods as we all waited for what she would say next.

‘She’s like a bad smell lingering under the floorboards. Still winning. Still wreaking havoc in this very room! She’s the reason you boys are enemies, and if it all hinges on one missed phone call it can surely be resolved. You’ve never had a chance to explain what you were really trying to do that night, Gustav. Now’s your chance. And then perhaps Pierre can man up and confess while he’s here that not only should he not have been so ready to run off with his sister-in-law, it was he, not one of Margot’s cronies as you suspected, who broke into your safe.’