Twisted Read Free Page A

she picked up her nightdress that had been left folded on her king-size four-poster. Getting into bed with just a small bedside light switched on, she drew the duvet around herself and reached for the TV remote. The big plasma screen lit up as she nestled down, flicking from channel to channel, but nothing appealed. She switched to a re-run of Law & Order but had already seen it, so she turned off the TV and lay back on her huge pile of frilled white pillows. It was the first time she felt lonely. It was not that she wanted Marcus to be beside her, because she truthfully didn’t, it was more an overpowering feeling of being totally alone. She closed her eyes. There were all the staff she knew so well at all of her successful business ventures, and yet none of them had ever become in any way a friend; none had ever even been invited back to the house.
    She left the bedside light on, because she didn’t feel sleepy – in fact, the opposite. Her mind was still buzzing, replaying the entire course of the dinner party: the many compliments she had received on her new slim self, her dress, her hair, even the many implications that she must have found someone to replace Marcus, although the truth was she had not even contemplated a new relationship. She had not even been looking to find a replacement, toy boy or not.
    Knowing sleep was refusing to come, she reached up to her bedside cabinet for one of the various bottles of sleeping pills. She opened the top and inched out half of a tablet. She usually used them only when business deals had made her restless. She sipped from the bottle of water on her bedside table and swallowed the Ambien half, then replaced the small plastic container. She had got them years ago, when they had been in the US on a Disney World holiday, and she had been unable to sleep due to the time zone difference. Marcus had in actual fact got them for her. He was in her mind yet again, and now she thought about the meeting scheduled for ten on the Monday morning. He had suggested she find a divorce lawyer as he had felt it was time they confirmed that there was no possibility of them being reunited. She had agreed and engaged Charles Henshaw, a divorce solicitor, to represent her.
    Lena had had only one brief phone call and meeting with Mr Henshaw, who was very pleasant and had a quiet unassuming demeanour. He had asked if the divorce was on a friendly footing, and she had said confidently that it was, and doubted there would be any animosity. Henshaw said that a ‘Collaborative Divorce’ meeting with Marcus and his solicitor would be the best way forward so they could reach an amicable agreement without going to court. There was no issue of custody as they had made arrangements for Amy to spend time with each of them. Lena did, however, point out that she paid for her daughter’s education and had been the main breadwinner throughout their entire marriage. Mr Henshaw had enquired about the house and Lena had made it clear that she had maintained the property, and paid the mortgage throughout their marriage, and could see no problems with continuing to live there. Furthermore, at no time had Marcus even brought up altering the living arrangements as it was obviously their daughter’s and her own main home. It was also her main place of work. Henshaw cautioned that it was to be a meeting to discuss how the divorce would proceed, and until they were privy to what Marcus’s wishes were, he advised that she should allow him to broach the subject. To date, he had not been given any more details. The only information he had been able to ascertain was that, like herself, Marcus had acquired a divorce lawyer, a Mr Jacob Lyons, who would also attend the meeting.
    The only time she had felt a slight unease was when Henshaw remarked that Lyons was rather a formidable gentleman with quite a reputation, and that he had previously represented rather well-known clients. It had surprised her because that suggested Lyons