All Chapters of Contracted to the wrong twin : Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Chapter 51Nine O’ClockEthan walked into the board meeting at exactly nine.The room was full. Fourteen people around a long table. Some he had worked alongside for years. Some his father had placed there specifically because they would do what they were told without asking too many questions. He knew which was which. He had always known.He sat down at the head of the table.Nobody spoke for a moment.Then Gerald Hurst, the oldest board member and the one his father had trusted most, leaned forward.“Ethan,” he said. “Before we begin I think we all agree that a statement from you about recent events would be appropriate.”“That is exactly what I am here to give,” Ethan said.He did not open a folder. He did not look at notes. He just looked around the table at each of them and started talking.He told them everything.His father’s arrangement with Whitmore and Cassel. The shell companies. The money. The property deal that Gerald Thompson had walked away from six years ago. What had

Chapter 53The AfternoonDan and Juliana came back from their walk just before three.They came through the front door with cold cheeks and the quiet settled look of two people who had said difficult things outside and were still standing after them. Dan went straight to the kettle. Juliana sat down at the table and looked at Judith.“He told me everything,” Juliana said. “About his part in all of it. The European company. The money. What he did and what he stopped doing and why.” She paused. “I had been waiting for him to say it properly for a long time.”“And now that he has,” Judith said.Juliana looked at her hands on the table. “Now I believe we have something real to work with,” she said. “It will take time. But it is real.”Judith nodded. “That is the most important part.”Dan put tea in front of both of them and sat down beside Juliana.Ethan closed the laptop and pushed it to one side.Grace came downstairs. “The little one is awake,” she said. “She is asking for biscuits.”“

Chapter 55The Next MorningJudith woke up to rain.She lay there listening to it hitting the window. Soft and steady. The kind of rain that had been falling all night without making a fuss about it.She picked up her phone.Seven fourteen.Two messages from Sarah. One from Robert’s lawyer. One from her mother sent at midnight that just said thinking of you.She put the phone down and stared at the ceiling for a moment.Then she got up.Grace was in the kitchen.Of course she was.“Rain,” Judith said sitting down.“Yes,” Grace said. “No swing today.”Judith almost smiled. “Lily is not going to like that.”“No,” Grace agreed. “She is not.”Grace put tea in front of her and went back to the cooker. The kitchen smelled like toast and something warm that Judith could not name but that made the rainy morning feel smaller and more manageable.Ethan came down ten minutes later.He looked like he had slept properly for the first time in days. His hair was not fully sorted and he was not in hi

Chapter 57:The Worm in the GardenJudith was washing Lily’s hands at the kitchen sink when her phone rang again.She dried Lily’s hands quickly and picked it up. It was Robert’s lawyer. She answered and listened and said very little because he did most of the talking. He told her that Cassel had been formally charged that afternoon. Not just questioned. Charged. The conspiracy charge relating to Gerald Thompson was confirmed and on record and was not going away.She said thank you and ended the call and stood there at the sink for a moment with the phone in her hand.Lily was back at the table telling Ethan something about the worm in the garden and whether worms had families and whether the worm’s family knew where it was. Ethan was listening to every word of this and answering seriously like it was the most important conversation he had had all day.Judith watched them for a moment.Then she went and sat down.Ethan looked at her face. “What happened.”“Cassel has been formally char

Chapter 59:The Road BackLondon appeared slowly.First the roads got wider and busier. Then the fields disappeared and buildings started filling the gaps between them. Then the city was just there around them the way it always was. Loud and full and completely indifferent to everything that had happened in the last few days.Lily watched it all come back through the window.She had been quiet for most of the journey. Not sad quiet. Just thinking quiet. She did that sometimes. Went somewhere inside herself for a while without telling anyone where she was going. Judith had learned a long time ago not to pull her out of it. She always came back on her own.She came back now.“Are we nearly there,” she said.“Nearly,” Judith said.“Where are we going,” Lily said.Judith looked at Ethan in the front seat. He turned slightly.“We sorted something last night,” he said to Judith. “Elena found a place. A flat. Quiet street. Near your mother’s hospital.” He paused. “I had her arrange it this mo