Save Her by Abigail Osborne (novel books to read .txt) 📗

at the sight. She hated to see Flora this desolate. It made her even more determined to get her away from this toxic family.

Sam took Flora’s hand and squeezed it. He looked at Flora with such affection and love that it brought a lump to Sophie’s throat. If only his actions were as authentic as how he looked at Flora. Then maybe things would be different.

As an experiment, she grabbed Greg’s hand in hers. He looked at her irritably, momentarily drawn from his conversation with his father. Then he shook her off and resumed his conversation.

‘Is everything all right, Flora?’

Flora’s head shot up. There was warmth in Cecelia’s voice, and it appeared that she was genuinely concerned. Flora’s face was the picture of shock and she looked lost for words.

Before Sophie could speak, Sam answered his mother. ‘Flora’s been having a difficult time, Mother. Someone has been harassing her.’

‘Really? Whatever has been happening?’

‘We don’t know, but we think some of it is to do with this lady called Linda. She came to a taster session trying to persuade Flora to let her son attend classes for free as she couldn’t afford to pay. She has been following Flora ever since. But there have been a couple of weird incidents that we can’t explain – that couldn’t possibly be Linda. It’s like someone is trying to scare her. Isn’t it, Sophie?’ Sam looked at Sophie waiting for her to join in the conversation.

‘Yes, it appears that way. I was over at Flora’s house and someone had put worms in her bed and all the cupboards and drawers. It was horrifying.’

Cecelia looked momentarily stunned and then began to chuckle. ‘Worms in your house. My dear, have you lost your mind? Why on earth would someone put worms in your house?’

‘It’s true. I saw them, I had to clear up the horrible things. It was vile. Why would we make that up?’

Cecelia appeared thoughtful. ‘But how would… this Linda… have got in the house? How strange.’ Cecelia seemed to be trying very hard to hide a smile. Apparently, she was amused at the thought of someone tormenting Flora.

Sophie took her chance. ‘Exactly. It would have to be someone with a key. We just have to work out who we know that would want to see Flora scared and upset, that also has a key to the house.’

Sophie looked pointedly at Cecelia. Everyone’s eyes were on Sophie. Even Greg and Alistair had stopped their conversation and were watching intently. ‘Do you know anyone that would want to scare Flora and make her think she was going crazy?’

Flora’s mouth had dropped open. The eyes of everyone at the table were burning into her skin. But Sophie only had eyes for Cecelia.

Cecelia’s face was blank. She didn’t falter for one second, only stared back at Sophie with steely, unblinking eyes. ‘No, I can’t think of anyone.’ She turned to Flora. ‘Poor Flora. This must be awful for you.’

Sophie had to admit it, Cecelia was a good actor: she almost sounded sincere.

‘You just need to ignore this Linda woman. Pathetic, honestly. Scum of the earth some people, expecting other people to pay their way. Bring back the workhouses, I say. Of course, this Linda has probably realised how emotional you are and decided to manipulate that. A proper businesswoman would not be intimidated by such tactics.’ Cecelia must have seen Sam’s face as she added; ‘Not that I’m not sympathetic. It must be difficult to be forced to deal with someone like her.’

‘She’s just trying to help her son. It’s not her fault she can’t afford the classes. Being poor doesn’t make her a bad person,’ said Flora angrily, her face flushed red.

‘Well, whose fault is it? We make our own fortunes in life, dear. Anyway, why are you defending her? I thought she was making your life hell.’

‘It’s not just her, though, is it. Someone else has access to my house.’ Flora’s voice was high-pitched and trembling. ‘Someone is trying to drive me crazy and scare me. I just don’t know why or who.’ Flora was trying her best not to cry. Everyone around the table seemed unsure where to look and the silence was uncomfortable. Sophie wondered if Flora was going to carry on and tell them about the swimming pool and the necklace; but she seemed to have shocked herself with her outburst.

‘I can’t deny the whole thing is very strange,’ said Cecelia. ‘But I don’t know why you are scared. Putting worms in someone’s house is child’s play. If someone really wanted to scare you, they’d do much worse than that.’

‘It sounds scary to me… The thought that someone had been in my house and put these creatures in it,’ added Alistair.

Cecelia looked flustered. ‘Yes, I suppose I’d feel very vulnerable if it had happened to me. No wonder poor Flora is so pale.’

Sophie looked at Alistair with disdain. His fake sympathy filled her with rage. It made her even angrier to see Flora give him a small smile of gratitude. She kept quiet, not trusting herself to speak.

‘Is there anything we can do, Sam? I can have some of our security team dispatched to your house,’ continued Alistair.

Sam looked gratefully at his father. ‘That might be a good idea. Although, I’m not planning on going away for a while so hopefully everything will settle down now.’

Typical. If only they’d known from the beginning how to stop Flora from being tormented was to have Sam around. He seemed to forget the fact that someone tried to drown Flora in the swimming pool and had broken into her centre to plant a necklace and he wasn’t away when those things happened. No, the only way to save Flora was to leave this place. Leave and never come back. Sophie fidgeted in her chair, unable to get comfortable, swallowing back a wince. The dining room chairs were impressive, with gold figures carved into each of the backs, perfect for preventing people from slouching or being