‘Oh no, of course you didn’t, it’s pretty bloody obvious that you wanted to carry on behind everybody’s backs.’
‘No, it wasn’t like that.’
‘And you!’ continued Susan, pointing her finger at Jade. ‘We welcomed you into our home and treated you like a daughter. And this is how you repay us? Sleeping with your brother-in-law the whole time?’
‘It hasn’t been the whole time,’ began Jade. ‘This was the first time.’
‘You expect me to believe that?’
‘Yes, because it’s the truth.’
‘You two don’t know what the bloody truth is. Mark, I thought we raised you better than this.’
‘You did … you have,’ Mark tried to explain.
‘Clearly I didn’t … You’re disgusting!’
‘There was never anything physical between Kevin and me,’ Jade said firmly, hoping to defuse the situation. ‘We didn’t have the chemistry and … I don’t know why.’
Susan’s eyebrows knitted together as she glared at her. ‘Yes, there was, he was your Match! I saw how he behaved around you. He loved you.’
‘And I loved him, but I wasn’t in love with him. I know we were Matched but there was no romance there, at least not on my part. I guess that must sometimes happen …’
‘What you mean is that as soon as you found out he was sick, you lost interest.’
‘No, that’s not it, honestly, Susan. If I didn’t care about him I wouldn’t have stayed.’
‘He was besotted with you, Jade. I could see it in his eyes. You were his Match so why didn’t you feel the same way? You were supposed to feel the same way!’
‘I don’t know, please believe me. I tried so hard to fall in love with him … I wanted to love him like he loved me but … but I couldn’t.’
‘I don’t think you tried at—’
‘She’s being honest, Mum,’ Mark interrupted. ‘Jade couldn’t fall in love with him. She wasn’t his Match.’
Both women turned their heads quickly towards Mark.
He swallowed hard before he spoke. ‘And I know that Kev wasn’t her DNA Match because … because she’s Matched with me.’
Chapter 84
ALEX
It was Alex who had found the note waiting for him in Nick’s empty hotel room.
When he had still not heard from Nick the morning after sending him so many texts and voicemails, he’d cancelled his clients’ appointments and took a taxi to the hotel where Nick was staying. He knew his train back from London was scheduled for that morning, so he would wait for him, but hours later, when Nick still hadn’t returned, Alex, full of worry, talked the receptionist into letting him in.
As the electronic key card opened the door, Alex held his breath, scared of what he might find. Inside, the room was empty and tidy, but the bin was full. Crammed along with cigarette packets and minibar bottles were scraps and scraps of paper, curled up into tight balls having been tossed away.
The security man stood by the wide-open window looking puzzled. While the breeze violently blew the curtains back and forth, it did little to take away the smell of stale smoke that clung to the material. ‘He’ll be fined for that,’ the man mumbled in broken English.
Alex glanced around the room and eventually spotted the sealed envelope which sat atop the pillow on the neatly made bed. He felt a sudden chill from the wind when he recognised his name and the handwriting, then held his breath as he dashed to the window and looked to the concrete roof of the building nine floors below.
Chapter 85
ELLIE
Matthew brought the decanter of whisky from the drinks cabinet back with him to the sofas where Ellie sat.
As he poured himself another glass, Ellie tried to disguise that she was becoming increasingly agitated by his accusations and threats. But they were both aware that he knew her well enough to see straight through her titanium veneer. He sat down opposite her and took an over-exaggerated breath.
‘After my dad left my mum – thanks to your test – in the space of a few months he forced her to sell the family house, so all she could afford was a flat miles away from her home and her friends,’ he continued. ‘She was lonely, humiliated and isolated, and over the years she turned to booze to blank it all out. It was just a matter of time before she lost her job because of alcohol dependency. Do you have any idea what it’s like for a son to have to change his mother’s underwear because she shat her knickers when she was paralytic? Or to pick her up from the police station when she was arrested for being drunk and disorderly in a supermarket?’
Ellie wanted to shake her head but refused to give him the gratification.
‘Of course you don’t know,’ he said. ‘Then, just when she reached her lowest ebb, she was Matched with somebody.’
Ellie paused and placed her glass on the table. ‘Well, what’s your complaint then? Everything worked out for her in the end.’
‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Bobby Hughes was his name,’ Matthew said. ‘He seemed like a good guy at first and she fell for him hook, line and sinker, just like Matches are supposed to. But he was a manipulative bastard and she was so desperate not to be alone that she agreed to do anything he asked, including turning a blind eye to the fact he took a fancy to young girls. Very young girls, judging by the 3,000 or so images the police found when they seized his laptop. He tried to claim they were already on the computer when he bought it on eBay and Mum was stupid enough to believe him – she paid his legal bills and took out loans for him right through his court case. But when he was put behind bars, she was left with nothing but final demands she couldn’t pay back. And all of this, everything that went wrong in her life, was because of a test that she and my dad had no knowledge of taking, because you’d decided to play God. You, sitting here in your ivory tower up in the clouds, have never had to watch someone you love transform into something else right before your eyes.’
Ellie shot him a withering glance. ‘You think?’
‘I’m not talking about me; this is different,’ he continued dismissively. ‘I’m talking about watching a strong, intelligent woman disintegrate into a physical and emotional mess. You know she was passed out drunk when she set herself on fire with a cigarette? She burned alive. She was so badly injured that I couldn’t even identify her body.’
He folded his arms defiantly while Ellie took a sip from her gin and tonic. He appeared to be counting on her feeling pity towards his unfortunate mother. But the more accusatory he became, the more she quietly seethed.
He had underestimated her. He hadn’t known her back then when she was an ambitious young woman trying to convince a scoffing scientific community of her DNA discovery; she hadn’t told him of the sacrifices she’d made to be heard and how much of her old self she had been forced to surrender to become the powerhouse she now was. While Tim had certainly softened her, Matthew was a fool if he thought she couldn’t snap back into her previous shape in a heartbeat.
‘There are millions of couples across the world who have taken the test and found they aren’t Matched,’ she began firmly, ‘but they’ve stayed together because they’re in love. I may have taken certain shortcuts back in the early days, but I won’t be held responsible for the decisions those Matched people eventually made. I didn’t force your dad to leave your weak-willed mum, and I didn’t put a bottle in her hand or pour booze down her throat. At some point, people have to take responsibility for their own actions.’
‘No, it wasn’t like that.’
‘And you!’ continued Susan, pointing her finger at Jade. ‘We welcomed you into our home and treated you like a daughter. And this is how you repay us? Sleeping with your brother-in-law the whole time?’
‘It hasn’t been the whole time,’ began Jade. ‘This was the first time.’
‘You expect me to believe that?’
‘Yes, because it’s the truth.’
‘You two don’t know what the bloody truth is. Mark, I thought we raised you better than this.’
‘You did … you have,’ Mark tried to explain.
‘Clearly I didn’t … You’re disgusting!’
‘There was never anything physical between Kevin and me,’ Jade said firmly, hoping to defuse the situation. ‘We didn’t have the chemistry and … I don’t know why.’
Susan’s eyebrows knitted together as she glared at her. ‘Yes, there was, he was your Match! I saw how he behaved around you. He loved you.’
‘And I loved him, but I wasn’t in love with him. I know we were Matched but there was no romance there, at least not on my part. I guess that must sometimes happen …’
‘What you mean is that as soon as you found out he was sick, you lost interest.’
‘No, that’s not it, honestly, Susan. If I didn’t care about him I wouldn’t have stayed.’
‘He was besotted with you, Jade. I could see it in his eyes. You were his Match so why didn’t you feel the same way? You were supposed to feel the same way!’
‘I don’t know, please believe me. I tried so hard to fall in love with him … I wanted to love him like he loved me but … but I couldn’t.’
‘I don’t think you tried at—’
‘She’s being honest, Mum,’ Mark interrupted. ‘Jade couldn’t fall in love with him. She wasn’t his Match.’
Both women turned their heads quickly towards Mark.
He swallowed hard before he spoke. ‘And I know that Kev wasn’t her DNA Match because … because she’s Matched with me.’
Chapter 84
ALEX
It was Alex who had found the note waiting for him in Nick’s empty hotel room.
When he had still not heard from Nick the morning after sending him so many texts and voicemails, he’d cancelled his clients’ appointments and took a taxi to the hotel where Nick was staying. He knew his train back from London was scheduled for that morning, so he would wait for him, but hours later, when Nick still hadn’t returned, Alex, full of worry, talked the receptionist into letting him in.
As the electronic key card opened the door, Alex held his breath, scared of what he might find. Inside, the room was empty and tidy, but the bin was full. Crammed along with cigarette packets and minibar bottles were scraps and scraps of paper, curled up into tight balls having been tossed away.
The security man stood by the wide-open window looking puzzled. While the breeze violently blew the curtains back and forth, it did little to take away the smell of stale smoke that clung to the material. ‘He’ll be fined for that,’ the man mumbled in broken English.
Alex glanced around the room and eventually spotted the sealed envelope which sat atop the pillow on the neatly made bed. He felt a sudden chill from the wind when he recognised his name and the handwriting, then held his breath as he dashed to the window and looked to the concrete roof of the building nine floors below.
Chapter 85
ELLIE
Matthew brought the decanter of whisky from the drinks cabinet back with him to the sofas where Ellie sat.
As he poured himself another glass, Ellie tried to disguise that she was becoming increasingly agitated by his accusations and threats. But they were both aware that he knew her well enough to see straight through her titanium veneer. He sat down opposite her and took an over-exaggerated breath.
‘After my dad left my mum – thanks to your test – in the space of a few months he forced her to sell the family house, so all she could afford was a flat miles away from her home and her friends,’ he continued. ‘She was lonely, humiliated and isolated, and over the years she turned to booze to blank it all out. It was just a matter of time before she lost her job because of alcohol dependency. Do you have any idea what it’s like for a son to have to change his mother’s underwear because she shat her knickers when she was paralytic? Or to pick her up from the police station when she was arrested for being drunk and disorderly in a supermarket?’
Ellie wanted to shake her head but refused to give him the gratification.
‘Of course you don’t know,’ he said. ‘Then, just when she reached her lowest ebb, she was Matched with somebody.’
Ellie paused and placed her glass on the table. ‘Well, what’s your complaint then? Everything worked out for her in the end.’
‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Bobby Hughes was his name,’ Matthew said. ‘He seemed like a good guy at first and she fell for him hook, line and sinker, just like Matches are supposed to. But he was a manipulative bastard and she was so desperate not to be alone that she agreed to do anything he asked, including turning a blind eye to the fact he took a fancy to young girls. Very young girls, judging by the 3,000 or so images the police found when they seized his laptop. He tried to claim they were already on the computer when he bought it on eBay and Mum was stupid enough to believe him – she paid his legal bills and took out loans for him right through his court case. But when he was put behind bars, she was left with nothing but final demands she couldn’t pay back. And all of this, everything that went wrong in her life, was because of a test that she and my dad had no knowledge of taking, because you’d decided to play God. You, sitting here in your ivory tower up in the clouds, have never had to watch someone you love transform into something else right before your eyes.’
Ellie shot him a withering glance. ‘You think?’
‘I’m not talking about me; this is different,’ he continued dismissively. ‘I’m talking about watching a strong, intelligent woman disintegrate into a physical and emotional mess. You know she was passed out drunk when she set herself on fire with a cigarette? She burned alive. She was so badly injured that I couldn’t even identify her body.’
He folded his arms defiantly while Ellie took a sip from her gin and tonic. He appeared to be counting on her feeling pity towards his unfortunate mother. But the more accusatory he became, the more she quietly seethed.
He had underestimated her. He hadn’t known her back then when she was an ambitious young woman trying to convince a scoffing scientific community of her DNA discovery; she hadn’t told him of the sacrifices she’d made to be heard and how much of her old self she had been forced to surrender to become the powerhouse she now was. While Tim had certainly softened her, Matthew was a fool if he thought she couldn’t snap back into her previous shape in a heartbeat.
‘There are millions of couples across the world who have taken the test and found they aren’t Matched,’ she began firmly, ‘but they’ve stayed together because they’re in love. I may have taken certain shortcuts back in the early days, but I won’t be held responsible for the decisions those Matched people eventually made. I didn’t force your dad to leave your weak-willed mum, and I didn’t put a bottle in her hand or pour booze down her throat. At some point, people have to take responsibility for their own actions.’
