“You do this thing for me, I pay off Eddie Rivers. All of it.” Mikey stared at her. “For real?” “For real.”

BEST friends Hayley and Fiona were closer than sisters.

But after surviving a terrible train crash, Fiona fell for famous TV reporter Luke, the man of Hayley’s dreams. Fiona was unaware of her pal’s feelings – but that hasn’t stopped Hayley swearing bitter revenge…

CHAPTER 20

By late spring Fiona Chambers and Luke Thompson had become household names. Their heroic rescue of nine souls from a train, dangling precariously over the Delaware River, was the stuff from which legends are made.

The subsequent search for the couple, after their 40-foot plunge from the cliff into the icy water, was followed breathlessly on seven continents. When they were rescued, miraculously intact, and, more important to the story, in love with each other, the frenzy of the paparazzi became all-consuming.

And the grinding resentment that grew in Hayley’s heart turned into a cancerous lesion, eating away at her humanity.

When the business she had founded with Fiona returned to normal, everything felt like a slight to her.

The role of expeditor she had carved out for herself now felt somehow demeaning. Fiona’s natural ability to charm clients and draw in business seemed false and exploitative.

And most of all, Luke, her Luke, whom she had loved for so long, appeared to be a puppet manipulated by Hayley’s false friend.

He was unable to see Fiona as Hayley saw her now. She was not worthy of Luke, and Hayley knew it was up to her to show him that. And she knew just how and when to do it. The Edward R Murrow Awards dinner, the event that had created this whole situation.

Mikey stuck his head in the door, glancing nervously around, wondering if Hayley had stashed a mallet somewhere to hit him over the head. She had not spoken a civil word to him since that little incident about the borrowed money on the night of the train crash.

“You’re not going to yell at me again, are you?” he whined.

“That depends. I want you to do something for me.”

Mikey was only too eager to clean up things with his meal ticket.

“Sure, name it.”

“It involves Eddie Rivers,” Hayley said casually. “Oh, jeez, Hayley. I gotta steer clear of him for a while.”

“How much do you owe him?”

“About eleven large. More like twenty with the interest.”

“Twenty thousand dollars! How could you let that bloodsucker...” She forced herself to calm down. “You do this thing for me, I pay off Eddie Rivers. All of it.” Mikey stared at her. “For real?” “For real.” “Oh Hayley. Sweetie. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“I’m not doing it to keep you from getting tossed in the East River. It’s a business arrangement. You do a job for me, I pay your debt.”

Something about the ice he saw in his sister’s eyes was frightening him. “What do I have to do?” he asked cautiously.

“It shouldn’t be a problem.” Hayley smiled. “It’s right up your alley. I want you to steal something for me.”

CHAPTER 21

FIONA was putting the finishing touches on the plans for Luke’s Award dinner. He had insisted his fiancée be sitting at his side, on the dais, when he received the honour.

How her life, hers and Luke’s, and even Hayley’s, had changed since that fateful train ride. She had become ill with a chronic lung infection, from drinking half a muddy river, and gained a slight limp that lingered from a badly sprained ankle, and a fiancé!

Luke had asked her to marry him even before the National Guard helicopters lifted them from the river bank.

Two long, one short ring on the bell of Luke’s Chelsea apartment. It was Hayley. Fiona buzzed her in, happy for company. Hayley had been fantastic throughout the mania. From the moment she showed up in Fiona’s hospital room at NewYork-Presbyterian, she had been a model of sympathy and good cheer.

Fiona hugged her and told her how grateful she was, the minute she walked in the door.

“No need to thank me, Fiona,” she said, putting down a large bundle of papers.

“I keep telling you, it could have been me on that train with Luke. None of this would have happened, if only I’d listened to you and taken that meeting myself.”

“Be glad you didn’t listen to me, Hayley. It was no picnic.” “I’m sure it wasn’t,” Hayley said quietly. Fiona hugged her again.

Despite her good cheer, it was clear the neardeaths of the two people closest to her in the world had had a profound effect on Hayley.

“Of course, listening to me about losing the blue hair might be something worth reconsidering.”

Hayley absently touched the tangle of blue polyester curls that had not left her head in public since the train accident.

She dumped an envelope filled with DVDs on to the table. “For the film clips. You usually do

them. I’d like to handle it this time. Seating charts done?”

“All done. It’s quite a cast of characters. The mayor is coming, the governor, heads of crimefighting units from all over the country,” Fiona confided.

“People have been trying to nail Eddie Rivers for years and maybe this will do it.”

Hayley appeared to be concentrating on the stack of DVDs. “Does Luke know about...you know...you and Eddie Rivers?”

Fiona shot her a sharp look. “You mean, you and me and Eddie Rivers? When we were waitresses in his bar? Not accomplices. We had no money. It was a job.”

Hayley looked hurt. “Hey, I meant nothing by it. I just know Luke is a maniac on the subject, and I wouldn’t want him to get the wrong idea if he felt you were keeping things from him.”

“I plan to tell him about it when the time is right.”

The door burst open and Luke came bounding in. He picked Fiona right off her feet and whirled her around.

“I missed you,” he announced, covering her face with kisses. “Put me down,” Fiona laughed, loving every minute of it. “You’ve only been gone four hours.”

They were so lost in one another, neither saw the look of raw pain on Hayley’s face.

“I will leave you two to drool over one another.”

“Not so fast, there, lady,” Luke said, sweeping her up in a brotherly hug. “We need to discuss your hair, and how great you look in blue.”

“Button it,” she said, feigning a lightness she did not feel.

“Every bride needs something blue and I’m it.” He gave her a kiss on the head, which did nothing to improve Hayley’s mood. “How’s everyone’s favourite gambler these days?” “I assume you mean my baby brother.” “Do you know another arch-criminal?” Fiona asked.

Hayley shot a nervous look at Fiona. “What do you mean?” she said, and scrambled around to finish packing up her things. “You guys have a great night.” And she was out the door.

Luke had great instincts. “What was that all about?” “Oh, you know Hayley.” Fiona wasn’t looking at him. “Yes, I do. I’ve known her all my life. And I know when she’s covering something up. You want to tell me about it?”

Fiona went on to the terrace. The sun was beginning to set over the Hudson River.

“We started to talk about this on the train,” she said. “Just before the crash.”

“I remember. I asked if you knew Eddie Rivers.”

“I explained that when Hayley and I were trying to start our business, we took any job to make money to rent the office, do advertising, stuff like that.

“We applied for jobs at a restaurant. Well, a bar, really. It was kind of seedy, but since neither of us had any experience, we were just glad they hired us and didn’t ask too many questions.” Luke studied her.

“What kind of bar?” “According to Hayley, it was a wise guy bar. She said it reminded her of the Bada Bing! club on The Sopranos. They tipped really well.”

“The Velvet Swing? On Eleventh? Naked dancers?”

“Yep. That’s the place.” She tried to lighten the moment. “One of your haunts?”

“One of Eddie Rivers’ places. Where he brings some of the women he imports from Asia.”

“Luke, we knew nothing about that! Nothing. We quit after two months.” “Tips fall off?” “Mikey fell in.” “What do you mean?” Luke didn’t take his eyes off her.

“He started coming around, you know, to hit Hayley up for money,” Fiona explained.

“But then he found a better source of cash. A nice little loan-sharking business in one of the back rooms.”

“A lot more went on in those back rooms.” “We didn’t know that, Luke. We were dumb, just out of college. We quit as soon as they started threatening Mikey.”

Luke studied her. “I wish you’d told me this up front.”

“I got a little busy jumping off a train, and nearly drowning. Forgive me if I didn’t think to give you my resumé.”

Luke pulled her to him. “I’m sorry. Sorry. I’m just a little nutty on the subject of Eddie Rivers. It could have happened to anyone. I’m glad you told me about it.”

Fiona didn’t respond. “Sorry to be such a jerk.” “I’m the one who was a jerk. But I can’t go back and fix it. If this changes things for us...”

He interrupted her. “Nothing will change things for us! Whatever happened back then, between you and Eddie Rivers, is over and done with!” He held her to him tightly.

Is the past ever really over, Fiona wondered silently, clinging to this man she loved more than her own life.