The Liars by Naomi Joy
Published: 16th April 2019
Publisher: Aria
Pages: 404
Available on Kindle
Rating:
Blurb
Two
women. One deadly secret. A rivalry that could destroy them.
Ava Wells is perfect. She has the boyfriend, the career, the looks.
One night changes everything and her life isn't so seamless anymore.
Jade Fernleigh is ambitious. She's worked hard to get where she is. And
she's not about to let Ava take the job she rightly deserves.
Both women share a secret that could destroy them, but who will
crumble first?
Extract
‘What’s
David Stein want with Ava?’ George whispered, turning towards me for just a
moment. ‘You think this is ‘cos of the inquest?’
I
shrugged, lost for words, and watched as Ava motioned for him to come in, then
greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. Well, well, well. Although we were all
reeling, Ava didn’t look surprised to see him at all. Had they arranged a
meeting? Without me?
My
green eyes flashed for the second time in as many minutes – first Josh and now
David. My body felt like one of those lightning receptors on top of the Shard
or the Empire State Building, just after one billion angry God-like volts had
struck. Except I couldn’t survive it. Strike after strike of jealousy coursed
through my veins, splitting them open until I was nothing but a heap of clothes
on the floor, smoke pouring out of them. ‘Where did she go?’ they’d ask. Would
anyone care?
In
that moment I made a rash decision: I had to act, I couldn’t just stand on the
outside looking in. Ava didn’t own the rights to Olivia’s death, and it wasn’t
fair she was using Olivia’s passing to get ahead. Not if I couldn’t use it,
too.
I got
up from my desk, ignoring Georgette’s bleats – Jade, no, Jade, what are you
doing, Jade, come back here! – and pushed forward to her office.
I hated that she had an office. I’d been at
the company for eight years and all David Stein had rewarded me with was an
area a few metres apart from the communal bullpen, opposite a woman who dressed
like a toddler and painted her face like a clown.
I
knocked twice at Ava’s closed door, my angry breath forming furious bullseyes
of condensation against the glass, and watched as her face fell when she saw it
was me. In that moment, the resentment I had for her swelled and I could
scarcely believe what I once saw in her as a friend. We used to have lunch
together, talk about the ways we could change the company for the better. We’d
been a sisterhood at one point. A unit. A team. But ever since Olivia had died
and David had taken Ava under his bony wing, favouring her over me in almost
every conceivable way despite her vastly inferior experience, the barriers
between us had started to stack up and, rather than help me, she relished in
every opportunity to kick me back. To make matters worse, David had put us both
up for the same job, a glittering promotion which I deserved tenfold over her:
Team Head.
So,
here I was. Fighting for my career.
I
didn’t wait for her to beckon me in.
‘Is
everything OK?’ I asked, pushing my way into their clandestine one-to-one. ‘The
news about the inquest was pretty tough reading yesterday,’ I said
matter-of-factly, closing the door behind me. ‘Olivia would have hated
everything being so public.’
‘Jade,
could you give us a moment?’ Ava asked curtly, brushing me off.
There
she went again, acting as if there was no way I could possibly have been
affected by Olivia’s death. It was like she didn’t even remember what we went
through together.
‘It’s
just—’
‘We’re
fine, thank you Jade,’ she repeated, raising her voice.
Before
I could speak again, David spat out a rhetorical question aimed at me.
‘Jade
– do you mind?’
His
words hit like a punch to the gut and my cheeks blazed. Embarrassment opened
its mouth and swallowed me whole. I hadn’t expected David to be so rude. Had
Ava been busy poisoning him against me? Nevertheless, I didn’t need telling
twice and I left in a hurry, floored once again by how Ava had managed to turn
an inquest into a way to get ahead at work. I skulked, defeated, back to my
desk.
‘Jade,
what were you thinki—’
I cut
Georgette off. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
I sat
down, staring straight ahead at nothing in particular, unblinking, thinking. I
was supposed to be Team Head this year. That was the plan. That had always been
the plan. But since Ava had turned up it was as though my years of loyal
servitude to this company had all been for nothing: not now a blonde-haired
damsel-in-distress with less experience than a toilet brush and the
constitution of a ferret had entered the fray. No, I couldn’t let it happen. I
had to do something, I had to stop this situation running away from me, I had
to reverse the trend, put myself back into the ring. Play dirty, just the way
Ava was with me.
About the Author
Naomi Joy is a pen name of a young PR
professional who was formerly an account director at prestigious Storm
Communications. Writing from experience, she draws the reader in the darker
side of the uptown and glamorous, presenting realism that is life or death,
unreliable and thrilling to page-turn.
Follow Naomi:
Facebook: N/A
Twitter:
@naomijoyauthor
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