'It's not that simple.'

'Why not? If someone stole your money, report it and get it back.'

'The guy has no money. There's nothing to recoup. The whole thing was a scam.'

I frowned. 'What guy? Who is he? Why did you trust him? Why did you give him the company money?'

'It wasn't just us.' Jack defended GreenGem. 'Half the hedge funds in New York were involved. It was a no-brainer, a sure thing.'

'So what went wrong?'

'We made a mistake. A huge one.'

'Well, fix it.'

'I can't.'

'Why not?'

Jack sat back in his chair, wiped his eyes and tried to explain. 'The guy's name is Terence Hartley.'

'I know that name. He's the guy you and Brad were toasting that night in New York.'

'Yes, we were. He had made us a lot of money, or so we thought. I met him four years ago at a party in New York. I'd heard about him through one of the other hedge-fund guys, Larry Holm. He said Hartley was a sure thing. Larry's no idiot. He runs a well-established hedge fund and has years more experience than I do. I asked around about Hartley, and a couple of the other guys I know from the business vouched for him too. Hartley was one of the founders of the NASDAQ stock exchange, for Christ's sake. So, one night at a party I managed to get introduced to him and we got chatting. I said I'd heard about his consistent returns and was interested in investing some money with him. He said he wasn't taking on anyone else and made this big song and dance about not needing any more investors because he wanted to look after the ones he had.'

'Why didn't you walk away?' I asked.

'Because the guys who had invested with him were getting seven per cent returns every year without fail, despite the downturn. Hartley seemed to have the Midas touch. So I kept at him. Eventually he said he'd think about it and let me know. A week later he called and said I could come on board, but the minimum investment was a hundred million. I spoke to Brad about it, then introduced him to Hartley. He was impressed too. We decided that the GreenGem hedge fund would put up the money. We piled everything we had into it we managed to come up with twenty million ourselves and borrowed eighty million from the bank. We were borrowing at three per cent and making returns of seven per cent for the first two years. It was a sure thing, a fail-safe.'

'But what do you mean you put everything in? How could you put all the company's money into one investment? I know nothing about this, but Dad always said you never put all your eggs in one basket.'

Why was Jack being such an idiot? Why did he keep saying we had lost everything? I didn't understand what the hell was going on. We still had all his salary and bonuses in the bank. Didn't we?

'The investments were spread across lots of different financial streams. We were flying. Brad and I couldn't believe our luck. Hartley was a genius.'

'Well, why are you in here crying?'

'Because the whole thing was a house of cards, and it started crashing a few weeks ago. We found out the full extent this week.'

'How did it all crash?'

'Hartley was using the money from new investors to pay old investors the returns he had promised. There were never any investments. He was just taking from new clients to pretend to old clients that their investments were going well.'

'Why did he bother? What did he get out of it?'

'He was taking a slice of every investment and living like a king.'

'So why did it all crash?'

'Because he ran out of new investors to cover his arse. The whole thing blew up in everyone's faces. All of GreenGem's previous good investments have been swallowed up by this Ponzi scheme.'

'Jesus Christ, Jack, how could you trust this guy?'

'Because everyone thought he was a genius and for the first two years he proved he was.'

'Until you found out he was a cheat and a fraud?'

'Yes.'

'What about your bonuses? You still have those, don't you? They were personal money, not company money?'

'No, they were in there too.'

'What do you mean? How? Why would you do that?'

'Because Brad's company policy for all the partners in GreenGem was that our bonuses had to be reinvested in the company for five years.'

'What about your salary?'

'Sophie, the GreenGem fund has shut down, the company has folded. It's over.'

I took a step back. I felt as if I'd been shot. 'So what is our situation? How much do we have left in the bank? What do we have to live on until this blows over?'

'Sophie, you're not listening to me. We have nothing left.'

I stared at him. I needed to try to stay calm. I needed to process this information. I needed to understand what was going on. I coughed to suppress the panic rising in my throat and bit my lip.

Jack held his arms out. I pushed him away. I didn't want him near me. I felt suffocated. I had to think.

'What about the house? It's worth a lot,' I said.

He looked at his shoes. 'We bought it for three million, it's now worth one. We're mortgaged to the hilt. I borrowed two and half million to buy the house, which was fine because I had a big salary that we spent every month, but we didn't save anything because I looked at the company fund as our savings.'

'What are you saying? That we don't own our house?'

'Yes.'

'But ... how can we not own it? It's ours you bought it.'

'Because we owe two million on it and it's worth one.'

I began to shake. 'So you're telling me we're one million in debt?'

His eyes welled up again. 'Yes.'

'What about my dad's money? My rainy-day money? We can live on that until you get sorted.'

'It's gone too,' he whispered.

'What?' I shouted. 'Are you insane? You invested my money in some crazy scheme with a gangster you met at a party? That was my money. You had no right to do that.'

'You told me to invest it. You said you wanted me to look after it for you.'

'Yes, I did, but looking after it doesn't mean throwing it away. What have you done, Jack? What's going to happen to us now? There must be some money somewhere.'

'I'm so sorry, Sophie.'

'There has to be some money left. You can't have given this guy every penny. Come on, Jack, think. You must have money in some account somewhere.'

'My other investments were in Irish bank shares, which are worth nothing now either. I lost a fortune on them as well.'

I screamed at him, 'Jesus Christ, what is wrong with you? Why didn't you just leave it in a bank account where it was safe? Why did you have to invest in all these things that just lose money? I thought you were smart. I thought you knew what you were doing. How can we be rich one minute and have nothing the next?' We couldn't be poor. We couldn't have no money at all. That was just not possible. I wouldn't accept it. There had to be some tucked away somewhere there just had to be.

'Look, it's not just me. Brad lost everything as well. So have hundreds of other people who invested with Hartley smart guys, experienced guys, Ivy League guys. He fooled us all.'

'There must be some way to get it back. We can't live on air!'

Jack began to lose his temper. 'I've spent the last week trying everything to get some of it back. I haven't slept in days. Brad and I went over every single bit of paperwork, but it's all gone. There is nothing left. I wish I could tell you different, Sophie, but I can't. We looked into suing Terence Hartley for the money he lost us, but the case would take years and lots of legal fees and it's pointless because he's broke. The GreenGem fund has blown up. It's over. I tried to protect you. I tried to fix it I did everything I could.'

'Protect me?' I roared. 'My credit card got refused in Harvey Nichols and you ignored all my calls. Now you come home and tell me we have nothing. How the hell can we live on nothing? What about Jess? What about our life?'

'I don't know. I need to try to figure it out.'

'There's nothing to figure out! We can't live without money. What's going to happen to us? Are we going to lose the house?'

'I'm trying not to let that happen, but we may be forced out.'

I felt physically ill. I couldn't process it all. How could we suddenly have nothing? This was my life, my house, my car, my clothes, my lifestyle. It was a happy life. I was happy, Jack was happy, Jess was happy. How could it all be snatched away? Where would we go? What was going to become of us?

Jack came over and wrapped his arms around me. 'Come on, Sophie, we'll be OK.'

I shoved him away forcefully. 'What happens if we have to leave the house? Where will we live? Do you expect your daughter to sleep on the street?'

'We might have to move in with your family for a little while,' he said quietly.

'Move in with my parents?'

'I can't afford rent.'

'But what about my life? What about Venice and Marbella in the summer and '

'Jesus, Sophie,' he snapped, 'what part of we have no money are you not getting? There will be no more holidays or shopping or beauticians. We're broke.'

'What about Jess's school?'

'I can't pay the fees so she'll have to stay at home for a while.'

'You bastard!' I screamed. 'You promised to look after us and now you're ruining our life. What am I going to tell her? How am I going to explain that she can't go to school or ballet or drama or swimming any more because her dad's an idiot? She loves that school she loves her friends.'

'You don't need to stick the knife in,' Jack barked. 'I feel shit enough as it is. Do you think I like having to take my daughter out of school or tell my wife that I've lost all our money? Do you think this is easy for me? I'm having a nervous breakdown here trying to think of ways around it. I'm devastated about what's happened.'

'What about me? You've ruined my life.' What was I going to do now? My friends would dump me. I'd have no life. I'd seen the way you got dropped when you couldn't keep up. Look at what had happened to Annabelle. God, I'd be the new Annabelle but worse at least her husband still had a job, even if his salary was very low. My heart was thumping and I was sweating profusely. I just couldn't process what was happening. I'd married Jack for love, but also for security. He was supposed to look after me and Jess. This was not part of the deal.

'Look, Sophie, I know it's a lot to take in, but we'll be OK. We have each other and our health, and I'll find another job.'

'Who the hell is going to hire someone who lost all his company's money by investing in a stupid fraud? They're not going to be queuing up to get you, Jack.'

'I'll find something, I promise.'

'Your promise means nothing to me. You promised to take care of me and now you're telling me we could be on the street soon. You've broken your promise. I don't believe you any more. How could you do this? How could you be so stupid?' I began to sob ... and once I'd started, I couldn't stop. I was shocked, terrified and devastated. We would be outcasts, rejects, pariahs.

Jack came over to comfort me, but I pushed him away and ran upstairs. I locked myself in the bathroom, lay on the floor and wailed.

22.

Julie.

I was sitting in Marian's garden, watching the kids fight each other.

'More wine?' she asked.

'Lovely.' I held out my glass. It was four in the afternoon, a bit early to be drinking wine, but not social-services-will-take-your-kids-away early.

'Do you ever hit the boys?' Marian asked.

'I've smacked them on the bum once or twice, but I always feel sick after, so I really try not to.'

'I walloped Brian yesterday.' She took a gulp of wine. 'He was being a nightmare, writing on the wall with my mascara when I'd asked him ten times to stop, so I smacked him on the back of the head. I feel awful. I've been awake all night. I had to bribe him not to tell his dad. Greg would divorce me if he knew. I just lost it. I swear, Julie, for the five seconds between deciding to hit him and hitting him, everything went blurry. I was so angry that I literally couldn't see straight. It gave me a fright. I was out of control.'

'Everyone has those moments. Obviously we have to try to control ourselves, but sometimes kids push your buttons until you explode. The best thing to do is walk away from them when they're like that.'

'Yeah, but how can I walk away when he's painting my fucking bedroom walls with mascara?'

'I dunno. Grab the mascara and run into the kitchen or something. I just know that if I didn't walk away from the triplets at times I would probably hit them.'

'You should have seen the way he looked at me. It was pure hate. I don't blame him it's shocking to hit someone on the back of the head. It'll be one of those things he remembers for the rest of his life. I guarantee he'll be dragging it up in therapy in twenty years' time.'

'Don't beat yourself up too much. All mothers have days when they lose control. It's just a matter of learning from mistakes and trying to avoid them.'

Marian looked down at her glass. 'I'm thinking of going on anti-depressants.'

'What?' I was surprised. Marian always seemed well able to cope. Yes, she cursed like a drunken sailor, yes, she drank a little bit too much, but underneath all that she was a brilliant mum. She took her kids to exhibitions, art galleries, concerts, puppet shows, outdoor theatre, adventure parks, petting farms ... she never stopped. She was constantly doing creative and fun things with them. And although I knew she was tired, like all mums, and sometimes overwhelmed, I hadn't thought she was depressed.