got what they wanted. You’ve got your big chance, John gets to pull the strings, and your ambitious little wife and her power-crazed family have finally got themselves a new launchpad.’ She laughed, a low, mocking laugh that he didn’t like.
‘And now you want to break up with me, don’t you? Minimize the risks, re-establish control?’ She made a slight gesture toward the bedroom with her glass.
He still didn’t answer her, just turned away and looked out the window. Far below he could see the exit from the parking garage. In just a few minutes he would be down there. In the car, on his way home. Ready to put all this behind him.
‘Everyone’s got what they wanted. Everyone except me,’ Sophie went on. ‘I’m just expected to back down and act like the last few years never happened. Is that what you’re thinking, Jeppe?’
He turned around slowly. She knew he hated that nickname.
‘Jeppe on the mountain, like the old story.’ She leered. ‘An idiot who thinks he’s something special. That he’s suddenly someone to be reckoned with. But in actual fact he’s just a marionette, a puppet who jumps whenever anyone pulls his strings. Does that sound familiar?’
He opened his mouth to tell her to shut up, but stopped himself at the last moment. Sophie knew precisely which buttons to press. He mustn’t let himself be provoked.
‘Ooh, did that make you cross?’ She smiled. ‘You know what they say – the truth hurts. But you like pain, don’t you, Jeppe? Just like me. You get a real kick out of forbidden pleasures.’
She twisted around and crossed her long legs, slowly enough for him to get a good view of her hairless genitals.
‘I think we should go back to the bedroom to celebrate your success properly. I’ve got a few ideas that I’m sure you’d enjoy, things Karolina would never agree to.’
Stenberg emptied his glass and put it down slowly on the island unit between the living room and kitchen.
‘No, Sophie,’ he said. ‘This was the last time. I’m leaving now. From now on we’ll only see each other in the office, and any interaction between us will be strictly professional.’
He held up his hand before she had time to say anything.
‘No, no, I know how the game works. This is when you pull out your trump card, and threaten to tell Karolina or your dad. Maybe even both of them?’
She turned her head slightly and her face cracked into a mocking grimace.
‘But you don’t seem to have realized that the game has changed,’ he went on. ‘You’re quite right, other people have helped elevate me. I accepted that a long time ago, and realized it was the only way to get where I wanted to be. And now I’m there.’ He paused for a moment, collecting himself.
‘Sophie,’ he began, adjusting his tone of voice to show a hint of regret. ‘A few months ago you really could have spoiled everything. You could have ruined my life. But your trump card lost all its value the moment I was asked the Question.’
He gestured toward the telephone on the table.
‘Call Karolina if you want. She’d never leave me now, just as my father-in-law would never advise her to.’
Sophie’s smile had stiffened somewhat, but she still didn’t seem to have quite understood.
‘John,’ she said, ‘Daddy would—’
‘Come on, Sophie.’ His tone was perfect now, a cocktail made up of equal parts concern and condescension. ‘Do you seriously believe that John would sacrifice me for your sake? Now that his investment is finally about to pay off?’
He nodded toward the phone.
‘Please, call Daddy and cry on the phone to him. Tell him everything, be my guest.’ He smiled, copying her mocking grimace.
Sophie glanced at the phone. She licked her lips, once, then several more times. Then she looked down. Stenberg breathed out. The match was over, he had won. All of a sudden he felt almost sorry for her.
‘Smart decision, Sophie,’ he said. ‘It would have been a shame if you’d had to spend Christmas in the clinic again.’
He regretted saying it the moment he heard the words leave his mouth. Bloody hell! The glass missed his head by a whisker, hitting the wall behind him and sending a shower of crystal shards across the oak floor.
‘You fucking bastard!’ She took a couple of quick strides toward him, her fingernails reaching toward his face. Her knee missed his crotch by a matter of centimetres.
‘For God’s sake, Sophie.’ Stenberg twisted aside and grabbed hold of her wrists.
She went on trying to kick him, wriggling frantically in an effort to break free. He dumped her on the sofa, but Sophie bounced up instantly and attacked him again. She was growling like a dog, and her eyes were black. Her lips were pulled back, as if she were planning to bite him.
The blow was a purely instinctive reaction. Right-handed, with an open palm, but still hard enough to make her head snap back and her body crumple onto the sofa. Shit, he’d never hit a woman before. Not like that, anyway.
Sophie lay motionless on the sofa. Her arms and legs were hanging limp. Something wet was running down one of Stenberg’s earlobes and he felt his ear without really thinking about it. Not blood, as he suspected, but a golden-brown drop of whiskey that must have flown out of the glass.
‘Sophie,’ he said in a tremulous voice. She still wasn’t moving.
In the oppressive silence he could hear his own pulse thundering on his eardrums. He glanced quickly toward the elevator, then at the inert body. Sophie’s eyelids fluttered a couple of times and Stenberg breathed out.
He turned around and was about to go into the kitchen to get some water. But the floor was covered with broken glass. So he went to the bathroom instead and moistened a towel. On the way back he picked up her white toweling dressing gown from the floor.
She was sitting up when he got back, and he passed her both the towel and the dressing gown.
‘Sophie, I’m—’
‘Get out!’ She snatched the towel and pressed it to her cheek. He stood motionless for a few seconds, unsure of what to do. ‘Didn’t you hear me, get the fuck out of here!’ Sophie hissed, covering herself with the dressing gown.
He backed away a couple of steps and tried to think of something to say.
‘Sophie, I mean—’
Sudden pain interrupted him. A sliver of glass had cut into his left heel and he swore as he hopped on the other leg and tried to pull it out.
Her laughter was shrill and far too loud.
‘God, you’re so fucking pathetic, Jesper, can’t you see it? Pathetic …’
He straightened up, tossing the sliver of glass toward the sink. He gave her one last glance before limping toward the elevator, without saying another word.
