‘No,’ she said. ‘Not again.’ She couldn’t allow herself to be swallowed up and spat out by the actions of others again. History was not going to repeat itself.
Grace was sitting in the garden of the B&B when Flick opened the door. Her friend’s eyes were glistening. ‘Have you forgotten something?’ she asked and Flick shook her head. ‘Does that mean you’re staying?’
‘Yes,’ Flick replied and as she dropped her backpack to the floor, Grace offered her a tight hug before leading her into the kitchen.
‘What happened?’ Grace asked for the second time that afternoon, and poured Flick a mug of tea from a pot.
‘I can’t tell you,’ said Flick. ‘And please don’t ask me for details because I don’t want to lie to you.’
‘Has it got something to do with why you left London?’
Flick nodded.
‘Are you in danger?’
‘Yes, I think I might be. And I’m scared that if I stay, I might put you and Elijah at risk.’
‘I can look after myself,’ Grace said dismissively. But neither she nor Flick knew who they were up against.
‘If I’m to stay, I need you to tell me if anyone turns up here asking about me.’
‘Like who?’
‘That’s the problem. I genuinely don’t know.’
Grace nodded. ‘I’ll ask others for help too.’
‘They’ll want to know why.’
‘Then I’ll tell them you have a psycho ex-boyfriend or something. You’re liked around here, you know. People in this town look out for their own.’
With just those few reassuring words, Flick knew she had made the right decision to return. Whatever threat she faced, she stood a better chance of fighting back by being in a community than by standing alone.
Chapter 54
EMILIA
‘Pull over,’ demanded Emilia.
‘I’m sorry?’ Bianca replied, her view fixed on a tablet as the autonomous car continued moving forwards.
‘Pull the car overnow.’
‘That won’t be happening.’
‘I swear to God if you don’t, I’m going to break every window in here.’
‘Good luck with that. They’re bulletproof.’
Emilia’s rage reached boiling point. She had been trapped inside the car for thirty minutes and all she could think about was Sinéad’s mutilated body. She had to get out of that vehicle as a matter of urgency.
Bianca sighed and signalled to Adrian to touch the dashboard screen. The car slowed, eventually pulling into a lorry park. Emilia pushed at a button to release the door lock but it wouldn’t budge until Bianca pressed the override switch. It was another reminder of the control they had over her.
Outside, Emilia placed both hands, palms forward, against the side of a rig and lowered her head, taking in deep breaths.
‘Emilia,’ began Bianca, now standing behind her. ‘If there had been any other way—’
Emilia didn’t think before she acted. She turned around at speed, raised her right fist and caught Bianca clean in her nose. Her other fist collided with what should have been Bianca’s ribcage, but came against something solid that she assumed to be body armour. It gave Bianca an advantage so she punched Emilia in the stomach, landing two more kidney blows before she collapsed to the floor. Emilia was down but she wasn’t out. She kicked her leg and caught Bianca in the ankle, causing her to cry out loud. Then she pulled it back to repeat the action on the other ankle when she felt a pair of hands under her arms dragging her away across the asphalt. ‘Enough,’ snapped Adrian.
