“Clara,” I said, “I appreciate that you are willing to talk to me about this, but if we are going to speak about your terms of employment, it might be better if you sat in the front seat of the car rather than?—”
“Right,” she said in a small voice. She glanced out of the window but didn’t move. I cleared my throat.
“Clara, that will require you to actually disembark the car in order to move to the front seat.”
“Yes, yes, totally,” she said, her gaze still fixed on the outside. I waited another full minute before she finally got out of the car to transfer to the front.
As I pulled away from the curb, she was glancing back behind her still. Once we turned off that road, she sank back into her chair and blew out a relieved breath. She’d pulled off her hat now, and her light brown hair was muzzed from the wool. I snuck glances at her while I was driving. There were dark circles under her eyes behind her thick glasses. Her cheekbones were more prominent than a few weeks ago, as if she’d lost quite a bit of weight, which, to be honest, I didn’t think she could afford to lose. The bruises on her face had all faded significantly, and she no longer wore her brace, but it was clear that her wrist was still bothering her. She cradled it in her lap as if to protect it from the bumping motion as we went over potholes.
“How long would you need me to tutor Ozzie for?” she asked quietly.
“Yay!” Ozzie shouted from the back. “You’re gonna do it, Miss Clara? I knew you would. I knew you’d do it. I told Daddy you would. Itoldhim I don’t want any new nannies if Auntie Poppy’s busy. I wantyouto be my new nanny. And I know you can because you told me you don’t have any small people of your own at home. You said the only thing you’ve got at home is George the Goldfish. And George the Goldfish is fine. He can come too. You can bring him to my house.”
Clara turned in her seat and smiled back at my son, and my breath caught in my throat. When she smiled, a genuine smile like just now, her tired expression faded, and she was so beautiful it was almost blinding.
Chapter 9
Close Protection
Clara
Skinny Pete was watchingme again. This was a huge problem, seeing as I was taking Ozzie home today, and I had absolutely no doubt that Skinny Pete would watch that too.
I sighed and rubbed my wrist absently. The ache there was an ever-present reminder of what was at stake. But I was becoming so, so tired of being afraid. People were starting to notice how it affected me. I jumped at the slightest noise – yesterday, I shrieked when Lily dropped a wooden box of crayons, and Margot felt the need to hold my hand and tell me that everything was okay. A seven-year-old child reassuring a twenty-seven-year-old woman that a loud noise wasn’t going to hurt her? It was ridiculous.Iwas becoming ridiculous.
In all honesty, I knew I needed to move away from London and the constant fear. Maybe even accept Grant’s offer. But I couldn’t do it without Zach. I couldn’t just take off without him likethat.
Unfortunately, my living situation was becoming completely untenable. Lily cared about me enough not to say anything, but there was only so long that two people could share a one-bedroom flat that had the square footage of most people’s bathrooms without being seriously uncomfortable – and we were coming up to the one-month mark now. If I wasn’t going to leave London, I needed to woman up and move back to my own flat.
I knew my family were watching me whilst I was at Lily’s anyway. I’d spotted Skinny Pete lurking behind the newsagent on her road only yesterday. Staying with Lily wouldn’t put them off the scent. They’d want to keep a close eye on me wherever I was. My father wouldn’t trust me to keep my mouth shut about what happened without keeping a serious handle on my whereabouts and being relatively obvious about it as a constant reminder to me not to snitch.
It was all about control with my family. Control, power, money and greed were all everyone cared about – everyone except for Zach, of course. My beautiful, caring, kind, funny, intelligent Zach, whom my family viewed as weak like me, but also as another asset to exploit due to his natural intelligence. It made my blood boil, but I was stuck. I was stuck in a halfway life where I was terrified all the time, where loud noises made me jump and where I was a shadow of the person I wanted to be.
“You okay, Miss Clara?” Ozzie asked, giving my skirt a couple of sharp tugs. I forced a smile as I looked down at him and ruffled his hair.
“Of course I am, Ozzie. Just doing a little bit of lollygagging.”
He nodded solemnly. “Ah, I knowallabout lollygagging,Miss Clara,” he said. “Miss Summerfield tells me I’m aworld expertat lollygagging.”
I pressed my lips together to hold back laughter. Ozzie had staring out of the window down to a fine art now, which was great if you’re thinking up stories as he invariably did, but not so great if your teacher needed you to learn your times tables.
I turned back to where Skinny Pete had been standing, but, as was his way, he’d already faded into the shadows.
“Righty-ho,” I said in a fake bright tone, smiling down at Ozzie again. “Let’s get a wriggle on, shall we? Your dad texted me your address, and it’s only a couple of bus rides aways so we––”
“The bus?” Ozzie interrupted in a bemused voice. “I don’t get thebus.”
“Um… well, how do you...? It’s too far to walk, love.”
Ozzie laughed. “No silly. Dave takes me.”
I blinked down at him but followed him out of the classroom towards the school exit, waving goodbye to Lily on our way. I was ashamed to say that the only days I consistently watched the kids leaving were the ones where I was guaranteed to get my ya-yas looking at Lord Sterling from a safe distance, so I wasn’t too sure how Ozzie got home on the other days. I had seen his famous aunt pick him up before, though. Everyone within a mile radius would have noticed Poppy Sterling sweeping in through the school gates with a cloud of glamour and disruption. Her laugh alone could probably be heard clear across London. But from my cowardly vantage point in the window, I couldn’t see the road, so I had no idea how the Sterlings made their way home on the school run.
As we walked through the school gates, a huge black car pulled up in front of us. Then, a grey-haired man in animmaculate suit sprang out of the front seat and grinned across at Ozzie.
“Hey, Davo!” Ozzie cried, running over to him.
“Hey, little lord,” Dave said through his smile, clapping Ozzie on the back and then ruffling his hair. “Good day with the other posh kids?”
