‘He’s got nothing else to lose. And nothing better to do.’ Archie slams the gear stick into fourth and presses his foot to the gas.
26
ARCHIE
Fucking Harrison. He was always going to be trouble. But no one could have anticipated how much of a circus he’d create. Although every cloud has a silver lining, as now I don’t have to spend the night in a room full of people all far more educated than me.
The quicker I get Victoria home, the better.
The street outside Victoria’s house is now also swarmed with as many paparazzi and reporters as the Usher Hall.
And from the way they’re camped out, it looks as though they have no intention of going anywhere tonight.
‘This is a disaster.’ Victoria clutches her phone. Sasha’s name flashes relentlessly across the front of it. ‘If I answer this, she’ll insist we return to Huxley Castle and I’m not ready to face them yet.’
Neither am I.
Ryan’s tone was positively lethal on the phone. On the plus side, I no longer need to wonder how he’ll take the news that I’m sleeping with his sister-in-law because I know. He’s taken it about as well as a bullet in his back.
I abused a position of trust and remained on his payroll while I kept Victoria’s bed warm, breaking the first rule of my contract.
I should have refused to take the job. Or the money. But then he would have known something was up. Especially when I didn’t return to Huxley.
But now he knows anyway, and it’s a million times worse than I feared.
If only I’d admitted my feelings for Victoria to him when he asked me to take the position.
What a fucking idiot. I should have insisted someone else step in the second I fucked up. I’ll never forgive myself, so why should I expect him to?
The idea he thinks badly of me is worse than the entire world believing I beat Harrison to a pulp. Ryan’s friendship and respect mean everything to me. Not because he’s a rock star, but because he’s a man of honour. A family man. And I’ve violated his trust in the worst possible way.
‘Where will we go?’ Victoria voices my exact thoughts. ‘Everyone will be looking for us. A hotel is too risky. Someone’s bound to spot us and sell us down the river to the paps.’
Victoria isn’t like her sisters, both of whom have taken naturally to the limelight. She wears her heart on her sleeve and there’s no way she can spin this into something it’s not, like a well-planned PR stunt. If she’s confronted by the press, she’s more likely than not to admit everything.
Would that be such a bad thing, though?
Would anyone believe me when I protest I’ve been fighting this attraction for years until Victoria was old enough to make an educated decision? Ten years isn’t a huge gap, it’s just, I suppose, she’s so young.
No. They’d make me out to be some sort of paedophile because that’s what sells papers. No one cares about true love.
And I doubt they’ll believe that when I attacked that slimebag Harrison Hughes, it was only because I was protecting Victoria.
No.
‘Do you have any friends we could try?’ I ask. It’s a long shot. I’ve met most of Victoria’s friends over the past few months, and none of them have seemed particularly discreet.
Her porcelain skin is positively drained of any colour it did possess. ‘Libby?’
Libby’s penthouse is pretty secure, but it’s too obvious. Victoria’s been photographed with her too many times, at too many high-profile parties over the years.
‘We wouldn’t make it as far as the elevator.’ My index finger thrums furiously over the steering wheel as I cruise round the city aimlessly, wracking my brain for any solution other than the one that keeps coming to the forefront of my brain.
My phone rings again. It’s my sister, Andrea. I cancel it instinctively, but it gives me an idea.
My mouth runs away with itself before I can stop it. ‘There is a place where no one would look for us.’
‘Where?’ Hope sparks in Victoria’s voice for the first time since we left the house.
