“Good day, Miss Finch,” he said with a slight smirk of victory. “I will see you tomorrow.”
“You still owe me money for the last month!” Mrs. Starke complained as she hurried after Octavia and Henry. “Do not think I’ll be forgetting!”
“As I told you, as soon as I have the money, I will ensure that you are paid,” Octavia snapped. “I am not a thief, Mrs. Starke.”
“I never said you were.”
“You implied it!” Octavia reached the front door of her townhouse and turned on Mrs. Starke. “As I have explained, I am now employed by His Grace, the Duke of Ironvale. Your money will be forthcoming.”
Mrs. Starke narrowed her eyes. “It better be.”
“One week,” she told the landlady. “One week and I will return with your money, I promise you.” From behind Mrs. Starke, Henry appeared. He had his knapsack with him, and it was packed to bursting point. “Henry, come along…” She reached out and took her brother’s hand.
“Are we really staying with a duke?” he asked in disbelief. “Truly?”
“We are,” she said with a warm smile. “And guess what? You’ll even have your own room.”
“No way!”
It was happening. Octavia had been hired. As of today, she would be living at the Dukes’ own home. And assuming nothing went wrong, her life might finally be set down a path that would provide both herself and her brother with a chance at a real future.
The last four years have been next to impossible, and more than once, I wanted to give up. But this… this is what we have been waiting for. And I will not mess it up.
The only caveat to this role, and it was a rather big one, was the Duke himself. Octavia could still not believe that he had hired her, especially after she snapped at him and had been a little too forthcoming about her situation.
She hoped that her honesty was what inspired him, that he saw in her someone who deserved a second chance. Likely, what he saw was a person without options, not to mention a person who he could use to his whims for that same reason.
Even now, just thinking about the Duke… it made her bones turn cold and a shiver ran through her body. She was not scared of him, but wary. He was an intimidating individual, he seemed to enjoy that fact about himself, and she doubted that the rancor which had found their last conversation would be an isolated incident.
You just need to control your anger, Octavia. Surely, that will not be so hard.
“Oh, one more thing!” Mrs. Starke called as Octavia and Henry walked outside.
Octavia groaned and turned around. “What is it?”
“I told you brother this already, but a man came here looking for you two days ago.”
Octavia curled her lip. “Let me worry about Marcus and his thugs.”
“This was not Marcus, and nor was he allied with Butch,” she said. “He was something else. Well-dressed, well-spoken, looked like a lord of some sort.”
“He did…” Octavia blinked. “Did he give you his name?”
“I didn’t ask,” Mrs. Starke said. “And when I said you were out, he simply left. It was odd, is what it was.” She rubbed her arms as if suddenly cold. “Strange.”
Octavia considered what this might mean… and came to no conclusions. Was it possible that Butch had hired someone else to collect his debts? That sounded unlikely, as he was not the type to do such a thing. Even if he had, why would he hire a lord to do so?
But if not related to her father’s debts, what was a random lord doing looking for Octavia?
“If he comes again, you can tell him where I am,” Octavia said with confidence. She felt proud to announce that she now worked for the Duke of Ironvale, and she chuckled internally to imagine Marcus turning up to the manor and demanding entry.
Let’s see how tough he is when faced with the ire of the Duke!
“Can we go?” Henry whined. “I’m hungry.”
Octavia laughed and ruffled her brother’s hair. “Yes, let us get out of here. A new life awaits us, Henry. Oh, the adventures we are sure to have.”
She put her arm around her brother, and they walked from the townhouse together. That townhouse represented her old life, one that Octavia had fought through now for nearly four years. It had been hard. It had nearly broken her. But she had survived it like few others could.
