Daisy couldn’t believe it.
He put Fi back down and instantly Daisy noticed that her friend’s expression had changed. Why is she glaring at me like that, Daisy wondered?
He took Fi’s hand and led her over to the bar area. ‘This is delicious,’ he said. ‘Can I have a glass?’
Fi smiled at him, though Daisy noticed it seemed forced. She was pouring the liquid into the spare glass when he added, ‘Daisy kindly let me have a sip of hers; it’s delicious.’
‘What?’ Daisy couldn’t believe his cheek. He was so obviously trying to cause friction between them, but she hoped Fi knew her well enough to see through his nastiness. He gave her a sly smile over the rim of his glass when he took a mouthful of his drink and to Daisy’s horror Fi noticed and glared at her.
Unsure what to do next and aware that he was well practiced when it came to being calculating, she tried to think of the best way to counteract his plan. Failing and hating the way Fi was being upset by his actions, Daisy stood up.
‘Fi, this man you know of as Phil is actually an ex of mine. His real name is Aaron and he’s been stalking me for three years.’
Aaron shook his head, his eyebrows knitted together and mouth dropping open momentarily. ‘Seriously? Are you quite all right, um, Daisy, is it?’
She pushed passed him and stood facing Fi. ‘Can we have a quiet chat, just the two of us?’ she pleaded, desperate to stop this nonsense before they were drawn more deeply into it.
Fi stared at her as if she’d never seen her before. ‘Why are you doing this, Daisy?’ she asked, her voice cracking with emotion and her eyes filling with tears.
Aaron walked up to stand at Fi’s side. ‘Maybe Daisy is a little jealous,’ he said giving her a pitiful look. Daisy wanted to slap his smug face but didn’t have the courage and knew from experience that he was far stronger than she was. She clenched her fists in an attempt to restrain herself from doing anything that could incite the situation further. Why wasn’t Fi listening to her? Surely, she didn’t believe the nonsense Aaron was saying.
‘Shut up, Aaron,’ Daisy snapped. ‘I know your nasty little games.’ She focused her attention on Fi. ‘He’s making this up,’ she said reaching out to place her hand on Fi’s shoulder.
Fi shied away from her touch. ‘I think you should go, don’t you?’ she said. ‘I’m not sure why you’re acting so crazily, but I won’t stand here and let you cause trouble between me and my boyfriend.’
Daisy sighed. ‘OK, I’ll go,’ she said going to put on her T-shirt and shorts and slipping her feet into her flip flops. She picked up her sun cream. ‘But I’m telling you I know him as Aaron. We were childhood sweethearts until his unreasonable behaviour pushed me to the brink. He’s far nastier than he seems, I promise you. He did things to me that left me no option but to get away from him.’ She could see Fi wasn’t convinced. ‘Fi, he might seem gentle and kind to you, and he was to me, too, at one time, but he’s also hit me, Fi.’
Fi glared at Aaron. ‘Is this true?’
He shook his head. ‘Fi, darling, how well do you know this woman? Seriously. You can choose to believe her if you want, but you know me well enough to trust me, surely?’
He looked and sounded so convincing, Daisy could see Fi was shocked and unsure who to trust. He was right, Fi didn’t know her well. ‘Listen,’ Daisy said, ‘I know it sounds obnoxious, but he’s only seeing you to get closer to me, to pay me back for leaving him.’
Fi gasped. ‘Stop it, Daisy,’ she shouted. ‘I don’t know why you’re doing this to me. Can’t you be pleased that I’ve found someone I like?’ She turned her head away, staring out onto the wooded garden. Aaron put his arm around her shoulder and gave Daisy a smile that was so chilling in its confidence she knew she would have to find a way to help Fi discover the depths of his cruelty for herself.
Daisy reached the door to go back into the house and turned to Fi. ‘I wish I could convince you to trust me. Please though, don’t trust anything he says,’ she said before walking into the house and out of the front door and through the entrance gates. She’d walked a little way along the pavement and when she was sure she was far enough away, she fell back to rest against the granite wall and cried.
Gathering herself, she decided to walk back to the hotel, hoping it wasn’t too far. She needed time to think things through. Hadn’t Aaron managed to tarnish too many years of her life already? She liked Fi and despite her friend’s reticence to believe what she’d told her about him, Daisy couldn’t bear to think of him using her friend to get back at her. She had to do something, but what?
By the time she walked up the hotel driveway and around the back of the building to the staff quarters over an hour later, Daisy was so furious that she hadn’t come up with a reasonable solution she failed to notice the person standing by the doorway. She marched inside and up the hallway stopping in front of her bedroom door to find the key lurking deep in her bag.
‘Daisy?’ a deep voice said. ‘Are you all right?’
It took a second to register that Gabriel had just spoken to her. She spun round to face him. He opened his mouth to add something but overcome with delight at seeing him standing there so unexpectedly, she bounded towards him and hugged him tightly. Resting her head against his chest, she sighed heavily.
‘I’m so glad to see you,’ she murmured as his arms tightened around her back.
They stood silently for a few moments. She could feel his heart pounding rapidly and it dawned on her that her welcome was a little out of character and might have seemed a bit odd. She dropped her arms away from him and stood back.
‘Sorry about that,’ she said clearing her throat. ‘I’m just so pleased to see you here.’
‘Is everything OK?’ he asked frowning. ‘You seem a little, erm, overwrought.’
Remembering where she was, she motioned for him to follow her. ‘Please come into my room for a moment; there’s something I need to tell you.’
He didn’t reply but waited for her to unlock her door and followed her into her room.
‘Sit down,’ she said indicating the only chair in the room. ‘I’m afraid I’ve only got water to drink.’
‘It’s fine,’ he said. ‘I don’t need anything.’ He peered over across the room to where her canvasses were stacked against the wall in two batches. ‘Are those your paintings?’
She could see even he thought that was a silly question and smiled. ‘No, they’re my shoe collection.’
He pulled a face at her. ‘Could I have a look at them, do you think?’
She frowned. She wasn’t ready to share them: they were far too personal to her and anyway, she mused, what if he hated what he saw?
‘Stop thinking up reasons why not and say yes,’ he said, waiting patiently on the edge of the bed.
‘Fine, go on then.’ She took a few strands of hair and twisted them through her fingers as he silently pulled back one, then another and finally all of her paintings.
He lifted two paintings and laid them on the bed. ‘Would you mind if I took some photos of them?’
‘What for?’ She stood up, ready to retrieve them from him, but he stared at her. ‘What?’
‘Daisy, you’re an excellent artist but you’re shy. Who knows when I’ll ever get another chance to see these again? I’d like pictures of them so that I can look at them again later. Would you mind if I showed my grandmother?’
She thought back to the times Lydia had come up to chat to her and also look at her canvases while she painted. ‘No, I don’t mind you showing her.’
‘Let me photograph more of them,’ he said replacing the two he’d extracted and replacing them with others.
She watched his broad shoulders as he bent down over her canvases. She felt so safe with him around. It dawned on her that the only other time she’d ever felt this relaxed was when they were on the other side of the world.
‘There, that should do it,’ he said.
‘You must have photographed the
m all,’ she said waiting for him to sit back down again.
‘Hell, what’s wrong with me?’ he said. ‘I come here because something’s the matter and end up taking photos of your paintings.’ He stared at her. ‘You wanted to tell me something,’ he said frowning. ‘What’s happened and how I can help?’
She sat down on the edge of her bed. She needed to share her fears with someone. He listened with intent silence as she told him all about Aaron, how they’d met at school and how he’d changed from a loving, caring boyfriend into a paranoid stalker.
‘His behaviour worsened the more my art took off. I had a few pieces in the local papers. He kept putting it down, saying things like they were only writing about me because there was nothing else locally to feature in the paper, that I shouldn’t take any notice because what the hell did they know about art.’ She shivered at the memory of what she was about to share next. ‘At first we’d argue and I’d stand up for myself, but then he started to hit me.’ She heard Gabe groan, but continued. ‘I didn’t dare argue with him after that. He began turning up at Mum’s place at odd times late at night or very early in the morning on some bizarre pretext that he didn’t even try to make plausible. I was terrified of Mum working out what was going on. I didn’t know how to make him stop and I couldn’t let her see me with bruises. She had enough to contend with her being so unwell.’
‘Daisy, that’s horrific,’ he said moving towards her.
She shook her head. ‘No, please just listen. If I stop telling you I might be too embarrassed to start again.’
He sat down and waited silently for her to continue.
‘I know I sound pathetic.’
‘You don’t.’
She closed her eyes briefly. ‘It all came to a head when I was offered my own exhibition. Aaron tried to persuade me that I’d humiliate myself if I put my paintings on display, but I’d painted my whole life and this was what I’d wanted more than anything. We rowed, he hit me, but this time I decided that I was going to stand up for myself and go through with the exhibition. It meant too much to me not to.’ She shrugged. ‘And anyway, Mum would never have understood if I’d turned down such a dream offer.’ She could see he was shocked by the things she was confiding in him but had to hope that he believed her more than Fi had done.
‘Go on,’ he said his voice gentle.
‘Well, the day of the exhibition came and Aaron initially refused to go, which had been a relief. Even Mum managed to make it along with her carer who kindly brought her along in a wheelchair.’ Her voice wavered at the thought of her mother’s proud face as the mayor gave a speech about her being a future star of the art world. She coughed to clear her throat. ‘The man who’d arranged the exhibition then said a few words, ending with an announcement that he was offering to exhibit my art at his showroom in London later that year. I didn’t realise that Aaron had come to the exhibition but just as the announcement was made he began shouting about how ridiculous it all was, how my paintings were amateurish and how I’d only go and let the guy down by not coming up with the paintings he’d need for the London exhibition.’ She hesitated. ‘Which in the end I did by running away. Everyone was stunned by Aaron’s outburst and my mother’s perfect evening was ruined. The mayor shouted for him to leave, but Aaron raced up to me before anyone could stop him and took hold of one of my wrists, squeezing so hard I thought he’d break it.’ She rubbed her wrist recalling the intense pain he’s caused that night.
‘He smiled at me and whispered that I’d better run and run fast if I didn’t want him to do something that would ruin my life and that of my mother’s, and that if he thought I’d caused trouble that night I hadn’t seen anything yet. Two guests who also knew him and thought he’d either gone mad or was drunk, grabbed hold of him and took him home. I believed what he’d told me though and when I turned to look at my mum I could see that she’d been harbouring her own suspicions about him. We spoke later at home. We were both scared. She told me to leave and so I did.’
Daisy continued, telling Gabe about thinking she’d seen Aaron the last time they’d spoken on the beach near Lydia’s house and how he’d confronted her at Queen’s Valley. Then she added, ‘My mum was terrified of him and his unexpected appearances at our flat. She was the one who insisted I go travelling in the vain hope that he’d tire of following me and move on. He didn’t, of course. Now he’s set his sights on Fi. She’s obviously got close to him in the last few weeks and although it hurt when she believed him over me, I suppose she doesn’t really know me or that I’d never do the things he was accusing me of. I just don’t know what to do next, but I do know that she needs to get away from him. He seems even more crazy now than he did before and it frightens me,’ she said waiting for him to answer her.
He stared at her thoughtfully. She could see the muscles working in his jaw and could tell he was enraged on her behalf. As he sat there, she calmed down. It had been good to share her troubles with someone who believed her, someone she could trust.
‘I’m so sorry you’ve had to deal with this by yourself, Daisy,’ he said. ‘But you’re not alone now. I think the first thing we need to do is tip off her brother. I don’t know Sebastian Fielding well, but I do know how protective he is of his sister and there’s no way he’d let this sly bastard use her to get back at someone else.’
Daisy agreed, relief flooding through her to have him backing her. ‘Yes, but what if Fi can’t see through him?’
‘We’ll have to make sure she does, somehow.’ He rubbed his unshaven chin. ‘Don’t fret, Daisy, we’ll resolve this. Let me think about this for a bit.’
‘Thanks, Gabe,’ she said grateful to him for believing her so willingly. It dawned on her that she hadn’t asked him about his project. ‘How is everything with you? Were you able to source finance to continue with your work?’
‘A little, but only enough to finish the first stage, which we’ve now done. I’ve had to wrap everything up for now though, so I’m back here for a bit.’
‘I’m sorry it didn’t work out as you’d hoped,’ she said, feeling guilty for being so pleased to see him.
‘Not everything was a dead loss though,’ he said. ‘I was hoping you and I could go out for a walk later; there’s something I want to tell you.’
‘Can’t you tell me now?’
He smiled and shook his head. ‘Not yet. Shall we meet at the front of the hotel at, say five?’
She nodded. ‘I’d like that,’ she said, delighted that her upsetting afternoon was turning into a much happier day than she’d expected.
He stood up and holding out his arms, said. ‘Can I give you another hug?’
Daisy couldn’t help smiling as she stepped into his outstretched arms. ‘Of course.’
It felt so good to be held by him once again. An image of Bella began forming in her mind, but she pushed it away. She wasn’t doing anything wrong and right now she barely cared.
He put a finger under her chin and lifted her face to smile at her. ‘It’s good to see you again, Daisy.’
‘It’s good to see you, too,’ she said.
‘And you mustn’t worry: we’ll find a way to sort this out, I promise you. I’ll go and give Sebastian a call, see what he says.’
Chapter Fifteen
Gabriel
Gabriel was aware he was probably crossing the line by calling Fi’s brother. His parents probably wouldn’t approve, but he felt responsible for a young member of his staff and didn’t wish to ask anything further of Daisy until she’d had a chance to come to terms with everything that had happened, so he went to his office, closed the door and sat down to call Sebastian. The mobile number rang for a while and he was about to cut off the call when he heard a voice say, ‘Sebastian Fielding, hold on one minute please.’
Gabriel waited while Sebastian spoke to someone.
‘Sorry about that,’ he said. ‘I was just filling up with petrol.’
‘I don’t mean to interrupt you; I can call back if y
ou’re driving,’ Gabriel said.
‘No, not at all, I’ve come up from the South of France and am almost at the end of this drive, so I could do with something else to think about. Anyway, I’ve got the phone on hands free, so please carry on.’
‘It’s Gabriel Wilson here; your sister Fi works on the reception at my parents’ hotel.’ Gabriel heard Sebastian clear his throat.
‘Is my sister all right?’ he asked, the panic obvious in his tone.
‘Yes, she’s fine,’ Gabriel said hurriedly not wishing to worry him unnecessarily. ‘But there’s something I think you’d want to know.’ He hesitated. ‘Look wouldn’t you rather call me back when you’re not driving?’
‘No, please continue.’
Sebastian explained about Aaron and how he’d stalked and threatened Daisy and how he was now using Fi to get back at her for leaving him. ‘He hasn’t done anything to Fi as yet, but I thought you’d want to know that he’s hanging around and Fi seems to be getting quite close to him.’ He spoke in more detail, filling Sebastian in on the things Daisy had told him about the man.
There was a brief silence. ‘Thank you for telling me. I’ll call my butler now: he’ll know what to do and he’ll ensure nothing untoward happens to my sister. And Gabriel?’
‘Yes?’
‘Thank you for taking the time to call me. I appreciate it.’
‘No problem. Daisy will be relieved to know that I’ve been able to contact you.’
‘I’m just outside Dinard now, so will be home in about two hours. I’d appreciate it if you have a chat with my sister as soon as you can; she needs to be put in the picture about this idiot. You can tell her I know and I’ll sort this out as soon as I get back.’
Gabriel ended the call and rubbed his face with his hands. It was a relief that Sebastian had listened so readily to what he had to tell him. Not wishing to alert Fi to anything before she was in his office, he gave her a call at Reception and asked her to come through as soon as possible.
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