Forever Scarred (Scarred Series Book 3)

by Jackie Williams

  Freeman smiled lazily.

  “I know that Lucy. I know everything about you and I’ve already spoken to your brother to tell him that you won’t need his hospitality.”

  Lucy stiffened as she listened to his words.

  “What? How dare you interfere in my life like this? I’m going to Michael’s house tomorrow and there’s not a damn thing that you can do about it.” Her voice was more powerful than she felt.

  Freeman’s laughter echoed around the empty hallway.

  “But you don’t understand Lucy. You don’t need to move house at all. I have bought this place and I insist on you staying. I will be paying off your loan in the morning and bringing what you owe to my own company. I will be adding it to your outstanding debt and you won’t be able to pay the principal off for at least five years. I should think that should bring you to your senses if nothing else. You’re going to be mine Lucy, for as long as I want.”

  She would have fallen over in shock if there hadn’t been another knock on the door at that precise moment. Hearing what might be her only chance to get rid of him without using the corkscrew, she swiftly moved past Freeman and opened the door.

  Mr. Cheng from the local Chinese restaurant stood on the doorstep with a bag of hot food. His face dropped in dismay as he saw Freeman standing there.

  “Oh! I think I have brought wrong order. This is meal for one.” His sorrowful tone helped Lucy take her chance.

  She grabbed up her handbag from the floor.

  “No that’s absolutely right Mr. Cheng. Mr. Freeman was just leaving.” Carter scowled at Lucy as she stood back to let him out. He walked out of the door and pushed past Mr. Cheng.

  “That’s okay Lucy. I can wait until tomorrow to see you. After all, what are another few hours between friends?” He sauntered off down the path and walked back to his car.

  Lucy stood there staring after him as his big car pulled away from the verge and it was only when Mr. Cheng gave a small cough that she came back to her senses. She rummaged in her bag for the right money and handed it over to the waiting man. He didn’t leave immediately but looked curiously into Lucy’s pale face.

  “I don’t like that man. He arrogant. What he wan in few hours?”

  Lucy shook her head and took the bag of food from him.

  “Nothing really. Nothing important at all.” She closed her eyes for a second and looked back outside, then added in a whisper. “He just wants to take over my life.” She spoke quietly and didn’t think that Mr. Cheng could have heard but he raised his eyebrows in surprise at her comment.

  “Did he threaten you? You wan help Lucy? I can ask Kosi and Karl down here if you wan. Take them five minutes to come.”

  Lucy shook her head.

  “No, it’s okay. I’ll just move out of here before he arrives.”

  Mr. Cheng raised his eyebrows.

  “You movin’ out Lucy? Why you no tell us?”

  She looked at him sadly.

  “I have no choice. I have no choices left at all.” She gave him a watery smile. “I’m moving into Michael’s for a while so I’ll still be around. I don’t know what I’m going to be doing long term though. I’ll be fine Mr. Cheng, I’ll still order your food, don’t you worry.”

  She stepped back and the man smiled at her and moved away from the door.

  “Well, okay, but if he come and you no like him, you call me. Okay? I send boys.”

  He lifted his chin defiantly as Lucy nodded and closed the door at last. She slammed home the bolt and walked through to her kitchen.

  Her appetite had disappeared completely along with the urge to open the wine. She leaned back against the counter and let the tears flow down her cheeks. When the tears began to drip from her chin she grabbed the napkin out of the food bag to stem the flow.

  None of this was her fault, though she blamed herself for not seeing through Stewart sooner. He had fooled her right from the start and left her with debts that she thought she could overcome, but with someone as controlling as Freeman on her back then she was beaten. She had done the best she could but her best just wasn’t good enough.

  Her best wasn’t even good enough for Joe. She had thought that he had feelings for her, that he might have tried to find her, come after her, but she had heard nothing. She sobbed into her hands again and then walked up the stairs to her bedroom. She threw herself on the bed and held the pillow against her body and dreamed of Joe lying with her, his hot skin on her body, his hard muscles bunching as he took her so passionately. She’d had one night with him, one night of the most beautiful feelings possible, desire, passion and love pouring unrestrained from of both of them.

  Her heart thudded hard against her ribs at the glorious memories. She knew it was love on her part. There was no other explanation for the emotions that she had experienced or the feelings she still held. She thought Joe had felt the same way, but maybe it was different for him, maybe he really wasn’t looking for love and she was just a quick lay to release a bit of pent up tension. Maybe he got lucky every time a new set of clients went to the chateau.

  She rolled over in the bed and closed her eyes tightly as she prayed that he didn’t take women to his bed every time the chateau had guests. She didn’t want him to see her as a quick fling. She wanted to dream of him, wanted to feel him one last time before she gave in to Carter Freeman. She couldn’t even run away. Freeman had made that perfectly clear when he had mentioned her brother Michael. He had a wife and family and probably a mortgage with Freeman too. There was no way she could bring her troubles down on his family. She would just have to get it over with. Maybe Freeman would get bored with her, maybe she wouldn’t live up to his expectations.

  She clutched at straws that she knew didn’t exist and lay breathing quietly, feverishly hoping that some kind of world disaster would befall the planet before Freeman sealed her fate the next day.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Robbie was crying into his father’s trouser leg and David was scowling at Joe furiously.

  “Damn it Joe! How could you forget him? You were the one who suggested the blasted game in the first place. He was hiding for bloody hours. If Geraldine hadn’t wondered why he didn’t come in for his tea he might have been out there all night. You know how desperate he is to beat you at your own game and once it got dark we would never have found him.”

  Patrick stood silently to the side waiting for Joe’s explanation.

  Joe felt terrible. He swallowed noisily as he squatted down to Robbie’s level, wondering what on earth he could say to make it up to the child. He really hadn’t meant to forget the boy but his mind seemed to wander of its own accord these days and there wasn’t much he was able to do about it. Random thoughts of blonde hair and dimples intruded into everything he did. His heart rate picked up at the mere thought of the woman he had turned away.

  He stared at the dark haired boy in front of him and put Lucy from his mind for just one moment. He had to make this right with his little pal. He tugged at Robbie’s shoulders gently and felt marginally better when the child actually turned towards him and snuggled into his chest. Joe cleared his throat before he spoke softly into Robbie’s ear.

  “Hey kiddo, I’m really sorry. I had some things on my mind and you were so quiet this time I just forgot you were even there. It will never happen again Robbie. I didn’t mean for you to be frightened.”

  Robbie wound his arms around Joe’s neck. He gulped down his tears and wiped his nose on Joe’s shirt before pulling back and looking up with glistening eyes.

  “That fox really scared me Joe. He was as big as a wolf and he came right up to me and looked at me with huge red eyes. His tongue was hanging out too. I thought he was going to eat me Joe!” Robbie’s lips began trembling again.

  Joe gulped down his guilt and ruffled Robbie’s hair. He gave him a big, confident smile.

  “Don’t be daft. No measly fox could have eaten you even if he was as big as a wolf. You are way too big and tough and you do
n’t look a bit like Red Riding Hood anyway. No basket of goodies for grandma for a start.”

  Robbie gave a small watery smile and wrapped his little arms around Joe’s neck again.

  “Do wolves only eat girls then? We shouldn’t let Ellen take Rose out walking in the forest, though I think the sound of her bawling would probably frighten the big bad fox away. She’s real loud Joe. She would be rubbish at hiding.” He released his grip, rubbed his eyes and grinned at Joe, then leaned forwards and planed a wet kiss on the end of his nose.

  Patrick let out a small sigh of relief. It seemed that the immediate crisis was over. At least Robbie had been found and Geraldine had at last been persuaded to go and lie down after an evening of complete and utter panic.

  Patrick bent down to Robbie and whispered something in his ear. Robbie opened his eyes wide and then scooted off out of the kitchen to find a bowl of homemade ice-cream in the freezer.

  As soon as the boy had disappeared into the scullery Patrick frowned at Joe again.

  “This has got to stop Joe. We can’t run the place like this. Last week there was the problem with the harness on the zip wire. If Dave hadn’t noticed at the last moment, someone could have been killed. The week before it was the climbing tower. If that had come down with those twelve guys still on it we would have all been slung in jail. And then there was the canoe race into town. Who’s flipping idea was that? You let the whole situation get out of control and there was a massive row with the locals. The Maire actually came and spoke to me about it.”

  Joe groaned loudly and closed his eyes. He sank into the chair nearest the table and laid his head on his arms as his huge shoulders slumped in defeat.

  “I’ll leave. I can’t do this anymore. You’re right I’m not on my game, someone is going to get hurt and it will be my fault. I can’t damage the reputation of this place. It wouldn’t be fair to those who need it. I’ll pack up tonight and go in the morning.”

  David rolled his eyes and sat down beside his friend. He put a friendly arm over his shoulder and gave him a squeeze.

  “Don’t be stupid mate. We don’t want you to leave. We just need you to focus. Look, we’re not daft. We know what or rather who the problem is. We’ve both been through it ourselves to differing extents. Women can be the very devil in disguise sometimes. We just have to find a way to put it right.”

  Joe looked up at him briefly, his eyes were red rimmed and he looked thoroughly beaten.

  “How? How do I put it right? She doesn’t even work for that slime anymore. I know because I checked. That awful woman Jessica Dennison took great delight in telling me that Lucy had been dismissed for irregular practices and due to the data protection act she couldn’t tell me her whereabouts. I’ve been through the obvious channels like the electoral register but she’s not listed in any of counties that surround her office. I can’t find her. The last night she was here I good as told her she was a fraud and a liar. She left without even saying goodbye. Whatever I want doesn’t even matter as it’s quite clear that she doesn’t want me. She could have rung me. She could have written, anything to give me some kind of hope, but I haven’t heard a word from her.”

  Patrick snorted in derision.

  “Women are sometimes like that Joe. If you remember, I nearly lost Ellen just because she hadn’t stuck her head in the right flipping post box for over three months! You’ll have to do all the running if you want her. You just have to dig deeper and look harder. We have plenty of people who can help. What about Alex? Have you asked him to have a dig about? He’s all into the computer stuff now. Since we were all blown up he’s been in the office. He’s an absolute demon with anything computer based. The U.S. agencies were even trying to poach him last year.”

  David grinned and slapped Joe on the back.

  “Come on Joe. You don’t want to miss this chance. You can’t let a little spat come between you and true love. You just wounded her a little. She’ll get over it if you find her and go after her. It was obvious that she thought the sun shone out of your backside.”

  They stopped talking as the kitchen door opened and Ellen walked through holding Rose in her arms.

  “Geraldine is sleeping now and Robbie appears to be quite happy with that bowl of ice cream. I was about to go home Patrick. Are you coming?”

  Patrick shook his head and pointed his finger at the back of Joe’s bent head.

  “No, not for a while. Need to help a lovesick comrade. We can’t possibly leave him in this state. It’s pathetic to behold.”

  Joe had just enough fight in him to land a quick elbow to Patrick’s stomach.

  “Shut up Patrick. Ellen doesn’t want to hear any of my shit.”

  Patrick rubbed his stomach and laughed as Ellen came to stand beside him. She looked at up at her husband quizzically. He answered her unasked question.

  “He’s moping about Lucy. He’s getting desperate and doesn’t know how to go about finding her. They had a bit of a spat the last night she was here when we were still in the hospital with Rose and what with the debacle of the next morning, he was unable to apologize. Now he’s like a complete flag and can’t get a thing right. He needs our help big time.”

  Ellen looked down at Joe as he slumped over his arms again.

  “I knew something must have happened but what with trying to calm all those people down that morning and being so busy since I hadn’t thought about how you might be feeling. Why didn’t you say something before and why haven’t you called her?”

  Joe managed to roll his eyes.

  “Couldn’t be anything to do with not having her phone number or anything could it?” He asked sarcastically.

  Ellen gave a great sigh and moved over to the kitchen computer. She passed Rose to Patrick then punched in a few numbers and scrolled down the screen for a minute. She stood up straight again.

  “There you go. Lucy’s home telephone number. She gave it to me when we were sorting out the booking for the group. Apparently Freeman turns his mobile off a lot of the time.”

  Joe sat stunned and then leapt for the phone that sat beside the computer.

  The others all looked very pleased and began filing out of the room but then they heard Joe slam down the phone again.

  “It’s been disconnected. The number is no longer in use.” His voice had dropped to a mere whisper.

  Ellen walked back to the computer screen and checked the number. She dialed it herself and then looked at the phone curiously as a mechanical voice told her exactly the same thing it had told Joe.

  “Hmm. That’s odd. People don’t often change their home telephone numbers. Hang on, I have another idea.” She looked at some more details on her screen and then opened an internet search and began typing in the website of a bank. Then she stood for a couple of seconds tapping the side of the computer, obviously thinking. Three minutes later she had a copy of Lucy’s bank statement up in front of her.

  “Well I’ll be damned!” Patrick breathed out. “And how on earth did you work out her password?”

  Ellen shrugged.

  “I remembered that Geraldine said she had left her banking details logged on the night she was stuck on the steps, so I just looked in the history initially. Then I just put her name in as an account holder. Her personal code was more of a guess. I didn’t want to rush into it as banks normally only let you have three goes, but most people tend to use dates or names they know already. I just guessed her brother’s initials as he is marked as her next of kin on the copy of her passport that she left here as ID, plus her own birthdate. It worked first time.”

  Joe stared at the screen. His eyes were reading down the figures on the bank statement.

  “Hey! Look at this. This can’t be right. Why is she paying all that money over to the company she worked for?”

  Ellen peered over his shoulder.

  “You’re not meant to be looking at her private affairs Joe. Just her address.”

  He shrugged and concentrated on the columns and t
otals.

  “Can’t help it when you see figures like that, and look at this one at the bottom. That’s the same monthly figure as her mortgage and now that’s changed to Freeman Investments too. That doesn’t seem very likely as she doesn’t even work for them anymore. Look, there have been no deposits since the transfer she made while she was over here.” Joe put his finger on a date and then stated the obvious. “She’s out of work with no income.”

  Patrick frowned at the screen.

  “That Freeman Investments is not a bank that I ever heard of before. Maybe it’s a subsidiary of Freeman’s own insurance company or something. Open a new tab and Google them Joe.”

  It took only a few seconds to discover that Freeman Investments was essentially a short term loan company. The interest rates were high and the company’s customers were locked in for years. It was clearly the last option left to the clients before bankruptcy. The company used several different names but it all boiled down to the same thing in the end. Short term lending with sky high interest rates.

  Joe sat back on the chair and slapped his forehead with his hand.

  “Shit! She was in deeper trouble than I thought. That last night she was here I heard them arguing. I climbed up into her room and he was there. He was trying to get her to sleep with him. She kicked him out after she slapped him. When she saw me she said that Freeman was blackmailing her, but I had overheard him saying that she had only slept with me to get me on her side. I thought she was using the blackmail thing as an excuse for him being in her bedroom again. I called her a liar but she was telling the truth and he’s pulling the rug from under her. She’ll be left homeless and penniless by that vile piece of crap and I let it happen to her.” He stood up. “I’ll get the overnight ferry. Now I know where she is maybe I can convince her to change her mind and come back here.”

  David frowned as he stared at Lucy’s bank statement.

  “That’s all fine Joe, but it won’t get rid of her debt. That bastard has obviously pulled a fast on her. He owns her house, her car, he even holds all the markers on this previous stuff. That’s in joint names but it seems that she’s paying it all. Who’s this Stewart MacDonald person? His name is on these debts but it doesn’t look as though he pays a penny. I can’t see anything coming into her account from him.”