The Secrets of Clover Castle

by Martin, Holly

  ‘It’s too rough, we’ll get thrown into the rocks.’

  Milly glanced up at Sophia on the shelf, still pointing into the crevice. There was only one option; to put their trust in a ghost and hope that the daylight that was filling the end of the crevice might lead to another way out.

  Cameron seemed to have the same idea and they both sloshed through the water to the shelf. She helped to get Cameron up onto it and then clambered up herself. Cameron stood up and staggered into the cave wall.

  ‘Come on,’ she guided him to the entrance to the crevice, but it was very quickly obvious that Cameron was too big to get through.

  ‘You go, I’ll be fine out here,’ Cameron muttered, pushing her in.

  ‘No way, the gap is wider at the bottom, just get down on your hands and knees and crawl through.’

  Cameron dropped to his knees, he was so woozy he could hardly hold his head up. She walked ahead of him as he slowly crawled behind, following her. The crevice ended in a small chamber that was lit up by a shaft of sunlight from a crack further up the cliff face. There was no way out. But it was dry in here and maybe the tide wouldn’t make it this far.

  Cameron made it to the chamber and sat against the wall, closing his eyes.

  Milly knelt next to him, holding his face. ‘Hey, can you try to stay awake for a little while?’

  He opened his eyes and looked at her.

  She snuggled into his side and he put his arm around her. ‘Did you really wake up when I kissed you?’

  He smiled. ‘No, I woke up to hearing you tell me you loved me, over and over again.’

  She blushed and he closed his eyes again. She had to keep him awake. ‘Cameron. I do love you. I should have said it before, but I was scared. I’ve been in love before and it always ended badly, I didn’t want to trust that a happy ending was possible with you. And the hardest thing was I loved you more than anyone I’ve ever been with and so I had so much more to lose. Cameron look at me.’

  He opened his eyes. ‘Go on, I’m listening.’

  ‘And I want to stay married to you and stay here and raise a family with you, or, if you get fed up with the hotel or you continue writing shit books and make no money at all, you can move into my flat. It’s right on the beach and we can walk Gregory along it every day and you can write and I’ll look after you, make you nice cooked breakfasts every day and we can have hot sex every night.’

  ‘I like the sound of that.’

  Milly rested her head on his shoulder for a moment and as she looked across the chamber she could see a small chest tucked behind some rocks.

  ‘Cameron, look!’ She pointed, but as she looked up at him his eyes were closed again, his head leaning back against the wall. She reached up and grabbed his face, his eyes shot open. ‘Look, a chest, it might be Uncle Boris’s.’

  Cameron peered across the chamber, but it was quite obvious that he was having trouble seeing anything.

  ‘Shall I get it?’

  He nodded, though clearly he wasn’t bothered by it.

  She clambered over to the rocks and lifted the chest, surprised by how light it was. She came back and sat next to Cameron, placing it on his lap.

  He weakly lifted the clasp and opened the lid. Inside, the red lined interior was filled with jewels of different colours that sparkled in the sunlight. Gleaming rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds shone from inside the chest and sent a rainbow of colours around the dusty chamber.

  Cameron peered at them and Milly did too, the moment of wonder and amazement quickly fading. She wasn’t an expert on jewels but they all looked like they were made from glass. They were too big, too neat and polished. If these were real they would be worth millions but there was no way that they were. Had Uncle Boris been carrying around a chest of fake jewels all these years and didn’t know? Had someone switched the real jewels for fake ones at some point? Or had he always known they were fake and just used them to show off to people about his wealth? But if that was the case, then why go to such great lengths to hide them? Unless his madness and paranoia had eventually led him to believe his fake jewels were real.

  Milly chanced a glance at Cameron, wondering if he had spotted their worthlessness too and was disappointed.

  ‘I don’t think these are real, Milly, I’m sorry.’ He looked at her, sadly.

  ‘I know, but why are you sorry?’

  ‘I know how much you wanted to find them.’

  ‘For you, to help you and the castle.’

  He smiled and moved the box off his lap.

  ‘There might be one in there that’s worth something,’ Milly said.

  ‘Your glass is always half full, isn’t it?’ Cameron said, fondly.

  ‘You never know, if just one of these jewels is the real deal then that would solve all your financial problems for the rest of your life.’

  Cameron leaned against the rock and closed his eyes. She pulled his face back to look at her. ‘You have to stay awake, do you hear me?’

  ‘I’m really tired, baby.’

  ‘I know.’ She reached up and kissed him, feeling his mouth respond instantly to hers. His kisses were soft and sleepy and she felt his head getting heavy.

  ‘Hey,’ she tapped his face lightly and he opened his eyes. ‘What can I do to keep you awake?’

  ‘Hot sex.’

  ‘I don’t think you’re in any fit state for that.’

  ‘Probably not,’ he mumbled, his eyes fluttering closed.

  She grabbed his face again and he looked at her. ‘If you stay awake, I promise that when we get back to the castle and you’re feeling better I will give you the best blow job of your life.’

  His eyes widened and then he burst out laughing. ‘I’m going to hold you to that, Mrs Heartstone.’

  * * *

  Milly came back down the crevice to the chamber. ‘The tide has started to go out. I reckon it’s still a few feet deep out there but it’s probably shallow enough for us to get back to the tunnel.’

  Cameron nodded sleepily and she struggled to get him up. She had employed every tool in her arsenal to keep him awake over the last hour or two, including flashing her tits, though he hadn’t seemed as appreciative of that as he had been on previous occasions.

  He bent to pick the chest up.

  ‘Just leave it, we can come back for it another day.’

  ‘We’re not coming back here again, I’m not risking your life on these rocks, we’ll take it now.’

  ‘Well let me take it then, it’s quite light.’

  Cameron nodded. He crawled out onto the shelf and she passed him the chest to hold while she slid off into the swirling waters below. The current was still strong but they only had a few feet to traverse to get back into the tunnel. She turned to help him down into the cave but as he slid down next to her he stumbled and the chest flew out of his hands, smashing open on the rocks and spilling the jewels into the murky water.

  ‘No!’ Cameron moaned, fumbling around in the water to try to find the missing jewels.

  ‘Leave it Cameron, they’re worthless.’

  ‘We don’t know that,’ he sank to his knees, trying desperately to find them.

  She grabbed his hands and stopped him. ‘Please. I am really scared that you might have done some serious damage with that blow to the head. I want to get you checked out by a doctor or the hospital. I would rather have you safe than have a million jewels. Please, stop looking. If we are meant to find them, they’ll still be here when we come back.’

  He stared at her for a moment and then reluctantly conceded. He stood up and with his arm firmly round her shoulders she negotiated their path over the rocks and towards the tunnel. There was still a lot of water in the part before the steps, but it was passable even if it meant they’d be wading up to their waist to get out.

  Every step back up the tunnel was slow and laborious and Milly couldn’t help but panic over the damage that might have been done to his head.

  With Cameron leaning on he
r heavily, they moved back into the dungeons, along the corridor and up the stairs towards the banquet hall and finally into Cameron’s kitchen.

  Olivia quickly hung up the phone as they came in, going pale at their bedraggled state.

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘He fell on some rocks and knocked himself out.’

  Olivia immediately went into panic mode. ‘We need to call someone, who should I call, your publisher or your agent?’

  ‘How about an ambulance?’ Milly asked, pointedly.

  Cameron groaned as he sat down. ‘No don’t, I’m fine. Nothing a few paracetamols won’t cure.’

  Milly stubbornly grabbed her mobile phone and called one anyway, ignoring the glares from Cameron. Finishing the call, she put the phone down and looked back at him. Olivia was still panicking.

  ‘I have papers I need you to sign,’ Olivia came over and pushed a document in front of Cameron and tried to force a pen into his hand. Cameron looked at the pen in confusion before Milly snatched it out of his fingers.

  ‘Let’s get you into some dry clothes before the ambulance comes.’

  She helped Cameron to his feet and he sighed theatrically as if she was making a fuss out of nothing. She led him to his room as Olivia hovered around them.

  ‘Don’t let him sleep, it’s very important that he stays awake,’ she said.

  ‘I know,’ Milly snapped.

  She helped Cameron get changed and led him back into the kitchen, just as blue flashing lights appeared outside the windows. For a village that didn’t seem to exist on any maps and was nearly impossible to get to, the ambulance sure had got there quick enough.

  Milly ran outside just as the ambulance was turning around so it was facing the right direction. She quickly told the paramedics what had happened, how long Cameron had been unconscious and how he had been sleepy and dizzy ever since. The paramedics examined him and helped him into the ambulance with Cameron protesting the whole time and Olivia flapping around them all like an oversized bird.

  Cameron sat down on the bed inside and Milly moved to get in the ambulance with him.

  ‘Milly, get my phone will you?’ Cameron muttered.

  Milly raced back inside and looked around for it on the table which was covered in Olivia’s stuff. She eventually found it under a pile of papers, grabbed it and raced back outside again, but the ambulance was already pulling out the gate.

  Milly chased after it, but it was too far ahead. She sped back to the kitchen and found her car keys. She jumped into Dick and turned the key but though he coughed and spluttered and though she begged and pleaded with him to start, the engine didn’t turn over and she knew by that point the ambulance had already left the village, taking Cameron and the evil PA with it.

  * * *

  Milly was in a state. She had no idea where Cameron had been taken. She had phoned every hospital in the local area and even the ones further afield and they all denied that Cameron had been admitted there. As a semi famous celebrity, she supposed he was afforded a bit more privacy than other patients.

  She had phoned Olivia more times than she could count but she never answered.

  She’d phoned his publishers but couldn’t find anyone who was willing to talk to her.

  It had been nearly twenty-four hours since the ambulance had disappeared. She hadn’t slept, she hadn’t eaten, she had cried more tears than she knew she had.

  She felt sick.

  What if he had died? What if she never saw him again?

  She felt awful and she knew part of it was from lack of food. She had to eat something but the thought twisted her stomach. She opened up a can of beans and poured the contents into a saucepan but before she could put it on the stove a taxi pulled up on the drive outside.

  Her heart soared and sank in equal measure. It could be Cameron, it could just be Olivia.

  She watched out the window and as the taxi drove off, she could see Cameron and Olivia walking back up the drive. Cameron looked exhausted but he was alive.

  She flew out the door, down the drive and threw her arms around him, sobbing uncontrollably.

  ‘I was so scared, I thought you might have died. Are you OK?’

  She leaned back slightly to look at him and only then realised that he wasn’t holding her and he was looking at her with absolute hatred.

  She stepped back. ‘What’s wrong?’

  He didn’t say anything, just shoved a newspaper into her hands and walked past her back to the castle.

  Milly stared after him in confusion and then unfolded the newspaper. There, on the front page, was the photo she had taken of her and Cameron in bed together coupled with the headline, ‘Phoenix Blaze set my world on fire.’

  Her stomach dropped. She flicked open the newspaper and an account of their love story covered two whole pages. The spread included the photos she had taken of him sleeping; one close up of his face and one naked picture of him lying sprawled out face down on the bed, plus the ones he had taken of her naked and the ones he had taken of them together. These were private intimate photos and someone had exploited them. She felt sick for Cameron and then as she studied the words some more, she realised with horror that this wasn’t an account of their love story but an interview with her. There were quotes and huge paragraphs from someone claiming to be Milly giving detailed accounts of her and Cameron’s time together.

  She ran after Cameron and burst into the kitchen. ‘I didn’t do this.’

  Her suitcase was open on the kitchen table and Cameron was grabbing all her possessions and throwing them in. He didn’t even look at her.

  ‘I swear, I didn’t do this. I love you, why would I do this if I loved you?’

  ‘I’ve been asking that question myself,’ Cameron said.

  Rage ripped through her. ‘I can’t believe you would think I was capable of this. After everything we’ve been through …’

  Cameron slammed his hand down on the table. ‘Yes, after everything we’ve been through you betray me like this.’

  ‘I didn’t do it.’

  Cameron shook his head, throwing more of her things into the suitcase. ‘I thought you were different, I trusted you.’

  ‘That’s bollocks! You never trusted me. I thought you had got past all those fears and had fallen in love with me. But you clearly never loved me at all if you can believe that I would do something like this to you.’

  Cameron slammed the lid shut and zipped it up, then stalked past her, opened the door and shoved the suitcase in the back of her car.

  ‘Get out and don’t ever come back.’

  He strode off to his bedroom without a look back.

  Olivia stared at her with disgust. ‘Looks like someone’s shine has rubbed off.’

  Milly had no words. How had this happened?

  Cameron came back into the kitchen, wearing only his jeans. Milly gasped at the dark bruise down one side.

  ‘Olivia, I need you in the bedroom,’ he said.

  Milly watched in horror as Olivia slipped out of her jacket and then walked past Cameron towards his bedroom. Cameron followed her and slammed the door to the lounge.

  Milly stared at the door. With angry tears pouring down her cheeks, she walked out. She hoisted her suitcase out of the back of Dick and walked down the drive. She would have to arrange for a garage to come and collect him at some point, if Cameron hadn’t burnt him to the ground in some spiteful rage.

  Anger boiled inside her as she walked through the gate. It had taken everything she had to let herself trust in a happy ending with him and now he had betrayed her. How could he possibly think she would do that to him?

  She was shaking all over and she knew she had to get some food. She walked into the village, a huge lump of emotion and tears clogging in her throat making it difficult to breathe.

  She knocked on Gladys’s door. When she answered her face lit up at seeing her and then immediately fell when she saw Milly’s expression.

  ‘Come in dear, I’ll put the
kettle on.’

  Chapter Twenty

  ‘Has she gone?’ Cameron asked as he paced around the bedroom.

  Olivia tottered out to check, he heard the lounge door open and then she came back. ‘Looks like it.’

  ‘Good.’ He flopped back down on the bed. ‘I need to sleep, bloody doctors kept me awake all night.’

  ‘I know you’ve been hurt by this, let me help you.’ She ran a hand over his arm but he moved out of her reach.

  ‘Liv, I’m in a really bad mood and I don’t want to say something that I’ll regret. Will you please just leave me alone for a few hours.’

  Olivia sighed. ‘Well, can I get you anything?’

  ‘Yes, the newspaper.’

  ‘Cam, I really don’t think you should read that now, it isn’t going to make you feel any better.’

  ‘I need to know what she said about me.’

  Olivia disappeared back into the kitchen and brought the paper back.

  She hovered for a moment.

  ‘I can’t believe she told the papers that you didn’t write the Hidden Faces series. I hate to say I told you so, but you should never have trusted her with that.’

  ‘I shouldn’t have trusted her with anything, but that secret is going to ruin me.’

  ‘Maybe it isn’t. Maybe she’s done you a favour with that. You’ve always said you wanted everyone to know. This might help to get your fans back on side before the release of the next book.’

  Cameron had nothing to say, he was so angry. When it was obvious he wasn’t going to speak to her, Olivia left, closing the door behind her.

  He stared at the picture of him and Milly on the front page. They looked so happy together, so in love. How could she have done this to him?

  He opened up the paper and stared at the pictures of him lying fast asleep, stark naked. How could she deny that she had done this when she was the one who had taken these pictures? Why would she take photos of him naked whilst he slept unless she had intended to sell him out all along?