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Moments later, I got up and went to embrace her, feeling like the worst human being in this world.
“Thank you for being here and helping me with Maja,” I told her.
She pulled away, stroking my face, smiling.
“You have a good heart, darling, and everything will be all right, Maja will come around,” she assured me. “But you have to let her see Laura. I know you don’t trust her, but this poor girl is her aunt. Trust me on this, Spencer.”
I didn’t want to agree and I didn’t want Laura back in my apartment, because I would be a wreck if I even sensed her smell, but Maja was miserable.
“Fine, but you will have to arrange it so Laura visits her in your house. I don’t want her here,” I said, well aware that I was fucking in love with her, no matter how much I tried to deny it.
“Yes, I'll make sure she goes there,” Mum said, sounding happy.
Laura’s soft laugh kept haunting me, but that wasn’t the only thing that kept me up at night. Sam had called me a few times, although I only spoke to her once, hoping she would eventually get the message and stop bothering me. She was still after my money, but I firmly told her she wasn’t getting a penny from me, so she changed her tune and said she wanted to see Maja. I nearly broke my phone, but then I hung up and told Cath to call my lawyer. Samantha was a leech, and I was still having trouble processing the fact she was Laura’s biological sister.
The next day was the day I allowed Laura to see Maja. I just didn’t have the heart to separate the two any longer, so my mother arranged for her to go to her house. It was easier and safer that way. The press kept occupying the whole street outside Number 10, and my father said that reporters were outside my parents’ house, too.
It was nearly four o’clock in the afternoon, and I had a meeting coming up that I couldn’t miss.
In my head, I kept replaying all the good times Laura and I had together in Italy, rehashing memories of a woman who’d turned my life upside down. I missed her like crazy, and I could barely function because she was constantly on my mind. Maybe she was telling the truth that she was set up. Maybe I’d reacted too impulsively. But the money …
I dragged my hand through my hair. I could smell her in my bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and, of course, in Maja’s room. I never thought I would get attached to her, but she’d gotten under my skin so fast. There was no point in lying to myself anymore. I cared for her in a way I’d never cared for another woman. Even Samantha.
I got on with my meetings and then headed home for an early night. Then, Mum called, asking me to come over for dinner. I knew what she was doing. She wanted me to talk to Laura, and I was too exhausted to argue with her, so I told her I would think about it.
I desperately wanted to see her again.
I pottered around the apartment for a while, trying to find something to do, but I was restless. If I didn’t see her, I might lose my mind because her absence drove me insane.
She was my weakness, but she’d wounded me.
Had she, though? I never gave her a chance to really explain.
In the end, it didn’t matter. I was thoroughly fucked.
I called security and asked them to send the driver over, and he took me to my mother’s.
“Thanks,” I said to him when I got out of the car.
My mother opened the door for me with a smile.
“I’m so glad that you could make it, Spencer,” she said after I embraced her. “Dinner should be ready soon. Maja is playing with Laura upstairs. I don’t know what you have done to that poor girl, but I’m begging you to fix it. She looks like she’s lost at least ten pounds.”
I sighed and rubbed my chin, feeling as though someone had broken a piece of my heart into even smaller pieces. We needed to talk. Fuck, I wanted to forget about this nightmare, but I knew I couldn't.
I went inside and stayed in the living room for a bit while my father was rambling about the foreign policy and the conflict in the Middle East. Nothing was working, I could barely listen to him, because Laura was so close, she was only upstairs, and I suspected she didn’t expect to see me here. This was her time with Maja.
“All right, Spence, I'll distract Maja in the kitchen for a little while and you can go speak to Laura. Oh, and Rupert is coming for dinner, too,” Mum added, calling Maja.
Several long minutes later, Maja ran downstairs. She still refused to talk to me and frowned when she saw me, so I was very surprised when she spoke to me.
“Be nice to her, Daddy. I don’t like seeing Laura upset.” It was a clear warning on her part while my stomach hollowed out.
I fucking missed her and I truly wasn’t planning to upset her again.
“All right, sweetie. Go help Grandma in the kitchen,” I said.
I rushed upstairs, my chest heavy, but the moment I saw her, my whole world crumbled. She was picking up toys from the floor but instantly stiffened, probably sensing I was near.
