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She wore a long pastel dress I’d bought for her in Sicily. When she finally turned around, her eyes widened, and she swallowed.
“Spencer, oh, I didn’t know you were going to be here,” she said.
Indeed, Laura had lost weight. She looked fragile, and for a split second I wanted to take her into my arms and tell her I had made a terrible mistake, but suddenly I couldn’t move.
“I better go.”
She passed me in the doorway, so I grabbed her elbow, the touch stinging me within.
“Stay. We really need to talk,” I said, longing to embrace her but keeping away. I’d hurt her, but all the evidence against her was there, right in front of me …
“Let go of my arm,” she snapped.
I did.
She was right. I had no right to touch her or even think about her. We were done with each other, she’d betrayed me. But why did I feel like my heart had been crushed with a sledgehammer? She backtracked into the room as I leaned against the doorframe, wallowing in my misery. I shouldn’t have slept with her. It was a mistake, and now I was paying the price.
“How are things with Maja?” I asked.
“We are fine. She kept asking me why you were upset with me, so I told her that I released some information about you that I shouldn’t have. She was very persistent, but I managed to distract her with something else,” she replied. “What do you want? Dinner is probably ready, and I've somewhere else to be.”
“Please, Laura, I've something important to say. Can you listen to me for a moment?” I begged. I had never done this before, but my skin was on fire. I felt anger, lust, sadness, excitement, disgust, and love for this woman. I needed to have her close again, even if my mind roared at me to stay back.
“Why should I? You didn’t listen to me when it mattered. We really have nothing to talk about,” she said.
“I’m trying to figure out where the money that you received came from,” I told her. I’d asked James to look into it, and so far he had no leads.
“I've no idea, someone framed me,” she replied with anger.
“James said that whoever did the wire was a professional, but he’s going to get to the bottom of it,” I assured her, not even knowing why I was saying this. She was right, I’d presumed that she was guilty, so what had changed?
I’d fallen in love with Laura because of her kindness and affection that she’d showered Maja with—her niece now. Fuck, the wall between us was so thick, and I wanted to smash it until my hands bled.
“It doesn’t matter, you don’t need to do it. I told you I’m going to clear my name, so James doesn’t need to investigate this at all,” she stated. “Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?”
She wants to leave, which means she doesn’t want you; she doesn’t love you. Isn’t it obvious?
“I want to believe you, Laura, but Jeremy has evidence against you. He said that you sent the photo from your phone.”
“Then we have nothing else to talk about. Leave me alone and don’t contact me again.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Laura
It had been another week since that photo had been leaked online, and I could barely sleep. This afternoon, I went to my favourite bookshop where they had the cutest coffee shop inside, so I could browse the romance books and have a bite to eat. I needed the distraction because my life had fallen to pieces and I still wasn’t sure how I was going to figure out who’d set me up.
For the first few days, I was apprehensive about going out because reporters had found out my parents’ address, and that complicated everything. Mum was in the hospital, so she didn’t know what was going on. Her new doctor said she was responding well to medication, so for now, I didn’t have to worry about that, at least. I was planning to talk to my parents after this whole thing blew over. They had enough on their plate, and I didn’t need to worry them further.
After I settled in, ordered a coffee and their delicious pistachio pastry, I browsed through social media. A video of Spencer leaving Number 10 caught my attention. My heart tugged as I stared at the screen, wondering what had happened to us. We had never been so far apart, and now, since I’d found out Maja was my niece, I missed her even more. There was a clear resemblance between us, and I had no idea how I hadn’t seen it before. This was very bizarre, and despite what was going on, I promised her I would figure out a way for me to see her again. She missed me, too, but what had happened between Spencer and I was still raw. It was going to take me a very long time to even consider seeing him again.
I returned my attention to the screen.
“Prime Minister, can you tell us whether you were ever romantically involved with your nanny?” one of the reporters asked the dreaded question during the latest press conference that I was now watching on my phone.
“My private life remains private. Are there any other further questions relating to the latest foreign policy?”
“He's very charismatic, isn’t he?” someone asked, standing behind me, startling me.
