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He snorted. “And who might that be, eh?”
“You really don’t know?”
My eyes flew open.No, she wasnot. It was clear that the time for eavesdropping was over. And the time for action was now.
I flipped around and opened the door, prepared to tell this stupid, conniving wench that if she wanted to see an unhappy version of Francesca Zola, she was about to get it right in her perfectly straight nose.
But as soon as I entered the room, I stopped in my tracks.
And watched with horror as Imogene tenderly cupped Xavier’s dejected face.
Shuddered as she leaned down through a waterfall of her perfect golden hair.
Quaked as she set her glossy pink lips to his.
And felt my heart split into ten thousand pieces as he remained still and let her.
I backed away from the door with a stumble that was swallowed by the thick rug protecting the floor of the hallway. Moving purely by instinct, I ran back the way I’d come, getting lost approximately four times before finally locating the main stairs, taking them two at a time without really knowing where I was headed.
Sofia. I needed to find Sofia. Needed to ground myself in her sweet, sweaty scent and unicorn chatter. Remember my true raison d'être in this world, no matter what happened here.
And after that…shit, what was I supposed to do?
Ideas were flying through my mind when I rounded a corner toward the main entrance and once again ran straight into Georgina.
“What the devil—” she sputtered. “Oh, it’syou.”
“Georgina,” I said. I was finished with the titles. I was finished with everything about this place, including her. If she would help me with just one thing.
Though she started at the use of her given name, she seemed to sense my desperation. “Yes?”
“I—” I swallowed. “I want to go home.” I glanced up the stairs, terrified for a moment that Xavier might see me and stop me from doing what I now knew was right. “I just—I want to go home. As soon as humanly possible. Can you—would you help me?”
She cocked her head, looking up the stairs where I had come from and back down at me. Then a distinctly evil smile that made my blood run cold spread across her face.
“Yes, of course,” she said quietly, almost so low no one else who might have listened could hear. “You find your darling little girl. I’ll have Gibson pull the car around and take you to the heliport. Ten minutes, and you’ll be on your way. The rest of your things will be sent home shortly. Will that suffice?”
Still sniffing back encroaching tears, I nodded. “Y-yes. And you’ll tell no one else where we’ve gone?”
Her smile only broadened, making her resemble a very beautiful, satisfied crocodile.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, my dear,” she said. “Now, off you go.”
TWENTY-NINE
It’s shocking how quickly you can get from one place to another when you have legitimate cash to do it. Especially when you have the wicked witch of Northwest England paying your way.
Georgina might not have been quite as rich as Xavier, but she certainly had the money and connections to whisk Sofia and me back to New York within the span of relatively few hours. It was a bit odd to realize that the woman hated me enough to spend tens of thousands of dollars to make sure I left the country, but at that point, it served my needs.
Sofia and I were shuttled via helicopter to an airfield in Liverpool, and from there onto a private plane that took us straight to Teterboro, all with promises that the rest of our things would be shipped to us at the earliest convenience.
I didn’t even care. I had my essentials—the rest could hang.
And so, after sleeping on the bed in the back of the plane, we were in New York by sunrise, blissfully unaware of Xavier’s reaction to our sudden absence, or any of the other ramifications of leaving. I looked down at Sofia, who was snuggled into my side on the 144 bus to Port Authority, quietly singing a song about starfish to Tyrone.
She’d asked me only once where we were going as we got on the helicopter, then why as we boarded the plane to New York. I’d told her that Daddy was dealing with a lot with his uncle so sick, so he sent us home ahead of him. That he loved her more than anything and would meet us here when he could.
And like the innocent she was, she believed me.
