Forever Scarred (18 page)

There were two pieces of paper inside.

The first was small and stiff. He picked it out and turned it over. His heart stilled in his chest as he saw the name of the cosmetic surgery clinic. He lifted his hooded eyes slowly to Carter Freeman. The man’s smirk was a mile wide. Joe held his gaze for a moment and then looked back down into the envelope. He slid out the other piece of paper. It was folded in two across the middle. He waited for a few moments, calming the pulse that was beating hard in his throat and hardening his heart in the silence of the dining room. Then opened the paper out and stood staring at it for a long moment. It was a cheque for twenty thousand pounds.

Joe’
s eyes flicked to Lucy who was staring at the cosmetic surgery card in horrified amazement. He knew that she hadn’t planned this but she had clearly guessed it would be something insulting and she had still given it to him. He watched her carefully as she suddenly lifted her chin and glared up at Carter Freeman’s arrogance. She fisted her hands at her sides and Joe tore his gaze from her back to Freeman. His voice was like ice as he spoke from between gritted teeth.

“I thank you for your obvious concern
at my welfare. You are clearly under the impression that I need to have something done about the way I look, but unfortunately apart from the fact that nothing more can be done to improve my situation, I cannot accept any donations from members of the public, however I would hate for your money to go to waste.” He picked up the cheque and walked quickly across the room. He handed it to Patrick who was staring open mouthed at the scene taking place in front of his very eyes. “I’m passing this onto you Patrick. I’m sure you will find an excellent use for it where it can benefit far more deserving cases than me.” Joe didn’t catch anyone else’s eye. He screwed up the envelope that contained the card with the surgery details and slammed it down hard on the table then he strode from the dining room, his head held high while everyone else sat there in stunned silence.

David suddenly rose to his feet and glared
towards Freeman.

“
You shit faced bastard! What the fuck do you think you are playing at?” There was no hiding his fury. Patrick calmly passed Rose to Ellen and stood up beside David. The pair of them appeared to grow frighteningly large.

“You had best get out of this chateau before I throw you out.” Patrick’s voice was only just above a whisper but the menace it contained
reverberated around the silent room and penetrated even Carter Freeman’s feeble brain. He coughed uncomfortably.

“It was meant as a gesture of good will. I am only trying to help the poor man. To go through the rest of his life looking like that must be a terrible strain on him. I pity him.”

That was it. The final insult had been cast.

Geraldine shrieked as David launched himself over the table
, knocking crockery, cutlery and food all over the place. He bulldozed his way through the stunned crowd, looking as though he was about to wring Freeman’s neck. Patrick was right behind him, his face contorted with rage as he snarled with fury.

“Get out! Get out
of this chateau now you slimy bastard! Do not stop to retrieve your bag. If I can be bothered I will send it on. Just leave before I smash your fucking face so hard even your mother won’t recognize you!”

There were some indrawn breaths
at his threats and people suddenly began to move. Several ran for the door and effectively blocked it. Geraldine tried to calm the situation down, shouting above the commotion that Patrick had only meant his harsh words for Freeman.

Rose bega
n to cry again and Ellen quickly cuddled her to her chest and moved towards the small door to the kitchen.

Lucy marched straight up to Carter Freeman,
the glare on her face telling everyone exactly what she thought of him. Then without any warning she drew her fist back and punched him square on the jaw. He staggered backwards and fell into Jessica who flapped her arms and screamed blue murder.

Carter quickly regained his feet and scowled down at Lucy
as he rubbed his jaw.

“What the hell was that for?
The man is hideous and you’re the one that slept with him out of pity. I should have thought you would be pleased I was trying to do something for the guy. Going around looking like that, I’m surprised he ever gets anyone into his bed.”

Lucy glared up at her
ex-boss and spoke through gritted teeth.

“You stupid, stupid man.
Can’t you even see past a couple of scars? Joe doesn’t need anyone’s help, least of all yours. He is just perfect exactly as he is.” She turned away from Freeman who was grabbed by the arms and manhandled from the room by David and Patrick.

Jessica screamed
at anyone who came near her and Lucy couldn’t help herself. She moved in front of the woman and slapped her hard across the jaw before she spoke.

“Fo
r goodness sake shut up Jessica! Everyone is sick of the sound of your pathetic voice.” And with that parting shot Lucy turned around and walked out of the door. She picked up her bags and marched out of the chateau towards her car. She didn’t stop even when she heard Geraldine calling out her name as she threw her bags into the back of the car. She gave one last look up at the beautiful chateau and then started the engine and drove back down the long driveway that she had only driven up a few days before.

Chapter Twelve

Lucy walked slowly from room to room. The house wasn’t large and
as it was almost empty it didn’t take her long, but in each room she stopped and turned around, reliving moments that she had thought she had forgotten. She ran her fingers down the curtains that she had so lovingly sewn, she smiled as she found the strip of wallpaper that she had hung upside down by accident and not noticed for weeks. There was even the slight stain on the carpet where she had spilled a glass of red wine and spent hours frantically scrubbing to try and get the colour out.

She
glanced up into the corner of the ceiling as she walked up the stairs, to where a black wooden beam met the wall and she spied the spider that had lived there since she and Stewart had bought the place three years previously. The corner wasn’t even that high, but neither she nor Stewart could bear to hoover the spider up. They had tried to brush the web with the aid of a broom but both of them had given up after becoming too nervous to use it in case the hairy creature fell down upon their heads.

They hadn’t been there forever but she had made an attachment
to the house that she hadn’t been ready to let go and her heart gave a lurch in her chest as she realized that this would soon all belong to someone else. The worst thing about the whole situation was that whatever she did she would still be paying that slime of a man for the next four years. Even if she raised the money she couldn’t pay it off immediately.

She had been to two sets of specialist lawyers and it was just as Carter Freeman had said
, the contract was wrapped up in cast iron. There was no way out and no recourse to the law. The lawyers both agreed that given her position in the company she must have known exactly what she was getting herself into when she signed the papers. It seemed that she would just have to live with it.

Worse still, s
he could prove nothing about the blackmail or the threats to her future success at finding another job. She was out of money, out of options and out of time.

The only thing that was in her favour was that the buyers of the house were willing to pay her asking price.
The deal had gone through quickly. She would have enough money to pay off the mortgage company and leave herself with savings to cover the payments of the unsecured debts to Freeman while still giving herself a few thousand pounds to try and set herself up again.

Her brother Michael had offered her accommodation for as long as she had needed it and while he was obviously confused as to why she had left her
well paid job, he didn’t pry. Lucy had made an excuse that he had pretended to believe and for that she was grateful. She couldn’t tell him the truth. If she did she knew that he would take the law into his own hands and probably only end up in trouble himself. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She wouldn’t let his life and that of his family be ruined too, so she kept quiet about the true circumstances.

She ran her fingertips along the windowsill and stared out into the pretty, flower-filled garden
below her bedroom. She opened the window and a tear slipped down her cheek as the delicate perfume wafted up to her. She had lovingly planted all of flowers in the riotous border especially for their scent. She closed the window again and shut the beautiful fragrance out.

She turned away f
rom the window, walked back down the stairs and through into the kitchen. She glanced into the fridge. There was just some milk and a bottle of wine. She gave out a grim laugh. Should she actually spend a few pounds, order in a takeaway and drink the bottle of wine? She had one more night in the house and then the removal van would be here in the morning.

She pulled the local Chinese restaurant menu out from beside the telephone and quickly chose a couple of dishes. After calling them
from her mobile, as the phone lines had already been disconnected, she arranged a delivery and went to open the wine. She twisted the top without looking and then rolled her eyes as she realized that this was one of the last bottles that she had bought while on the ferry home from France and the French still used corks.

She looked around the kitchen trying to decide which box she had put all her cutlery in. The cork screw would be in one of those.

She kicked a couple of boxes that sat on the floor and then shook a couple more that stood on the counter, wishing that she had been a little more specific in her labeling, but then she heard the jangle of knives and forks in the second one she picked up. She had just pulled the top open and rummaged through to find the cork screw when she heard a knock on her front door.

With the cork screw still in her hand s
he grabbed her handbag and stepped over even more boxes as she went to pay for her dinner. She opened the door with a smile on her lips.

“
Wow, that was fast. I only ordered ten minutes…” The words died on her lips as the tall frame of Carter Freeman stood on her doorstep. She attempted to slam the door back shut but he had a foot inside the threshold and he pushed it open forcefully and then closed it gently behind him. Lucy jumped and dropped her handbag in surprise but managed to wrap her hand around the corkscrew and slide it up her cardigan sleeve. “What do you want?”

Carter moved forwards slowly, a sneering smile on his face.

“You know what I want Lucy. It’s what I have always wanted from you.” He let his eyes wander slowly up and down her body.

Lucy folded her arms across her chest
and spoke fiercely.

“Huh! Last time I spoke to you, you said I was used goods. What’s changed your mind?”

Carter gave out a brutal laugh.

“Well that was over tw
o months ago. I should think that gargoyle’s stench has worn off by now and I know that you haven’t been sleeping with anyone else. You’ve been too busy trying to sell up and find yourself a job. Fifteen interviews is it? And no one wants poor old Lucy Collins.” He laughed loudly.

Lucy frowned, the depths of his depravity now shocking her to her core.

“How on earth do you know how many interviews I’ve been to? You’ve been spying on me.” She declared.

Freeman shrugged
lazily.

“Well not spying exactly, but I do have access to a fabulous computer expert.
She can hack just about anyone’s computer and as you have arranged nearly everything you do via email, it’s not been hard to keep up.”

Lucy’s mouth fell open.

“Why you bastard! I should have known you were something to do with my failure to secure a place when all my interviews have gone so well. You’ve been telling the companies lies about me just to make sure I can’t get a job. Well damn you! I’ll take that to the police. They will be able to see what you’ve done.”

Freeman laughed again.

“I said that my computer lady was an expert Lucy. Do you think that if she can get into all your accounts so easily that she can’t get out undetected as well?”

Lucy’s
shoulders slumped in defeat. He had everything on his side. He was so rich he could just buy anyone, anything he wanted. She scowled at the vile specimen in front of her.