Page 133 of Tabloid Princess

I didn’t stop to speak. I’d go for her flowerbeds another day when I didn’t have the whole world watching.

Gordon Stevens, my taxi driving saviour, had got his cab as close to the front door as he could and then waved me away when I went to look for my purse. His sympathetic glance and utter generosity had calmed me a little.

I’d made it to school and back. I could get through this. I knew I could.

“What the fuck?” I doubled over in shock at the person at my kitchen table.

Oliver turned, his back ramrod straight. His expression was as dark as clouds rolling with thunder. He wore ripped jeans and a hoodie and had trainers on his feet—travelling clothes.

“What are you doing here?” I gasped as I pulled myself together. “How did you even get in here?”

“The whole point of a private line is that both parties are meant to speak on it.”

“Yeah, well.” I actually had nothing to snap back with. “I doubted we had much left to say.”

I’d turned the burner phone off. It still sat in the wastepaper bin in the front room.

He pulled a bottle of water that didn’t come from my house across the table and unscrewed the top, taking a deep sip before he turned his eyes back to me.

“How long have you been back for? Why are you even here? You made your statement.” I desperately needed to break the silence, even though my words came out confused and muddled. My pulse raced, my legs weak.

He glanced at his watch. “Thirty-five minutes,” he answered one of my questions.

“Oh. You didn’t say why you are here.”

He launched from the chair and I jumped back in shock. “Leia, for God’s sake. Are you being for real now? You thought you could dump me on the phone and that would be it?”

“You thought you could keep secrets and for me to just accept it. I don’t think I’m in the wrong here, Oliver.”

His hand grabbed my arm, holding me tight. “If you think for one moment, I wouldn’t take steps to protect you, then I don’t think my intentions have been clear enough.”

“You paid people to keep quiet about me. You basically paid to visit me. I control my life, Oliver. That's how it is. I have to be like that for Daisy, so I can protect her. How can I protect her if I don't know what's happening in my own life?”

He slumped a little, his hand still on my arm. “I made a mistake, I know that. Jesus, Leia, it’s been driving me crazy for hours while I tried to get home.”

“You were quick enough to announce that the news wasn’t true.”

“Because you told me to.” He hesitated but then spat out the words. “And I was angry.”

I pulled away from him and slumped into a kitchen chair. My fight slowly dissipated, only for me to be left with a drained exhaustion pulling and aching at my limbs.

“Have you seen what they are saying about me, Oliver? That I’m a druggie gold digger. That Daisy is going to destroy the monarchy. Everyone knows my mother was a prostitute. Everyone. The mums at school, people I talk to at work.”

“They are just stories, Leia. And I know they hurt. I know they are cruel. But they are still just stories.”

“Some of them aren’t just stories though, are they? I left gossip behind me seven years ago. Do you know in the paper yesterday they had a picture of me as a child standing on the balcony of the flats where I grew up? Do you know, I haven’t a clue where that picture has come from? Who has it. Who has sold it.”

“I’m sorry.” He watched me; his burning gaze tortured. “I’m sorry if you regret meeting me. Everything about me brings destruction one way or the other. Maybe I’m not meant to be happy.”

“Oh please, don’t try and turn this around.” I snorted without humour.

“You don’t believe I’ve been genuine.”

“I think I’ve been foolish to think that this was anything other than a break from reality for either of us.”

He stared at me balefully. “So you are giving up? All of this; it’s been for nothing?”

“The papers will crucify you. Not just Daisy and me. They will challenge you forever because of your foolish choice to be with me. We could break-up in a few months’ time, our relationship having run its natural course, and the press will always vilify you for being the prince who chose to date a girl from a council estate. It’s too much. Too much for me and definitely too much for Daisy.”