Page 69 of Scandal Queen
Obviously the meeting with the Russian president wasn’t doing it for him. Although who had state visits in December…? The Russians did. I think it was because they wanted to utilise their fur hats.
I don’t know. Because you are the chosen one and get to attend meetings while I walk your stinky dog with Isabella?
More dots.
You’re with Isabella?
Yes.
Don’t let her get you drunk.
I chuckled but cast a glance at the princess. She stared over Ian’s shoulder at his screen—his face now officially purple.
No chance. We are going to pick up Daisy.
I waited for a moment but there weren’t any more dots, so I put my phone back in my bag.
“I’m going to go and say hi to Janine.” I motioned to the open office and left Isabella in with the others. I guess if I had time to think about it, I’d be able to see it as the merging of my two families, but Janine’s expression cut off any optimistic thoughts I might want to muster.
“What’s up?” I perched on the chair where it seemed a lifetime ago Oliver had sat while expectation had lit his features, showing me the man under the princely facade.
“Normal pre-Christmas stuff.” Janine placed her hand on the file she’d been reading.
“Not enough toys for Santa? Do you remember when that happened? I was about eighteen, wasn’t I? We took to the shops to beg them for any donations we could get.” I could still remember the sting of my cold cheeks when I’d walked into the house later and lifted a curly-haired baby into my arms, squeezing her so tight she’d squirmed.
Janine shook her head. “No, not this year. Thanks to Prince Oliver we have enough donations to see us into the next five Christmases.”
“So what’s the problem?”
Her hand didn’t move from the file.
“Do you not talk to me now I hang out with royals?” I tried to laugh but it came out sounding all awkward and false.
With a sigh she took her hand off the manila folder and I dropped my gaze to see the word Lawrence along its edge.
“Why’ve you got my file out? That’s old news.”
She nodded, but her face looked like her house had just burned to ash.
“It is old news, Leia. But old news doesn’t always disappear. Lots of people are looking for this, searching for anything they can find about you.”
“The press?” My blood chilled. “They’ve already printed the worst they can.”
I straightened my spine and lifted my chin, swallowing hard.
“Not just the press, Leia. Lots of people coming out of the woodwork. I’ve had calls from people who used to go to school with you. Some who knew you at the flats. Everyone knows you’ve been working here. Lots of people have been reaching out, trying to find a way to contact you to see what you can do for them.”
A frozen shiver ran through my veins. “But I haven’t been at the flats for years. Not since the night Mum died.” I tugged at my hair. “People there sold those pictures of me to the tabloids when the news broke about Ollie and I.”
Janine nodded, her gaze searching while inside my chest my heart stuttered and started, pounding and pushing, racing against my ribcage.
I shook my head. “You saved me from there. I never had to go back, no one was going to miss me.”
Janine watched me, her focus sharp. “It wasn’t just you I helped though, was it? The whole time we’ve known each other you’ve never just been a you.”
I reached for my bag. Stupidly positioning it on my right, as though someone could come and help me leave the situation, could take me away from things I didn’t want to hear, didn’t want to know.
In my memory, fractured remnants of a groggy morning spun: the headache that had thudded in my brain, the dry mouth and edgy nerves that had made my fingers shake. The click of a front door behind me as I stole out into the morning air, ashamed and embarrassed. The intense hatred that burned inside me because I’d taken one step towards being her—my mother.
