Page 8 of Scandal Queen

I’d barely drifted back off to sleep, my brain refusing to stop the news interview running around my head, when there was a knock on the door.

I checked Daisy again; she’d been asleep for hours now. I mean they'd told me to expect her to sleep a lot… but really? A stab twisted in my stomach. Should we have stayed at the hospital and embraced the media storm? Had I made the wrong choice?

The door knocked again, and I rushed down the stairs. My hand twisted the lock before I stopped myself. I shouldn’t open it. What if someone knew where I was? What if it was the press?

I shook my head at myself. No one knew where I was. I’d only been here for a few hours and hadn’t stepped outside yet.

Still.

I twisted the lock and then edged the door open a crack; just a slither so I could peer outside. I recognised the broad-shouldered body with its back turned to me almost as well as I’d recognise my own reflection in the mirror. He stared at the screen of his phone. It shone brightly in the dark night and I could see the message he read. My message, with the address of the cottage on it.

My heart stopped. Just dead in my chest.

“What are you doing here?”

He turned. If my heart had still been beating, my body still functioning in a normal manner, I’d have lost my breath.

Beautiful.

Oliver’s hands fell to his side, palms open. His forehead creased with a deep frown, but it couldn’t detract from the shadows under his eyes. “You gave me the address?”

“I didn’t think you were reading my texts.”

“I’m sorry.” His shoulders slumped.

He was here. He was here.

I nodded almost dumbly. “I texted you days ago. Told you I’d made a mistake, days ago.”

“Leia, can I come in?” His voice unravelled my soul, pulling it towards him. I wanted anger to fuel my fire, but instead the endless waves of exhaustion pulled at me. He looked as tired as I felt. I wondered if we fell into the sea of fatigue together whether we would survive. “Please.” His voice cracked and it forced my legs into an automatic reaction. I moved, almost mechanically. His tread as it fell through the doorway echoed with the beat of my heart. The old-fashioned lock on the front door clicked loudly.

“Where are your team?” I turned and asked, stopping us from moving away from the tiny entrance area. I knew Bill, his head of security, would be here somewhere. They were always somewhere, that was part of the problem—his lies, his need to control. He’d crossed a line I hadn’t even known I’d drawn.

“They aren’t here. I drove down by myself, I parked a couple of streets away.” He motioned his head towards ‘outside’ where any person on the street could have seen him walk along.

“Why?”

“Leia. Please.”

I remained frozen, stuck between walking further into the house and remaining close to the door. I wanted to ask him why he was here. Whether he still loved me, whether he forgave me for being so reactive and pushing him away. I wanted to shout at him for breaking my trust, for making me fall in love with him and then hurting me. I wanted to stab him numerous times with a sharp knife for paying my neighbours to keep quiet about his comings and goings. I didn’t fancy jail for it though.

I wanted to fall on the floor at his feet.

Instead, I folded my arms across my chest.

His dark gaze found mine and held it.

“I’ve thought up about a hundred different speeches I could say to you right now.” His lips curved into a wry smile.

I nodded and forced my legs to keep holding me up.

“But none of them are good enough. I failed you. Leia, and I’m sorry.”

“How did you fail me?” I wanted to hear it from him.

“Because I lied about who I was, who I could be. I tried to fit in with your life, and the things I did to do that are unforgivable.”

“They are.”