Chapter 4 #4
At the very bottom of the bag, there’s a tiny bit of paper safety pinned to the seam. I get it out and look at it, but all it has on it is a smiley face that’s winking.
I see we’re at the gate to the house, so I put everything back in the bag and close it up.
When we get to the steps, Stephens is there to open my door. I get out quickly, wanting to be away from anything Joe-related, and hurry up the stairs next to him.
‘Where is Nasty Nurse?’ I whisper.
He cracks a smile at the name. ‘Waiting for you, I’m afraid. Mr. Novelle has returned as well.’
I let out a sound of disgust. ‘Great. What’s for dinner?’
‘Nasty Nurse ordered river trout.’
My heart sinks. ‘Ew.’
‘However, someone in the kitchen put in the wrong order, so it’ll have to be steak pie, potatoes, and gravy with French beans. Apologies, Miss Marguerite.’
I grin at him. ‘Thanks, Stephens.’
‘Of course.’
He opens the door for me and lets me into the foyer.
Nasty Nurse is nowhere to be seen. Good. I might have time to stash my razor and my underwear before she tries to take it.
‘I’m going to my room. Where is John?’
‘In his office, I believe.’
‘Okay. I need to see him. If I get locked in my room before I can, please can you make sure he knows it’s important?’
‘Yes, Miss Marguerite.’
I go straight up the stairs quickly and into my room.
The door is open, so I quickly open my bag and put the things I’m allowed on the desk.
The underwear I put in the closet behind the spare pillows.
The razor is still in its plastic packaging, so I put it into the toilet cistern with my phone quickly.
When I go back into my room, it’s to find Nasty Nurse with her fingers on my laptop.
‘This is contraband,’ she says smugly. ‘No screens, sweetie, remember?’
‘I suggest you call your boss,’ I say, mimicking her tone. ‘He told me this morning, while you were in the front of the car, that I would be allowed my laptop to keep up with my schoolwork.’
Her eyes narrow. ‘We’ll see. Until I can contact him, I’m going to have to confiscate this.’
I shrug. Even if she can get on it, I trust Blake to have hidden anything secrety secret very well.
‘Fine,’ I reply. ‘I’m all caught up for now, anyway.’
She snorts. ‘And this backpack. What’s in here?’ She tears it off the chair and dumps it on the bed.
Only the sanitary products fall out, and she stares at them with a sneer, throwing the bag down when she doesn’t find what she’s looking for.
‘You’ve had a long day,’ she says sweetly. ‘Maybe you should take a nap.’
‘That’s a great idea,’ I say evenly. ‘But I need to speak with my stepfather, first.’
I’m closer to the open door, so I leave the room quickly before she can stop me, making it halfway down the hall before she catches up to me.
‘You need to go back to your room,’ she says, pulling out her phone.
‘Oh, are you calling my fiancé?’ I stop and whirl on her, making her jerk to a stop so that she doesn’t bump into me. ‘I’m sure he wouldn’t begrudge me speaking to my beloved stepfather.’
She gapes at me, as if she never considered that I might not do as she says.
I turn back around and go down the stairs to John’s office.
Stephens is already waiting there, and I see his eyes fall on something behind me.
She’s right behind me, panting a little as she hisses something over the phone.
The butler opens the door for me and I slip through.
It closes right behind me, and I know that Stephens has stopped her from following me in.
John looks surprised to see me in here. I don’t think I’ve ever been in his office on my own terms, actually. It was always on his orders, making me stand in front of him while he screamed at me for my behavior.
This time, however, I sit opposite him, on equal footing.
‘What do you want?’ he asks.
I sit back in the chair, making sure I look completely relaxed as I look him in the eye.
‘The nurse seems to believe that I must stay locked in my room whenever I’m here,’ I begin. ‘She has also decided that I’m not permitted normal everyday items, like my laptop.’ I lean forward a little. ‘We had a deal. I behave and you let me go to school until the end of the year.’
‘Nurse Smith is Joe’s employ—’
‘No, John,’ I interrupt calmly, emulating the good Doctor Stoke. ‘We had a deal. And I don’t belong to Joe. Not yet anyway. Make sure she gives me my laptop. I also want free run of the house and to go outside if I want. And I want your car and your driver taking me to Richmond U, not Joe’s.’
‘Joe is afraid you might be a danger to your—’ he begins and I scoff loudly, cutting him off.
‘Please! This is a powerplay and nothing more. If this woman continues to gatekeep what I need to successfully pass my classes, the deal is off.’
John rolls his eyes. ‘And what will you do, Marguerite? Throw one of your little temper tantrums?’
I hold his gaze and see him shift in his chair. I think he’s uncomfortable.
‘Oh, John,’ I continue. ‘Believe me when I say, those were the fits of a tiny child. I can make so much trouble for you, be such an embarrassment, that Banderville will call off the wedding like that.’ I snap my fingers.
‘No, Marguerite,’ he snarls. ‘You’re wrong.
So, get that idea out of your head right now.
It doesn’t matter what you do or how you act.
The wedding is going ahead. The Bandervilles won’t be backing out.
No matter what. Joe will just keep you as a shameful secret in a padded cell in some institution somewhere. ’
I don’t let myself feel the fear that begins to bubble up from the recesses of my mind. I disassociate from all of it and plaster my pleasant smile on my face, which seems to take him aback if I look closely.
This doesn’t make sense. He’s not surprised that I might show them that I’m not ‘cured’ at all. That was my coup de gras. There’s something else going on here.
‘Why?’ I ask, staring him right in the eye even though I hate it.
‘Why me? I’m not some high society debutante, some sought-after prize.
I’m an autistic woman with no money or prospects, no wealthy, powerful family or allies.
I’m a murderer who spent years in what amounts to an asylum.
For all intents and purposes, you purport me to be lacking in pretty much every way.
And yet it’s been intimated that the marriage has been planned for a long time.
Over five years, at least. Joe already told me he had to be talked into having me for a wife, for me to bear his children. ’
I shudder at that one.
‘So, what is it the Bandervilles actually want? What do they get out of this marriage? What do you get out of it?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he says, glancing away. ‘The Bandervilles need a woman who will marry Joe. The fact, as you might have noticed, is that Joe isn’t a decent man. No reputable family will touch him.’
He leaves it at that, but there’s more that he’s not telling me. I know it. I wonder if Blake would be able to find out.
‘But I’m not a Novelle,’ I say. ‘Not even by law.’
‘You’re enough of a Novelle for him to accept. You were taught what women in our echelons need to know. You’re good enough.’
He sighs. ‘I’m busy. What will it take to get you out of here?’
‘Pretend to fight my corner,’ I say. ‘I’ll be the obedient Novelle Princess, John.
All you need to do is stick to our deal.
It’s an easy thing for you to do. You said it yourself.
Joe won’t back out of the marriage deal.
Wouldn’t it be so much easier if I toed the line and just did what I was told?
’ I spread my arms. ‘I’ll do that. But you get the nurse off my back. ’
I hear his breath exit his nose as he watches me. ‘Stoke did change you at The Heath, didn’t he,’ he mutters. ‘Just not the way he promised he would.’
I say nothing.
‘Fine,’ he grates out. ‘Have her come to my office later.’
I stand with a smile. ‘Why wait?’
I open the door to John’s office. Nasty Nurse is standing in the hall where I left her, looking pissed.
‘Mr. Novelle will see you now, Nurse Smith,’ I say politely with a smile.
The nurse draws herself up straight and holds her head high, walking past me into the office.
John gestures for me to leave, but I ignore him, instead shutting us all in together. I want to hear exactly what my untrustworthy stepfather says to her, what he promises.
‘Nurse Smith,’ John says with a gracious smile.
‘Mr. Novelle,’ she begins, casting a look back at me. ‘I was hired by the Bandervilles to make sure—’
‘Nurse, we’re all aware of why you were hired,’ John scoffs.
‘I’ll be speaking to Joe in a moment, and he will corroborate everything I’m about to say.
Firstly, Marguerite will be permitted her laptop.
It was already agreed that she would finish the school year.
You will not hinder her ability to pass her classes.
Secondly, she is not to be locked in her bedroom.
This is her home. She will be permitted to roam the house and the grounds freely. ’
The Nurse looks furiously back at me. ‘But—’
John puts up a hand, staying her protests. ‘She won’t leave the Novelle estate without the bodyguard the Bandervilles have employed. But she will have use of my car and my driver. Understood? As I said, I will be clearing this with her fiancé in a moment.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Nasty Nurse says quietly. ‘I understand.’
‘Good. Now, give Marguerite back her laptop, and I don’t want to be bothered with this again. I’m a busy man.’
He waves us both out, and I turn, leaving the room with the nurse hot on my heels.
‘You little bitch!’ she hisses as soon as the door is closed.
I glance at Stephens who’s still standing by the wall. He stares straight ahead, pretending not to listen.
I turn toward her, regarding her impassively. ‘That’s not a very nice thing to say,’ I remark.
‘I’m telling Joe about this!’
‘Joe, is it?’ I raise a brow. ‘Are you fucking my fiancé, Nurse Smith?’