Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
THE LONG ROAD NORTH
Beth
At the dull crack, James disappeared from sight. My shock evaporated, and I was moving, adrenaline flooding my veins. I crept over the terrace, ducking to keep out of sight, though Richard had his back to the garden.
“Wait there, you waste of space. I’ll be back for you in a minute. Then you’ll do as you’re told,” he growled then exited the room.
With caution, I peered through the glass, fright grasping me by the throat. James lay on the floor in what I could now see was an office.
He wasn’t moving.
I could barely breathe through my fear.
The door handle, as I grasped it, wouldn’t budge under my hand. To my right, a figure took the corner. Mr Hinchcliffe, pushing a wheelbarrow.
“Help!” I half whispered, half squeaked. “Can you open this?”
The man dropped his smile and the handles of the wheelbarrow, then came running. He arrived at my side, his eyes wide with alarm. “What happened?”
“It’s James. We need to help him.” I jiggled the metal handle to demonstrate how it was locked.
“Heavens above! Stand back.” Mr Hinchcliffe, the mild-mannered man who’d been content to smile on our dinner party just last night before falling asleep in a corner, popped an elbow and smashed the glass panel next to the lock.
The glass shattered, muted by his stilled, thickly-padded arm. He reached through the hole and, with a click, the lock opened.
I shoved the door and hopped over the glass.
At James’s side, I crouched next to him, terrified as I looked for signs of life.
His pulse at his wrist was a strong thud, thud against my fingertips, but he didn’t move.
I whispered his name then glanced at his friend.
“He’s unconscious, but his heartbeat is strong. ”
A rush of air told me Mr Hinchcliffe had closed the internal door before he knelt beside me. He gaped at James, his hand to his mouth. “Who the bloody heck did this?”
“His uncle sucker punched him, but then he hit his head when he fell. He’s unconscious. We need an ambulance.” I examined James’s scalp, feeling for damage.
He breathed evenly, but every instinct in me wanted to get him away.
The older man paused for a second then shook his head, his movement vigorous. “They’ll take forever to get here. And if his uncle is on the warpath, it’s better to get James out of here. What if he comes back and does worse?”
Oh God. He was right. “Then I’m going to take James to a hospital.”
“We need to go. Now.”
With infinite care, Mr Hinchcliffe gathered James into his arms, his neck muscles straining under the weight. We exited into the garden, and I checked left and right. No one around.
“I can’t carry him for long. Not like when he was a boy.” The man’s Derbyshire accent broadened, and he grimaced.
“I need a car.” James’s hire car was too far away. “And we need to find Ella.”
“I’ve got the key to every car in the garage. Which do you want? His sister went off into town with my wife. I’ll call them when I set him down.”
With Mr Hinchcliffe struggling under James’s weight, and a rising fear that we’d be caught, we descended the terraces.
In a hidden corner, Mr Hinchcliffe placed James carefully on the grass, and I dropped down with him.
Then the man left us to go fetch a vehicle—one of his choosing.
With the whole garage at my disposal, all I cared about was James.
His heart beat steady under my touch. The dark bruise already forming at his left temple.
“It’ll be all right. I’ll take care of you.” My words tumbled out.
Fuck! What if he was badly hurt?
What if he died?
I cradled his head and mentally slapped my own face for my wayward thoughts.
Then I made a decision. A secret promise to his prone form.
James wasn’t going to die, I was being ridiculous.
But whatever he wanted from me in the future, I’d give it to him.
If he wanted a show wife with all the money in the world, I’d be the backup.
Making the decision was easy. He needed things to work this way. I could hardly object when I’d be living here, at his side. What did I bring to the party? Nothing.
Yet I’d get everything.
If he still wanted me when he woke.
After what seemed like forever, the low rumble of an engine signalled Mr Hinchcliffe’s return. In efficient moves with rapid glances towards the house, he lifted James and carried him to the car. The man had chosen a large 4x4. A Jeep.
“It’s not one of the fancy sportscars, but it’s a good runner, and there’s plenty of space,” he said, depositing James gently in the front passenger seat. He positioned his head with care. “With any luck, His Nibs won’t notice it’s gone for a while.”
He meant Richard, I guessed. “Will that be a problem?”
Mr Hinchcliffe ushered me to the driver’s seat and pointed out the basic functions, then grabbed the satnav. He punched something in then fastened it to the windscreen. “James owns nothing until he inherits. The moment you take this off the estate, you’re stealing. Got the guts for that?”
I could’ve laughed. My history converged on this point.
I had stealing cars in my blood, and I’d driven one myself.
I was well prepared for this choice. “No problem there,” I said without hesitation.
“Besides, the moment we get to the hospital, I’m sending the cops back to arrest Richard for assault. ”
The man gave me grim nod.
“Now where’s Ella?” I asked, my muscles tight with the need to flee.
Mr Hinchcliffe shook his head. “There’s no answer on her phone or my wife’s. You’re going to have to go without her.”
“No. I can’t.” I couldn’t leave her here with her uncle.
“Yes, you can. I’ll head to the village and find them. Then I’ll keep her safe until you or James get in contact. I’ll even drive her to you. Believe me,” he gave me a look as I went to protest, “we love these two as grandchildren. Nothing will happen to her.”
It seemed I had no choice. I had to get James to a doctor.
“I’ve set you up with directions for the nearest hospital.
Richard is arguing with a man at the back of the house, so go around the front and take the lanes west until you meet the main road.
” He watched James and heaved a sigh. “Don’t bring him back here after he’s been treated.
You don’t know what his uncle is capable of. ”
“I don’t intend to.” Belvedere had gone from a beautiful home to a hostile place. His uncle had tainted everything.
“Keep him safe.”
“I will.”
“Then get out of here.”
With my foot to the accelerator of a stolen vehicle, I kidnapped an unconscious heir.
Fifteen minutes later, I pulled over by the side of the road. James slept on, but my hands shook so badly I had to stop. Popping open my door, I hopped down, bent at the waist, and gagged on fresh air. Then I unceremoniously sat on the dirt road, breathing through a panic attack.
My head spun. I relived every moment.
What a mess. What a horrible—
James made a sound, a deep inhale. I leapt to my feet. In the passenger seat, he shifted, but his eyes remained closed. Right.
“I’ve got you,” I promised his sleeping form, then I slid back behind the wheel, pulled myself together, and drove on.
“At the roundabout, take the third exit. Your destination is on the right,” the satnav informed me in a kindly, robotic tone.
Ahead, the small country hospital building appeared, and I heaved a grateful sigh.
Throughout the twenty-minute drive, James hadn’t woken again, and my worry reached desperate proportions.
Concussion, bleeding on the brain, a coma—my mind considered them all.
Fear still holding me taut, I drove into the small car park, the engine rumbling in first gear. I cast my gaze around for a space.
“Beth?” James said.
“Oh God, you’re awake!” I threw the car into neutral and hauled on the handbrake.
I’d driven, white-knuckled, the whole way here, barely daring to take my eyes off the road. I stared at him now. He was no longer pale, but confusion crossed his face as he opened his eyes, blinking around.
“Where are we?”
“Hospital. You’re hurt.”
“You’re driving me.” James raised his hands to his head. He grimaced, touching the mark on his forehead.
“I am. Do you remember what happened?”
He made a grumbling sound that told me he remembered everything.
My chest hurt at how he must feel. “After you fell, you smacked your head, and it knocked you out cold. Mr Hinchcliffe helped me, and we’re now in a stolen car, right outside Accident and Emergency.”
James pushed himself upright and peered around. His eyes widened in alarm. “No. Turn the car around, please.”
A car horn sounded behind us. We were blocking the narrow carpark lane.
I ignored it. “You might be concussed.”
“Anything but this. I don’t do hospitals.”
The horn blared again, and I swivelled in my seat and made a calm-down gesture to the driver behind. A taxi driver, alone in the cab. She was boxed in, another car reversing behind her. Well, she could wait.
“Beth, listen. I spent a month in hospital after the accident. The places make me sick. I’ve been concussed before. I know what to look out for.” He patted his pockets then found his phone. “If I arrange for a doctor to see me this evening, will you drive us away from this damn place?”
I wavered. “I don’t want to go back to Belvedere.”
“Don’t worry. We won’t.”
James selected a name from a list, tapping out a text. “First, I need to make sure my sister is okay.”
“She’s with the Hinchcliffes. I hated leaving her but I had no choice.”
“You’ve done everything right, Beth. Don’t worry.” He sent his message, then a response came almost instantly. James’s shoulders relaxed a degree. “She’s okay,” he said. “Mr Hinchcliffe says he’ll get her off the estate.”
“Then where shall we go?”
“Want to drive to Scotland? We need backup and a safe place to regroup. I can’t think of anywhere better than Castle McRae. The family will help us.”
“Whatever you say.” Anywhere, for him.