I stare, horrified. “I’m a nanny, Star has appointments. I do the shopping. I can’t just not go out.”
“Then you take someone with you. Any one of us is available, you call, we’re there.”
Every single time I do something?
That’ll wear thin.
“Trust us,” Hugh tells me. “This is for the best, yeah?”
Is it, though?
I exhale and put my head in my hands.
They finish up the meeting and Hugh takes me back home to where Star is with Delilah. She is no doubt waiting for an explanation about what happened today, but I’m not certain I’m willing to give it to her. Does she deserve it? Was she part of it? It’s hard to know. All I know is that my mind is spinning and I’m not sure I can deal with Delilah and her trash talk right now.
“Oh, you’re home, is everything okay? I’ve been worried sick.”
Delilah, the moment she heard Hugh’s truck pull up, has come running outside to find out everything she can about what happened today. I don’t say a word, I just smile at Star who is bouncing happily away in her arms.
“Long story, we’ll talk about it later. For now, I want to make sure Maggie is good, yeah?” Hugh says.
Delilah nods, stepping out of the way.
Hugh and I walk inside and I go right out to my room. When I reach the door, I turn to Hugh. “I haven’t had the chance to say it yet, but what you did for me today ... Thank you, Hugh. Nobody has ever been so kind to me the way you were. I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.”
“I’d do it again, a thousand times over for you, Maggie.”
I swallow. “I should go to sleep.”
He reaches out, stroking a thumb down my face.
“Hugh?”
He drops his hand and glances over his shoulder to see Delilah.
“Can we have a word?” she asks, her eyes narrowed.
I don’t have time for any drama from her.
“Night,” I say and close the door.
I exhale and close my eyes.
What a god damned shit day that was.
“YOU DON’T LET THEM get away with that,” Gabby says later that night after I finally answered her calls.
She wasn’t going to stop until I did.
“I’m not, believe me. Those girls are going to answer up to the way they act. I’m fucking tired of them and their rich asses thinking they can treat people however they want. They can’t, they’re trash, and I’m tired of letting trash walk all over me.”
“Remy told me what happened with those guys, are you feeling okay about it?”
“No,” I admit. “I’m worried about the backlash that is going to come from that. If they decide they want to make sure I don’t talk, the damage they can do is terrifying.”
“The guys won’t let anything happen to you. Hugh isn’t going to let anything happen to you. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Go and get some rest, you sound like you need it.”
I chat to her for a few more minutes and then hang up the phone.
I have a long bath and then read a book before climbing into bed and falling asleep. I’m exhausted and crash without a problem.
I’m woken to the sounds of something, or someone, rustling around outside of my room. It takes me a minute to figure out what’s going on, but the noises are most certainly obvious. It sounds like someone is trying to pick the lock to my door. There is scratching and ruffling, and then a light clanging sound as if someone has dropped something.
Fear lodges itself in my chest as I carefully reach for my phone, my fingers shaking as I dial Hugh’s number.
“Maggie?” he murmurs sleepily.
“Who is it?” I hear Delilah’s voice interrupt.
“Hugh,” I say softly, “Someone is outside of my room.”
“Fuck. Stay there.”
He hangs up and the few seconds it takes him to get outside of that house, feels like the longest in my life. The sound of footsteps can be heard, and then a few minutes later Hugh bangs on my door, calling out my name. I stand on shaky legs and walk over, opening the door to see him standing. “There was nobody around.”
“I heard someone, I swear ...”
“Maybe you were havin’ a dream ...”
I look down at the ground and there by his foot is a screwdriver. It wasn’t there when I went to bed and it sure as hell doesn’t belong to me. I point to it and Hugh looks down, and then reaches for it, picking it up. He holds it up and then glances around the yard again. “They must have been scared off. We need to install security. For now, you need to come and sleep inside.”
“I can’t sleep in there,” I say softly. “I don’t want to.”
“Maggie, I’m not givin’ you a choice. You’re goin’ to sleep in the spare room downstairs, and I’m sleepin’ on the couch to make sure no mother fucker comes in while you’re asleep.”
I swallow.
Delilah walks outside, robe wrapped around her. “What’s going on now?”
“Someone was tryin’ to break into Maggie’s room.”
“What?” she cries, glancing around the yard. “Why?”
“Not sure,” Hugh lies. “Either way, she’s sleepin’ inside tonight. I’ll take the sofa.”
“Why do you need to sleep on the sofa?” Delilah questions.
“Because I need to make sure she’s safe.”
“What about me?”
“You’re up the stairs, Delilah.”
“They could come in through the window.”
Good lord, only she could make this about herself.
“Look, it’s fine, I’ll stay in here,” I say, putting a hand up.
“Fuckin’ no, you’re comin’ inside and we’re not goin’ to hear another damned thing about it, are we, Delilah?”
She turns and storms off inside.
Hugh helps me get a few things and then I make my way to the spare room. I make up the bed and then sit on the end of it, exhaling as Hugh checks the windows.
“They’re not going to let this go,” I say to him.
He looks over at me. “Neither will we. You’re goin’ to be safe, Maggie. I promise you that.”
I wish I could believe him, I really do.
But these men are not only dangerous, they’re rich.
And people with that much money ... they do whatever the hell they want.
Then they get away with it.
Every. Single. Time.
11
“I hope you’re going to do something about what those girls did to you, dear,” Doris says, her wrinkled old face scrunched as she looks at me in horror.
Eavesdropping yet again—Doris is good for that.
She loves to stick her nose in everybody’s business, and as much as it drives us crazy, we all kind of love her opinion because, well, she has been around the block a few times, and she sure as shit knows what she’s talking about.
“I don’t know that I’m going to go back to that country club, Doris,” I say. “I’m not sure it’s safe at the moment and, also, I don’t want to face those horrible women.”