E

ed as I walked

Mazda was parked next to my red baby, and I immediately started thinking of ways to hide. The car park was half empty, the hospital was

came closer. Then he turne

hani

." There was a war

How did you find me? How d

lot of q

t answer a

out," he said, as if th

er. That's a threat

e. Still, he was friendlier than the first time we m

e Mazda and pulled out two bags. He opened them slightly, li

atching pair of heels. The Burberry bag held a shiny bla

home, make sure you get d

for a moment. But the memory of him was living rent-free in my head: the way he had looked at m

d sent a man in a suit to find me in

to women he tells not to look fo

tion for a second too long. "

th that, so I pretended it

ccept any of this. Thank you for bringing it all the way

em back." Nathaniel shook his head. "He

to," I said, and tur

was running away. Before I could even turn around to say anything, he had d

a

when Nathaniel said it, and now it stuck. I had spent a whole night with this man, and the first time I lear

s on the wheel, staring at nothing. A man who had told me not to look for him had just sent his right-hand man to find me, dressed in a hos

la," I said aloud, an

d in weeks. I had a tradition of travelling down every month to visit him, and I had broken it, because I couldn't face th

ncially. Dad always made it very clear to her that I would go to nursing college and that he would see me through school himself. She had wanted Victoria to be at the front of everything, but Dad never allowed it. When my mum died, he promised

cut my thoughts sh

oice blasted throu

outing. I'm driving," I said,

o say I'm unwell and I need

f old people, and y

ud

place now. I'll call y

Sis. I'll

wo bags in my hands, Sophie was

. I had known she had something up

es dropped to the bags as we walked in. "Burberry?

't. It wa

and sharp-eyed, and she saw right through me like I was a b

He sent his bodygua

n Nathan

, laughing. "And his name is Car

ands in the air. "Look at yo

he kitchen. "These gifts were forced on me. I w

" Sophie followed me,

phi

ou could at least

is how it

grinned. "Tha

red purse and heels were stunning, but the dress was something else. It was dazzling, exactl

my size after

without trying too hard. It was exactly the kind of dress a woman wore when she wanted a man to forget what

of me," I said. The girl had been stari

as oddly quiet. "Co

nstagram of himself and another woman. They were smiling

and he's already back on the market. I'd say he's a man in

laughed

mind," she went on. "He

I said quietly, and w

s only a small flicker of anger, and I brushed it off almost immediately. I looked at myself in th

the shelf beside it. I told myself I would return them someday. I didn't

idiot every time. With Sophie, everything felt light, and I soon forgot most of what had happened. Or at least, I told myself I had. I even put on a little weight from all the food I had been eating lately. My appetite had increased so much that everyone at the hospital noticed. I was also tired

even if it was just for a week. I had already texted him the night before to say I was coming. He had replied with three excla

from my bed to reach for my phone charger, and everything blurred for a moment. Then a queasy feeling rose in my stomach, so fast t

my head spinning. What is wrong with me? Co

spered the

t can

remembered that. But the second time was a blur of glass

against the cool tiles

ce in the mirror, and slowly,