Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Pull yourself together, Indie.
You’re not alone.
No. There was still one person she could rely on. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed a tissue from her handbag. She always carried some with her.
After cleaning herself up, she finally thought of what she should have said to them.
I suppose it’s good to finally see this side of you. I should have never trusted you if you’re willing to just throw me away without even letting me defend myself. Shows the type of men you are.
Yep. That’s what she should have said. And she didn’t even have a phone to text it to them.
Getting up, she stumbled slightly.
First order of business was to get a new phone. The cheapest one possible. Thank God, she’d thought to write down all of her important phone numbers in a notebook before leaving her phone at Mr. Wembley’s apartment.
She had to call Maggie.
As she headed out of the park, she saw him standing there and a little bit of hope filled her heart.
Rock would believe her, right?
He’d never think badly of her. But as she headed toward him, he shook his head. His gaze seemed to see everything.
And nothing.
There was a thick sense of disappointment in his face. Something she’d never seen from him before. He stepped toward her and silently held out an envelope. It was thick and kind of heavy.
She opened her mouth to explain. To tell him everything.
But before she could say a word, he was gone.
It took a while for her brain to reboot and with fingers that shook, she opened the envelope.
She wasn’t sure what she expected but the wad of cash in there wasn’t it.
It felt like . . . like he was paying her off. Telling her to stay away. As though he thought that this was what she wanted.
And she guessed that just showed her that they really did think she’d betrayed them for money.
12
Two months later . . .
Exhaustion made her feet drag as Indie as she climbed off the bus and walked to the small apartment she now lived in with Maggie.
It wasn’t much, but she was so grateful to Maggie and her uncle for making sure she had a roof over her head. The apartment was under William’s name. Indie had no credit history or references.
Plus, if it was under her name Billy might find her.
She shuddered at the thought.
She knew he had to be furious. But Indie was just grateful that she’d managed to get away.
Sure, she might have nothing to her name and she had to work a job where she was paid under the table.
But she was free. Free from Billy, from her mother.
From the guys.
She still thought about them constantly. For the first few weeks, she’d obsessed over them, running everything that had happened through her head over and over.
She and Maggie had hashed things out for hours. Billy must have set her up. Somehow, he’d gotten into Slade’s safe and stolen that information. And he must have doctored the video footage.
How he’d done it, she didn’t know.
Not that any of that mattered now.
What really mattered was her baby.
Finally, she reached the apartment. It was getting cooler now that autumn had hit. Winter wasn’t something she was looking forward to. She rubbed the slight bump of her stomach. By the time winter arrived, she’d be much bigger than she was now.
Well, she hoped.
She’d had a scan a few days ago and Button was a bit on the small side which worried her.
However, the doctor had reassured her that the baby had plenty of time to catch up. And that stress would only make things worse.
Right.
How was she meant to not stress? She still had no idea how she was going to make things work once the baby arrived. How quickly she’d be able to get back to work.
At some stage she was going to have to get a proper job which would leave a paper trail. Was Billy looking for her? Maggie wanted her to be cautious. And the last thing she wanted was Billy coming after Maggie for helping her.
There’s still that cash Rock gave you.
When she’d finally brought herself to count it, she’d realized there was five thousand pounds in that envelope.
That was enough to survive on for a while when the baby came. But she didn’t want to use it. It was blood money. Not that actual blood had been involved but it had still felt like she’d bled on the inside.
The apartment was in a middle-class area of London that she would never be able to afford without Maggie’s help. In fact, she was starting to wonder if Maggie was covering most of it herself.
She wouldn’t be surprised.
Unlocking the door, she stepped inside. They were on the ground floor, thankfully. This building didn’t have an elevator and if she had to walk up to the fourth floor every day, she’d be dead on her feet.