Page 37 of Caught in the Middle

He had fed her all these promises, these lies, and then decided to palm her off to someone else? He told her he'd never failed a girl before - is that because when the going gets tough he just exiled them to Spain?! How many girls had he done this to? How many girls had he kissed and then sent them packing?

'We're about three hours from the airport, so you might want to settle down for the ride.'

Lucy jolted up at the sound of Austin's voice, she'd forgotten he was there. He wore a suit similar to Oliver's but it was definitely off of the rack, not tailor made, and he was a lot younger. He looked very kind, his deep brown eyes made him look trusting, and his blonde hair almost angelic.

But he wasn't Oliver.

'What's going on?' Lucy asked him in exasperation.

'Sorry, love,' he said with a cockney undertone, 'I'm just here to chauffeur you to the airport, under orders from the boss. Whatever he says goes.'

Boss? Lucy pondered this. Well, he did say he was a business man, maybe one of his employees is doing him a favour.

'What do you and Oliver work as?'

Austin laughed, a soft, gentle laugh. 'He warned me you were a nosy one.'

Lucy pushed him for more information, but she was met with hearty quips or a cheery, deflective comment. She eventually gave up prying for information out of him, and settled down into the back seat, nuzzling her nose into her fleece.

It smelled like Oliver's aftershave, and it made her heart feel heavy. Hot tears formed in her eyes, and she blinked furiously to stop them from falling, but it was no use.

The only reason running away from the god damn Mafia was even slightly bearable was because she was doing it with Oliver. Now, going to another country, she felt vulnerable.

Austin leaned over to the passenger seat, popped open the glove box and handed Lucy a pack of tissues. 'I've got some chocolate in here somewhere if you want it,' he said.

His niceness only made her burst into tears. Full on, hysterical tears.

She didn't stop crying until Austin pulled into the airport car park, when the reality of what was about to happen hit her.

He jumped out of the car, and opened her door.

'Well, thanks for driving me, I suppose.' She muttered, her eyes so puffy she from sobbing she could barely see. She didn't feel the need to be mean to him, it wasn't his fault. He was simply taking orders, besides, he had been nothing but nice to her the whole journey.

'Oh, I'm taking you all the way to the boarding gate.' He yanked the duffel bag out of the boot and flung it over his shoulder. 'I've got to make sure you board the flight safely,' he leaned in a little closer and whispered, 'you obviously know why.'

She sighed as she eyed Austin up. As nice as he was, he was a little boy compare to Oliver. She couldn't see how he could protect her if Joey Leonardo's burly men tried to make a snatch and grab for her, especially since there's no doubt they'd be super angry from their last encounter.

Nevertheless, she followed him through the revolving doors, and into the hustle and bustle of the airport lounge.

It felt weird, and almost surreal, stepping into such a busy environment. Even though she'd only been on the run for three days now, it felt like she hadn't seen civilisation forever. Part of her was worried, and it wasn't just pre-flight jitters, but she couldn't put a finger on what was bothering her exactly. Perhaps it was the fact she was worried she had now been reported as missing, and that people in this airport would recognise her from the newspaper they were reading.

Maybe that's why Oliver was forcing her to leave the country.

Her brain went into overdrive. That could exactly be it, maybe it was for her own safety. But a quick scan across the front of the newspapers in the WH Smiths she was standing displayed headlines about another banking scandal. Nothing to suggest she had been reported missing.

'Right, check-in is this way.' Austin nodded over to a row of desks, with beautiful women sitting behind them, greeting passengers and checking passports. He reached into the duffel bag and pulled out a passport, then pulled out a boarding ticket from the inside of his suit jacket. 'Your name is Molly Michaels' he said in a low tone, 'Molly Michaels. Remember it.'

Lucy took the passport and opened it up. It was surreal seeing her face staring back up at her - the exact same photo on her real passport - but with a different name to the side of it. She was no expert, but it felt very real, it even had the watermark and everything.

Austin studied her carefully. 'Don't worry, it'll definitely work.'

As they made their way over to the check-in desk, it dawned on Lucy that there was no way that Oliver had had this passport made up overnight. Obviously. They had been in the middle of nowhere, and the passport came from inside the duffel bag, so Austin hadn't brought it with him.

Oliver had known all along that he was going to ship her off to Spain.

So then why kiss me?

This was playing on her mind too heavily to even be nervous by the time she reached the front of the check-in queue. She didn't need to be either - the air hostess greeted her with a smile, eyed up the passport cheerily, and gave her a band to put around her luggage.

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