Lucy froze, her ears pricking up.
They were talking about her.
Oliver's girl? The words rang in her ears, her feet rooted to the spot.
'...of course, sir,' she recognised that voice! She leaned closer to the door, 'and what shall I do with her?'
She could hear Joey laugh. 'I don't care, something that makes headline news. Oliver needs to know about it.'
'No problem, sir.'
Lucy felt like she was about to pass out, but footsteps growing closer to her on the other side of the door sprang her into action, and she ran to hide behind the main staircase.
When the door opened, Lucy had to do everything in her power not to gasp. It was the nice bodyguard she had got to like with the Italian accent!
Her heart thumped as she watched him exit the front door of the mansion, and through the stained glass she could see him drive off in a car.
She steadied herself against the wall, unable to breathe.
Joey Leonardo wanted her dead.
Surely, it couldn't just be because she'd called him out on forgetting her name? It seemed too petty... and then it dawned on her.
He had referred to her as Oliver's girl... was that all she was? A ploy to get back at his enemy? Not for the first time this month, she felt like an absolute fool. She'd fallen for his broad, tattooed physique, his softly spoken voice, his power.
And his sob story about Oliver killing his sister.
She didn't stand around long enough to contemplate whether it was true or not.
Instead, Lucy went into fight or flight mode, and turned on her heels, heading for the garden as quickly as she could without arousing suspicion from the maids, servants and butlers who were dotted around the hallways.
She wasn't a religious girl, but she found herself praying as she hurried up the path the little red brick building, praying that Elijah was there, and praying even harder that he still wanted to help her.
She hammered on the door not so subtly, and it opened almost immediately.
Elijah.
He took one look at her wounded face, and the sheer fear in his eyes, and said:
'Let’s get you out of here.'