Page 8 of Be My Traitor

Daisy shrugged miserably.

“Look, I can’t tell you what to do with your life, but take it from me: things get a lot easier if you learn to fight your own battles. Fenella is one of our star hockey players and she may well lose her spot on the team because she was defending you. Do you think that’s right?”

“No, miss.”

“You need to learn to live up to the Knight name,” I said to her. “Doing what’s right isn’t always easy, but it is the best strategy in the long run. And if you ever need to talk, you can always come to me in confidence. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do, but take it from someone who’s been there – there are ways of dealing with people like Chantal that mean you don’t have to rely on someone else to rescue you.”

“Yes, miss.”

I looked at her, shaking my head. I had no idea whether my little pep talk was going to make any difference, but I’d done my best. Maybe I could get Fenella to mentor the girl. She certainly wasn’t afraid of doing what was right.

And now I supposed it was time to practice what I preached. Lucas needed to know about the fight, even if I didn’t want to face him. I had a free period first thing. I might as well get that awkward first meeting over and done with and go see him now.

“All right. Go to your class,” I said to Daisy. “The bell’s going to go in a minute and it would be a shame if you got a detention for being late after Fenella tried so hard to keep you out of trouble.”

“Yes, miss.”

Daisy scurried away while I tried to quiet the nervous butterflies flapping up a storm in my stomach as I went over to the head’s office. Maybe he’d forgotten that we’d slept together and we could just be two old friends catching up.

Yeah, right!

I stood outside the solid oak door which already bore a brass plaque with Lucas’s name on it. Jenny must be pissed off that they’d acted so quickly to wipe out every trace of her. She’d dropped so many hints during her time as interim head that needing to interview for the position was only a formality. She was convinced that she was guaranteed the job, only to have Lucas swoop in and turn her life upside down. Funny how he had a habit of doing that.

Taking a deep breath to quell my nerves, I knocked.

“Come in!”

I pushed open the door to see Nigel sitting opposite Lucas at his desk.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” I blushed. “I needed to talk to you alone, but I can always come back later.”

“No need. Nigel and I were just about done, weren’t we?”

“Yep.” Nigel got up and reached over to shake Lucas’s hand, the two of them looking like they’d been best buddies for years.

As Nigel walked past me, he winked at me, making me smile despite myself. Maybe I was never going to say yes to that drink with him, but it felt good to know someone had my back while I dealt with having Lucas as my boss.

Nigel shut the door behind himself, leaving me with Lucas.

“Take a seat, Milly.” My legs were quivering like jelly as I crossed over to sit where Nigel had just been.

For a moment, we sat in silence, gazing at each other. I wanted to look away, but I made myself keep eye contact, not wanting to give Lucas any sense that I might be afraid. I was the Knight heir, dammit! If I couldn’t stand up to one man who didn’t care enough about me to stick around, I had no right to take over the family business.

“You look good,” I said at last, not sure what to say. How was I supposed to tell him about Amber? Already, I was regretting coming here.

“I’m glad you said that,” Lucas told me. “Because I’ve been wondering how to approach you knowing our history.”

“Uh-huh.” Was he going to ask meout? I wasn’t ready for this. I wassonot ready for this!

“What happened between us was great, but it was a long time ago,” Lucas went on. “I’ve moved on and now that I’m your boss, it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to start anything. I’m going to respect your professional boundaries and I’d appreciate it if you did the same. So no flirting, no hitting on me, nothing that’s not work related, okay?”

“Dammit, Lucas, I’m not flirting with you. You have a daughter.” The words came out before I could stop them.

Lucas looked like a ten-tonne truck had just run over him. If he wasn’t sitting already, I didn’t doubt that he’d have collapsed.

“What did you say?”

“You have a little girl,” I repeated. “Her name is Amber.”

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