Page 50 of Gold Digger
“Yes, okay,” she admitted. “I wasn’t honest with you either, but still, you should have told me if you were worried.”
Hayley crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at her sister.
“Because I’m the adult, Hails,” Lottie said in a firmer voice. “You’re a kid. I get to make the tough choices.” With that, Hayley rolled her eyes and stormed out of the room in disgust, slamming the bedroom door behind her. At Hayley’s exit, Lottie just seemed to deflate. The fight went out of her eyes, and she sank down onto the small sofa with a huff, taking her head in her hands. The anger coursing through me at the vision of Lottie pushing that huge chest of drawers in front of her door melted away as I took in her defeated pose.
“Hey,” I said softly as I sat next to her on the sofa, putting my hand on her back.
“She was scared,” Lottie said in a whisper that was only just loud enough for me to make out.
“It’s not your fault, darling,” I said, rubbing circles on her back now. “You did the best you could.”
“She’s still scared,” Lottie went on as if she hadn’t heard me. “I should have found somewhere else to live but, cheese and rice, you wouldn’t believe the rent they charge in some places.” She swallowed. “I needed to make that fifty grand last, and I couldn’t rely on Vicky employing me forever, so I?—”
“You made the choices you thought you had to,” I said, cutting her off. I couldn’t hear any more about how she expected the worst. Lottie’s entire life had trained her to do that.Of coursewhen my mother stepped in with a solid financial offer, she would take it. Shehadto take it. I could see that now, see beyond my hurt pride to how much that amount of money meant to Lottie. How much stability it gave her and her sister. “But I’m offering you an alternative. Everyone needs some helpsometimes, Lottie. I don’t want Hayley to be scared, and neither do you.”
The last sentence was a low blow to get my way, and I knew it, but I had to use everything at my disposal to convince her. I wasnotleaving this building without both sisters.
“Why do you want to help us?” Lottie said, lifting her face from her hands to look at me. “You hate me. You wanted me to stay away from you and your family. Wait…” she blinked up at me as her face paled, “is this some bullshit guilt thing now that you know about my sister?”
“Firstly, I never hated you. Ever.”
“Could have fooled me.”
“I didn’t. I was frustrated with you, but Ineverhated you.”
“You thought I was a threat to your family.” Her voice cracked at the end, and she cleared her throat to try to cover it, and I felt a burn in the pit of my stomach. When she spoke again, her voice was small. “I did that. I know I did, by taking the money. It was a test, and I failed it. I evenknewit was a test when your mum offered the money, but I couldn’t turn it down. I just—” Her breath hitched, and she pressed her trembling lips together. I suspected that the last thing Lottie wanted to do was cry in front of me again. The burn had worked its way up to my throat now and I had to swallow it down before I spoke again.
“It was unfair of Mum to offer you that money, Lottie,” I said in a tight voice. Past establishing that Mum had known about Hayley in our brief call yesterday, I hadn’t spoken to her again. I was absolutely bloody furious with her. She went to Lottie with that offer, knowing how desperate she was, knowing how impossible it would be for her to say no. The casual cruelty with which she’d treated Lottie was almost unbelievable to me. It didn’t gel with my vision of my mum. “Especially when she knew how desperately you might need it. It’s…” I broke off, jumping up from the sofa and pacing away as far as the small living roomwould allow, my hand rubbing the back of my neck, searching for the right words, then turned and locked eyes with Lottie. “It’s playing with people’s lives. She pushed you around with her money. Took advantage of you when she should have beenhelpingyou.”
“Ollie, I didn’t have to take that money,” Lottie said softly.
My eyebrows went up as I looked pointedly around the flat and the dresser that was at an awkward angle, then nodded towards the shut bedroom door. Her cheeks flushed red.
“I would have managed.”
“Would Hayley have the therapy she needs?” I asked gently, pacing back to her and taking my seat on the sofa again. She bit her lip and looked down at the floor. “That’s not a criticism, Lottie. Hayley’s had ongoing therapy for weeks now because of that decision you made.”
Lottie swallowed, but to my relief, when she looked at me, some of the torment had left her eyes. “Thanks,” she said softly.
“So, now that we’ve got that sorted. You need to pack.”
“Ollie, I?—”
“I’m not leaving you here.”
Lottie rolled her eyes. “This is not a warzone. We’ve lived here for nearly a year with hardly any problems.”
“Hardly any? There have been some, then?”
She looked down and to the left, her mouth set in that stubborn line. I realised that if I wanted my way, and I always wanted my way, I was going to have to change tactics. And I was good at manipulating situations. I’d been doing it since I was a child, just as Lottie had been reading people and situations to keep herself safe.
“Listen, I’m sorry, Lottie, but I told the police that you were moving in with me and that we’re engaged. So, for the moment, both of those things need to happen, or I could be accused of lying to the police. That has some serious consequences for meand my family.” I was definitely stretching the truth to breaking point there; I had full control of my estate, my investments and the dukedom. My family had never been so secure. None of this could touch me or them. But Lottie didn’t need to know that. I knew I was on the right track as I watched her face pale.
“B-but that’syourfault,” Lottie said, and she had a point, but it was not one I was willing to concede.
“The fact is that Hayley came tomydoor, putting you and her under my protection. End of story.”
Her mouth opened, closed and then opened again before she finally spoke. “You want me to pose as your fake fiancée?”
