Page 90 of His Own Heaven

“I have to finish reading Romeo and Juliet for English,” Diana groaned. “It’s so dumb. Someone should have told Juliet no guy is ever worth killing yourself over.”

Josie dumped her school bag on the conference table and flopped into the chair beside her sister. “And I have to design a science experiment to test rates of corrosion in various metals. You don’t know anything about that, do you?” She looked up at Lucy with such an imploring look in her eyes that Lucy really wished she knew the answer, but she didn’t.

“No, sorry. But if you ever want to learn how to make rainbow fire, I’m your girl.”

Diana’s face lit up and her smile was as evil as her father’s. “Rainbow fire?”

“Don’t encourage her,” Josie said, rolling her eyes. “She almost got suspended last year for trying to make explosives in chem lab.”

“Fireworks. I was trying to make fireworks.”

Lucy grinned. “Okay, well, I’ll leave you to it. I need to finish up out here and hopefully your dad and uncle will be back soon. If you’re hungry, there’s fruit and water in the mini fridge, and I think Toby said we’re getting pizza for dinner.”

Both twins pumped their fists in the air. “Score!”

Chuckling, Lucy turned to leave, but the girls stopped her in her tracks.

“We’re glad you’re dating Toby,” Josie said.

“I beg your pardon?” Lucy turned back again.

“Yeah,” Diana added. “We discussed it and we think you’re good for him. He smiles a lot more now. I never realised he had so many teeth.”

Lucy burst out laughing. “Do your homework,” she said, then quickly turned away before she let it slip that she knew exactly how many teeth Toby Bennett had because he’d spent half the previous night biting her breasts and tugging on her pierced nipples.

They were still deliciously sore.

She sighed. She really needed girlfriends, people she could talk to about grown up things, like bragging about the size of her boyfriend’s dick or… nope, that was pretty much it. She just wanted to tell someone about the size of the cock she was getting on a daily basis. Someone other than Maisie.

As she settled back into her chair, Lucy pulled up the security camera app and selected the cameras around the café. She’d been playing with the system on and off throughout the day, learning the motions and the range of vision possible, and Ashley made for a convenient target, but as she zoomed in on the barista and the woman she was serving, Lucy froze.

Grabbing her phone, she pulled up her photo app and looked at the picture Toby had given her that morning, the last known likeness of Isobel Bennett.

It was her. It was Isobel. But if she was there, where were they? And… fuck. Did she just smile at the camera?

“Holy shit,” she muttered, hitting the speed-dial. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“Hey baby—”

“She’s here.”

“What?”

“Isobel. She’s here. She’s fucking here and you’re not. Where are you?”

Muffled voices bled through the phone as Toby relayed the information to his brother. “Stall her, Lucy. We’re on our way.”

Lucy put her phone down without ending the call so Toby could listen in, then she rounded up the girls. “Quickly and quietly grab your gear and lock yourselves in Toby’s office,” she said, keeping one eye on the door. When they looked like they were about to argue she held up one hand, and added, “She’s here.”

The girls exchanged a look so similar to the silent conversations of Charlie and Toby that Lucy almost laughed, then they grabbed their books and bags and ran into their uncle’s office, but before they could shut the door, Lucy handed them her keys too.

“So I can’t get in either,” she said. “Now lock the door and call the police, and whatever you do, whatever you hear, donotopen this door for anyone except your father. Do you understand me?”

They both nodded and Lucy hated the fear she saw in their crystalline eyes. Eyes exactly like their father’s. Exactly like Toby’s. “We understand,” they said, the slight shake in their sweet voices breaking her heart.

Lucy quickly squeezed their hands. “Good girls.” Then she shut the door and waited to hear the lock engage, only taking her next breath when she heard the familiar click. A moment later she smiled as she heard the sound of Toby’s desk being dragged across the floor and banged against the door.

“Good girls,” she murmured again, and not a moment too soon.

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