23. LEO

I went to surprise Susie at her job. I wore a pair of the smart trousers and an oversized t-shirt. I wasn't the same person he swept away. I was completely different now, and everything in my life had changed.

"Oh my god," she said, seeing me enter the small coffee shop on a quiet street in Chelsea. "You could've texted me or something to say you were stopping by."

"I have the day off," I said.

"Another one?" she asked. "I thought you said it was going to be a full-time intense job, no days off."

I might have told her that to explain why she might not see me a for a while, but everything was different now. I was sleeping with my boss, and even if he wasn't my boss, it was only an eventuality that we would sleep together. And I didn't have any issues with that.

"Wait," she mumbled. Gasping, she pressed a hand to her chest.

Seating myself at the counter, I watched and waited for her to finish her throat. "What?"

"You're sleeping with him," she said. "I know it. I can see it on you." She looked around to make sure nobody was watching or listening. "You're fucking him," she whispered, leaning over to me.

I couldn't control the giggles. "Yes, but it was sweet when it happened. I didn't think it would, because he's super serious, but like, I don't know, I kinda just fell for him."

She shook her head. I couldn't tell if she was impressed or not. "Swelling has gone down on the eye too. Just a little bruising left. I have some concealer."

"I don't really mind it," I said. "Anyway, how are you?"

"I should ask you that. How is everything? I still don't understand everything that happened, and I probably don't even want to know."

She probably thought this was something dirty, the way we met, probably through a hook-up app that advertised jobs. It was almost the case, if he had decided to message me when he stalked my Little Me account.

"We basically just—you know, bumped into each other," I said. It wasn't a lie either, that was a fact about how we'd met. "Do you think I'd just do something like this on a whim?"

"Um. Leo, I've known you for a very long time. This is exactly like something you'd do on a whim," she said. "So, what can I getcha, on the house."

"No, I'll pay," I said. Daddy had given me some money before he left. There was at least two-hundred pounds. I didn't know if he knew I was only going to a café, or whether I was going to a swanky restaurant, but I accepted it. "And I'll have a hot chocolate, extra cream, extra sprinkles, and that toffee syrup stuff you squirt on top."

"Of course," she said. "I could've guessed."

As she busied herself, I checked my phone to see if he'd messaged me. He hadn't, he didn't even have his phone on him, at least not his new one. Susie continued to stare at me, her eyes squinting as if she was trying to solve some horrible maths equation.

"So, when do I get to visit that flat?" she asked. "It's huge."

"Sam is super cautious, so I don't if he'd ever let you visit, I mean, not right now, but like maybe if he comes and visits you first, then maybe he'll be fine with it."

"So, it's that serious?" she asked as a loud growl came from a machine, followed by an intense roar of steam. "He's like a boyfriend, or something now?"

My face was heating, but I couldn't be sure if that wasn't just from the steam. "I—I—well, you know, it's early, but I think he really like me, and I really like him." Grinning, my cheeks ached from the expression. "He also said we're going to travel as well."

Susie was quiet as she focused on my drink. She finished it on the counter in front of me with the extra I'd asked for. "Leo." She pawed a hand at mine. "I don't want you to get hurt. People promise things to people all the time. I know he's rich, or whatever, but I just don't want him to be playing you, you know. If he's promising to take you travelling, which is your ultimate life goal, then I'm just worried what he wants in return."

I didn't think he wanted anything in return. I dipped my finger in the whipped cream and licked it clean. "I don't think he wants anything but a good time. And I know you don't want me to get hurt. He won't."

"When I thought he was just your boss, I was ok, but you're seeing him. I want to meet him, Leo."

I knew she would. And I didn't want to tell her right away. She saw it on my face. I had a crappy poker face, and she saw it before I could even lay out my cards and tell her that work was amazing. Even if I'd seen a man killed and dressed bloody wounds.

She went off to serve another customer. I checked my phone again. I hoped he'd text me when he got his, but I didn't know how long that would be. I could always go to his office and see if he was there, or I could've texted him to come here and then I'd get the awkward interaction Susie was looking for over and done with.

"Leo," she whispered. "It isn't Samuel Maxwell, right?"

"What?"

"The guy," she said. "Samuel Maxwell."

"Yeah. That's him. Why?"

She sighed, leaning across the counter to get closer. "I didn't even want to say, but he's dangerous. You know that, right?"

"Where did you even hear that?"

"I kinda—I kinda used the find my friend app and saw where you were the other day. It was an office building, obviously I had a look who worked there. The Maxwell family are bad news."

I stuffed my mouth with the side of the cup and drank the sugary liquid gold to occupy myself from adding to her worry.

"Then you said Sam before, and I made the connection. There's like newspaper articles on that family," she said. "Dangerous, dangerous things."

Her manager called her over, probably for looking like she was taking a break. It was good for me; I didn't have to answer that question. I knew first hand that they were dangerous, I'd witnessed the danger. And I'd probably been a party to it as well; Sam made me handle that knife, and he also made me hand over drugs too.

Susie was the worrier, of the two of us, she was the one who had taken care of the bills. I was just along for the ride, and I was naive to think I could continue doing what I had been doing for so long. But meeting Samuel changed everything.

"He's a great guy," I said as she came back, hanging her head in shame after the stern word with her boss. It was loud enough for people to hear.

"Who? Him? He's an asshole. But I have to remember not to throw myself over the counter, or whatever he said."

Great. She'd moved on from Sam already. "So, when do you break for lunch?"

"An hour," she sighed.

"I can wait around, or—" I caught her boss's glare. "Maybe not. I'll finish my drink, and you can text me. In fact, let's go somewhere fancy for lunch, my treat."

Oh no. She hadn't moved on from him. "With his money?" she asked. "You know where that money is from, right?" She sprayed the counter, leaning in slightly. "It's from drugs," she whispered as she wiped the counter down.

That was mostly true. A lot of it was drug money, but he smuggled too, and he also had plenty of legitimate businesses. There was the gallery, the tailor, he had his own security firm, and so much more, I was sure of it. "It's not like he's on the street doing it. And he doesn't sell it himself."

"When I meet him, I'll ask him that myself," she said, raising her brows at me.

"Susie, please. This is special, and I don't want you to ask all the questions in the entire world just because you've heard rumours and looked at tabloids. You know most of that stuff is sensationism," I said. And I knew she thought that because we spoke about how funny some of those headlines were.

I knew she just wanted the best for me. She was one of the only people who knew what life had been like for me. She cared and I couldn't fault her at all for it.

"I am on your side," she said. "You know I am. And I'll be here if you need me, but I don't know if he's right for you."

"You haven't met him."

"Fine," she said. "But when I meet him, can I have an opinion on him then?"

That sounded fair, even if I hated the idea because I knew Susie as much as she knew me. She wouldn't change her mind, even if she got to know him.

I finished my hot chocolate, paid her, including a tip with whatever was left from the note. I wasn't even sure I wanted to go to lunch with her now. I needed time not to be told that the nice guy I was dating and working for was a monster.

Outside the café, I walked ahead to see a woman with a swam of small white fluffy bouncing pomeranians. They were exactly what I needed to see right now.

"Oh my god," I said, stopping the woman. Dressed in a fancy fur coat. She looked like a film star. "Can I—can I pet them?"

"Sure dear," she said, brushing back her long blonde-grey hair. "They're a handful, but they need to be walked every day. They're used to the country air."

On my knees, I didn't care that I was on the floor, surrounded by all the fluffy balls as they pawed me and pounced. "What are they called?" I asked through giggles as they tickled me. I'd never had pets growing up, and I loved animals so much.

"They—well, they all look alike, so they have names, but if you wanted me to point to them and say which is which, well, I'd look silly," she chuckled.

I spotted their name tags. "Millie," I read as one of them licked my face. "Oh. Davie. And—" Everything went dark. A thick sack scratched at my face as someone dragged me.

Harsh metal doors crunched as they opened.

"In, in, in," the woman said.

A hand around my throat cut off my air supply until everything turned dark and I couldn't feel the scratchy material covering my face.