Public Property (28 page)

‘
It isn’t
you
putting us in danger, it’s my father
.
A
nd don’t you dare say you would give it up because I will
not
let you do tha
t. You love what you do and you’
re fantastic at it
.
A
nd look at everything we
’
ve achieved in the last six months or so. We
’
ve dona
ted more money to worthy causes
than anyone else on the planet
.’

‘
But at what price? If this isn’t your father’s work then it’s the work of someone who obviously doesn’t care for us much
.’ He took a sip of his drink.

‘
Doesn’t care for
me
much you mean.
Y
ou weren’t headless in any of the pictures
.’

‘
I was just going to say
maybe
we should step out
of the limelight for a while.
I don’t know, maybe your desert island idea wasn’t such a joke after all
.’

‘
I have so muc
h going on right now, with the
Every Day project
, not to mention my photography exhibition
coming up
.
I couldn’t hide away even if I wanted to. I can’t start something and then abandon it. Anyway, stepping away from things would be like giving in to my father wouldn’t it?
You know he scares the shit out of me
,
but
you
also
know I hate giving in to anyone
.’ She bit into her bagel.

‘
I just want to protect you
,
Freya
.
A
s alpha male as that sounds.
I don’t want to have brought you over here and made your life a misery
.’

And now would be an excellent time to mention meeting with her father. Was he going to tell her? Or was he going to keep it from her? She paused long, met his eyes with hers. Nothing was forthcoming.

‘
Nick
,
you
’
ve made me so happy,
so
unbelievably happy. Every morning I wake up lying next to this
A
donis and I can’t believe my luck. I keep thinking someone
’
s going to
produce some ruby slippers from somewhere, click the heels together three times and have me
whirlwinding
back to
Clapham
. I love you
,
Nick, so much
.’ She took hold of his hand.

‘
I love you too
.’ H
e reached out and gently touched her face, drawing her towards him to kiss her.

‘
Listen, if you want to hold off on the wedding I would understand
,’ he said.

‘
Is that what you want?
’
Freya asked him.

‘
Hell no!
I want to marry you now more than ever
.’

‘
Then let’s do it
.’ She nodded with determination.

‘Where?’

‘
Anywhere, I don’t care.
Casey’s?
Statue of Liberty?
Bungee jumping over the Grand Canyon
?
Y
ou choose
.’ She laughed.

Breaking the moment, Nicholas
’
phone began to ring.

‘
Argh
!
You said you’d turned it off. I can’t be marrying someone who can’t be separated from their mobile phone
.’ She jumped up.

‘
I can’t be married to someone who can’t be separated from their cameras
.
I see Claude under your t
-
shirt and I also saw you sneak Max into the car
,
’
Nicholas called to her.

‘
Pervert!
You’re nothing but a dirty voyeur
, watching my every move.’ She set off across the bridge.

‘
It’s Sandra, I’ll catch you up
.’

She
waved her hand at him and Nicholas put the phone to his ear.

‘
Hello
,
Sandra
…
you did? Good
.
Y
es
,
tonight
’
s fine
.
W
hat time and where?
Eight at
the President’s Lounge
?
Ye
a
h
,
I know where it is
.
OK, thanks
.
I’ll see you
.’

She wasn’t stupid. She knew this was the call he’d been waiting all morning for. She just wished he wasn’t hiding it from her. There was no way she was going to let him go anywhere near her father.

‘
Smile!
’
she called, focusing her camera on him.

‘
Freya
,
that
was Sandra
.
I’
ve got to do an interview tonight at
eight
on some chat show on
t
he Film Factor Network. It was supposed to be next week but t
hey want to tape it tonight so…’

Freya let out a heavy sigh and shook her head at him.

‘What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?’

“I know you’re planning to meet my father. I heard you this morning. And now you’re lying to me about it. We said no more secrets and you’re making up some bullshit about going to do a show when you’re planning on putting yourself in a room with that madman.’

Nicholas held up his hands in defeat.

‘You can phone Sandra back right now and tell her to cancel. I won’t let you go and see him.’ She sniffed, tried to stop the tears from being created.

‘Freya, I’m sorry I lied but I’m not sorry I made the appointment. I have to sort this out.’

‘No.’

‘It’s not your decision to make. He’s hurting both of us now. I’m in this, just as much of you and I want it to stop. He’s not going to control our lives. He’s not going to hurt the people we care about. And he’s not going to drive a wedge between us.’ He slammed his hand down on the bridge.

‘Nick, you don’t understand…’

‘No. I’ve heard enough about it. I’m going to see him, Freya. I’m going to see him and I’m going to end this.’

‘But…’

‘
No. No buts. End of conversation.’

‘
Freya, where the
h
ell have you been all
day?
W
hy haven’t you been answering your mobile?!
’

She tried to swallow the hunk of cheese she had in her mouth so she could speak.

‘
Freya! Are you there?
’
E
mma questioned.

‘
Mmm
…
hang on
.
S
orry about that. What did you say?
’ She swiped at her mouth with her hands.

‘
I’ve been trying to get hold of you all day
.
I
t’s all over the news about your car being attacked and Mike being hurt and so
mething happening at your house.
What’s going on?
’

‘
Sorry it’s all been a bit crazy here
. I lost my bag with my phone in at the
casino and it hasn’t been turned in
,
so don’t be surprised if you end up getting a phone call from some drifter
.’

‘
Are you OK?
’

‘Not really.
W
e had an intruder in the house. We got home after the car incident last night to find the kitchen covered in photographs of me and Nick
.
Well, I say me and
Nick,
they were of Nick really because someone had done some sloppy editing of me with a pair of scissors.’

‘
What?!
Oh my God!
’

‘
I have to say it wasn’t
the best welcome home I’ve had.
B
ut Roger and an army of security experts hav
e made my lovely little
Walton
e
sque
house into something that now resembles Alcatraz
.’

‘
Oh
,
Freya
.
D
o you think it has something to do with the article about your father?
’

‘
Do I think it has something to do with my rich, lowlife, daughter
-
hating
father? Can I ask the audience?’ She sucked in a breath and thought about Nicholas. He’d left
an hour ago. They were hardly talking to each other. He’d never been so bloody minded like he had today at the bridge. She was worried about him. She’d seen people
after an audience with her father. She didn’t know if she could tell Emma about it.

‘
And Mike’s attack
?
God
,
do you think he did that too?
’

‘I’d say it was an incident
right out of the psychotic father book of
“
Ways to Bring People to their Knees
”.’

‘
Did you tell the police you think it
’
s him?
’

‘
No I didn’t
,
but Nick did.’ She swallowed a lump in her throat. She couldn’t say the words. She couldn’t tell Emma she’d let her fiancé go to face her father.

‘Nick’s
worried about me, he’s gone all Neandert
hal actually. I’ve got Jol
ie coming round
to keep me company because Nick’s
…
had to go
out
and he doesn’t want to leave me alone
.’ She took the slab of cheese out of the fridge and sunk her teeth into it.

She moved into the hallway and headed for the living room.

‘
I think he’s right to be protective
.
Y
ou’ve had someone in your house, that’s terrible and freaky and I can’t imagine how jumpy I would be in that situation
.’

‘
Thanks
,
Em
, that
’
s made me feel a whole lot better about the whole thing. I was so trying not to feel like the babysitter in a horror movie but now
…’

‘
Sorry, but I’m worried about you too. When are you coming over here? Perhaps the sooner the better would be
best
. Have you made any wedding arrangements yet?
’

‘
Er
, no, not really
.
T
here hasn’t been time, what with police and psychos and motion sensors. Say, what
’s
been happening in
Kassiopi
? Tell me about stuff there to take my mind off it
.’ She sat down on the sofa and took another bite of cheese.

‘
Oh there’s nothing h
appening here this time of year.
T
he holiday season
doesn’t
kick in
until May
,
so everything is quiet
…and not so warm.’

‘Don’t talk to me about warm. I moved to America to catch some rays and they’re talking about
snow here next week! Snow! I know
it’s
November but snow?!’

‘I’d love to see snow.’

‘The wind here would kill you. Anyway,
how
’
s everyone? How are
Mr
and
Mrs
P?
’

Mr
and
Mrs
Petroholis
were Emma’s parents in law. They were good, honest people who thought the world of Freya.