A Chance Encounter Rae Shaw (ebook reader with built in dictionary .txt) 📖

can't stay with me, Ellie,’ Mark said. ‘I'm not the best person for you right now. You need time away, doing stuff you like, and I need to sort out things, too. With Mum. And Dad. Jackson will keep you safe.’

From Freddie, Mark wisely didn't say. His nemesis, and Jackson's too, was hungry for revenge, more so than ever.

The car passed through the magnificent gates of Fasleigh house. Gary parked by the front door and straight away, Jackson appeared and opened Ellen's door.

Mark released her seat belt. ‘I never intended for you to get caught up in all this. I wish you could have trusted me with your secret. I’m sorry, Ellen, so sorry. It's my fault.’

‘You're fault? I let Freddie—’

‘I mean, I started all this, not you. I failed you. More than any other person, I let you down. I ignored all the danger signs. I left you alone to deal with things back at home. I'm sorry. One day, I'll tell you everything about Haydocks.’

‘Mark.’ She opened her mouth and he pressed his finger to her lips. Julianna turned away and faced the windscreen. It was none of her business.

Ellen struggled to stand upright on the driveway. Jackson folded his arm around her shoulder, supporting her.

‘I know you don't know me well, Ellen, and after what you've been through, this might be difficult to believe, but you can trust me. Come and see Hettie and the kids. They're always excited about visitors.’ He guided Ellen towards the door. Gary had already dealt with the suitcase.

Jackson turned on the doorstep. ‘Go!’ he urged. ‘I’ve got her.’

  30

Mark

Gary Maybanks drove away from Fasleigh at breakneck speed.

‘Your place?’ Gary asked Julianna.

‘Yes, please.’

The tension in the car was razor sharp. Mark had put Julianna in a dangerous situation, required her to fight for her life, and all he had done was stand there with sweat dripping down his back. He wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t want to invite him into her house and he expected she might try to find a way to dissociate herself from him. She was entitled to end things between them.

The silence was unending. With each mile, Mark's throbbing headache intensified, numbing his senses and altering his perceptions of light and darkness. What seemed dull, became vivid and colourful: sunlight bounced off car bonnets and targeted his eyes with searing brightness. Approaching the densely populated outer precincts of the city, the traffic became heavily congested and the noise thundered around the car. Mark felt sick and closed his eyes.

‘This was meant to be my day off.’ Gary slammed his hands on the steering wheel. ‘My wife is so pissed off.’

Mark didn’t know what to say. Jackson had arranged the cars, helicopter and hotel. The costs were mounting and he wouldn't be able to pay Jackson back on an accountant's salary. He sweated profusely.

‘It’s just an unusual set of circumstances,’ Julianna said, her voice distant. ‘I’ll do a shift for you, Gary, make it up to you.’

Julianna was paying his debts, too. The misery deepened.

Gary parked outside her mews terrace house. ‘Julianna, how could you afford this?’

‘He’s a successful commercial lawyer, my ex, but he sucked when it came to divorce law.’

Gary laughed.

Mark couldn't string a sentence together and Julianna said nothing, not even a goodbye. He was merely a passenger in the back seat, and she and Gary were used to ignoring the passengers in the car with diligent expertise. She opened her front door, crossed the threshold and closed it behind her without looking back at the car.

‘Where now, Mr Clewer?’ Gary asked. ‘Home?’

Mark gave his address, yawned and slumped into an unexpected nap.

The jolt of the car halting outside the entrance to his apartment block woke Mark. As graciously as possible, he thanked Gary, who promptly drove off. Mark paused by the main door and fumbled for his keys. The fatigue in his muscles and the painful throbbing in his head reminded him he hadn’t slept properly for over a day. As he leaned against the door, somebody shoved him in the back between his shoulder blades. Turning to complain, he was confronted by four men dressed in biker’s leathers and carrying helmets. A gang, a herd of glaring eyes and snarling lips, and they stood shoulder to shoulder, with the exception of one younger man with dyed hair and a fierce expression. His hair was spiked up with gel and there were earrings in both earlobes.

‘Nicky?’ Mark backed further into the dark lobby.

‘Yep, that’s me,’ said Nicky. ‘I'm here to pay you a visit. Been waiting.’

‘How did you find me?’ Ted wasn't amongst them.

‘Been here before. Ellen gave me your address. We scoped it out, Ted and I, a while back, because I'm curious like that when it comes to kids who live on their own, and Ellie is just a kid, isn't she?’

‘What do you want?’ The nausea intensified and his stomach shrivelled into a knot.

‘Don't mind if we go for a chat. How about the basement?’

There was nothing in the basement except a broken washing machine and the bicycles belonging to the other residents.

He had no choice. Nicky grabbed his arm and propelled him towards the stairwell. ‘Keep a look out,’ Nicky said over his shoulder to the others.

  31

Ellen

Ellen slept solidly for a couple of hours and woke up feeling refreshed, although stiff. She needed to move. With a boldness she had lacked in the hotel, she crept out of the bedroom and explored. The vast house had begun its life a couple of centuries ago. Consequently, the floorboards creaked beneath the plush carpets and a few of the inner walls bowed a little in places as if overburdened. Downstairs, the kitchen was unoccupied. Hettie was with