Little Lies

26. A Guilty Conscience

Leon looks at me with the eyes of an animal. Humanity gone, he grabs my arm yanking me away from Holland and dragging me down the street, away from the commotion, cops and public. Despite this, I don't fail to notice the looks we get as we pass by. Leon looks like he's taking me hostage, and I'm certainly not helping his case with my struggling. Not that I want to help him in any regard, he's a prick and I know wherever he's taking me, isn't anywhere good.

"Let me go," I say, trying to release his grip on me. He ignores me and continues to pull me down the street until I can see his sleek black car come into view. Now that we're further away from everyone and everything, the street is silent and there's no one around. A chill slithers down my spine. I'm not scared of Leon, but I'm scared of what he could do. Will he take me to some random house and lock me up, will he fire me and take away my only income?

My thoughts flicker to the person I do everything for. I only saw her the other day and yet I miss her deeply. I want to tell her everything that's happening, and I want her to tell me it's going to be alright, that no matter what, she'll be there for me. But she won't. I doubt she'll be able to tell me anything ever again.

Leon opens the passenger door and shoves me inside. I hit my head on the roof and let out a yelp, but he doesn't seem to care, and instead slams the door aggressively. Holy shit, I think this time I might've actually done it. I think he's going to murder me. I won't let him thought, I still am determined to see if Rory is alright, and it's becoming increasingly frustrating that no one is giving me a straight answer.

I try to open the door, but it doesn't budge, so I slam my hands against it in frustration. Over and over again until my hands ache and the pain is the only thing I can think about. "Let me out of this car, right now!" I yell. "Let me out, let me out, let me out!" Tears blur my vision as I continue to struggle, feeling myself slowly drift away from the present. "Please, Leon."

I feel his firm hands grabbing onto my own, stopping me from causing anymore damage. I can hear him saying things, but the words fly right over my head. "Leon, please," I cry. Suddenly I'm embraced by warmth, and turn my face to the darkness. I breathe in the familiar scent of Leon's cologne and try to ground myself. Everything will be fine, Rory will be fine. She'll be fine. I'll be fine. I'm safe, they're not going to find me. He's not going to find me.

"Breathe, Phoebe. It's alright. I'm here. You're going to be alright." Leon's words begin to filter through and I hold onto them for dear life. "I've got you, it's going to be alright."

I sob into his chest until there's nothing left in me and exhaustion takes over. Pulling away, I wipe the tears from my eyes and the snot from my nose. I know I look like an absolute train wreck right now, but as I glance back at Leon, it looks as if he couldn't care less. He looks, dare I say, concerned? Like he cares.

No. That can't be right. He doesn't care. Not for me. No one cares for me. Why would they? I've only ever caused problems and the one time I tried to do something right in my life, I fucked it up more that I could've imagined. Leon doesn't care for me. He cares about his investment in me.

"Tell me she's alright," I say, my voice quivering. Gosh, I'm such a fucking mess, it's pathetic. Get a grip, Phoebe. "I know you know. Tell me, and don't even think about lying, I will know."

I look at his face, his expression hardening. Those dark eyes darken even more and his brows furrow. He always looks most horrifyingly handsome when his features are disturbed like that. But what I wouldn't do to see him smile. I bet he'd be even more beautiful then.

"She's in hospital. She's stable, but whatever she was drugged with was pretty strong. If she had ingested any more, the doctors said she wouldn't have made it." He says somberly.

"Do they know who did it? Do they know who broke into the house?" I hope and pray he doesn't say who I think it is.

"No, they don't know yet. They're collecting evidence as we speak. But there's not any security cameras in the near vicinity so It's going to be difficult and unlikely they'll find anything."

I shake my head, rubbing my eyes. This can't be happening. It just can't.

"Phoebe, I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to be completely honest with me." Leon says quietly. I don't say anything in response, but he continues anyway. "Do you know anything about this, do you know who could've done it? Anything, big or small, would help."

I hesitate before answering. "No. No, why would you ask me that. Does it look like I would know anything about this?"

There is a moment of silence before he continues once more. "The reason I'm asking is because they found a cupcake, in a box which had your name on it. They suspect that's what contained the drug that made Rory sick."

I dig my fingers into my hair, slowly rocking back and forth like a crazy person. This is bad, this is very bad. This confirms everything I thought. He's here, he knows where I live. He knows my friends, and it'll only be a matter of time before he finds her. And then me. He's going to make sure that I hurt before he gets what he wants from me. My hand instinctively reaches for the chain around my neck, it's pendant shaped in a heart locket.

My mother gave it to me when I was ten. Funny how things work out.

"If there's something I need to know, you have to tell me. I can't help you if I don't know what you need, Phoebe."

"Nothing, there's nothing. I don't need your help because there's nothing going on, nothing at all, okay?"

"Okay." Leon finally relents, and I feel my shoulders loosen, the tension slowly seeping out, but not going away completely. I don't think it ever will. He puts the ignition in and starts the car, the hum of the engine growing.

"Can you take me to her? Please." I need to see her. I need to see that Rory is okay. I want to hold her and tell her how much I love her, but at the same time I want to forget about her and leave this city altogether. I don't want to put her in danger again. I love her too much for that.

"I can't."

"Why?" I question, glaring at him as he stares at the road ahead of him.

"It's not a good idea, not now at least. Nikolai barely restrained his anger when he saw you, I don't think he'll take kindle to seeing your face again tonight."

"I don't care. He has no reason to be angry at me!" And yet, I know that's a lie. Even if he doesn't know about my past, it's still all my fault. But I can't say that. No one can know.

"Maybe not, but he is the one who found her unconscious and on the floor when she wasn't returning any of his calls."

Oh. I didn't even realise that someone would've had to have found her like that. Fuck! I should've been there I shouldn't have argued with her, I should've come back and apologised. But I didn't, and there's no point in thinking about what I should've done. What's done is done and there's no going back.

I rest my head against the window, staring at the houses as we drive past. I need to come up with a game plan, I need to get a new id, I need to get in contact with—"Where are we going?" I interrupt my own thoughts.

"Home." Is all he replies with.

"Does Holland know I'm your fiance?" My words are meant to come out with venom, but instead it comes out like a weak question. I still can't wrap my head around why he said I was his fiance. All I can think of is that it was a spur of the moment thing. Just a word that came out his mouth, with no truth or meaning behind it.

"No."

"Why did you say that? That I was your fiance?"

I notice that we are finally pulling up to our building, relief flooding me. I feel exhausted and like I could pass out at any moment.

Leon doesn't reply to my question, but I don't pester him anymore about it.

He parks in the private garage beneath the building and we take the elevator up.

It isn't until we're standing outside the door that I realise we're at his apartment.