Mr Spencer(25)

“Hmm.” She thinks for a moment. “That’s tough because he won’t let you go anywhere without security.”

I flop back against the couch, dejected that my plan is already screwed. “It won’t work.” I sigh. “Why doesn’t Lara have the issues that I do?”

Beth rolls her eyes. “You and Lara are completely different.”

“Why?”

“Both her mother and father come from money. She’s had nannies and lived the high life her entire childhood. She has this entitled part of her personality that only rich people have. Your mother was different, Lottie. She didn’t have money. She fell in love with a rich man. You never had nannies and your main influence was your mother. She didn’t rely on money or see it as anything special. That’s why you’re different. Money doesn’t define who you are, and your family knows that. That’s why they feel you have to be protected so fiercely. They know that when you fall in love with someone, it could be with anyone. Social rankings mean nothing to you.”

I become overwhelmed with emotion. “I never thought of it like that.”

“Do you really think that your mother would want you to be a prisoner of your father’s bank balance?”

My eyes tear up from knowing that’s exactly what I am. I shake my head. “I don’t think she would.”

“Then let’s do this.”

“How do I get around the guards? Maybe I could just run away?”

“No. If you did that your father and Edward would come home acting crazy only to drag you back here.”

“That’s true.”

We both think for a moment.

“What about if you did run away, but more subtly so that you weren’t detected,” she says.

I frown. “How?”

“Well… you tell your job here that you are having eight weeks off to travel. But then you tell your father that you’re going to be working the same job as usual, just from the London office for a few weeks.”

This plan already sounds ridiculous. It will never work.

“But then you secretly get another job somewhere else.”

I roll my eyes. “As if.”

“The guards won’t follow you into work, they never do. They will hover around outside, but who cares, because you’ll be inside being someone else.”

“But then where would I live?”

“Hmm.” She thinks for a moment. “The guards don’t guard you twenty-four hours a day, do they?”

I shake my head. “No, only when I’m out and about. Once I’m home safe, everyone relaxes.”

“Okay. What about if you stay in a hotel?”

I twist my lips as I listen.

“Yes, I’ve got it.” She holds her hands up in the air. “You stay in a swanky hotel where your suite is the only room on the floor. The guards come out with us or whatever throughout the day or night, but you specifically instruct that they stay at a distance so that nobody even knows they are there. Then, once the guards escort you home for the night, there is no security risk because nobody else can get to your floor without a key. They will stay in their rooms on the level below.”

I stare at her.

“And then if you meet someone, I can take them up to your room after the guards have left, because I will have the only other key that gets me to your floor.”

Excitement simmers in my stomach. “Are you serious?”

“Why not?” Her eyes are alight with mischief.

“Could this really work?” I whisper.

She shrugs, and we both smile goofily at each other.

“But what job will I get?”

“Well, it has to be in a fancy building that could compliment what you are supposed to be doing there. The guards and your family need to think you are doing the same job that you do here.”

I nod as I think. “In reality it has to be a shitty job that has no responsibility. I don’t want to let anyone down when I leave.”

“Yes, of course. I’ll look for one for you when I get back to London. Are you going to tell work on Monday?”

“Are you really serious about this?”

“Deadly. Fuck it, let’s go crazy.”

“I’ll have to speak to my guards.”

“Okay, ask them. But you know they will have to do whatever you want, anyway.” She looks over at me and smiles mischievously. “Are you ready to have some fun, Lottie Preston?”

The nerves dance in my stomach at the sound of my new fake name. “It may not happen yet,” I warn her. “There are a lot of what ifs in this plan.”

“But if it all pans out, will you do it?”

I imagine Spencer walking away and leaving me the other night without so much as looking back, and I know it’s always going to be like this. Nobody will ever touch the precious Charlotte Prescott unless they want to marry her. Dealing with my family just isn’t worth it. Who wants that kind of pressure on a first date?

“If the guards can go, and you can find me a job, you’ve got yourself a deal,” I say flatly, convinced there’s no way in hell that this will all come together.

She holds her glass up in the air and I clink it with mine. “I’m going to make this shit happen if it’s the last thing I do.” Her eyes already sparkle with victory.