His Secret (Unfinished)

Chapter 16

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I sat in the sitting room waiting for her to surface from the bedroom but she didn't. One hour, two, three and nothing. My greatest fears were that she wouldn't forgive me for reading it first and then that her feelings for Jeremy might change in light of his father's mistakes.
I had made the climb up the stairs and was about to knock on the door when the handle turned. Her face blotchy and red and her eyes were wet from crying. My heart raced as I felt like everything might come crashing down. She threw her body into my arms.
"Hold me Dom, please just hold me." Her reaction caught me off guard. My shirt wet from her tears I lifted her in my arms and carried her into the bedroom. The diary was closed and left on her vanity. Carrying her to the bed I lay her down and joined her on the bed. Her arm wrapped around my shoulder as she nuzzled her face into my chest. I stroked her hair, kissing her forehead.

"Everything's going to be ok Georgiana." It was all I could think of.
Her eyes peaked up to meet mine.

"I don't know what I would do without you. She gently kissed me before resuming her previous position. All my worries washed away.

"Dom I know you'll have been worried that I was angry at you for reading it. I'm not. I have no secrets from you. We're a team now. You're my family. Don't ever forget that. I know you had a tough start in life." She lifted herself up to sit, her eyes not leaving mine.

"I know it was tough and there wasn't always much love and ... I want you to know ... if you ever wanted to you could tell me anything. It would never change the way I feel about you. I'm so proud of everything you have become. My father wasn't perfect but he did what he did to protect me and I can't be mad at him for that." Where was this coming from? Had Cobalt written an entry I'd missed about my family? He knew a bit. I'd maybe once mentioned that my father took a liking to using his fists. Did she really mean it? Would she really want to know? Part of me wanted the release I knew I would feel in telling her. But part of me was scared to reveal the past that I'd so tirelessly worked to escape from.

"Georgiana, you have no idea what that means to me." Her face softened and her eyes looked hopeful.

"I'm sure one day I will tell you everything. The me before you. But it won't be today. I've tried hard to put the past behind me. I'm a changed man. I made mistakes ... there are things I deeply regret, but there's nothing I can do about it now. So I have to live with that every day." She looked confused. I had to stop myself from confessing about Danny's death, caught up in a murder investigation, disowning my mates. What kind of person would she think I was. But I was just a kid at the time. I was drowning. And old Colbalt had saved me.

"For all his faults your father saved me from a terrible life. A life of crime, violence, and no doubt an early death. I can't change who I was Georgiana. You would have hated who I was. But I have taken every opportunity he gave me to make the most of my life. To turn it around. That's what we need to focus on. The future." She nodded consumed by my previous words. As much as I wanted to make love to her now she looked exhausted. Sleep was what we both needed.

She got up and headed to the bathroom locking the door behind her. Going downstairs to turn off the lights I noticed a pile of envelopes. Flicking through them one caught my eye. Handwritten, stamped from London.
Tearing it open my brain instantly recognised the newspaper article.

Plea for help after stabbing on Rowley Way Estate

Residents on a South Hampstead estate have made a passionate plea for more resources after 19-year-old local boy Danny Keane was fatally stabbed nearby at the weekend.

Mr Keane was rushed to hospital with stab wounds after reports of a fight near the Alexandra and Ainsworth estate on Sunday afternoon.

Turning it over three words stared back at me.

You'll pay

I reached out for the sideboard to steady myself pulling off some ornaments with me as I felt my legs give way. I landed in a heap, hitting the granite floors hard with items smashing and breaking around me. I heard the bedroom door open and Georgiana's bare feet racing down the stairs. I screwed up the article in my hand and stuffed it in my suit trouser pocket just in time before she found me.

"Oh my god Dom are you ok? What happened? Are you hurt?" She bent down beside me supporting my back as I managed to sit up.

"I'm fine honestly. Just lost my footing and knocked some stuff over." I tried to make my voice sound as light as possible. But my hands were shaking.

She didn't look convinced. Biting her lower lip she lifted my hand to inspect it. Splinters of glass were poking out of my palm, my shirt cuff drenched in blood.

"Dom I'm calling an ambulance." She kissed my head and before I could object she was on her phone to the emergency services. I tried to get up but my head was throbbing, I'd hit it hard.

"Yes he's conscious. It's quite allot of blood. Yes he knows who I am." She nodded. My other hand reached for the back of my head and that all too familiar sticky warm substance coated it.

"Do you know where you are baby? Do you know what day it is?" Her questions seemed almost comical until I opened my mouth and no words came out. Shit maybe I hit my head harder than I thought.

The plot thickens! Looks like Dom's secret may not be a secret for much longer!