Seduced (Royal Expat Series Book #1) Page 12
Had she just compared herself to a bird? Matilda shook her head, trying to pull herself together. This was an incredibly risky situation, and her entire future depended on it. It wasn’t the time to be thinking such irrelevant thoughts.
She made a quick sweep of the room with her eyes. The balcony was off Colin’s bedroom, and she had never been in here before, nor did she ever, ever want to be in here again. It was surprisingly disorderly for such a tidy man. There were clothes strewn over the floor, balled-up black socks tossed in the corner, and the bed was unmade. It was fine for her—she was only 20—but for a grown man, it was a little gross that he lived in such a mess.
She cast a glance at the cabinets next to his messy bed. One drawer was slightly ajar, and the other was closed, but didn’t look as though it had a lock of any kind. Could he keep the photos in his bedroom, next to his bed? The implications of this made Matilda shudder, and for a moment she was tempted not to even look—she didn’t want to know what a man like Colin might keep in his bedside cabinets. She didn’t have a choice, though. Tentatively, she pulled open the drawers and rifled through the contents: some letters, a sleeping mask (she would have giggled if she wasn’t so tense) and a bottle of pills—she didn’t know what they were for, but they didn’t really help her.
In the other drawer, she had similar luck—that was, no luck at all. A few chargers and adapters, but apart from that, nothing.
She knew that she had to be thorough in her search, so she quickly rifled through his clothes drawers, wishing that she had thought to bring rubber gloves. Aside from a perplexing number of turtlenecks, she didn’t find anything which even hinted at the photographs.
Giving up on the bedroom, she went into the living room with a slight edge of urgency to her step. It was now almost 4:40, and Colin would leave work at 5. She probably had another 30 minutes, 40 at most, until she had to get out of there.
She started on the coffee table, although she didn’t really think that he would leave the photos lying around in broad daylight. She did find a flash drive, which she slipped into her pocket to boot up later in order to check for the photos. Other than that, all she learnt was that Colin drank a lot of coffee, read extremely boring books and didn’t clean his coffee table nearly often enough.
Quickly checking under the sofa and on the bookshelf, Matilda satisfied herself that the photos were not in the living room. She moved on to the room she thought most likely to hold the thing she wanted: the study.
She had avoided this room until now because she knew that it would be obvious if she had rifled through his things in the study, whereas she thought that so far her search had been pretty non-invasive. She entered the room, and wondered how he had generated such an enormous stack of papers in under a month of being there.
She approached the desk with caution, as if there might be some guardian creature underneath ready to attack anyone who entered without permission. This was it. If the photos weren’t here, then she would have failed in her mission, and her life would essentially be over.
She went straight for the desk drawers. The first one contained only the normal paraphernalia: stapler, pens, spare paper and a notepad with some passwords and other information scribbled in it.
She went down to the second drawer, hoping with all her strength that the photos would be there. She tugged the handle, but the door wouldn’t budge!
A thrill of horror went through her as she realized that it was locked. This must be it—it had to be it! But where was the key?
If she was correct, then the key would probably be lingering somewhere nearby. It was only a small lock, and not many people bothered to keep the key somewhere secret. She remembered having a similar lock herself on her dresser back in England. Even though she kept her diary locked inside, the key could generally be found in one of the boxes on top.
Hoping that Colin was similarly careless—after all, he could hardly expect her to go so far as breaking into his apartment—she scoured the top of the desk for a key. There was nothing!
Matilda was beginning to panic now. It was almost 5, and she needed to get out of there—soon! She hovered for a moment, undecided, but finally came to a conclusion. Colin was going to know that she had broken into his apartment whether or not she got the photos, and she was positive that they must be in the drawer.
With all her strength, she wrenched at the drawer, causing the wood to splinter as the lock broke into pieces. Slightly dazed, and surprised by her own strength, Matilda rifled through the draw desperately, terrified that she wouldn’t be able to locate the photos.
She almost cried with relief as she recognized the envelope Colin had shown her. Sighing in satisfaction, she quickly opened it up to check that they were the right photos. It seemed like they were all there. She tucked the photos under her arm, and was about to leave when a flash of silver caught her eye. Under a document, there was a small camera, a basic digital one, neither expensive nor remarkable.
Matilda’s heart skipped a beat. Could that be the camera he had used?!
She snatched up the camera and switched it on, searching through the photos saved on the camera. With a sickening lurch, she found herself looking at the photos of her and Damian. Mixed in with her anger was a tinge of regret as she saw how complete they looked together. They looked contented, exulted; the perfect couple.
She had almost missed the camera—how stupid of her. Taking it with her, she was satisfied that she had all the evidence she needed. There was no way Colin would be paranoid enough to have more copies elsewhere, right? The only other place they could be was on his computer, and he had clearly taken it with him to work. She hoped against hope that he wouldn’t have saved copies on his computer where anyone could see them.
Even if he had, there was nothing she could do now. Perhaps she could destroy the laptop if it came to that. With her ill-gotten gains, Matilda checked the time—her heart leapt! Colin could be back any minute.
Without bothering to clean up—what was the point? —Matilda headed for the door, unlocking it from the inside and running upstairs to her own apartment. Only when the door was bolted behind her did she begin to feel better. Even so, her heart was thudding and she could hear her pulse in her ears. She had really done it now!
Immediately, Matilda set about destroying the photos. In a glass dish, she set fire to the envelope, watching as the photographs twisted and blackened.
As soon as they were unrecognizable, she grabbed the camera, selecting the ‘delete all’ option to make sure that every single photo was completely erased.
Her last step was to boot up her computer to take a look at the flash drive. It was completely blank except for a folder marked ‘Colin1’. Just in case, Matilda clicked on the folder. It was just full of boring documents. She breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt slightly guilty for taking the flash drive which had turned out to be innocent.
Now that she had destroyed the photos, Matilda felt mounting fear as well as some sense of relief. She was glad that the photos were gone—now she had the power to take control of her life again—but she was afraid of what Colin might do when he found out. She considered leaving—that way he would have cooled down by the time she came back—but what if he still had a copy of the photos somewhere? She had to stay and find out.
Her mouth went dry as she heard a click downstairs. Colin must be home. Balling her hands into fists, Matilda tried to steel herself. She knew that he would come and confront her as soon as he discovered what she had done. She had to be strong, and she had to be prepared for the worst.
Still, she flinched a few minutes later as she heard Colin’s roar of anger, and his heavy footfalls on the stairs. Her door was barred, and she sat still, hoping that he would think she was out.
“I know you’re in there. Open the door right now,” Colin shouted from outside. Matilda knew that refusing would only make him angrier.
Matilda thought for a moment, and got out her phone. Slipping it into her back pocket, she pressed t
he record button. If anything happened to her, at least she would have some evidence which could get Colin convicted. Putting on a brave face, she got up and opened the door on his livid expression.
He lost no time in slapping her so hard across the face that she bit her lip. She fell to the floor, her head spinning with the pain of the impact, and tasted the metallic tang of blood in her mouth. On impulse, she spat, sending the red liquid spattering across Colin’s shoes.
He grabbed her by the hair, twisting viciously until she cried out.
“How dare you break into my flat?” he snarled. “I could call the police on you, you filthy little criminal.”
Matilda prayed that her phone hadn’t been damaged in the fall. She couldn’t say anything, only whimper as Colin dragged her head back, intensifying the pain.
“Answer me,” he yelled, shoving her away from him so that she sprawled across the floor. “What were you doing in there? Trying to get the photos?”
“You were blackmailing me to have sex with you,” Matilda said. “Did you expect me to just take it?”
“It would have been better than trying to outsmart me,” Colin said. “Did you really think that I would just leave such valuable photos lying around? You’re naïve. Even if you did manage to find the prints and the camera, I still have them backed up. I have them in internet storage, so even if you destroyed my laptop, I could still access them. And guess what? They’re protected by the best security money can buy. I do work for the royal family, after all.”
Matilda’s heart sank. So he had taken precautions, more than she even could have guessed. She cursed herself for being so stupid. Now she was in an even worse predicament.
“You’ll never be free from my power, no matter what you do,” Colin said. “You’re under my control and you should get used to it. Maybe I’ve been too nice until now. You probably thought you could play me. You think I’m stupid.”
“I don’t,” Matilda protested. “I just wanted to be free to live my own life.”
“Well, you’re not. You’re not free, and now that I’ve seen what a manipulative little bitch you are, I’m going to punish you.”
Matilda’s heart gave a lurch as the saw the anger and lust making friends in Colin’s eyes. He wasn’t reasonable. He was completely out of control. She knew that he was going to hurt her badly, probably rape her. She had to get out of there—and fast. She would not submit herself to this, not even to save her reputation or her family’s.
If only she could get out of here now, she was sure that she had enough evidence on him to convict him. If that was the case, all she had to do was be one step ahead of him and call the police before he did. But that was provided that she could get out. He was ten times stronger than her, and very clever.
She tried to get to her feet and dart out of the door, but Colin grabbed her easily, throwing her back down with a crash.
“Don’t try to run away, bitch,” he said. “You’re going to lie there whimpering and I’m going to screw you senseless. I own you—don’t forget that. You think you can bargain with me and steal from me? Well guess what? You’re never seeing Damian again, and I will always be the only one you can turn to.
“I am the only one who will know the real you. Now quit complaining. I’m tired of waiting for something I can just take whenever I want.”
Matilda tried to back away across the floor as Colin advanced on her, but he was on her before she could get more than a few feet. He forced her hands over her head, and ripped at her t-shirt, exposing her blue lace bra.
“Nice,” he whispered. “Now lie back and enjoy this like a good princess.”
She whimpered, trying hard to squirm free, but he just slapped her across the face. He used one hand to undo the buttons on her jeans, and tugged them down over her hips. He was panting with the effort, because she was putting up as much fight as she could muster.
Amidst her panic, she remembered the provisions she had selected in case this happened. She had a little bottle of pepper spray tucked into the pocket of her pants, but she couldn’t reach it like this!
Struggling harder, she tried desperately to free her hands. If only she could get to that pocket.
Colin’s free hand was brutally clawing at her soft flesh, squeezing and tugging until she was sobbing with pain and fear.
He shifted slightly, trying to undo his own pants, and Matilda saw her chance. She kneed him with all her might in the groin, and he fell off her like a stunned spider, clenched in on himself with pain. Scrambling to her feet, Matilda grabbed the pepper spray and squirted him full in the face.
He roared with agony, and Matilda knew that she had bought herself a precious few minutes. She had only one option now—to run. From that point, she knew that it was far too late to reason with him or to try and compromise. All she could do was flee—and hope that she would be able to outplay him. The die was cast. Now it was a war of wills.
-
With her mind in a panic in case Colin came to his senses before she could get out of there, Matilda had no time to think about packing. Quickly straightening her clothing, she looked around for the things she needed. She at least had the presence of mind to grab her passport from where it lay on her desk, and shove the first few things which caught her eye into a backpack before running past Colin’s groaning, prostate form and out the door.
Once she was out the front door of the apartment, her heart felt lighter, but she was still buzzed from the panic and the adrenaline. She was still in shock at what Colin had tried to do, and even more in shock at having taken him down. She had been incredibly lucky, but it wasn’t even close to being over yet.
She hesitated a little at the front of the building. She felt as if Colin could come rushing out after her at any moment, and she wanted to get as far away from there as possible.
The phone recording burned in her pocket. She had evidence that Colin had tried to blackmail and rape her. Should she go straight to the police? That way, Colin would have no time to copy the photos or access them from the internet storage he had them in. She could let her father know and his security team could discreetly get rid of them.
That was probably the smartest action to take, but Matilda’s head was still reeling from the intense encounter. Where was the police station? Would they even believe her? Would Colin be there when they got there? What would he say to them? She was sure that he had something up his sleeve, and she dreaded the thought that the photos or her identity would be exposed. The last thing she wanted to do was to cause a huge media scandal.
No, the first thing she needed was to get away—far away from Colin, where he couldn’t harm her. Then she needed…that was it! She needed to find Damian. He was the only person she felt she could rely on. She felt safe at the thought of having him as a companion. He would know the best thing to do and help her through it. She would have to swallow her pride and confess to him what trouble she was in. She knew that he would be there to help her no matter what.
With that thought in mind, Matilda headed towards the bar where they had first met, hoping against hope that he was inside. It was only a small sliver of a chance—it wasn’t even 6pm yet. There was a bubble of panic in her chest at the thought that maybe he wouldn’t be there to support her.
She was about to burst into the bar without stopping to think about her appearance, when suddenly she remembered what she looked like right now. Her shirt was ripped from where Colin had tried to assault her, her bra exposed to the world and the flesh of her breast and ribs bruised and scratched. Her hair was all over the place from being grabbed by Colin and from running down the street. She must have looked a complete mess, and several passers-by were giving her looks of alarm as they went about their business.
Quickly she smoothed down her hair with her fingers and pulled a sweater out of her rucksack, covering the ripped t-shirt. Giving herself a quick once-over, she decided that she looked passable enough, and entered the bar.
A few people looked up a
t the click of the door, curious to see who the newcomer was. She ignored them and scanned the room for Damian, her heart sinking as she didn’t see his familiar face among the few people who were in there for an early drink. He might come in later, but it would be too late by then. This was probably the first place Colin would look. She’d just have to hide out somewhere. Maybe she could even call the police from her cell phone. All she knew was that she was on her own.
She was about to turn and leave, unsure where she was going to go, when,
“Matilda!”
She spun around at the sound of her name, spoken in that familiar voice which sent shivers down her spine. Her eyes scanned frantically over the crowd, wondering how she could have missed him. Finally, she lifted her eyes to the bar—and saw him behind it, his face a mask of astonishment.
“Damian!” She rushed across the room to where he stood, wearing a green bartender’s apron which did nothing to detract from his broad shoulders and handsome face.
“What happened? Are you OK?” he asked. “You look…” She saw him scanning her carefully, trying to put his finger on what was wrong.
“I…are you working here?” she asked, momentarily distracted.
“Yeah.” Damian looked a little bashful. “I knew that maybe you’d lost interest in me, but you’re just too special to give up on. I took a job here so that if you wanted to contact me, I’m right here.”
“That’s…” Matilda couldn’t even find the words. It was such a romantic, sweet gesture that it brought her close to tears to think that he would do that just for her.
“I’ve tended bar before, so it wasn’t so hard. But what’s happening with you? Can you see me now? Are you going to expl—”
Before Damian could go on, Matilda remembered why she was here, and a refreshed wave of anxiety went through her. She cut across him, her voice urgent.
“Damian, can you trust me for a little while? I need a favor and I need it now.”
“Something is wrong, isn’t it? What aren’t you telling me? Tell me, Matilda, please!” Damian said, looking into her eyes with such intensity that, even now, Matilda’s heart did a little flip in her chest.