Unperfect

Max

A couple of character references later (to be honest the one that seemed to hold the most weight was from Roger, who, since the perceived threat to my person had not left my side), and the Suttons had calmed down enough to sit around the kitchen table with a cup of tea. Stiff, awkward introductions were made, and Marnie (Mia’s sister), Sid (her dad) and Ann (her mum) started to explain why they’d barged into my house.

“We’ve been through so much with Mimi,” Ann said in her quiet voice. When I made eye contact with her I almost flinched at her haunted expression. “And it’s not the first time we’ve been followed. To learn that another man was pulling the same trick was … upsetting.”

“I’m so sorry,” I told her, wishing I’d known what I was getting myself into when I set up the account with Sam. “I didn’t mean to invade your privacy. I just really needed to …” I sighed and looked up to the ceiling for a moment, searching for the right words. I didn’t want to come across as just another controlling arsehole. “I care about your daughter. When she came to work for me she was …” I broke off again and glanced at their drawn, worried faces. The last thing I wanted to do was upset them more, but they needed to hear the truth. “Listen, I’m sorry to tell you this, but she was in a right state. I didn’t know it at the time, but she was still recovering from some pretty severe injuries.”

Ann’s hand closed over her husband’s, and Marnie’s eyes filled with tears.

“She was underweight, had dyed her hair nearly black. To be honest she looked like a teenager and …” I swallowed and one of my hands went up to the back of my neck, “I made some stupid assumptions because she … well let’s just say I was wrong. I don’t want to upset you more than you already have been, but she was sleeping rough for a while. We didn’t realise until she came down with pneumonia and had to go into hospital.” Marnie was openly crying now. Ann was gripping Sid’s hand so tightly that he knuckles were white. “After that, Mia and I, we … we became closer and I–”

“Dad looked after her,” Teddy cut in, obviously still smarting from the perceived insult to me. “She was really sick and he looked after her. Even when I was behaving like a spoilt brat and didn’t want anyone else staying with us because I’m selfish.”

“Okay, Teddy,” I said gently. “You can stand down, big man.” I patted him on the shoulder to soften my words. He gave a huff but sat back into his chair. “She stayed with me for a short while but then moved in with Yaz.”

Yaz cut in. “Over the last few months she’s been getting better. She’s put on weight. She smiles now.”

I heard a small noise from Ann and noticed a tear was now rolling down her cheek. “She used to smile all the time as a child. I haven’t seen a real smile on her face in over eight years.”

Yaz reached across the table at put her hand over Ann’s free one. “She’s having counselling as well. Honestly, she’s not all the way there yet, but things are getting better.”

“Why didn’t she come to us?” asked Sid in a choked voice. “We would have looked after her. She didn’t have to sleep on the streets.” His voice broke at the end as if even the idea of Mia homeless caused him physical pain.

“Look, I don’t know everything, but I do know that she felt she couldn’t go to you,” I told him in a low voice. “Banks would have found her. And for some reason she doesn’t think she can go to the police either. But I know she cares about you, misses you.”

“But why couldn’t she go to the police?” asked Sid. “If he hurt her badly then … I know they haven’t helped in the past and I know he’s a powerful man, but why didn’t she go this time?’

“There’s something she won’t tell me,” I said. “Some reason she didn’t think she could go to the police. It stopped her going after she was attacked. She left the emergency department without being formally discharge. Gave a false name. She won’t tell me why.” I let out a frustrated breath. “She wouldn’t tell me specifics of her background and identity either and I just …” I rubbed both my hands down my face, wanting to explain myself without coming across as too full on. “I wanted to make sure she was safe. That’s all. That’s why I sent the investigator. I promise I wasn’t trying to control her. Not like that. But I’m not sorry I did it. Not now, after I haven’t seen or heard from her for two days. I’d be completely at square one if I hadn’t acted earlier and gone behind her back.”

“Y-you mean she’s not here?” Marnie said, looking confused. “I thought she was living down here in this area now?’

“She’s still living with me,” Yaz said. “But she left the day before yesterday. She said … she said she was going to reconnect with her family.”

“It’s not like her to just go off and not give us any notice at work,” I put in. “She’s never taken any time off. Even when she had pneumonia we only managed to keep her away for a couple of weeks. You should know she’s transformed the IT system at my company. We’d be sunk without her.”

“And I’d be failing my computer studies A level without her,” Teddy muttered.

“She always was a computer whizz,” Ann said through a watery smile. “Part of the reason he wanted to control her. She made him millions, that ungrateful bastard.”

“How did he she make him millions?” Yaz asked.

“She developed new programmes for that online estate agency of his. Coded everything. Made it efficient. Made it the most innovative one on the market. Of course he claimed all the credit. She was always just in the background.”

“He won’t have wanted to give that up, will he?” Yaz said into the silence that followed. “I mean, he doesn’t sound like the kind of man to just let her go.”

“And if she’s not with you, then where is she?” I asked.

“He’s got to her,” Marnie whispered. “It happened before. She came to stay with me two years ago. I was angry with her because she’d been ghosting me whilst going off to all these fancy parties in London, but I’d known as soon as she arrived on my doorstep that something was wrong. She told me she couldn’t stay with Nate anymore. That she’d made a mistake. I heard her crying in my spare room for hours every night. Then, a week into her stay she was gone. Just packed up and left one day without even leaving a note. When I went to their huge house in Putney – I fucking hate that place – I had to argue my way through their security system. Massive gates, state-of-the-art alarm system, security guards on the street. Eventually I managed to see her. She barely look at me. Told me to go away and that everything was fine. Snapped at me, told me I was interfering. That she didn’t need my help. Told me to go back to my ‘small, sad life’ and leave her alone. I’d just had a new baby at the time and we’d been struggling financially with me being off on maternity leave. What she said hurt me. So I left. I just left her there. I didn’t even …” Marnie broke off as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks and she choked out a sob. Yaz moved from her seat to go to her and put an arm around her shoulder.

“Shit,” I muttered at the table. “So, she’s probably with him.”

“Well, we just need to go and get her back again,” Teddy said with misplaced teenage bravado.

Marnie shook her head. “You won’t be able to just waltz into Nate’s house or his company. They’re both like Fort Knox. He’s kept us from her for the last three years and we’re her family.”

“We’re her family now too,” Teddy said, puffing his chest up with more of that teenage overconfidence.

“What do you–?” Sid started to say, but I cut him off.

“You should know – Nathanial Banks is an investor in three of the largest projects my firm has taken on in the last six months. I had no idea who he was to Mia when I made those deals, but I suspect he’s been deliberately targeting our company for a while. He’s not someone I should make an enemy out of. But sir, I’m in love with your daughter.” All eyes swung to me. Mia’s family wore shocked expressions. Yaz and Teddy looked unsurprised by this information. “No billionaire psychopath is going to keep her from me, and nobody is going to hurt her. Not any more.” I pushed back from the table, pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialled the last number in recent calls.

“Clifton,” Sam’s voice sounded in my ear.