Earn My Trust

Chapter 21 - Keep Calm and Carry On

Hannah felt like she had lost a limb once Mum and Dad had left with Bea earlier that morning. Ethan had asked if she was alright, but she just dismissed his concerns, telling him she was just stuck with what to do with herself.
It was the truth, after all.
She had become so used to the same routine, day in and day out, that she didn't know whether she was coming or going.
Ethan had gone to the gym shortly after they left, saying he would give her some alone time as she had been through a lot the past few days. Initially, she agreed with him, but she soon regretted not stopping him from leaving.
Being left alone in the gigantic, silent flat made her feel useless and out of place. There was no cleaning to do, as it was still pristine after their clean-up from a few days ago. She tidied up Bea's toys and put the clothes Bea had tried to take with her back on their hangers in the massive wardrobe.
She took a moment to sit on her daughters temporary bed, looking around the huge, high ceiling room, torn between feeling lucky, yet also somewhat undeserving of the new changes.
She was so used to the bare minimum. She was used to struggling to afford a weeks worth of shopping, so she'd have no option but to rely on her mum and dad for a homely meal several times a week. The thread bare clothes the both of them wore were left behind in the tiny flat she rented, and she looked down at the outfit she had chosen to wear for work with the same mixed feelings.
She had chosen a sleek looking calf length black skirt and a red halter neck top, with a black unbuttoned blouse over it to cover her arms. She looked smart but felt empowering and bold. Once again, she was blown away with how comfortable the new clothes were, as well as seriously impressed that the skirt came with generous pockets.
She bit her lip as she returned her gaze to the room, wanting to do at least something to help her feel productive.
In the end, she decided she would be more productive going to work early and getting a head start on the paperwork that was waiting for her.
Ethan's wishes for her to be with security for safety out and about completely left her mind as she cast her mind to her office desk and thought through her mental to-do list for the day.
She picked up her handbag, scrunching her nose up at how tatty it was in comparison to her new look. It ruined the appeal because of the beaten up, shredding black leather, but she couldn't help that now. She'd have to make some time to go into a charity shop and find something better. There was always an abundance of new handbags in her local one. Surely the shops here would have the same.
She picked up her phone and slipped out of the apartment, musing to herself that she would have looked like an escaping one night stand if Ethan had had any neighbours on his floor.
Getting out of the lift on the foyers' floor, she glimpsed Ethan on the rowing machine through the slightly tinted windows. He had his back to her, and she couldn't help but admire the sweat glistening on his biceps and the back of his neck.
The sight tempted her to go into the gym herself and join him, but she knew there would be cameras.
Smiling lustfully to herself, she stepped out onto the busy Knightsbridge street outside, feeling the gentle cool breeze blow her hair back away from her face.
The street wasn't as busy as what she was used to. It was a lot more organised, with commuters heading for the station or their offices instead of the countless tourists trying to locate where they were going and stopping every five seconds to check. It flowed a lot better, and she quickly fell into line with the others, following them towards Victoria Station.
Once she rounded the corner, her block of offices came into view, and she veered off from the automated procession to climb the few steps to the entrance.
Steve was floored when he saw her enter the reception area so early.
"Morning, Steve." She chimed, beaming at him.
"My god, it's a miracle!" He chuckled, stepping out from his desk towards her. He put a gentle hand to her forehead. "Are you feeling OK?"
She laughed as she slapped his hand away. "I'm fine! I'm... I'm just on a roll today."
She wasn't sure why she was glossing over the real reason, but she didn't feel right saying she was currently staying in one of the penthouses around the corner.
"Didn't you have the school run?" He asked, folding his arms.
They had worked together long enough for him to know her schedule by now.
"Mum and dad are covering it for me this week." She explained, trying to shrug it off.
He nodded to say he understood and then realised her new look.
"Whoa, someone's dressing up for something." He grinned with a glint in his eye. "Has someone reconciled with a certain man called Robin, by any chance?"
He winked cheekily, and Hannah couldn't stop her blushing. She avoided his eye, clearing her throat behind her hand to attempt to hide her pink cheeks.
"Not... exactly..." she began when she was saved by the door behind her banging open.
"Morning, Steve! Gotcha those lemon muffins you love so much. Made them just for you!"
Mel staggered in through the main entrance, holding a huge box in both her hands and struggling to keep her large blue handbag perched on her shoulder. She fought to keep the doors open as she barged through them, cursing them under her breath.
The large Jamaican woman was well known for her love of baking throughout the office block, along with her one lifelong wish to appear on the popular baking show on TV. Her delicious desserts had always been eaten by the time Hannah had come in, so this would be the first time, apart from one instance on her first week there, that she'd be able to appreciate her baking.
Mel's wide grin faltered for a moment when she saw Hannah, blinking rapidly as she took in seeing her young colleague at work so early, but it quickly returned.
"Well, well, well." She smirked, arching an eyebrow. "My girl, you are showing far too much eagerness for a Monday morning! What's wrong with you?"
Hannah giggled and stepped forward to help her.
"Morning, hun. Let me help you with those." She said, holding out her hands.
"Hang on, missus! I want my muffin first!" Steve interjected quickly.
"That's what she said." Mel snorted and handed the box to Hannah, quickly opening the lid and pulling out one of the most mouth wateringly enticing lemon muffins Hannah had ever seen or smelt in her life.
"Ohhhhh, yes!" Steve drawled, rubbing his hands before taking the offering like it was made of glass. "Come to Daddy!"
Hannah snorted. "Careful, Steve. I should get a wet floor sign for this area with the amount you're drooling."
Mel laughed along with her, closing the lid.
"Let's get these beauties up before they draw in a crowd." She said pointedly, arching her eyebrow at Hannah to say she wanted to have a little chat in private.
Inwardly grimacing that she's about to be interrogated as soon as she sat in her seat, Hannah led the way to the lift, still holding the huge box of citrusy treats.
The two women entered the lift and turned to watch the doors slide closed. Mel immediately scrutinised her new clothing.
"Mmm, hmm. Someone has finally treated themselves. Girl, you are looking fabulous! Where did you get these?" She crowed, pinching at the corner of the blouse and lifting to check out the quality.
"Oh, these are done by Una Patil. They are soooo comfortable, and check this out!"
Hannah carefully balanced the box in one arm and plunged the hand on Mels' side deep into the pocket of her skirt.
The older woman gasped like she'd just seen a magic trick.
"Noooo!" She gasped, looking between Hannah's face and the hand in her pocket. "Damn! That's good!"
"Isn't it?!"
"Where can I get me some of those? Do they do sizes for big girls like me?" She battered her eyelashes and tilted her hips like a model.
"I'm sure she does. I can ask her if you like?" Hannah grinned, feeling a sense of pride for advertising Una's clothing range.
Mel gaped at her, then let out a loud snort. "Yeah, ask her for me, will you? While you're at it, ask her if she'll sing at my sons wedding at the end of the year." She laughed sarcastically.
Hannah's grin fell flat at her teasing. Of course, she wouldn't believe that she knew someone like Una Patil. Why would she? She was a no one at the end of the day.
She pulled a humble smile back in place, choosing to let her believe whatever she wanted, and took a deep sniff of the enticing scent coming from the cardboard box she was holding.
"I have never been able to try one of these." She drooled.
"Well, you chose the right day to come in early, that's for sure." Mel bragged. "These go quicker than a man's boxers when he's in the mood."
Hannah burst into giggles and led the way out of the lift as soon as the doors opened.
"I do have something I wanted to talk to you about." Mel said slowly while they made their way into the pokey kitchen adjacent to their office. "A little bird told me someone has been spotted with Ethan Sanders again."
And there it is! Hannah mused to herself, smiling and shaking her head at the gossip queen's thirst for details.
No sooner had she put the box down and turned on the kettle, Mel had eagerly grabbed her hand and leaned in.
"Is it true? Are you his new fling?!"
Hannah scrunched up her nose at the 'fling' assumption but quickly pushed the bitter taste it left behind in her mouth aside.
"I wouldn't say fling -"
The woman practically screamed and yanked her back into the office, shoved her into her office chair, and leaned over to grab her own, wheeling it over within a matter of seconds and plonking herself down.
"I am so pleased for you! After what happened with Robin..." she swished her hand back and forth like she was waving the subject away. "You certainly traded up for a better model there."
She eagerly widened her eyes as she leaned back in her chair, pouting her lips like she was holding back the million and one questions she was bursting to ask her.
Hannah laughed awkwardly. If only Mel knew the whole truth.
"Not necessarily. I wouldn't say I traded up anything, to be honest."
Mel slowly nodded, keeping her lips pursed and closing her eyes as she hummed her incorrect understanding.
"Mmm, hmm, quite right too. You weren't together long enough for it to really mean much."
You have no idea, Hannah thought to herself.
"But for you to bag Ethan Sanders, of all people!" The Jamaican beauty threw her hands up in excited bewilderment. "A Cinderella story with your whirlwind romance over the weekend! I should break my foot and bag me my own Mr Monopoly! Kaching!! Someone's had a strike of good luck at long last, and you should definitely be taking advantage of this!"
Hannah knew she was referring to the many millions in his bank account, but before she could correct her, Greg arrived in the office.
He stopped in the doorway, staring at Hannah in astonishment.
"Hannah!"
"Morning, Greg." She grinned at him, trying not to laugh at Mels' frustrated expression at their boss's badly timed appearance.
"How are you feeling?" He asked, getting over the initial shock and approaching his desk, plonking his bag in his chair and unzipping it.
"Fine, why?" She replied slowly.
"Bea didn't catch the stomach bug you had then?" He said, lifting his eyes from his bag to scrutinise her.
Her stomach flipped over when she remembered the lie she had told him last Thursday to spend time with Ethan.
"Oh yeah," she tried to act flippantly. "Thankfully, it was a twenty four hour thing... uh, Bea was in school while I stayed in bed."
Greg arched a cynical eyebrow but nodded, returning his attention to his bag. "So, your sudden bout of sickness had nothing to do with meeting a certain gentleman?"
She could feel the blood drain from her face in that split second.
Shit! He knew!
It didn't help that Mel had crossed her arms and was mimicking his cynical behaviour at her. She had a glint in her eye as she looked Hannah up and down like she was sizing her up.
"Uhhh..." she didn't know how to respond, racking her brains as quickly as she could to think of an excuse, but Greg cut across her.
"I saw you both heading off together holding hands." He pursed, straightening his back and his eyes boring into her. "You looked pretty cosy with each other, if you don't mind my say so."
Hannah hadn't realised her mouth had dropped open while he spoke, but she quickly snapped it shut as soon as she noticed.
She felt like a deer caught in headlights and looked sheepishly around the room while she tried to think of a way to explain herself.
"I don't appreciate you lying to me to go be with your new man, Hannah." He said cooly.
She gave up trying to find excuses and dropped her head down guiltily.
"I'm sorry, Greg. It won't happen again."
"I'm sure it won't." He nodded, smiling slightly. "Next time, just tell me. You haven't had one week of holiday we offer you since you started here!"
She snapped her head up to stare at him. Wasn't she in trouble?
Wait...
"Hang on, if you saw me with him, how come you didn't say anything when I called you?" She asked slowly.
Mel snorted. "That was my idea." She explained, dropping her snide behaviour and smiling warmly at her. "He told me he saw you with a man, and I said let her do what she needs to." She smirked at Greg. "When you called him, I was banging on his desk to let you have some time off."
Greg raised his eyebrows and chuckled. "She was, I thought she was choking on something!"
Hannah looked between her two colleagues, too stunned to speak.
"Th-thank you!" She breathed in gratitude before turning her gaze on Greg, seriously. "Don't worry though, it won't happen again. I promise! I'll start early this whole week and leave later to make up for the day I missed."
"No need to." Greg shook his head, dismissing her offer straight away. "I know about your commitments, an -"
"No, that's just it." Hannah cut across him, wanting to explain herself more. "My mum and dad are taking care of Bea for the week as I'm staying elsewhere for the moment."
"You've moved in with him already?!" Mel blanched. "Goddamn, you work fast!"
"No, it's not like that!"
"This is sounding really suspicious, Hannah." Greg stated slowly. "Who is this guy? I'm not really liking where this is going in my head, to be honest!"
She opened her mouth to reassure him when she saw the door to the office was still wide open and realised anyone could hear her. She abruptly got up to close the door, ignoring Mel and Greg's bewildered looks, and turned to face them.
"What I tell you doesn't leave this office, understand?" She said sternly.
Her colleagues nodded in agreement, but Hannah pointedly looked directly at Mel.
"Please, Mel. I need this kept a secret!"
Mel gaped at her, feigning being offended. "Excuse me? I swear on the Lord's bible that I will not say a word."
Greg gave her a flat look. "Mel, you're as reliable as Judas at keeping secrets!" He told her bluntly.
"Oh, thanks a lot for sticking up for me, you bald owl!" She snapped back, jibing at his receding hairline and round glasses.
"Mrs puff pastry!" He stabbed back.
"Marshmallow man!"
"Medusa!"
"Hello?!" Hannah cut across their usual casual insulting of each other. "I'm swearing you both to secrecy here. Can we focus?"
Mel shot a final sneer at her boss before calming herself down.
"Sure, hun."
"Ok... so... yes. I am dating Ethan Sanders." Hannah began.
Mel hummed and nodded in triumph. "Knew it!"
Greg rolled his eyes at her before looking at Hannah with the same look dad had given her when she told him she had gotten back with Ethan.
"Is that a good idea, though? He only took you to the hospital that one time, and now he wants something in return?! The man just has to get what he wants, doesn't he?"
Greg was obviously thinking Ethan was using her as a short time fling, and Mel seemed to think she was using him for easy money!
She had this irresistible urge to put both their wrongful assumptions to rest.
"We've actually... been dating for longer than this weekend..." she continued, preparing herself to drop the bombshell.
"Right..." Greg slurred.
"We were actually dating for three months prior to this, but... he was in disguise..."
"Disguise?!" The two cried in unison.
Hannah nodded.
She hadn't wanted to share their secret outside of her parents and Lisa, but she considered Greg and Mel more than mere colleagues. To her, they had become like an overprotective older brother and sister. She had been open to them in the past and definitely felt comfortable sharing this with them. Particularly as it would put their blind theories to rest.
"Ethan had been Robin all along." She began, holding up a finger to silence Mel, who opened her mouth to say something. "He was hiding himself so... he could find someone without being watched."
She watched them both widen their eyes before Greg narrowed his back up in suspicion.
"Did he even tell you?" He asked sourly. "You're not very good at lying, like we've just found out, and you seemed to be totally sold on him being Robin."
Mel immediately nodded in agreement. "Was he lying to you all that time?!"
Hannah bit her lip. She knew she wasn't going to like their reaction to her next words.
"Yes... he did."
The reaction was exactly as she feared.
"Ohhh, that man is gonna get a whooping if I ever see him!" Mel snapped, slapping her hand on her desk in anger.
"He did it to avoid the attention!" Hannah quickly explained, holding out her hands to calm them down. "Thing is, he enjoyed the privacy a little too much and... didn't get the chance to tell me."
Greg bunched his eyebrows together. "How did you find out?"
"After the hospital, I couldn't sleep because I was in pain and was on YouTube for entertainment. I saw a video on me, and... it made me panic." She slumped her shoulders as she reflected on the terror she had felt back then. "I thought I was going to be attacked by photographers while Bea was with me. That Jake would find out. That Robin would think I was cheating on him..."
She trailed off as she made her way back to her desk, collapsing into her chair and feeling glum as she told them what happened.
"Bea couldn't get any response from me, so she called Robin... which, of course, was actually Ethan. He sped to us, and Bea let him in. That was when he told me who he really was."
She felt tears well up in her eyes.
"He told me everything, and I asked him for some time to come to terms with it all... but he walked away. He didn't want to put Bea and I in the unwanted spotlight. He wanted to protect us." She looked at Mel. "Even you noticed that all the articles disappeared quickly after that day. That was him. He sued them all."
Mel and Greg sat in stumped silence, letting the information sink in for what felt like an eternity to Hannah.
Mel was the first to break the tense quiet.
"So... that's why you rushed out last week? You decided you wanted him back?"
Hannah nodded. "I've felt so lost without him. That time we weren't together felt numb and... I don't know. Empty. My life returned to being boring and repetitive. I missed his quirky ways. The way he would smile at me and make me swoon." Her lips stretched into a fond smile. "I love him."
Greg huffed, getting out of his chair to go into the kitchen.
"I wouldn't trust him, Hannah." He advised bluntly. "It sounds to me like he's playing a game."
"How is he?!" She asked in disbelief. "He did it to protect us. Bea likes him. He bought her a whole new wardrobe this weekend, and she was ever so grateful. I've never seen her cry when being given something before."
"Has it ever crossed your mind he might be trying to buy you?"
"You sound like my dad!" She snapped, waving a hand dismissively at him. "He only bought the clothes because I couldn't afford it myself. He has always respected my need to show independence and pay my own way!"
"Greg, you know she never allows anyone to buy her anything." Mel defended her. "Remember when that guy from the law firm on the top floor tried to buy her a coffee? She told him straight that it wouldn't happen."
Greg sighed, bowing his head in defeat. "I know. I just dont want you hurt." He gazed at Hannah with a pleading look. "We do care about you, young lady. You and your Bea."
Hannah gave him a small smile. "I know you do, and I'm the same. Otherwise, I wouldn't be telling you any of this."
"Just promise me..." Greg pleaded. "If he ever hurts you, you let me know. I'll soon sort him out."
"I'd rather you carry on liking him just like you did when he was Robin." She replied calmly.
"Hmmm. That might be a little difficult." Mel quipped, turning her chair round to turn on her computer, deciding not to interrogate Hannah further for now. "Black coffee, owl-man. Oh, and don't forget one of my muffins for us all."