Acting Royal #Wattys2017

Chapter 36

JENNY

She must have fallen asleep at some stage, despite the freezing cold, the hard floor and the pain in her chest. She felt an arm on her shoulder, shaking her gently.

"Jenny, wake up."

At first she thought it was a dream, but as the shaking became harder and the voice louder, she realized that it wasn't. She opened her eyes and looked up, Rafiq was squatting on the floor, his arm through the bars.

"Wake up. We have to go."

It took her a second or two to gather herself and figure out what was going on. And when she did, it all started rushing in.

"I'm not going anywhere with you." She moved away from Rafiq as if he was carrying a contagious disease.

"There is no time to explain. You have to trust me though,"

"Trust you!" She hissed, her throat still sore from the screaming.

"Look at me." Rafiq said firmly. "Look me in the eye."

Jenny stopped moving away from him and looked up.

"I did this to protect you. If Amir had taken you, God knows what he would have done. You were safe in here from Amir, but now, I need to get you off the island and home. You have to trust me. I did it for your own good."

Jenny stared at Rafiq trying to figure out whether he could be trusted or not. Was he a good guy, or was he just like Zayn? Zayn was rotten to the core- he just hid it under a really expensive suit.

"Trust me." Rafiq urged again, there was a desperation in his voice.

Jenny watched him closely, she had trusted him blindly since she'd met him and look where it had landed her. But she didn't have a choice, the way she saw it. Better the devil you know, and Amir was a devil she didn't know and she had no idea what he was capable of either.

Rafiq stood up and started unlocking the door and that was really all the invitation she needed. She exited as quickly as possible and followed him back up the stairs. He had her suitcase in his hand and he moved through the silent palace quickly.

They walked out and a limo was waiting for them.

"Won't Amir know I'm gone?" She asked feeling very worried.

"Yes he will. But it'll be fine. He's not after you."

"But you said..."

"Trust me. He's not going to be coming after you. You are no longer a threat now that..." he stopped himself.

"Now that Zayn has tossed me out like trash."

Rafiq looked at her. "Yes."

To have him confirm it like that so matter-of-factly gave way to that stabbing feeling in her chest once more. Her eyes started to sting again as the salty tears came to them. But she climbed into the car and Rafiq climbed in after her.

They sat in silence as the car raced off. Jenny looked back as the palace getting further and further away from her until it disappeared. She didn't know what to say to Rafiq, she had so many questions, but right now she couldn't even bring herself to talk. She felt so drained, physically and emotionally that her mouth didn't really want to work.

The car finally stopped and Rafiq ushered her out onto the landing strip. A private jet stood waiting for them, she looked up at it concerned.

"Don't worry, Amir hasn't been near it. He doesn't even know it's here. You'll be safe." He took Jenny by the arm and started leading her towards the staircase, when they got there he stopped and pulled something out of his jacket pocket.

"Here." Jenny took it, looked at it and her mouth fell open.

"But this is... this is ten times the amount you're meant to be paying me." She stared at the cheque. She had never seen such a huge amount of money in her entire life. This was the kind of money that could set her up for life.

"You deserve it after everything you've been through, and I'm so, so sorry for that."

He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder as Jenny stared at the cheque feeling totally conflicted. This was blood money. This was money to buy her and her silence. She felt like a common whore holding it in her hands, so she did the only thing she could. She tore it up and watched the pieces of paper fall to the floor.

"I am not taking money from you people. I am not something that can be bought and sold, in fact..." Jenny bent down and opened her suitcase. She started grabbing all the clothes that she'd been given to her for the weekend and tossed them onto the runway.

"I don't want anything to do with you. I want nothing from you and I never want to see any of you again either. Don't worry your secret is safe, I would never, ever, tell anyone about this. All I want to do is go home and forget this ever happened and forget him."

Jenny stood up with her much, much lighter suitcase and glared at Rafiq.

"Jenny," he said softly, "I know you're about to be kicked out of your flat. I know you have no money in your account, you have student loans and-"

"Stop!" She held her hand up. "I'd rather have that, than take money from you. If I took your money you would always have a hold over me forever. If I bought a single thing with it, I would always remember this. When I saw it in my bank account, I would be reminded of what I did and what happened. I do not want anything to remind me of this."

A look of sadness washed over Rafiq's face. "You are a true lady." he said softly, "And I will never forget you and I will be sorry about this for the rest of my life. I regret ever getting you involved."

Jenny was slightly taken about by his words.

"You must go now." Rafiq said pushing her onto the stairs.

"Aren't you coming with me?" She suddenly felt panicked at the idea of being alone again.

"No. But you'll be fine."

"Go." Rafiq pulled her into a small hug before whispering in her ear, "Forget about Zayn, he doesn't deserve you. You deserve so much more than him."

And then he basically pushed her into the plane and shut the door. Jenny buckled her seat belt and as soon as she did the plane started rushing down the runway and within seconds it was in the air. She looked down at the islands that she'd been staying on. Where she had thought she had found love.

She pressed her face to the window and watched as the lights of the islands grew fainter and fainter and then finally disappeared, forever.