Chapter 3 3

III. The Scarred Haverston

Once upon in Town...

"I hate him! I hate him!" the little girl shouted while she cried in her mother's arms. "I shall never marry that boy, Mama! He pushed me in the pond! He pushed me! He's...he's arrogant!"

Little Belinda stared at the little girl with awe. She could shout and her mother merely shook her head. Little Cressida Belverst was indeed causing a scene amongst the crowd in the weekend Haverston party. Not only was she drenched and dripping pond water on the elegant carpet, she was also being very loud.

"You should never associate yourself with such girls, Belinda," her mother whispered disapprovingly beside her.

"But-"

"The Belversts may be rich, Belinda, but they cannot put a reign on their daughter. Just look at her!" her mother hissed with a horrified look, shaking her head. "You stay away from her if you know what is good for you."

Little Belinda could not ken why for Cressida had seemed a rather nice and fun girl to be with. Well, until she was pushed into the pond and came crying to cause a scene. Belinda wanted to be her friend for Popsy and Poppy seemed rather too dry, but her mother liked them.

And so she shall avoid Cressida, she thought with a sigh.

*****

"I cannot believe you are here," she uttered with awe too many times now. Belinda stopped pacing before McKenzie Haverston and turned to face him as he sat on her old leather couch, unmoving and utterly calm. "And you have been following me for days, you say?"

He seemed out of place being in her tiny apartment and the couch seemed rather too small for his big form. He nodded. "Yes, I have. I had to make sure it was you."

"How did you find me?"

"I told you, your sister gave me the information."

"I meant here," she said with impatience. "Here, aboveground."

"Your sister said that you would not go far from the passage. I had to think like you when I arrived aboveground. Where would you go? Where would you live?" He looked around the apartment. "And here I am."

"But it seems impossible..." she muttered more to herself than to him.

"You have flaming red hair and blue eyes, Lady Belinda. They are not very common features even aboveground. And your sister provided a drawing of you."

Belinda could not point out why she had a feeling McKenzie Haverston was mocking her. He had not said anything to indicate so, but she knew he was mocking her. And she hated it.

When she returned her attention back on him she realized he had been studying her. His blue eyes were looking her up and down. Yet she did not see the same glimmer of admiration in them as the men she had encountered here aboveground. His gaze shouted disapproval by far and there was not an ounce of anything she'd consider positive in it as well.

She cared not what McKenzie Haverston thought of her here, nor did she care what he thought of her underground. Her mind came back to her sister, Julia.

"My sister finally looked for me," she whispered with disbelief. Tears of joy threatened to burst out but they stopped, merely giving her eyes an extra gleam. Even unconsciously her mind would stop her tears before she knew they were coming no matter the reason.

McKenzie Haverston arched his right scarred eyebrow. For a very tiny second she wondered where he acquired it. A brawl? A fight? A duel? "You did not believe she would?"

Yes, she silently answered. Five years had passed since her sister made that promise. She had tried to hang on to it, but the hope had slowly died and went to sleep along the years. "It had been a long time," she simply offered as a reply.

McKenzie stood up and suddenly he towered over her. She had forgotten how big he was. He very rarely went to balls when she was still underground. He and his brothers, all of them never liked such parties, even the rake brother, Adrien. She had merely seen him from a distance and until now she was at awe how strong his presence was. It made her want to cower and hide in a corner. But she was no coward and she had never let herself be swayed by mere domineering presence.

"Your sister found out where they had taken you only recently," he informed her. She waited for him to provide more details but it seemed that he was not one who would say much.

Stepping away from him, she went to her kitchen and fixed herself a cup of coffee.

"We ought to get back, Lady Belinda. As soon as possible," he added the last bit with emphasis.

"I shall think about it first." She ought to. She had dreamed of going back, of coming home, of seeing Julia, but now that there was a chance that she could come back without fear that the passage guards would kill her if she would-as what her captors can so strongly warned her about when they pushed her out that passage-she found that she was suddenly anxious.

She never liked her life aboveground. Yes, she may have enjoyed the freedom it offered, but there were things in her life here that she never wanted for herself. She knew in her heart that she belonged in the Town. But would the people underground think the same? They had shunned her, for goodness's sake! They shunned her!

"Are you, perhaps, afraid to go back home?" he asked behind her. His voice was formal, yet there was a touch of something promising like fun and adventure, like laughter and wit rolled into one. She shook the thought away and turned to face him from across the room.

"I am not afraid," she lied so effectively, but she hoped he did not notice her nose crinkle. She hated that it crinkled whenever she lied. She had managed to cover that one flaw by pretending to rub on it with the back of her hand. "I am afraid that I am rather too angry to go back." Now, that one was not a lie for it was also true.

McKenzie frowned. She hinted the impatience on his face. "The League of Founders had been looking into the cases of such banishment for years and they had long given up until recently when I gave them word of your possible banishment here. They are now looking into the case once more. I am certain that your banishment aboveground is completely unlawful, Lady Belinda, but I do believe that you do not have a reason to be angry when it was your action that led your family to banish you."

Belinda did not know that someone could bring back the memories of her banishment and cause her such immense pain still. McKenzie Haverston had just slapped the truth of her foolishness in her face and it hurt. And it angered her.

"But I am inclined to consider your life here a reason for your anger. After all, you were forced to take up a rather...uncommon form of employment to feed yourself."

Belinda gasped. She could not fathom whether to be amused and thankful that he found her situation aboveground pitiful that he reconsidered her source of anger, or be insulted for pointing out that she was a prostitute in more ways than one.

"And what do you think I do for employment?" It took all her control not to let her voice shake.

He awkwardly looked away and cleared his throat. "I rather not talk about it."

She chuckled with derision. "Very well, I do admit that my employment is rather distasteful to someone such as you, but it does pay handsomely."

His eyes flickered with annoyance. "I refuse to judge your employment here."

"You say so but I am certain you have already judged me, Mr. Haverston." She stared at him over the rim of her cup as she sipped her coffee. There was no point in changing his opinion of her for she had been judged far worse than that.

When she felt that her anger had subsided to a bearable degree, she replaced her cup on the counter and asked, "Why were you the one sent to come for me?"

Again, she hinted the impatience before he answered, "Apart from your sister, the men your father paid, and some trusted members of the League, I am the only one who knows you were sent here. Asking anyone else to do the task would only risk the secrecy of the unlawful banishment through the known passages."

"So you all know of the passages," she said with ire. She had never known such passages existed before. She was utterly and completely shocked when the two men who took her forced her through a passage. One moment she was underground, forced to take a hike, and the next she was out aboveground, lost and destitute.

"There are only a few numbers of townspeople who know of the passages," he answered. "And it would be good if you keep the knowledge to yourself."

She smiled at him and saw his face tighten. What was that about? Ignoring it, she said, "Very well, your secrets are safe with me. I am going out to get myself something to eat. Would you join me or would you rather starve?"

McKenzie Haverston shook his handsome head. "I do have a more comfortable apartment across the street."

Again, she felt the annoyance. She ought to have felt someone was watching her! But she had to admit the bastard was pretty good at his job.

"I will give you until the morrow to decide," he said, his voice filled with warning. The gall of this man! Did he mean to leave without her if she did not say yes by the morrow?

"Alright," she answered, walking toward her front door. "I am leaving now to get food. It would be best if you leave as well for I do not like strangers in my apartment."

*****

"It would be best if you give me an assurance that you would go back. Your sister is rather adamant that you return with me," McKenzie said to her as they finally stepped outside the building.

"I have lived quite a normal life here." He had noticed that she had a habit of crinkling her nose from time to time. He assumed that Lady Belinda had a rather sensitive nose for she had been rubbing on it twice now. "They do not judge me here as much as they did underground and I quite enjoy the freedom. You must understand that it will not be a very easy decision to go back, Mr. Haverston, but you can be assured that I shall have a ready answer by the morrow."

McKenzie nodded and turned away to cross the street. He had been here a week now and had grown accustomed to the new things within the neighborhood, but he was bloody ready to go back underground where his life awaited him. Before he entered the apartment building where he managed to rent a room at, he looked over his shoulder and watched Lady Belinda Carrington walk down the street in broad daylight. Evening would soon come and she ought not to be walking the streets alone.

He scoffed at himself. She knew the streets better than he. She would be fine.

Once inside his own apartment, one he rented with the help of a bookshop owner his sister-in-law Cressida had suggested he go to, McKenzie walked to the window and waited. He had spent his days watching her every move since he found her. It had been a lucky search, he thought. The drawing lady Trilby provided did not quite justify the real beauty of the real person, but it had been a great help. It took him three days to finally find her and another four to follow her every move and confirm his find.

And all the while he thought she would fall into his arms and tearfully cry with relief for having been finally found. He had imagined she would immediately and gladly leave everything behind and demand that he return her underground at once.

Why was she hesitating now? Surely she would want to leave behind her life here. Bloody hell, the woman was selling her own body for money! Even he would not want to live such a life. She may not have the same luxuries she had five years before her great scandal in the Town, but her sister would provide for a comfortable life for her in a country outside Willowfair. She didn't have to go back to Willowfair, she simply had to accept that she could have a better and more normal life somewhere underground.

It was better than what she had here.

His face tightened once more when he remembered the face of that bloody bastard who attacked her outside that shop.

He spent another hour standing by the window, waiting for her to return to her apartment. The sky had turned dark as evening finally dawned. He knew she took her food from a small and cheap restaurant nearby and he anticipated that she would soon be going home by now. Her daily routine had never changed since he had started following her. The only change was the men she serviced.

He had seen the hurt that registered on her face earlier when he reminded her of her banishment. And there was also the anger. She had done this to herself. She ought to be more repentant than angry. Most ladies who committed such debacle as lady Belinda Carrington did would have already come down on their knees by now. He wondered then if the lady was indeed without remorse. She had almost ruined her family's name by what she did five years ago. And even after all that her sister still found it in herself to take her back.

Remembering everything his sister-in-law, Cressida, had told her about the lady, and the things she had done to Mary, the wife of his brother Adrien, he could not believe he had let himself waste so much of his time to take the chit home.

Ungrateful, stubborn vixen, he said to himself. Her beauty had not diminished even until now, but she was still the same woman he was led to believe she was. She did not even pretend to be otherwise!

Be that as he may, he had one task and that was to take her home. Once that was done, he'd gladly let her face the wrath of Willowfair and go one with his life.

As he waited by the window, he saw a vehicle park outside her apartment building, drawing him away from his thoughts. He recognized it immediately and jumped in alarm. From a distance he saw Belinda walking down the side of the street, her head bent and unsuspicious.

He saw the back door of the black vehicle open and the man with a plaster on his nose climbed out, facing Belinda's direction. "This is turning out to be a bloody, dratted evening," he uttered with frustration as he turned on his heel to rescue the chit once more.