Artful Lies (Hunt Legacy Duology 1)

‘I can keep things professional,’ I say to myself, glancing at the door when it opens. In walks a young chap, all preppy with wild spikes atop his head, pulling a huge briefcase behind him. He looks flustered.

‘I’m here,’ he sings.

‘Ah, Percy.’ Mrs Potts hurries over and grabs his cheeks, squeezing while he grins. ‘You’re a good boy.’

Percy laps up the praise being showered on him. ‘I try my best, Mrs Potts.’

‘Percy takes care of all the fancy technology at The Haven,’ Mrs Potts says, turning to me. ‘He’s going to fix you up with a security card so you can access all the rooms.’

Percy heaves his case from the floor and carts it over to me, grunting as he hauls it on to the table. He looks at me with a mild smile on his face. ‘Eleanor, I believe?’ he muses, flipping the catches and popping the lid.

I nod, craning my neck, my eyes following his skinny fingers into the case. There’s no paperwork or files, just a mass of chrome boxes with buttons and levers. He takes a card from his pocket and starts swiping and scanning it, before handing it across the table to me. ‘Voilà,’ he says.

I reach forward to take it, but Mrs Potts swoops in and snatches it from Percy’s hand. ‘I’ll take that. Until your contract is signed, anyway.’

Percy slams his case shut and takes a hanky from his inside pocket, dabbing at his forehead. ‘He finally agreed to some help?’ he asks, looking to Mrs Potts.

‘It’s about time.’

Percy starts chuckling, a silly goofy laugh. He’s a total geek, but completely adorable with it. ‘Well, I can understand his reluctance. You’re inviting whoever you hire into the Hunt family, after all.’

‘Hmm,’ Mrs Potts muses, glancing across to me. She smiles when she catches my eye. ‘Like Eleanor has said, trust can only be built.’

I smile in return, so determined to gain their trust. This place is wonderful and loaded with priceless treasures. It’s beyond a dream job.

Percy pulls his case off the table, grunting when it tugs his shoulder down sharply. Then he looks at me. ‘Good luck.’ He smiles a knowing smile, and I read between the lines. Percy doesn’t only mean in building their trust. He means with the sinful man who heads up the Hunt Corporation.

‘I won’t need it.’ I smile right back.

I’m exhausted by the time I get home. But so damn happy. The plan, according to Mrs Potts, and one I’m quite content with, is to get stuck right in. So I start tomorrow. Apparently, I’ll learn in time to know exactly what’s needed and when. She told me it’s how she survived, until she became indispensable. I want to be indispensable. I might have felt completely overwhelmed, but the feel of The Haven, the endless gorgeous artefacts, the warmth, the odd sense of belonging that engulfed me throughout the rest of my day, has made me determined to make it work. I was totally engrossed in the catalogues that Mrs Potts showed me in one of the offices, all from various exhibits across the globe, some going back decades. Page after page of antiques with pictures, histories, facts, and figures. I recognised many of the items, got excited when I could predict what certain passages of information would say. She’d been most impressed. I was like an enchanted child. The desire to fill my mind with the information in front me was almost too much to cope with, especially the unfamiliar stuff. I was hungry for it, reading and storing it in every corner of my mind. I was in heaven.

After showering and falling into bed, I do something utterly stupid. I google Becker Hunt. And I hate what I see. Becker. Everywhere. With a different woman on his arm in each picture. Some casual photographs, like him getting out of a car or walking into a restaurant, and some posed, like at private VIP galas or auction houses. He looks handsome in the snaps, yes, but in the flesh he’s really something to behold. My face screws up in disgust at my wayward thoughts, and I snap my laptop shut, depriving my eyes of the gorgeous man who graces the screen. I need to keep my head down and learn the job.

After calling Mum and sharing my good news, I snuggle down with a contented smile. I’m not only keen to get to sleep because I’m knackered, but I also want tomorrow to come sooner so I can immerse myself in the tranquillity and enthralling dealings of The Haven again.Chapter 6The next day, after signing my employment contract with the biggest smile, I’m given the grand tour of The Haven by a very proud Mrs Potts. I swear, the place is a never-ending labyrinth of priceless, gorgeous works of art.