Page 74 of Criminally Yours

“We’ll see,” Strike replied hesitantly. He gripped the basket with one hand and Millie tightly with the other. “Steph and I have many inside activities planned, don’t we, sweetheart?”

Merryn and Joyce giggled so hard they missed Millie reaching up behind Strike and flicking the back of his neck. He shook his head and pinned her with an authoritative stare as she replied, her cheeks reddening, “We do.”

“I’ll punish you for that later,” he whispered, surprising them both, before saying louder, “We’d best get our bags inside. Thanks again.”

“Have fun.” Joyce turned before saying over her shoulder, “Don’t be strangers.”

“We wouldn’t dream of it.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Merryn shouted.

How was Stal able to keep his secrets while he was here? The place had no privacy.

“Bye,” Strike and Millie cooed together while poking each other out of eyeshot.

Loud enough for the women to hear, he said to Millie, “Why don’t you go into the house with this, baby?”

Strike quickly deposited the bags and caught up to Millie in the doorway. He directed her to a bedroom beside the front door.

“Don’t move. I need to perform an internal check, then a perimeter check, and review Stal’s security measures.” He gave the bedroom a once-over. “You stay in this room for now, and I’ll get you when dinner is ready. And don’t you dare go to that bakery.”

“You’re a very dominant husband. I didn’t sign up for that kind of marriage,” she teased.

Blood rushed to his groin.

“Bloody brat,” he grunted as he left the room.

CHAPTER 31

Millie

They sat in silence, eating lasagna, a gift from Joyce.

The mood had sobered as the time her family was supposed to be calling loomed closer. Learning about the past had been hard. It had nearly broken her. But now, she had to do something about it.

She hated confrontation, and although she’d been able to do it over the last couple of days with Strike, confronting her family was another matter.

Millie checked her phone. She’d asked her mum to call her after nine, when her parents had returned to the ship after their day trip. Dexter hadn’t replied to her message at all.

Her confidence ebbed with every tick of the clock.

With a few touches, the house, with its hard floors and wooden furnishings, could be a forever home rather than her jail. But now, she’d never felt further away from the safety of her apartment, with more books than space on the bookshelves and fairy lights everywhere.

“I’ll give you a tour after you’ve spoken to your family if you want,” Strike said, staring at the ring on herfinger.

Millie’s gullet shrunk as if hands were tightening around it.

“Thank you.” She moved her food around her plate. “What will I do if they lie?”

“I don’t know. What would you say if this were a counselling session?”

Millie shrugged. “I’m the worst counsellor. I’ve let my family dictate my behaviour all these years, and now that I have the chance to speak to them about it, I’m terrified.”

“You could try and distract yourself until the call. You can’t do anything about it until it happens.”

“Is that what you’d do?”

“Me? I would plan for everything they say and prepare for every possible eventuality. I would risk assess the shit out of that call.”