Later that week, I caught a train out of town. As usual, Teddy had offered to send a car, but it was a quiet time of day and I wanted to make a stop en route to the airport.

"A tour of Europe. How wonderful." Mum dished a large slice of lasagne onto my plate before passing it across to me.

She seemed to think I didn't eat well enough when not being fed by her. I missed her home-cooked food, though, so the bigger portion earned no complaints from me.

"Is that the only reason you're here, then?" Faye asked, cocking an eyebrow at me. "So you don't have to buy your own lunch at Heathrow?"

"Faye," Steve, my stepdad, muttered under his breath.

"Actually, Gatwick's flights were cheaper, but you can't put a price on family time." I shot her a faux smile.

I chose not to mention that I wasn't the one paying for the flights. Faye would have something to say about that, too.

My parents had split up years ago, but they both still spoke of their time together with genuine fondness. During my mum's year-long conservation project in Costa Rica, she'd met my dad. He had a permanent role at a wildlife refuge on the Caribbean coast, and their shared work evolved into a romance. When I came along unexpectedly, Dad didn't hesitate to return to the UK and join my mum in her Scottish hometown.

Although they gave it a shot for a few years, their initial spark eventually wore off. Nothing hostile came from the separation, and I spent a lot of my childhood living in both of their houses. Then Mum had met Steve, and together they'd moved to the South of England. To avoid disrupting my education by switching schools, I'd stayed in Scotland with Dad. I still saw Mum regularly as I grew up, but she was also building a new family. The older I got, the more I felt like the odd one out in her house. And the older Faye got, the more she reminded me of it.

"Are you travelling around Europe alone, then?" Mum said, her brow wrinkling.

"Becca and Gabby can't get the time off work."

Telling her that I was going with a guy would cause misplaced excitement, and I certainly didn't want to name-drop Teddy Stone. Even if Faye didn't paint me as a liar, the number of follow-up questions would risk making me late for the flight.

"And how is Rebecca? I've not seen her in such a long time—"

"Mum, we've not seen Sophia in such a long time. Never mind Becca."

Again, Mum ignored Faye's attempts to provoke me and listened with interest as I brought her up to date on Becca's job and voluntary work with Mind.

"And Gabriella? Is she still with that girl?"

"She's still with Charlotte, yes. They're very happy. Coming up to a year together now."

"Huh," Faye said, moving her lasagne around on her plate without eating it. "I thought this relationship was just a phase she was going through and she'd be back to sleeping with half the South East by now."

"And I thought being a judgmental bitch was just a phase for you, but no such luck."

Being rude to me, I could handle. Faye regularly reminded me that we were only half-related, so I was used to it. But my friends? I drew the line.

"Girls," Mum said in a reproving tone. "Faye, don't be so hostile towards your sister—"

"Half-sister—"

"And Sophia, please mind your language at the dinner table."

Sighing, I smiled an apology at my mum. "Sorry. Just stressed about the trip. It's a risk. There's always the potential nobody will care about the articles I write."

"That's freelance work," Steve said. "You have to invest and hope for the return."

"Or," Faye said, "you could get a proper job like a normal person."

She was relentless and the reason I didn't visit much. Every time I did, we'd descend into an argument, and it'd put me off returning for a while. Then I'd think she can't be that bad. Or she must have grown out of it by now. At least I couldn't fault her consistency.

"Faye." Steve's voice sharpened. "I've had enough. If you can't be civil with your sister, then leave the table."

Seconds later, her footsteps thundered up the stairs with purpose, bedroom door slamming shut.

Steve sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, Soph. She's got boyfriend issues at the moment. Has been a bit volatile all week."

"I'm glad she's got boyfriend issues," I said. "The guy's a loser. She can do better."

Faye had a knack for picking wrong'uns. Her poor taste in guys was one of the reasons our relationship had deteriorated. But honestly, if a guy drops you home unconscious with a mixture of alcohol and drugs poisoning your system, then gets pissed off when your sister drags your sorry arse to the hospital, is he really worth it?

Apparently he was worth it, because Faye had never forgiven me for that pathetic prick breaking things off with her, even when she'd moved onto the next dickhead. This one didn't use drugs—he just dealt them—so Faye seemed to feel like she was moving up in the world.

"Anyone special in your life, darling?" Mum asked.

"Not got time for that right now. Need to concentrate on paying my rent."

And screwing over a famous popstar.

"Soph, you know we can always help you out with money if you need it," Steve said.

I smiled in gratitude but lowered my eyes back to my food. Steve was a great guy, but I'd never take money from him—even if it did technically belong to my mother, too. Although Faye's constant reminders about us only being half-related stemmed from resentment towards me, I couldn't help but feel like she had a point. This was Faye's family more than mine. Faye's parents. Borrowing money from Mum and Steve just didn't seem right.

"Did you want me to talk to Faye?" I offered, setting my cutlery down on the plate.

Mum and Steve exchanged a look, having some kind of conversation between themselves. I could interpret well enough, though.

"Or will I make it worse?"

"She's just at that age," Steve said, his mouth curling into an apologetic smile.

Did they know what their seventeen-year-old daughter got up to in her free time? I doubted it. Faye swore me to secrecy when I took her to the hospital that night. Rather than assuming I'd use it as blackmail material, she should have instead appreciated that it happened during a week when I'd been around, otherwise it might have been her parents who'd discovered her.

Nevertheless, I'd naively thought that promising I wouldn't say anything might build some bridges between us, but my sister didn't trust me. We didn't share the same naivety gene from my mother, it seemed. To align with Faye's way of thinking, I'd offered a secret of my own so we each had dirt on one another. I'd told her about a tattoo I'd got several years ago, knowing Mum hated them. But Faye hadn't cared about that. She'd wanted something juicier.

So I opened up about Grant. Even though I genuinely couldn't remember the details from that night, I'd embellished the story, telling Faye that I'd slept with a guy who Becca had been in love with since her childhood.

Faye called me a heartless bitch, but it seemed to do the trick because she couldn't imagine me ever wanting people to find out I'd done such a snaky thing. Little did she know, Becca was already aware. But that didn't matter. Faye thought she had something on me, and it was enough to pacify her for the time being.

*

After the tense family meal, I needed a holiday even more than before. I jumped back on the train and alighted at Heathrow, following Teddy's instructions by not going through to Departures but waiting at the drop-off zones instead.

Having known him for a month, I shouldn't have been surprised that catching a plane with him would be a different experience to my normal flights. A driver picked me up, and we drove through the airport complex, passing through several security gates until we reached what appeared to be a private airfield with smaller planes.

We pulled up alongside one of the larger jets, and I jumped when my door abruptly opened.

"Sophia," Mark said, his intense stare aimed at me. "Do you have your passport?"

I peered up at him. "Teddy said I wouldn't need a passport as we're flying privately."

Mark's stony expression didn't change, and I couldn't tell if he was irritated by my joke or concerned that I may have actually left my passport at home.

Sighing, I reached into my bag and plucked it out, handing it over.

"Wait here." He shut the door again.

I watched as he handed over the red book to a man standing at the foot of the airstair, who then scanned it and checked the paperwork. With a nod, Mark returned to the car and pulled the door open.

"Okay. I'll grab your bag. Just head up. Ed's inside."

After a comprehensive scan of the car's back seat to check I'd not left anything behind, I strode across the tarmac towards the plane's steps, smiling at the man who remained stood at the bottom of them.

"Have a great flight," he said, returning my smile.

"Thank you."

You can know someone has money—Teddy's global success, penthouse office, and security detail were examples of that—but until you step inside their private jet and see the degree of luxury you've only ever witnessed in films, it doesn't really sink in.

Kitted out entirely in black and white, the plane's interior rendered me speechless. Plush sofas lined one side of the cabin, with large armchairs and tables on the other. It didn't resemble a plane. It looked like an upmarket hotel room.

Having not been a Teddy Stone fan prior to the concert, I hadn't given much thought to his lifestyle. Whenever we'd met up since, it had been low key. I'd grown used to the days in his suite and the driver picking me up. I'd stopped noticing the security men, and if anything, they'd eased some of my obsessive worries, knowing they would stop any harm from happening.

But this was cold, hard proof that Teddy Stone was not a normal guy. He lived in a different world.

What the fuck was I doing here? I struggled to afford my rent each month—this was not my life. This would never be my life. At no stage had I forgotten my purpose for hanging with Teddy, but never before had I felt like such an imposter.

***

Thank you for reading :) xx

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In the next chapter, Teddy and Sophia play a game where they can ask each other any question they like. What would you want to know? Let me know if the comments!