The Game (19 page)

I looked down at my empty ring finger and could have cursed myself. I'd made the decision to take off the ring before I came, but now it would only fuel speculation and more rumors. My heart thudded in my chest but my smile never wavered and somehow, miraculously, I made it to the end of the red carpet.

I walked into the lobby and snatched a flute of champagne from a passing waiter and downed it in one gulp. If ever I needed a drink it was now. I was regretting coming out. Charlotte was right. I wasn't ready for this. I should have laid low, but I had so wanted to prove her wrong. Or maybe it was to prove to myself that my career didn't hang in the balance over some rumors.

If it were anything else, I don't think I would have cared as much. But being out here with the world speculating on Rob and my relationship left me feeling vulnerable. If it were really a fake engagement, I could have brushed it off, acting like I didn't have a care in the world. Hell, I could have denied it and pretended like nothing was wrong. But it had been real to me--or as real as any relationship had been. Because of that, I couldn't pretend it didn't hurt when people began to snicker, or make rude and tasteless jokes at my expense.

"Fancy seeing you here?"

I turned my head and had to stifle the groan that threatened to escape my lips. Of all the people I could have run in tonight, it had to be Darla Lovitz. She stood staring at me with an insufferable smirk on her face.

"Darla," I said, my voice dripping with ice. "I could say the same for you."

She laughed off my subtle jab with much too much glee. I felt my body tense in response. It wasn't like Darla to laugh anything off. If anything, it was too easy to make her go into meltdown mode. Seeing her act calm and composed was completely unexpected and a little worrisome.

"You amaze me, you know that?" she laughed. "After everything you've done, you've still got a mouth on you, and you have the audacity to stand there and look down your nose at me.
Fucking ridiculous
." Her voice carried throughout the room and I could feel several more pairs of eyes land on us.

"Aw, have I hurt your feelings? Is that where all this anger and animosity is coming from?" I asked keenly aware of the attention we were getting. I wouldn't let her get the best of me.

"God, you really are a bitch, you know that? All this shit couldn't have happened to a better person," she snapped before huffing off.

I rolled my eyes at her back and looked around the room, trying to find a sympathetic face, but all I got were people looking down their noses at me! The ones who didn't, weren't even making eye contact. It was puzzling and I thought I must be imagining things. I shook off the thought and circulated around the room. Several people paused their conversations and looked at me warily as I approached.

I walked up to an acquaintance I'd known for several years. Harvey Richards was a fashion editor who I'd worked with while I was still modeling, and we'd always gotten along. As I approached his group, the conversation suddenly stopped. He looked very uncomfortable as I greeted him.

"Harvey, I didn't know you'd be here!" I said. "It's been a while."

"Er--yeah," he replied, practically sweating bullets.

I furrowed my brow in confusion. What the hell had gotten into people? I felt like I was being shunned.

"Ok, what's going on tonight? You're acting really weird," I said cutting to the chase.

The group of young models around him giggled and I narrowed my eyes. Harvey stepped forward and grabbed my arm leading me to a more secluded section of the room.

"Why did you come tonight?" he asked.

"What? Why wouldn't I come?" I asked.

"You know I like you, right Emilia? We've always been friends."

"Uh...yeah," I said hesitantly, not sure where he was going with this.

"Then take my advice and go home."

"Why?"

"Can't you see you're a laughing stock right now? Everyone is talking about you, and you don't want to know what they're saying. No one can take you seriously after what you did for some publicity."

"Bullshit. Bunch of hypocrites, as if I'm the only one," I said not bothering to censor my tongue. "Half the people--no more than half--in this room would do 10 times worse than what I did in a heartbeat."

"The difference, my dear, is you got caught. Your name is the one plastered on the headlines. Your little arrangement is the one being discussed on the nightly chat shows."

"So what? I can't believe people would shun me because of one indiscretion like that."

"This is a fickle business. No one wants to associate with someone who's tainted. Speaking of, I should get back to my friends," he said giving me one last imploring look before walking away.

The conversation had left me reeling. First Charlotte and now Harvey had dropped dire warnings on me. Could it be true? Surely a fake engagement couldn't be all that bad? Hell, I'd been accused of sleeping with a married man before, and that rumor didn't seem to raise as many hackles as this one.

I walked back to the center of the room, dismissing Harvey's advice. There was just no way anything he said was true. I was Emilia fucking Holliday, for Christ's sake. People were clamoring to work with me and be seen with me. That couldn't change overnight.

"I thought I heard a rumor you were here tonight."

As if my night couldn't get any worse, Kelsey Keller had to show up. I didn't even want to turn around to look at her. I hoped that if I just ignored her she'd slink away, but luck was obviously not on my side tonight.

"What's the matter? Too ashamed to face me?" she asked tauntingly.

That did it. I couldn't let her think I was afraid of her. I turned around slowly, making sure my face showed no emotion. I wouldn't let her get a rise out of me. It was what she wanted, and I was sure she had tipped off several people to have their camera phones ready just in case I went off on her.

"Oh it's you again. I swear, I almost get the impression you're stalking me. You seem to show up everywhere I am," I said, airily.

"Yeah, right. When pigs fly," she retorted.

I didn't even bother to reply to her lame comeback. Instead, I looked down at my nails and tried to pretend she wasn't standing right in front of me.

"I see you're standing alone. Did your fiancé come with you? Oh, that's right, he wasn't real. What was the matter? Didn't pay him enough to deal with your bullshit anymore?" she taunted.

By now we were definitely gathering a crowd around us. Everyone wanted to see the fight they thought was inevitable. It had been brewing for months now, ever since Kelsey had leaked rumors of me sleeping with her husband. Here was the supposedly scorned wife with the humiliated other woman. A soap opera couldn't have written a more sensational story line.

"Again with the personal questions. Are you obsessed with me, Kelsey? You seem to care an awful lot about what I'm doing. A word of advice, a woman your age should really focus on your own life. Who knows how many years you'll have left," I said.

I heard a collective gasp from the crowd and had a moment of triumph. The crowd had my back. They all knew Kelsey was a grasping, desperate snake.

"You overestimated your charms. Even your fake fiancé, someone you pay to be seen with you, can't stand you. You truly are pathetic. Tell me, did you have to pay Harry to sleep with you too? Is that how you operate?" she said.

There was a smattering of laughter and applause. I felt a flush of heat rush up to my cheeks. I'd never felt so humiliated and excluded before. Could this really be happening? Had they chosen Kelsey Keller over me? I looked over the crowd trying to pick out one friendly face, but all I got was a bloodthirsty crowd looking to be entertained.

The people I thought were my friends were all wolves in sheep's clothing. They didn't have my back. They were only too happy and eager to join in taking me down a peg or two. Sure, they were with me when I was riding high, but when the going got tough, they all scattered off like rats off a sinking ship.

I wondered how I could have been so blind. I'd devoted most of my adult life to building my career and fostering a relationship with these people, and the first sign of something going bad they turned tail and left. It hadn't even been 24 hours, but they could smell the blood in the water. To all intents and purposes, I was washed up. This would be the beginning of the end.

They'd seen it many times before. The press would dig up more secrets and dirty laundry about my past, and pile on until my reputation was destroyed. I'd gotten lucky before with the Kelsey and Harry incident since I could cover that up with the fake engagement. But now that I'd been caught in the scheme, no one would believe anything that I tried to do now.

Charlotte had been right all along. Everyone was just waiting for me to make a misstep until they all pounced. I tucked my tail between my legs and slunk out of the party without another word to anyone. I was humiliated again, and just wanted to curl up and cry.

Everything over the past several months had finally gotten to me and I had reached my breaking point. I was coming to the stark realization that everything I'd built for the last eight years didn't matter. It was just a kingdom made of sand. I had no one I could turn to. Maybe Charlotte was right. I needed to keep a low profile, but where could I go?

My phone buzzed in my purse and I fished it out. I felt a sudden inspiration as I looked at the screen.

"Honey what's going on? What's this I hear about you and that fiancé of yours?" my mother asked, her voice sounding tense with concern.

I smiled for the first time in what felt like an eternity as I realized exactly where I could go. Even though I'd pulled myself away from them, they were still my family and I knew they'd always welcome me with open arms. And that's exactly what I needed right now--unconditional love and support.

"It's a long story, Ma. I'll tell you when I come home," I said.

"When are you coming home?" she asked.

"Tonight."

Chapter 21: Emilia

Since I'd been home, my family had been extra nice to me. They'd lent me an ear when I wanted to vent, and gave me space when I needed it. It touched me that they were so angry on my behalf. My father and brother and uncles were ready to fly to England and hunt Rob down and beat the shit out of him. It was only after some convincing from me and my mom that they relented. Still, I was glad to know they truly had my back.

For the first time in a long time, I realized how truly wonderful they were. It might not have been a perfect, idyllic childhood, but they were my family and I loved them. And most importantly they loved me. No one was perfect. I certainly made more than enough mistakes in the past few months to not throw stones anymore.

Rob had tried to call me nonstop ever since I got back from England. I'd ignored his calls until it got to be too much. I eventually had to get my number changed. Charlotte and Arnie even told me he went to see them to try to find out where I was. They tried to convince me to give him another chance, and finish out our agreement, but I wasn't listening. There was no way in hell I'd put myself through that again, regardless of the fall out.

The papers ran story after story about that night at his parent's party. They had details on how Rob had been flirting with his ex all night, and how guests had seen them leave the party together looking very cozy. Rob had come back in a while later with his jacket off, looking a bit disheveled. The insinuation was that they'd had a quickie out in the gardens.

I hated the way my heart sank as I soaked up every word and detail. And the worst part was that I could believe every word because that's exactly what I witnessed with my own eyes. It hurt me more than I wanted to admit.

I sent the engagement ring back to Rob shortly after the disastrous Black and White ball. Just looking at it and having it on my finger was a painful reminder of what had happened. Even though it was a fake engagement, I still felt like he had betrayed me.

Being at home gave me some time to contemplate the direction of my life. It was weird how everything had come full circle. Here I was sitting in my old bedroom, the one I swore I'd never sleep in again after I left for my first modeling shoot in Paris. Back then, I just knew I'd make it big and could leave all this behind.

How wrong I'd been. How stupid. Maybe Darla and Kelsey were right. I'd become the biggest, snobbiest bitch in town. I thought I was hot shit--the next big thing. What a cruel and fitting lesson it had been when I finally fell back down to earth, right on my ass. I could just imagine how much glee people like Kelsey and Darla were having at my fall from grace. I felt a bit of shame just thinking about it. A knock at my door made me snap up my head.

"Honey, it's me," my mother said before she opened my door.

I smiled at her as she made her way in.
At least she knocked first
, I thought sardonically. I remembered when she didn't even give me that courtesy and just barged in whenever she felt like--as if she'd were trying to catch me doing something I wasn't supposed to.

"What's up, Ma?" I asked as she sat on the end of my twin size bed.

"I just thought you'd finally like to talk," she said.

She'd been trying to get me to open up about what really happened with Rob. At first, I didn't want to and she'd given me space, but I knew it was only a matter of time before my mom brought it up again. She couldn't help herself. That's how she was.

I'd been brooding too long and decided to tell her everything. It wasn't like she hadn't read the blogs and papers, or seen the news anyway. At least I could give her my side of the story. So we sat there and I told her everything from the beginning, about how Kelsey had tried to drag my name through the mud by leaking a story that I was sleeping with her husband. My mother nearly had a heart attack at that.

"As if I'd raise my daughter to be a home wrecker!" she exploded, looking like she was ready to go find Kelsey and give her a piece of her mind.