The Game (18 page)

"Hold your horses, Rambo," Stella said mockingly. "You going after Peter isn't going to do anyone any favors. I still can't believe you left with Cordelia!"

I narrowed my eyes and turned my full glare onto my mother. "What were you about inviting her here tonight anyway?" I asked.

My mother had the grace to blush and she answered haltingly. "I told you I saw her the other night at the Forrester's, and I couldn't leave her out when everyone else was going. It would be rude. Anyway, I didn't think you'd be so foolish as to flirt with her so openly with your fiancée standing not five feet away," she said sounding scandalized. "Everyone saw it and it wouldn't surprise me if it was the talk of the town."

"If it were only the town," I scoffed.

"What are you going to do now?" Stella asked.

Before I could answer, Roman and Lily had joined our little party in the study and I nearly groaned. This was just what I needed. I could tell by the disapproving looks on their faces they had nothing good to say.

"You're a real prick," Roman said, proving me right. "I didn't think you had it in you, but color me disappointed."

"Please save your little lecture for another time. I don't need to hear it from you either. I've gotten it enough from these two," I said, pointing at Stella and my mother.

"You never answered my question, Rob. What are you going to do now?" Stella repeated.

I looked at her, then slowly looked at the faces surrounding me, a mixture of censure, disappointment, and curiosity, and was momentarily speechless. Emilia was probably on a plane right now headed back to America. I wanted to catch up with her and apologize. I'd been a jerk and the guilt was tearing away at me. But then what? What else could I offer her besides an apology, and would it even be enough?

I shrugged in answer to Stella's question. It seemed the safest response. She screwed up her face in frustration. "Ugh! she said, sounding disgusted. "You're the worst. Don't you know that girl is in love with you," she said, punctuating each word with a poke in my chest. "How can you be so blind?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked. It didn't escape me that my mother was still standing here and she had no idea about our arrangement. Still Stella's revelation shook me to my core.

"Give it up, Robert. I know about the little game you tried to play on me. Emilia as good as confessed it to me this morning. And Stella's right. She really does--or at least did--love you."

I felt like I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. My head was reeling from all of these bombshells and I had to steady myself, sitting down on a bench by the windows. I'd had an inkling that Emilia's feelings for me weren't strictly business, but to have it confirmed by both Stella and my mother took me by surprise. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I warmed up to the idea. But was I now too late?

"I've got to go," I said, suddenly standing up. "I have to see her."

"Wait, you're drunk," Lily said.

"I don't care. I--I think I might love her too," I confessed.

"You think?" Roman asked mockingly.

"Don't tease him," I heard Lily whisper.

"Yeah, listen to your wife. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," I said before taking off.

Now that I'd admitted it, it felt right. I did love Emilia. I loved her for months, but was too much of a coward to admit it to myself. Now she was gone, and it was all because I'd been so stubborn. I just hoped it wasn't too late.

Chapter 20: Emilia

The buzzing of my phone on the night stand slowly penetrated my consciousness. I cracked an eye open and stared at the clock. It was already 1 pm. I'd arrived early this morning in New York, and had promptly fallen in a heap of exhaustion on my bed. Thankfully, I had a dreamless sleep, and had been out for a good seven hours.

The phone continued to buzz and I reluctantly picked it up and looked at the screen to see who was calling. A part of me had hoped it was Rob, but then I scowled at my traitorous thoughts. I wouldn't think about him.

"Hello, Charlotte," I answered, my voice still hoarse with sleep.

"Damn it, Em, where have you been? The shit's hit the fan!" she said.

I sat up in bed and brushed my hair out of my face. "What are you talking about?" I asked, slight panic and alarm wiping any trace of sleep from me.

"The engagement--it's all over the news that it was fake and you and Rob were never really together," she explained.

"How?" I asked.

"Some girl says Rob confessed it to her. An ex-girlfriend or something," she said.

I felt rage swell within me. So he had gone and told her about our contract. I couldn't believe he would do that, but then I remembered them leaving together and I felt a new wave of anger wash over me.
That jackass!

"What's the damage?" I asked.

"It's pretty bad, Emilia. Arnie and I have been fielding calls all morning. Everyone is running with the story. It's going to be plastered all over the headlines for the foreseeable future, unless some other scandal breaks," she said.

As she was speaking, I walked over to my desk and pulled out my Ipad. I typed in the address of a popular gossip blog and waited while the page loaded. My eyes were greeted by a candid shot of Rob and the woman at the party last night. The shot was blurry, like it had been taken with a camera phone, but it was still clearly Rob. His face was unmistakable as he was smiling down at the girl, his body only inches away from hers as he rested his arms on the wall, surrounding her. The headline read: "
Rob Reveals Engagement a Publicity Stunt
".

I tried to read the article, but my eyes couldn't focus and I had to keep reading the same sentence over and over again. Eventually I gave up. The picture and headline were damning enough. I still couldn't believe Rob would do this to me. As if it weren't humiliating enough rubbing my nose in his affair, he had to go and blab to her about our secret arrangement.

"How do we fix this?" I finally asked.

I had to put Rob out of my mind. My career took top priority and this scandal had the potential to overshadow everything. I couldn't let that happen. I needed to focus on damage control.

"We need you and Rob to get together and shoot down the rumors. You need to be seen together almost 24/7, show lots of PDA. You might need to extend the length of the contract until the heat is off you," she said.

"That's impossible," I said.

"What are you talking about? You need to combat these rumors and the best way is to show everyone that you and Rob are very much in love."

"I--I can't," I said, weakly.

If she had suggested anything else, I would have done it in a heartbeat, but she was asking too much. I couldn't bring myself to even look at Rob or be in the same room as him, much less act like I was in love with him and show affection. It was too painful. Because the truth was, I
was
in love with him. Somewhere along the way, his kisses and touches had gotten to me. We'd crossed that line and now there was no going back. For me anyway. I wasn't that good of an actress.

"Why? Is he backing out? Because if he even tries, after breaking the confidentiality agreement, we can nail his ass to the wall. Our lawyers will go after him."

"No, it's not that," I said cutting her off. "I haven't spoken to him, and I don't want to. The engagement is over. We need to find another way to fix this without Rob's help. And forget the lawsuit too. It'll only make us look like idiots if we pursue it."

"I don't get it. What's happened Emilia?" she asked.

Her voice took on a note of concern and I decided to tell her everything. It had all gone to hell anyway, what was one more confession in the grand scheme of things? Besides, Charlotte was the closest thing to a real friend I had, and if anyone were to know, it should be her. She'd never steered me wrong before.

"Can you believe I went ahead and actually fell in love with the bastard?" I said, trying to laugh it off, but it came off sounding hollow.

There was a long pause and I almost thought Charlotte hadn't heard me, when I finally heard her cough nervously on the other end. "What was his reaction when you told him?" she asked.

"I never told him," I said.

"What? Why not?"

"Because it's clear he doesn't feel the same. Why humiliate myself even more?" I answered.

"How can you know that? You don't know that!" she said, sounding almost angry. "Maybe if you told him how you feel, he might feel the same and that would solve our problems right there. You wouldn't need to fake it anymore."

"Just stop, Charlotte," I said blowing out a weary breath. "It's over. Anything moving forward will have to be without Rob. I know you just want to help, but that is not an option."

"He might love you, you know?" she said quietly. "And I'm not just talking to you like your manager, but as a friend. You'll never know unless you give him a chance."

I was touched by her words. Charlotte had never shown this softer side before. I knew she was fiercely loyal and could be cutthroat at times, but she'd always looked out for me and I knew she had my best interests at heart. Still, I had to put an end to her delusions about Rob. That ship had sailed.

"I know you mean well, but Rob and I are over. We never were. If he loved me, like you think, he'd never have gone off with his ex. He'd never have told her about our agreement. I can't even be mad at him. He made it a point to remind me over and over again that this relationship was fake. It was my fault for falling for him in spite of his warnings," I said.

Charlotte exhaled loudly and I had half suspected she would argue or try to talk me out of it, but she didn't.

"All right, if that's your decision, I will do what I can to help you. I just want you to know it might be a bumpy road for a while. It might risk your chances of even being nominated this year," she said.

"How come? I thought we were past that?"

"You know how this town is. It's all politics and perception. They love to hand accolades to people who seem to be on an upward trajectory. With this scandal and the last one with Harry and Kelsey, you might be too much of a liability. People aren't going to go to bat for you," she explained.

"I don't believe that. I'll let my performance speak for itself," I said defiantly. Even though I knew Charlotte had been in this town long enough to know how it worked, I still didn't want to believe it. Maybe I was being naive or just stubborn, but I'd worked too hard to let something like this derail my hopes and dreams.

"I hope you're right, kid," she said, sounding weary and older than her 38 years.

"I am," I said, sounding more confident than I felt. "No one is going to care about the story. I'm not the first and I won't be the last person who entered into a fake relationship to boost up my career. In fact, I'll prove it to you. I'm going to the Black and White charity ball tonight and you'll see. No one is going to say shit to me."

"Listen, Emilia. Maybe you should lay low for a little bit until this all blows over. See what happens in the next few days or weeks. You don't want to be fodder for any more gossip," Charlotte suggested.

"You want me to hide out? Why? I'm not a criminal. I haven't committed a crime. Why should I be the one who hangs my head in shame when I didn't do anything wrong?" I said, getting heated again.

"All right, Emilia. If that's how you feel, I won't try to stop you, but don't say I didn't warn you. Because despite your tough as nails exterior, you're still a green kid and you haven't seen how cutthroat people can be just yet."

"I can handle it," I said firmly.

***

The car pulled up to the curb and I sat inside watching as the flashing lights went off, and I heard the muffled screams of the photographers and fans outside clamoring for attention. Arnie had come with me to the ball. I took some comfort in that. He would steer me away from the more troublesome situations, and handle any questions or interview requests I didn't want to deal with. All I had to do was look good, smile, make small talk, and go home. I would show everyone I wasn't afraid. I wasn't going to be shamed into hiding away in my house as if I'd done something bad.

I took a deep breath and tried to prepare myself for what was going to come next. I'd never felt so nervous going to a party before. Normally, I thrived in these situations. After all, any press was good press, or so I'd thought. I'd never really been the target of negative publicity before everything went down with Kelsey and her vicious lies. I'd been the golden child, the rising star; people had been tripping over their feet to meet me and interview me.

It was a different story today. For the first time, I didn't know what kind of a reaction I'd get from people. Charlotte's warning briefly went through my head, but I pushed it aside. There was no point dwelling on that. I was Emilia Holliday. I was a fucking movie star and no one could take that from me.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and stepped out into the glare of the bright lights. There was a collective gasp in the crowd as people realized who I was, and then it was like a free for all. Cameras started going off, flashes were blinding my eyes, and people were calling my name, trying to catch my attention. I plastered a big smile on my face and made my way down the red carpet.

Photographers were calling for me to turn this way and that, and I did the best I could. Arnie steered me away from several reporters wanting to interview me, which I was grateful for. Despite the smile on my face and my show of confidence, inside I was trembling. I could hear the whispers of people speculating on the rumors, and wished I could have shoved some ear plugs in my ears to drown them out. But I couldn't. I caught snippets of conversation as I passed, people wondering where Rob was, calling me a desperate bitch, a fake and a liar. Some didn't even bother to whisper. There were one or two who shouted questions and rude comments at me.

"Was this party not in your contract?" "Where's your engagement ring?"