“Mrs. Bamford, please tell him the truth,” Robert pleads, “It will be a disaster for everyone if Mr. Bamford finds out that you’re lying to him.”
Leilani frowns and turns to Waylen. She can’t believe that he’s threatening to punish her maids and family.
“It’s a new low, even for him,” she thinks.
“It would be one thing for you to punish me, but you want to punish my maids too?” Leilani asks Waylen.
“It’s hard for me to punish you directly,” Waylen murmurs under his breath.
Leilani wants to scream at how unreasonable and unfair Waylen is being. She takes a deep breath and squares her shoulders and then strides across the room to the blackboard. She takes a magnet from Robert and sticks it firmly underneath Waylen’s photo.
“Mr. Bamford—look!” Robert exclaims happily.
Waylen looks at the blackboard and his lips curl into a satisfied smile. He suspects that Leilani voted for him just to appease his anger and protect her maids, but he can’t suppress the sudden joy rising in his chest. He slowly smooths Andrew’s photo and looks gently at Gabrielle.
“Do you think Mr. Clifford is handsome?” he asks.
“I think—I think—” Gabrielle stutters.
“If you really think he’s handsome, I’ll invite him to come here,” Waylen says.
“What? Why would you do that?” Leilani asks.
At the same time Gabrielle stutters, “No, no, I don’t think he’s so handsome.”
Gabrielle’s face has gone bright red and she’s trembling with nervousness. She wishes she’d never voted for Andrew. Waylen glances at Gabrielle with cold eyes and Gabrielle looks down at the floor. She twists the skirt of her dress in her fingers as if she wants to tear the fabric to shreds. She wishes everyone would stop looking at her.
“Gabrielle just said she doesn’t think he’s that handsome,” Leilani says, rushing to her sister’s defense, “Why are you so weird about Andrew Clifford anyway? Does he make you feel insecure or something?”
“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” Waylen says vaguely.
He stands up and approaches Leilani from behind, lowering his head to inhale the scent of her hair. Leilani has no idea what he’s trying to do, and she’s nervous that he’s concocting some sort of plan to hurt or embarrass her little sister.
“Gabrielle has poor eyesight and she often forgets to wear eyeglasses,” Leilani says to Waylen, “So her eyes are mistaken.”
Waylen ignores Leilani’s comment and glances at Robert. “Bring Josiah here,” he orders.
“Josiah?” Robert asks, racking his brain to guess who his boss is referring to, “Is he the famous hairstylist or are you talking about someone else?”
Waylen nods curtly at Robert’s question and begins to play with Leilani’s hair. Robert is puzzled by his boss’ request.
“Is he as insecure as Leilani says?” Robert wonders, “Does he feel the need to change his hair to compete with Andrew Clifford? Or is he planning some new way to control and punish Andrea?”
Vanessa Peters is surprised to hear Waylen mentions Josiah’s name. The famous hairstylist is known worldwide and his styles are frequently seen on the runways at fashion week and on celebrities as they walk the red carpets. She’s one of his many devotees, and she follows his social media accounts religiously. She knows that he’s currently abroad working for a fashion show in Italy, and she wonders if he’ll agree to Waylen’s request.
“I don’t blame your younger sister,” Waylen says to Leilani, “In fact, I want to give her the spotlight.”
“Why do you want to force Gabrielle into the spotlight?” Leilani asks, pulling her hair out of Waylen’s hands.
“If she’s given the right light to shine, Mr. Clifford will fall in love with her,” Waylen explains.
Leilani gasps with understanding.
“Waylen wants to make Andrew Clifford fall in love with Gabrielle because he still feels threatened by him,” she thinks, “If Andrew focuses all of his attention on Gabrielle, he won’t try to compete with Waylen for me. It’s a well-thought plan, but I don’t want that man anywhere near Gabrielle.”
Robert also begins to understand Waylen’s plan and nods happily, “I’ll invite him here immediately.”
“Why don’t you thank me?” Waylen asks Gabrielle, “Don’t you think I’m a good brother-in-law?”
Waylen glances back and forth between Gabrielle and the photo of Andrew. Although Gabrielle is quite young, she’s very beautiful. If Josiah gives her a more sophisticated look, he suspects that everyone will find her to be an elegant young woman.
“Gabrielle is still young and I don’t want her to have a boyfriend yet,” Leilani objects.
“She’s not that young,” Waylen says, “You know when you married me, you were just nineteen.”
“That’s exactly the problem,” Leilani thinks with a sigh, “I was so young and naïve when I married Waylen and it turned out terribly for me. I don’t want the same thing to happen to Gabrielle. Andrew seems like he’s just as dangerous as Waylen.”
Robert returns to the room and announces that Josiah has promised to quit working on the fashion show and fly to the Peters’ villa immediately. Leilani looks at Gabrielle and sees that her sister is near tears. She wants to help her, but Waylen interrupts her train of thought.
“How old were you when you met Mr. Clifford?” Waylen asks unhappily.
he grabs her shoulder in a vise-like grip with both of his hands and forces her to turn around to face him.
“Please let me go. That hurts,” Leilani complains.
“Did you meet him when you were in high school?” Waylen asks.
“No, I didn’t. Or at least, I don’t think so.”
“Then why do you have that photo of him?”
“I don’t know,” Leilani says sadly.
She doesn’t know how else to answer Waylen. She has no memory of ever meeting Andrew before, and she has no idea how his photo got mixed in with the pictures of her high school classmates. Waylen wants to continue interrogating her, but Robert’s phone rings. Robert listens to a voice on the other end before hanging up and casting an anxious look at Waylen.
“What’s wrong?” Waylen asks.
Robert crosses the room and whispers something to Waylen. The news makes Waylen’s face twisted with anger. He releases Leilani and strides toward the door. Just before he exits the room he turns and casts a severe look at Leilani.
“I have to take care of something,” he says, “While I’m gone, you can’t leave this villa, understand?”
“Where are you going?” Leilani asks.
“There’s an emergency that I have to deal with,” Waylen says vaguely, “I should be back before dinner. Why—are you sad to see me go? Or maybe you want to come with me?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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