“Did you get together before or after the divorce?” asks another.
“How does it feel to be the other woman?” someone asks, thrusting a camera right into Leonie’s face.
Leonie glares at the reporter. “I’ve never been the other woman,” she says.
“So when do you plan to make it official and get married?” someone asks.
“That doesn’t depend on me,” Leonie says coyly.
Bryan wraps his arms around Leilani and tries to shield her from the cameras with his body. He rubs her shoulder, reassuringly.
“That son of a bitch got another woman pregnant?” Bryan asks. “Leilani, why didn’t you tell me? I’ll kill that bastard. You’re so nice, how dare he do this to you!”
Leilani shakes her head and stares at the floor. Her eyes burn with tears, and she feels very, very small. She doesn’t want to give Leonie the satisfaction of seeing her break down, but she can’t control her emotions much longer.
“Where is he?” Bryan asks. “Tell me where he is, and I’ll fight him. I can’t stand that bastard.”
Leilani blinks desperately, but the tears begin to fall. She tries to brush them away, but more come. She sniffles, and Bryan grabs her tighter.
“Mr. Bamford is here,” someone shouts.
Leilani looks up immediately and sees Waylen across the room. He’s surrounded by bodyguards who muscle their way through the dense crowd. Bryan lets go of Leilani and runs toward Waylen.
“Waylen! You bastard!” Bryan shouts.
A bodyguard stops Bryan before he can reach Waylen. Waylen ignores him and pushes his way toward Leilani. She looks down, embarrassed to be crying in front of him. He takes strokes her cheek, and she tries to turn away, but he gently lifts her head.
“Do you believe it?” he asks. His eyes are deep and intense. “Answer me, please, do you believe that the child is mine?”
Leilani nods silently—she doesn’t trust her voice to work.
“Oh, Leilani,” Waylen says, his voice thick with some unrecognizable emotion. “Remember when I told you-you’re the only woman I’ve ever been with. It was true then, and it’s still true now. You’re the only woman I want.”
Leilani blinks and looks at Waylen. He seems so sincere, but she knows he’s lying. She saw him with Leonie that afternoon, and she saw them again last night in the restaurant. He’s such a good liar, but I can’t let myself fall for it again, she thinks.
“What are you talking about, Waylen?” Leonie says. “This child is yours! We had a beautiful afternoon together.”
“No, it’s not mine,” Waylen says.
“Of course it is,” Leonie says. “You’re the only man I’ve ever been with. I know you wanted me to take the morning-after pill, but I didn’t. The baby is yours whether you’ll admit it or not.”
“No, it’s not,” Waylen says again. He turns to his bodyguards, “Step forward.”
A tall man dressed in black steps in front of the others, Leilani stares at him in confusion.
He smiles sheepishly and looks at Leonie. “Miss Leonie, it was me who was with you that day,” he says.
Leilani looks at Waylen with disbelief. No, she thinks, that’s not possible, she thinks. I saw them together—I heard them. As much as she hates the think about it, the afternoon is permanently engraved in her mind. She closes her eyes and forced herself to remember it.
She opens her eyes in surprise. I never actually saw the man’s face, she thinks. Of course, I assumed it was Waylen, but maybe it wasn’t. She looks at the bodyguard and notices that he’s about Waylen’s height. Their hair color is similar to.
“I don’t know what kind of stunt you’re trying to pull, but this is your child,” Leonie says. “If you don’t want to recognize the child, that’s fine, but you can’t deny that we’ve been together.”
“Actually, I can,” Waylen says with an indifferent shrug.
He places a protective arm around Leilani’s waist and pulled her close to him. Too shocked to fight back, she allows him to pull her into his side.
“Do you believe me now?” he whispers into her hair.
Leilani sees Waylen glance at Robert, and the butler runs toward the projector room. Within minutes the projector flickers on, and a video begins to play. The first few seconds of the video are black and grainy, but the sounds of intense lovemaking play loudly over the speakers. The crowd gasps and the scene slowly comes into focus. Leilani immediately recognizes her room and closes her eyes—this is the scene from her nightmares—she doesn’t want to watch it replayed in front of her.
“Open your eyes,” Waylen whispers. “It’s not what you think it is.”
Leilani opens one eye and looks up at the screen. Her stomach turns sickeningly—a dark-haired man thrusts powerfully into a woman below him. She wraps her legs around his waist and arches her back, m.o.a.ning with pleasure. The camera shifts and their faces come into view. The woman is clearly Leonie, but the man is not Waylen.
“No! This is edited,” Leonie screams. “Don’t look!”
She runs onto the catwalk and stands in front of the screen, throwing her arms out to block as much of the image as she can. The video continues, projected on the pale fabric of her dress.
“Turn it off!” Leonie screams, “Turn it off!”
“Do you believe that I had nothing to do with her now?” Waylen whispers.
Leilani nods, but she doesn’t know what to think. When she saw them together in the room, she could have sworn that the man was Waylen. Though she’s only been with him a few times, she thought she could recognize his body anywhere. Could the video be edited as Leonie says?
Leilani turns her back to Waylen, desperate for some time to think it all through. Waylen taps her gently on the shoulder, and she turns back around. His face is slightly stiff—it’s the first time she’s seen him look awkward.
“I’m sorry, Leilani,” he whispers. “It’s my fault. I was weak. I should have pushed her away immediately.”
Leilani blinks confusedly. She thinks, Is he really apologizing to me? She stares up into his face, trying to figure out if he’s lying again, but his expression seems sincere. His forehead is wrinkled, and he bites his lip nervously. He grips her shoulders and stares intently into her eyes.
“Leilani, please say something,” he says.
“I don’t know what to say to you,” she says.
“Say that you forgive me,” Waylen says. “I swear to you that nothing like this will ever happen again. You’re the only woman for me.”
“Mrs. Bamford, the situation is quite complicated,” Robert interrupts. “I was there that day, and I saw it all. Mr. Bamford was under the influence of a powerful drug, but he fought it as hard as he could. After you left the room, he went into the bathroom and begged me to lock him in. When I came to check on him, I saw that he’d broken the mirror. He was gripping the shards in his hands, trying to control his desire with pain.”
Leilani shakes her head in disbelief. “Is that true?” she asks Waylen.
“Yes,” he says. “I wanted to tell you immediately, but things are complicated.”
A scream shatters the hush in the room, and Leilani turns to see who it is. Leonie has crumpled to the floor in a dramatic faint. Her face is pale, and her legs bend at awkward angles. A bodyguard rushes to pick her up, and Robert orders the others to clear the room.
“When you’re better, you can punish me however you want,” Waylen says, turning Leilani to face him. “But for now, we need to get you to the hospital. All this excitement can’t be good for you or the baby.”
Leilani shrugs his hand off her shoulder and walks toward the stage. She can hear Waylen following her, but she ignores him. Though most of the crowd has vanished, she sees a stage manager headed backstage.
“Excuse me,” Leilani shouts, “Can you tell me where Bryan and Sophie are?”
“I’m sorry, I think they’ve already left,” the manager says.
“Can you give me Sophie’s phone number?” Leilani asks.
The assistant hands her a business card, and Leilani tucks it into her pocket. She’s eager to ask Sophie questions about her mother. Waylen grabs her gently by the shoulder—his patience seems to be wearing thin.
“Robert can get in touch with Bryan or whoever else you want,” Waylen says. “But now you’re coming with me to the hospital.”
“I’m fine,” Leilani says with a shake of her head.
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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