Gabrielle splutters and blinks. Her wet hair sticks to her cheeks, and her soggy shirt clings to her chest. She glares at Jackson, but he seems just as bored and uninterested as before.
“I can’t believe this is the bitch who got you arrested,” Jessica says. “She’s barely even a woman. What did she do to interest you? What does she have that I don’t.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Gabrielle sees Jackson wink at her, and her stomach churns with anger. She marches across the room and throws her backpack onto the table. She unzips the backpack and pulls out a stack of hundreds and slides one crisp bill out of the band. She crumples it into a ball and throws it at Jackson’s head.
“Thanks to you, I got arrested for prostitution,” she says with disgust. “You seemed to think our time together was worth a million dollars. I’m here to let you know that you aren’t even worth that crumpled hundred to me.”
She grabs the backpack and dumps the money out onto the table. The silverware goes flying, and a bottle of wine spills and drips onto the floor. The women nudge each other and gasp.
“The rest is for all of you,” she says. “Jackson seems to like paying women for s.e.x, but today it’s all on me. Give him a good time, girls. You’re all dressed as you know how.”
“Are you calling us p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.es?” Jessica screams.
Gabrielle winks.
Gabrielle’s heart races out of control, and she feels the blood rush to her face. Every muscle in her body screams at her to run away, but she stands still and stares at Jessica. She clenches her hands into fists and waits to see what Jessica will do. Jessica stalks forward like a cat.
Suddenly Jessica lunges, raises her hand, and swings at Gabrielle’s face. Gabrielle pushes her away, but Jessica is fast; she jumps to the side and tries to grab Gabrielle’s hair. Gabrielle dodges her and grabs a wine bottle from the table. She smashes it on the hardwood; shards of glass flying in all directions, and the women scream. Gabrielle waves the broken bottle at Jessica.
“Stay away from me,” Gabrielle says.
Jessica’s eyes widen, and her mouth falls open. For a moment, she looks at Gabrielle like she’s crazy, and then she starts to laugh. The women laugh, too. The drunken sound echoes through the room and Gabrielle feels a wave of panic rise—sweat prickles on her skin, and her hand starts to shake. The women laugh louder.
“Look at that, Jackson,” Jessica says. “The little kitten thinks she’s a fierce lion now.”
Gabrielle loosens her grip on the neck of the bottle, and the glass smashed to pieces on the oak floor. She looks at Jackson and sees that he’s smiling crookedly at her. Her stomach churns, and she wonders if she’s going to throw up. I can’t believe I fell for his amnesia story, she thinks. He’s clearly a spoiled brat used to getting everything he wants. I was so stupid to trust him.
She swallows hard and says, “I better not see any of you ever again.” Then she squares her shoulders and marches out of the room. As she walks down the hall, she hears women screaming and then the sound of something breaking.
Jessica’s furious voice carries down the hall, “Jackson, where are you going? Are you seriously going to chase after her?”
“Shut up,” Jackson shouts back.
Gabrielle hears heavy footsteps behind her, and she breaks into a run.
The clock in the bell tower chimes three as Leilani enters the elegant brick building. At first, the dim room looks empty, and then a short man in a gray suit clears his throat.
“Are you looking for F.S.?” he asks, raising his bushy eyebrows.
“Yes, can I see her?” Leilani asks, passing him the business card Sophie gave her.
The man purses his lips and asks, “Do you have an appointment?”
Leilani shakes her head and says, “It’s kind of an emergency. I was hoping she could make an exception and see me.”
“Absolutely not,” the man says. He straightens up to his full height, but he’s still a head shorter than her. “She never sees anyone without an appointment. Now, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“But you haven’t even asked her,” Leilani objects.
The man puffs out his chest, “The rules are the rules—leave!”
“I didn’t want it to come to this,” Leilani says with a sigh and a nod toward her bodyguards.
One of the bodyguards steps forward and grabs the little man by the arm. The man kicks and squirms, his face turning a furious red. Leilani walks past his desk toward a simple black door. She opens the door and begins to climb the stairs to the bell tower.
“You can’t go up there,” the man shouts after her. “It’s completely forbidden.”
Leilani pauses on the first-floor landing and carefully opens the door. The room looks and sounds like a workspace. Some people are drawing at design tables, and others are typing quickly on computers and talking on phones. She slips into the room and taps one of the artists on the shoulder. The woman looks up and blinks confusedly.
“Where’s F.S.’ office?” Leilani asks.
“It’s on the top floor,” the woman says. “Wait, you can’t go up there!”
Leilani ignores the woman and races up the stairs. The top floor of the building is a quiet office space. Tall gray filing cabinets line the walls, and a few modern paintings hanging above them. A large, sloping table sits in front of the window, and a woman is bent over a drawing with her back to Leilani. The woman slowly turns around, and Leilani feels chills creep up her spine.
“I can’t believe it’s you,” Leilani says.
“Are you always this rude, Mrs. Bamford?” Fiona Summers asks, pursing her dark red lips. “Why have you barged in on me without an appointment?”
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Summers,” Leilani says. “It’s just that I have an emergency.”
“I don’t care,” Fiona says. “In fact, I can’t think of anything so important you’d want to break into my office. I’m going to ask you to leave just once. If you don’t, I’ll call the police.”
Leilani chews her lip nervously. I would never have guessed that F.S. is Fiona Summers, Leilani thinks. God, I’m screwed. In the hospital, she blamed me for what happened to Leonie, and she doesn’t look like she’s forgiven me at all. There’s no way that she’ll agree to help me.
Fiona nods as if she can read Leilani’s mind and says, “Even if you had an appointment, I’d never agreed to help the woman who stole my daughter’s man. You know, Waylen is still refusing to recognize Leonie’s child. She’s almost had a nervous breakdown because of you.”
Fiona reaches under her desk and flips a switch. An alarm blares through the room, and bodyguards come charging in. They immediately grab Leilani and twist her hands behind her back. Leilani screams for help.
“That won’t do you any good,” a security guard says. “We’ve already subdued your men.”
“Get her out of here!” Fiona screams. “I don’t even know how she got past you in the first place.”
“I’m so sorry I disturbed you,” Leilani says calmly. “But I’d appreciate it if you asked your men to take their hands off of me. I can find my own way out, thanks.”
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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