Her phone began to vibrate in her hand, and she jumped with surprise, almost dropping it. There was no way her mum would call her while she was abroad – it cost too much – not unless itwas urgent. Dread twisted inside her gut as she raised the phone to her ear. ‘Is everyone okay?’
‘We’re all fine. But… how are you, darling?’ Her mum was being gentle – she was never gentle.
‘What do you mean?’
The silence was deafening.
‘Mum, this call must be costing you a bomb. What’s going on?’
Her mum took a deep breath and then opened the floodgates. ‘I can’t believe he’s not even had the decency to tell you! It’s all come out, Ellie. The fake relationship to make his ex jealous, and, well, there’s some awful pictures of you… mooning his ex. What on earth possessed you to wear that bikini? You can’t trust a bikini! I’ve always said it’s safer and more flattering to wear a one-piece. Oh God, the photos… and they’re saying terrible things – that you stalked him and gate-crashed a party to meet him. Possibly evenroofiedhim to sleep with him – because as a nurse you’d have access to the drugs to do it – and then you blackmailed him into taking you to this wedding and buying you a flat. But worse than that…’
Ellie wasn’t sure what could be worse than drugging, sexually assaulting and blackmailing someone, but she waited to hear it all the same.
‘They say you tore up herbridal bouquet. We own a florist. I know you would never,neverdo something so awful. But they say you’ve been making a mess of Savannah’s wedding – ruining it out of jealousy. That you’ve done it before, ruined a man’s relationship by spreading lies and stalking him. Do they mean David? But… that’s not what happened. He cheated on you. You didn’t know about his fiancée, did you? They say you even refused to say goodbye to Savannah when they left on honeymoon. That’s not you. That’s not my Ellie! I know you wouldn’t do that, and I’ve told them, but they just won’t listen, and we’ve had to close the shop because reporters are constantlyhere… and… Oh, Ellie it’s awful!’ She broke down into sobs while Ellie slumped against the back of the door and dropped to a heap on the lush carpet, her hands shaking uncontrollably.
‘W-what? How…’
An exasperated hiss rattled down the line, and Ellie could tell her mum had switched from despair to anger in the huff of a breath.
‘Iwarnedyou, Ellie! I warned you that this would all end in tears. He’s made a fool out of you, and for what? He’s going to be fine, according to the papers. He’s just landed a major Hollywood film franchise with Francesca Tatiana. The bastard starts filming in the next few weeks. But what about us? We’ve been left to deal with this… embarrassment alone! We could lose the shop. We could lose everything!’
Ellie’s mind raced, trying and failing to keep up with her shattered heart as it exploded inside her chest.
How had they got pictures? Had she been wrong about the Kings? Did they all think of her as a joke?
She tried to sound in control, but her voice trembled. ‘Mum, this is the first I’ve heard about this. What happened in the pool was an accident. And I was helping with the flowers – they’d arrived damaged, and I reworked the bouquet. I’m sure Savannah and Liam will explain everything.’ Unless they’d sent the photos? Had this all been a ruse to fix the Kings’ reputation? A way to change the narrative? She certainly sounded like the only person to come off badly in all of this.
‘Come home!’ begged her mum. ‘The sooner you’re away from them the better. Mark says you should tell your side, clear your name. Tell them that it was all him, that he put you up to it. You’ve got to look after yourself for a change, Ellie.’
Her spine stiffened. Even now she couldn’t hurt him. ‘I’m not going to do that.’
‘Well, either way it’s best you come back. Once you’re home they’ll realise it’s all over anyway, and they’ll lose interest. I’m going to send you the online articles, so you’re prepared. I don’t want him fobbing you off. Nanna is beside herself with worry. You need to come home.’
She promised her mum she’d return soon and ended the call.
The first article she opened showed pictures of her mooning the horrified happy couple. She quickly closed the web page, and then viewed several social media videos that were trending. All were speculating on her crimes and the motives behind them; none of them painted her in a pleasant light. One had even stuck up a picture of her at the Olivier Awards in her scarlet dress, and drawn devil eyes and horns on her, and was calling her Nurse Stalker.
In a fit of weakness, she decided to go and find Alex.
Even if he didn’t want her, surely he cared enough about her to at least try to help her with this mess of a situation. She gripped her phone tightly in her hand, and rushed down the stairs to find him.
Richie was walking down the corridor again. But this time he stepped in front of her, his sallow face pulled into a sympathetic mask, one she didn’t quite believe. ‘I take it you’ve seen the pictures?’
She stopped dead, her heart hammering in her chest. ‘My mum called. Does Alex know?’
He scoffed. ‘Of course he knows. He thought it best not to worry you about it. It’ll all blow over, especially when he returns to LA.’
How could he keep this from her?
‘So, it’s true? He’s going back to LA.’
‘Of course. London was only ever a trial, and why would he turn down a Hollywood franchise?’ His eyes gleamed. ‘If you’dprefer to go home now, I could easily arrange that for you. But like I said, it’ll blow over in a few months anyway.’
‘Months?’ Ellie gasped.No.‘There’s no way I’m putting my family through this for months.’
‘I know it sounds strange, but it’s probably the easiest path all round. Otherwise, it can get very ugly… very litigious…’
She pushed past Richie and headed towards the sun room. He followed, his footsteps thudding on the marble behind her.
