This was all so unfair.
She’d be alone for the rest of her life, with no job, and her family’s business was probably ruined too. She’d foolishly put her life and her family business in someone else’s hands, and for what, a free holiday and a flat?
Unable to stop herself, she clicked back to the article and the ‘read more’ button with morbid curiosity. A car crash that she couldn’t seem to look away from.
She clutched her straw bag closer to her chest. The cheque within seemed to burn like a hot coal inside – her hush money. The money wouldn’t last five minutes if she needed to rebuild all of their lives from scratch.
The rest of the article loaded.
Alex, enthralled by the curvaceous seductress, made the mistake of taking her with him to his brother’s wedding. Ellie then took it upon herself to spoil Savannah and Liam’swedding in a twisted act of revenge. According to our source, “Ellie left the wedding celebration early in disgrace. However, this incredibly difficult time has enabled the two brothers to overcome their previous difficulties and there are rumours they are due to start filming a multimillion-dollar franchise together soon with movie legend Francesca Tatiana.”
‘Fucking marvellous!’ spat Ellie, getting a curious look from her driver in the rear-view mirror. She ducked down in her seat and tucked her face into the pashmina wrapped around her neck.
All she needed was a taxi driver dishing the dirt on her next.
Chapter Thirty-Four
A day passed, maybe two, Alex wasn’t sure of time any more. He spent hour after hour staring at his silent phone and replaying their last conversation over and over in his mind. Savannah and Liam returned from their island early, and his brother tried to talk to him about it. But he couldn’t understand it himself.
She’d said they would remain friends…what had changed?
The morning after they’d slept together, she’d been obviously worried, had said they were going too fast, and he’d ignored her. As he’d done with Savannah, as he always did when people didn’t fit in with his plans.
Except this time, he actually cared. Not because of hurt pride or disappointment.
He’d thought losing Savannah had broken him.
No. Losing Ellie wasrealpain.
Soul-crushing, desolate pain.
Staring up at the ceiling of the glamorous impersonal bedroom that was apparentlyhis, he wondered what the hell he was supposed to do. Move on?
No, he couldn’t bear life without her. Even if all they could ever be was just friends, he wanted that. She was the only real thing in his dumb life. He’d gladly change all of his plans if it meant Ellie called him back.
He should go back to London. Force her to speak with him. But what would that accomplish? Her note had been pretty clear.
His worst fear had come true – she didn’t want him. She’d just been swept away by the romance and glamour of this dumb life.
Richie had suggested he return to LA for good, do the franchise and forget about London… forget about Ellie. He wasalmost tempted to agree. But he needed time to think before he did anything else rash.
Theholidaymight be over for her, but he’d never seen it that way. She wanted to get back to her normal life and that didn’t involve Alex.
Nothing was normal with Alex, and maybe, just like his own privilege, he needed to learn how to accept that.
It wasn’t until the next morning, after a restless night, that Alex saw the press coverage, and only then by accident. Some of theGatsbycast had sent him messages asking if he was okay; Isaac had even asked if he should do a wellness check on Ellie and her family… which had immediately raised alarm bells in Alex’s mind.
There’d been no alerts in his emails. In fact, there was nothing about the wedding either, which didn’t seem right. He quickly realised that the alerts had been switched off somehow.
After a quick Google search, his stomach began to ache with growing nausea. This was why he avoided the vitriol of the papers and social media. It was pure evil.
Had Ellie read some of this shit? Was that why she’d left?
NURSE STALKER: BLACKMAILER AND WEDDING SABOTEUR.The headlines were shocking, and in each one Ellie’s character had been dragged through the mud. The press were hounding her family, and the world was reacting like he’d been the victim of an unstable and abusive woman.
After everything she’d done to help him reconcile with his family, this was her reward?
Mydamn family.
