“Staci,” he said.
“Ah, is she the reason you mentioned it?” Lorenz asked.
“Yes. That and the fact that the guest judges could be anyone. I know my father won’t do television but my Uncle Pierre would jump at the chance to come on. I didn’t want to have another shock for you guys like Staci’s today.”
“That’s very kind of you,” Fatima said.
But he could tell as they all looked at him that they were as disappointed as Staci had been. They’d become a family on the show and Remy had been lying to them all the entire time. He knew his reasons were solid but now he just felt guilty and selfish for doing it.
“What should I do now?” Remy asked. “I’d like to find Staci.”
“Is she lost?” Lorenz asked. The other man leaned forward in his seat staring over at Remy.
Remy shook his head. He felt like an idiot at how he’d handled this entire situation. But he wasn’t hiding anything any more. “She didn’t take the news very well and we split up. Now that you guys know the truth my priority is finding her.”
Hamilton watched him through narrowed eyes and then nodded. “Go. We will text you when we need you back here.”
“Thank you,” Remy said.
He had signed a contract with these people and though he’d read the fine print and knew there was no reason why Remy Cruzel couldn’t have entered, he wondered if they’d penalize him for misrepresenting himself.
He didn’t know and honestly at this moment didn’t care. He’d go on to cook again when this was done but he knew deep inside his soul that there was only one woman for him and that was Staci.
He also knew that getting her back would be the hardest thing he’d ever done. It had been hard enough to woo her the first time. Although now that the truth was out he could be Remy Cruzel. He had nothing to hide and it was time that he stopped ignoring the truth of his emotions and made Staci aware of them.
Remy Stephens had had to lie low, but Remy Cruzel didn’t have to and he fully intended to take advantage of that. He strode from the hotel onto the bustling sidewalk at Times Square and for the first time let himself admit that his heart ached at the thought that he might not be able to fix this and win Staci back.
STACI RAN AS HARDAND as fast as she could. When she finally stopped she realized that she’d been crying. Not silent ladylike tears, but belting sobs.
She’d had it all for a few brief seconds, she thought.
She had protected herself for so long, figured she’d been smarter this time by making Remy...what? She hadn’t done anything right. She’d fallen in love with the wrong man as surely as her grandmother and her mother had done. It was sad really that another generation of Rowland woman had followed the same pattern.
She should have stayed to herself. She should have just focused on her cooking.
“You okay?” a stranger asked.
She nodded and started walking. She probably looked like something from a zombie apocalypse movie. She’d had on the camera-ready make-up, which was thick, and now it had to be ruined by her tears.
She found a Starbucks and went into the bathroom. Once she locked the door she stood in front of the mirror.
She hated the raw pain on her face, but forced herself to keep staring so that she’d always remember the real thing that Remy had given her. It was heartbreak. She needed to never forget what this felt like.
The worst part of learning that Remy had lied about everything he was from the second they met—was that she still loved him.
She buried her head in her hands and let the sobs out. She cried for all the half-formed dreams that had been floating around in the back of her mind. She cried for the little girl inside of her that had for a brief instant thought that maybe all those books she’d read as a kid had been right and that a girl like Staci could be truly happy.
She cried because she knew when she left this bathroom she’d never let herself be this weak again.
The logical part of her mind was trying to take over but the weepy woman inside her couldn’t let go. Staci kept replaying the scene with Remy and his parents over and over again in her head.
She pulled out her phone and called her one true friend.
“Sweet Dreams, home of the incredible red velvet dream cupcakes. This is Alysse speaking, how may I help you?”
“It’s Staci,” she said. Her voice sounded deeper than normal and so rough that she was surprised by it.
“What’s wrong? Where are you? Do you need me to come to Malibu?” Alysse asked.
