“Yes. Thanks, Cain. Thank you for tonight and saving me from embarrassment,” Alicia replied. Anger welled up inside as Russell nodded.
“Anything happens to Alicia, I’ll destroy you, Kensington,” he threatened and got back in the car and left.
Almost beside myself with incandescent rage, I spun on Alicia. “Get in the house!”
Alicia stalked past me without a word.
“Nothing to say?” I yelled. “You humiliate me all over social media, and you can’t even grovel?”
“Grovel?” Alicia turned around quickly, and I stepped back, startled. “Oliver, I sent four text messages today about tonight. And one at half-six when I left the house. You didn’t have the courtesy to reply.”
“Alicia, I was working!” I screamed.
Alicia whipped her phone out and punched in the code. Seconds later, she turned it around, and I growled. There was an image of Eve and me getting coffee at eleven this morning. Alicia wasn’t finished. She flicked the screen, and a second picture flashed up, timed for three o’clock this afternoon.
“Oliver, you could have answered. But Eve was more important!” Alicia snapped. Her eyes narrowed, making me hesitate. She resembled the old Alicia, and that worried me. I had to gain control quickly.
“And for revenge, you arranged a date with Russell. Talk about the doting wife, there I am working hard, and you’re arranging dates with other men! God, do you want me anymore?” I sneered.
“Look!” Alicia cried. She hit the screen again. “Check the time, Oliver.” There was desperation in her voice, and I revelled in it.
Moments later, though, I felt my control slip as I stared at the posts of me huddled in a corner with Eve. I wasn’t dense; I could see what it looked like. Alicia raised the comments before showing the video of Cain arriving. He arrived half an hour after my image had been posted.
“Cain was just passing?” I sneered. “With a convenient gift bag?”
“No. Cain left his hotel, stopped and brought me a present, and then made it appear he’d been late for dinner. He did that to save me embarrassment. However, Cain saved your ass from looking like the worst husband in the world as well. I’m going to bed! By the way, I want a job, because clearly you think better of working women,” Alicia whispered and stormed off.
I stared after Alicia, my hands clenching and unclenching. Alicia would need punishment for that. How dare she screech like a fishwife? God, she needed a severe lesson, and I’d deliver it.
Alicia
Oliver was dishing out the cold treatment, and I knew exactly what he was doing. He expected me to cave in and beg forforgiveness. Well, I’d not been in the wrong that evening; he had. How could Oliver stand me up to take Eve for drinks? Four days had passed, and we’d not spoken a word to each other.
Oliver was punishing me, and I was full of self-doubts. Had I been in error after all? I’d been a married woman on a date with someone not my husband. But if not for Cain, I’d have been embarrassed all over social media.
The stories still weren’t dying down as Oliver had been snapped several times with Eve. They looked very cosy, and I was growing concerned. Was Oliver having an affair with Eve? In those photos, Oliver stared at Eve like he once gazed at me. After everything I’d done for him, if Oliver was cheating… No, I couldn’t even go there.
To distract myself, I was picking up a dress from the studio. I should have collected it yesterday, but there’d been a minor crisis, and I’d forgotten. As I swept in, mask and wig in place, I instantly relaxed. All the tension and stress from Oliver washed away until I rounded a corner and saw my husband standing there.
“Can I help?” I asked, and Oliver turned with a smarmy smile. He’d never set foot here before, and I’d believed Oliver didn’t know where the studio was.
“Mystique? We finally meet,” Oliver stated, holding out a hand. Fear racing through me, I shook and released it quickly. Had Oliver guessed my identity? We’d never met in person; all contact was done through assistants and lawyers.
“Oliver Kensington,” I replied shortly. Carefully, I studied Oliver’s face. Did he really not recognise me? Not know my voice? We’d known each other for over twenty years, and Oliver was treating me like a stranger. Were these more mind games?
“You recognise me,” Oliver smiled, clearly puffed up on that fact. Oliver liked to think he was recognisable now. I inwardly winced; that was a really uncharitable thought.
“From social media, yes,” I replied, and Oliver’s charming smile faded.
“Don’t believe everything on there,” he snapped.
“Image matters. What do you need?”
“I’d like a gown, that one,” Oliver said, pointing to the dress I’d come to collect. Was Oliver going to buy that as an apology? A small burst of hope fluttered through me.
“That’s sold. To Alicia, actually.” Would Oliver offer to purchase it for me?
“Tell Alicia it got damaged. Mystique, I want that for my assistant. Eve has to attend some events with me and needs to be suitably attired. A one-off signature Mystique would do nicely.”
