“I bless my stars that your Fiancé decided to unveil you to the rest of us.” Anna spoke as she made her way to me. “You. You will wear the dress.”“But it’s a statement piece!” Ava protested as she battled her way through the women. “It was literally the last thing Saskia’s hands touched before she chucked herself off the roof.” I winced at her wording. ”a more experienced model should wear it.” She finished.“That dress highlights the suddenness of her death, as it is incomplete…” Anna explained her eyes burning into mine. “You showed up into our world unannounced, it’s so perfect I could cry.” “That’s ridiculous.” Ava scoffed in disbelief and looked around for support. “I think the dress should be removed from the show-to honor her family.” She said finally. A few women murmured in agreement.“That’s a bunch of crap.” Wynona shot back. “The first sighting of this collection since Saskia’s passing and you think the right thing to do is hide the dress? Stick to modeling Ava, not ha
“We can fix it.” I blurted out, both women turned to me.“There’s so many, problems with it right now, this isn’t something you fix in under thirty minutes even with multiple designers working and it’s going to look flawed as-““Well not fix, We can change it.”“We are not tampering with it any further.”“Just the top half Anna. There’s little we can do with it looking like it does already. If we don’t show it tonight, It’ll NEVER be seen.”She denied with a shake of her head. “This dress will not be on display tonight, I need to find a way to break the news to Hilde.”“Whoever did this, did not want this dress in the pageantry,” I insisted, “you’re just doing what they want, we shouldn’t give them that.”Anna paused considering. “Just listen.”“Tell me what you have in mind. We have less than twenty minutes to fix it and have you in it. We have to work fast.“Four minutes till you have to be on stage.” Anna informed us.God I prayed my plan would work. “You should go and ta
Wynona refused to hear a word out of my mouth.We got out of the car and headed up the stairs to the villa. “I’m just saying, Wynona. It could be her.”“I already told you. She was with us the whole time.”“ You don ’ t know that! half the time, we had our heads poking out, looking for Ethan andCartwright.”She sighed and turned to me, ignoring the butlers that opened the doors.“I’m going to say it one more time before we step through these doors. Considering we will be seeing her in a few seconds.” She grabbed my face. “She didn’t touch the dress. It was more likely some random protester, they do weird shit all the time. It would be crazy for her to pull a stunt like that. Remember Legacy Luxe looks bad, she kinda does too. Her career is too important for her torisk jail time, just to make sure you didn’t wear that dress. Understand.” I could be stubborn and push it. But I knew there was no convincing Wynona.“Fine.” I conceded.“Good girl. Now don’t retract into a shell.
Ethan’spovI worked at my desk trying and failing to keep thoughts of Mae off my mind. As much as I would love to keep her holed up. Maybe watch her on the tablet as she owned the kitchen, but I knew she had to get out of the house. She had stayed the whole night and the day bingeing on news. I thought she looked beautiful during the show and her remake was beautiful. She had been doing great so far, fitting into my life. Our plan was working too. I was surprised when I got a call from one of our oldest clients that usually dealt with grandfather. He had been referred to me. The old man had actually pushed a job on me, willingly…we were making progress on that front.My phone vibrated on the table and I picked it up after I saw that Wynona was on the line.She sounded frantic and her words came out in a flurry. It sent a wave of panic through me.“Slow down, Wynona.”She took a deep breath. “I can’t find Mae anywhere.”I bolted up in my seat. “What do you mean you can’t find he
Mae’spovI felt like I could barely breathe, plus I was freezing for what felt like hours. Being scantily dressed had made it so easy for me to get cold.After banging on the door and yelling for help for a long time, I was very tired. When I heard Ethan call my name, I thought I was hallucinating, but I hit the door anyway, ignoring the icy stickiness.“Please, Ethan help!” I called out forcing strength into my voice.He muttered something else and then I heard nothing from his side.He could not leave me here. Panic built up in my body making my shivering worsen. I hit the door trying again. What if I had actually hallucinated him. Was I trapped in here till I went completely crazy.Ava was going to kill me. When hereturned I was in a frenzy.“Mae, can you hear me. I was not sure my voice could carry through so I hit the door twice. “There’s a button Mae, by the door. Look for a latch by the door. Feel around for one.” I reached out with shaky hands and felt around the wall
I tensed in bed as he raised the volume of the television.“…and she has been getting a lot of hate for what she did to the dress. When I first saw the video of her ripping the bodice, I was horrified, that was..the dress, you know…” She told the interviewer who nodded sympathetically.“Then she came on stage in this absolutely beautiful dress, it wasn’t the same as what my mother was makin-if you’ve seen the original you would understand.” A photo of Saskia’s dress taken after her death, and my alterations at the show was placed side by side on the screen.“I’ve attended shows with my mother and every show she always had something to say about the designs, what she would do differently. That night for the first time after her death I felt she was-she was there with me.“ my heart leapt out to Hilde as she wiped a stray tear from her eye.“Mae Ricci did not ruin my mother’s dress. She did the exact thing my mum would do if she was in that situation. I can even admit that she made i
Panic rose in my chest as her forehead leaked blood in an almost steady stream. I temporarily forgot that she had gotten the injury by bashing her freaking head on the tile like it meant nothing to her.“Oh my god, are you okay?” I ask and reached out for her.My action seemed to trigger her because she screamed even louder causing me to shrink away from her. Then she pulled on her hair ruining the perfectly done updo.I had never seen someone act this psychotic, I was worried she was going to harm herself. Oh who was I kidding, she already did. The goal now was to make sure she didn’t do something worse. I rushed to the bathroom door and yanked it. it didn’t budge.Ethan knocked on the door calling my name, so she had locked it when she had come in. I opened it quickly, talking rapidly while he looked me over checking for wounds.“It’s not me, it’s Ava!” I tell him and Ethan paused like he really didn’t understand what I was saying. I was relieved the bathroom was a while away f
I had the house to myself, which was a good thing in my books. There was no one here to see me sulk and stuff my face with food. My only company was Gideon and he kept to his own his side of the house. Even my escorts were unavailable. Guess at the end of the day, protecting his precious Ava was more important than guarding me.For the millionth time that day I filled my bowl to the brim with cereal and sat crossed legged on the plush rug, as I watched several reruns of my mother’s favorite telenovela, since my life was becoming one. They might have tips for handling my fake husband’s possibly crazy ex.To say I was in shock was a simple term, so many times I had replayed that night in my head, wondering if I missed something.We were talking, and then she slammed her head on the counter. My hands were no where near her, I think? With the fear I saw on her face after she raised her bloodied head, I wondered if I had actually done it in a fit of rage, and wiped the incident from my mem