Tilly's face goes from pale pink to beet red in less time than it takes to blink. Looking down at the shoe, and up at my smug face, she realizes that I must know something. "Um," she laughs, nervously rubbing her neck and averting her eyes. "I wondered where I had lost that.""It's a good thing I found it in the hallway this morning," I take a long sip of my coffee, eyeing her over the cup. "Right outside of Clark's door." "Oh," she tries to hide her horror behind her cup. "What a strange place for that to be." I laugh at her discomfort. "Oh Tilly, you can stop now. I saw you two."She freezes as her mind processes the meaning of my words. "So you were in the corridor spying on us?" her tone is a little frosty but not unfriendly. "Or were you sneaking around yourself?"She got me there. "Sneaking is too strong a word, more like 'quietly returning'." She snorts, breaking the ice between us. Laughing together, I tell her a bit more about my night with Atlas and why I didn't return u
Squealing I grab her hand and begin jumping up and down. She has no choice but to stand with me, the force of my glee making it impossible for her to stay seated. "I am so dang happy for you!!" I hug her tightly, jumping up and down some more until she starts laughing. "You're not mad?" Her voice shakes and I look up to see she's almost crying. "I was so worried you'd be angry." I can't stop smiling. My cheeks feel stretched to their limits as uncontainable joy fills me. "Why would I be angry about my two best friends finding love with one another?" "It's just," she looks to the side. "I knew that he had a thing for you, I just wasn't sure if maybe you had a thing for him as well." I sigh, as I retake my seat. "If only I did, but I've never been interested in him that way," I confess, "There have been times when I wished I could love him, but I never could see him that way." It's a shame I didn't want Clark romantically. Loving Atlas Steele feels like fighting against the
We both open our phones and walk in opposite directions for a bit of privacy. "Hello?" "Whatever you do," Atlas' sounds frantic and scared, "Do not turn on the television or look at your phone, please, not until I get there. We need to come up with a plan, but I don't want you to be scared." "Hold up," I retort, "Why can't I?" "Just trust me," he murmurs. "You don't want to see what I'm seeing right now. I'll be there soon. I need to hang up. I love you." The phone goes dead. I don't even have a chance to let him know that I love him too. When I come out into the living room Tilly has the television on. "Oh God," she moans, looking at the screen. "No, no, no." Tilly hears my footsteps and hurries to turn off the screen. "Clark was wrong. You shouldn't see this. You might..." "Tilly," I grumble. "Why are all of you keeping secrets from me? What is it that you don't want me to see?" "The news," she shakes her head. "It's ugly, Cordelia." A few minutes later, Clark is at the
[Cordelia]"Just show me," This is all so exhausting, trying to guess what it is they aren't telling me. "What are all of you hiding."Atlas opens his phone. Splashed on every media outlet is an official interview with Sydney Bryant, recently released from prison and returned to her native Canada. The first thing she did, as soon as she was safe on Canadian soil, was tear apart the Greyson family, and with them, Atlas Steele.In a one-hour face-to-face interview, she disclosed every "sin" of the two companies, including my parent's involvement with the illegal dumping of chemicals and using my name to cover it up. "She was definitely involved," Sydney confesses in her expose. "I was the one who found it and brought it to Atlas' attention."When asked about her drug and attempted murder charges she laughed them off calling them a "huge misunderstanding," and going further by saying that Atlas' lawyer helped her reduce the charges because Mr. Steele knew she had been "wrongfully accuse
I pull away from the warmth and comfort of Atlas' arms. "You aren't seriously considering their offer, are you?" I look at both men incredulously. "She is blackmailing you with photos of our private memories, ruining both of our businesses and for what? Sydney's pride?" "Our stocks went down 23%" Atlas states as if that answers all of my questions, as if the financial elements should outweigh any emotional concerns. "5 of our biggest vendors just pulled out. If we don't make a deal, Steele Industries could close for good, not to mention your business," Atlas points out. "With the EPA issue hanging over it, and the accusation of design fraud, nobody is going to put trust in your brand or your name--even if she comes forward and corrects her statement." "No." I insist, literally put my foot down as I stomp to add emphasis to my words. "We are not doing this. I do not want that viper anywhere near you, me, or our baby" I look around at my two best friends, "Any of us. She's toxic."
[Angelica]Seeing this whining little girl on the news broadcast makes me want to scream and break things. The way she simpers as the newscaster asks her questions is so cringe. Every part of the way she moves and the way she speaks makes me want to vomit. Especially her face. Her cute, perky, innocent-seeming face with her honest hazel eyes and glowing blonde waves cascading to her shoulders. He couldn't even be original when seeking out my replacement. He found someone who looked exactly like me. My family home line rings. Three times and then hangs up. Two times.I'm not surprised Magnus wants to talk to me. This whole situation stinks like him. "What kind of sick game are you playing at, Magnus?" I growl as I grab the phone in the kitchen and take it out into the main gardens so that nobody would overhear us. "Reinforcements," he replies smoothly, as if blissfully unaware of the chaos his actions created. "Sydney is the girl I found when you decided to not return. The best pa
[Cordelia]As soon as the decision is made to fight, we all get to work. It's a big job, but together, maybe we can face this problem and find a way to come out on top again. After discussing our situation and breaking it down into parts, we all go off on our separate paths to work towards a resolution.Atlas contacts his legal team. He made a deal with the Bryants to help free Sydney, but having her then go straight to live TV and verbally attack the Greyson and Steele families goes against their good-faith agreements. The Bryants might fight it, but Atlas' attorneys are better. Tilly is using the full weight of the Matilda Madison name and calling all of her contacts, including several of Steele Industry's vendors. "None of the money came from her family funds," she explains over and over again. "She's clean of her family's crimes. Cordelia Louise has, and will always have my continued support." Meanwhile, Clark is busy on his laptop making a montage of my creation process. He has
Everyone looks my way. She's so loud that it is hard to have another conversation in the room with her raging at me. I'm not even on speakerphone but you wouldn't know that by how loudly she is screaming.Quickly I rush to my bedroom and close the door. Nobody needs to hear her berate me. "What is it this time, Mother?" I am truly exhausted by all of her recent dramatics. It seems that no matter what I do I cannot do anything right. "Angelica is having a meltdown and it is all your fault," she accuses. "You need to let her get on with her life. You're done with Atlas Steele. You're pregnant and engaged to his brother! Why can't you let Angelica have her happiness?"I want to shout at her about how wrong she is. I want to ask why she doesn't love me as much as she loves her. But what would be the point? She only hears what she wants to. "Mother, I cannot control Atlas any more than I can control you," I explain. "Besides, we have more important things to worry about.""What could b