32

I mean, I got it...but still. Was how Alistair wanted to explain himself to me? By sending me an article instead of talking to me himself? Without changing out of my new outfit, I ripped open the curtain and paused.

Whispers spread across the luxury clothing store. More than one woman—including my stylist Catherine—was glancing at her phone and then peering up at me.

"Can I check out?" I asked Catherine.

Her smile was tentative. "Of course, Ms. Wellington." She'd called me Ophelia when I arrived—I was pretty sure she didn't know my last name until now. It dawned on me then. Not everyone had seen my mugshot from the news story, or if they had, people hadn't connected me to Lorenzo, at least not as his girlfriend.

But this article—thanks to the photo of us—changed that.

"Let me put my clothes back on," I said.

"You can wear the outfit home, if you'd like."

I almost said no, but then realized it made sense. I'd have to pick up Cecilia and then head straight to the press conference. "That sounds great, thank you."

Her smile warmed. "And between us girls, his ex-girlfriend sounds like a bitch anyways."

What the fuck? Yeah...this was an aspect of this life I was never going to get used to.

After using Lorenzo's card to buy more clothes than I even owned, I climbed into the back of his driver's car, struggling to separate the mixture of feelings inside me.

I still hadn't read the article. And while a curiosity pulsed inside me, I couldn't bring myself to open it, not like this. I wasn't exactly sure why.

Part of it was my frustration with Alistair. If he wanted to explain himself, or worse, warn me, this wasn't the way to do it.

But I knew the main reason was the press conference. If I read something that bothered me, that made me question things, there was no way I was going to be able to put on a happy face and pretend like everything was fine.

As the driver pulled up outside Cecilia's school, she was already by the front gate, talking animatedly to the Camilletwins. Great. My patience was too thin today. If they were picking on her, then there was nothing to stop me from doing the same to them.

But getting out of the car made it abundantly clear that this wasn't the case.

Cecilia spotted me, and her eyes lit up. "Mommy!" She bolted for me, her smile making her face glow. "Can we go over to Tim and Ted's house today? Please?"

I ran my hand through her hair. "We can't today, honey." We have the press conference.

"Oh, why not?" Cecilia pouted.

Before I could give her an explanation, Raquel and Helen approached me, and my voice caught in my throat.

"Wow, Ophelia," Raquel said. "You look incredible!"

I glanced down, realizing I was still wearing my new outfit. "Oh, thank you."

Helen grinned, her mole dancing. I couldn't help but remember the video of her topless doing drugs with Jonathan and Senator Marco, Raquel's husband. Did Raquel know about any of this?

"It's my fault," Helen said.

Blinking, I tried to keep my face even. "Sorry, what?"

Helen clasped her hands together. "Well, Raquel was telling me you two talked about having a playdate at the park yesterday, and I actually already had one scheduled this afternoon at my house. So if it's no fuss to you, we would love for you to join."

It took everything within me not to laugh. In the video, she was topless and doing coke with the mayor, and now here she was, wearing a modest long-sleeved shirt, batting her eyelashes at me, and inviting me to playdates while using the words "fuss."

Not only that, but it was abundantly clear they only wanted me to become part of their group because I was dating Lorenzo. My new clothes definitely didn't hurt.

But despite all of those red flags, there was only one answer I could give them."Yes, definitely."

Cecilia leapt into the air. "Yay!”