Act along

Act along
Michelle had just woken up when her phone beeped with a lot of notifications. Missed calls and messages from her sister and her father.

She gasped at Casey's message attached to a screenshot of a gossip blog.

"Urgh, Michelle, look what Dan has done. Collaborating with the Fosters is worse. Didn't I warn you before?"

She hissed as she read the whole blog before clicking on her father's message.

"You have a lot of explanation to do, young girl!" Her eyes almost popped, a proof of how terrified she was.

"Damn, didn't Archie promise me that we were fine? What happened to betraying me? Even using my cousin to spite me!"

She kicked the corner of the bed by mistake, causing her to cry out in pain.

"Ouch!"

Her door burst open, and Archie ran to her and picked her up immediately.

He gingerly put her on a couch and knelt before her with a slight frown on his face.

"What happened?"

He asked with a concerned expression.

Michelle's cheeks flushed as she pointed to her foot, that had become red due to the pain of knocking the bed.

"Yeah, this looks freaking painful. Stay still, I am coming with an ice pack."

She gave a slight nod before he could disappear to head to the kitchen.

Archie was still in his pyjamas, since it was Sunday morning. A day of rest for him with no plans to be busy with work.

He came back to Michelle's bedroom with an ice pack and footrub in his hands.

Michelle had opened her phone, ready to confront him when he was still pressing ice to her sore foot.

She cleared her throat, her gesture causing Archie to raise his head while his hands continued their work.

"You look like you have seen a ghost!"

She forced a smile at his joke and showed him the blog.

"This is what I have woken up to. I thought we were fine. Was this your plan all along?"

She asked seriously.

Disbelief crossed his expression at what she said to him. Was she accusing him of being behind the blog?

"My plan to avenge myself from being seduced by you? Definitely no, I am so over that. Don't forget who you have angered. If this is my brother's way of retaliating... Keep me out of it!" His face hardened at her accusation, and Michelle silently regretted confronting him with that.

Judging by Dan's location in River City, it was clear the Foster Media branch behind all the drama was from River City. But Dan's betrayal was the worst... She never thought of this.

What pained her was that all this drama could have been avoided if she had moved alone without her cousin being involved. It turned out that her sister was right all along, Dan is not to be trusted.

"That was foolish of me, I should not accuse you of what Liam chooses to do, but please have him suppress the news. My father is mad... Not to forget that he and my brother are supposed to land this day here in London."

Michelle lowered her voice under Archie's deep gaze.

"You could have told me earlier, but just tell me where they would be staying so we could arrange for them. I was serious when I told you I want us to fix things, plus I have to apologize to the Prestons for my brother's sake." Archie rose from his kneeling position without leaving her eyes.

"The one thing you could do is suppress the news, Archie, talk to Liam or something. I know you can get to them."

She tried to convince him with a pitiful expression, but Archie shook his head to deny her.

"I have a way of fixing this, especially since the Prestons are coming. Trust me on this, okay? Otherwise, my brother might fly here to bite our heads off. If Liam retaliates this way, let him be vengeful until he has nothing else to say." She nodded to his advice.

"Cool, I will meet you downstairs for breakfast." Archie left Michelle's bedroom to go freshen up in his master bedroom.

His lips curled as the water dripped from his head, washing away the tiredness from his body.

Honestly, he had kept up a good pretense back in Michelle's bedroom. His man and Paul had called him during midnight to tell him about what Liam had done, and instead of being scared of Liam ruining his and Paul's plans, Liam was satisfied because it made things easy for him.

\[So, what is the way forward, Foster?\]

Paul had asked Archie over the call.

\[This is simple. We act along and continue our plans. It is a shame I have to break my woman's heart to go ahead with these plans.\] Archie had replied with disappointment from his bed.

\[Damon will console her.\]

Paul also teased before hanging up the call.

Archie shrugged at the idea of Damon being with Nancy. He had to act fast to make sure nothing sexual occurred between them... He would never forgive himself if she moved on with another man but himself.

"Hey, make sure he never touches her. Stay near her and be of help anytime she needs it." Archie sent a voice note to one of his men back in River City.

Meanwhile, Michelle was trying to reach her cousin from her bedroom with no luck. She was about to head downstairs to join Archie for breakfast, but her phone rang.

She sighed in relief when she saw Dan's incoming call on her screen and sat on the bed to talk to him.

\[Hey Michelle, I can explain. Please listen to me, he...\]

\[Shame on you, Dan, for betraying me. How about you share with me how much Liam has paid you for this!\] She snapped at him.

\[I had no choice. The fucking man forced me to do this to avenge his wife. Remember, I put her in the hospital with the message you had written to me.\]

Dan released a long breath on the phone.

\[Hell no, I beg you used your real numbers for that. I thought you were much wiser than that, Dan. You better not show your face here because Dad and Casey are upset with what you did.\]

\[I really had no choice, Michelle!\]

\[Damn you, you had a right to decline, and now our family's dirty laundry is out in the open. How will Archie look at me now after finding out what Bruce has done... Let's put Casey's gay issue aside.\]

\[Who declines when they are abducted? Michelle, please come rescue me. I think Liam Foster is going nuts over the whole thing.\] Dan begged.

Michelle's face turned cold.

\[I'm not sure which games you are playing, Dan, but I am no longer part of it. I'm in this mess because of you. Who knows, maybe Liam could have been mine. Now you are attacking my relationship with Archie.\]

\[You don't love Archie, though.\]

\[That doesn't matter! Stay away from me and make sure you leave River City before you are destroyed.\]

\[I am kiddna...\]

\[Fuck off.\] She hung up on him.