Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 95609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
They surround me, each whispering their shock as they hug me. Even Shelby hugs me tight.
“What’s happening?” she asks.
“I’m going home,” I reply surely because I am. I’m not about to go to whatever hotel they want to sequester me at. They can sue me.
I pull back and wave at the camera. The whole set has gone an eerie silent.
“Anika, I need you to talk to the king,” Joe says, waving his hand for the cameras to move into place. “We’ll edit it to make it look like you knew what you were doing. You say good-bye to the king first, and then to your fellow contestants.”
“I’ve said good-bye to him.” I’m not going to be his poseable doll. I step out of my shoes. They’ll shove me in the limo and someone will pack up my things. I suspect I can have my mom pick them up and have them back tonight.
“Ani,” Luca begins.
I shake my head because I’m done pretending. “It was lovely to meet you. I hope you get everything you need, Your Majesty.” I turn back to Joe. “As for knowing what I’m doing, boy, it’s obvious I haven’t.”
The director’s eyes go slightly hard. “No. You obviously don’t know which side to come down on. I would have helped you, Anika. I would have given you everything you wanted, but you had to play things poorly.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
He moves into my space, his voice going low. “It means I know what’s been going on between you and Luca. I know he’s been coming to your room at night, and he’s been fucking you for weeks now. If you don’t want that to get out and cause a scandal, you’ll walk out of this room right now. I don’t need your last shots. I can edit it all to make it look like your left with some kind of respect for yourself.”
“What is going on?” Luca demands as he steps up.
“Absolutely nothing,” Joe promises. “Get back to your place. Ms. Fox is leaving. Remember your contract when they put you in the limo, dear.”
“Ani,” Luca begins. “I’m sorry.”
I’m sure he is, but he’s made his bed and he’ll lie in it alone. Or he’ll take someone else and won’t remember my name in a few days. The fact that Joe knows we’ve been sleeping together tells me Luca talked. It could only be him or me or Hans. I know it wasn’t me, and Hans barely talks at all.
If it gets out that we were sleeping together during production, it could kill the project. Even as sad and angry as I am, I can’t do that to him. He’s a lonely man for a reason. He has to put his job above everyone else.
And that’s why I would make a shitty queen. He’s dodged a bullet, and maybe I have too.
It doesn’t feel like it. It feels like I took one to the heart and I’m bleeding out for all to see. I need to get out of here. I need to get home so I can lick my wounds and figure out my next move because I’m almost surely fired, though they won’t have to say that. They’ll simply not find another job for me.
“Joe, this isn’t over. I won’t let it be,” I say quietly.
“But it is and so are you. So go get in that limo and cry your little eyes out because it’s the last time you’ll be allowed anywhere close to this industry again,” he whispers, but the threat is loud enough. “Do it or I’ll have security take you out of here. If you don’t, I can make sure your mother doesn’t work either. You made your power play and you lost.”
I hadn’t even thought about my mom, though I know what she would tell me to do. Still, I need to regroup.
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Hannah says, looking to Joe. “I get the feeling Anika’s being punished for something, and I don’t like it.”
I’m not bringing Hannah into my mess. I give her a smile. “It’s all part of the journey. The king has made the decision that I wouldn’t be a good queen. And he’s right. Your Majesty, I wish you luck. You can’t go wrong with any of these ladies. They’re all great.”
“I don’t like it, either,” Shelby says, her arms crossed over her chest. “Something’s going on that we don’t understand. I agree with Hannah. Anika’s being punished for something, and that’s bullshit.”
Joe stares at her. “The king made his choice.”
“He made the wrong one,” Shelby says, shocking me.
“That isn’t your decision to make, and you can be the next one out if you like,” Joe says.
I’m not getting anyone else in trouble. I move over to Shelby, ignoring the pleading look Luca’s giving to me. To understand. To forgive him.