She watched the car as it rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. There was a knot of apprehension forming in her stomach, one that told her that maybe things weren’t going to go as smoothly as she’d hoped.
She entered the trendy warehouse style building and found herself in the company, once again, of Tina. Then she was stripping in front of them, being preened and prodded, dressed and undressed. Thanks to Tina’s complete lack of social skills, Sasha felt as though her body were a shop mannequin.
She tried on several outfits before Tina settled on a daring cobalt blue lacy dress with a sheer skirt over matching blue knickers and impossibly high stilettos. Sasha thought how it was the same color as the dress she’d worn to her first interview with Thomas.
“You have to exude female sexual prowess,” Tina said. “You cannot behave or dress like a wallflower. No one must think for a second that you are ashamed of the sex you shared with Thomas. In fact, you must be the opposite. Be proud. Every woman in the world is jealous of you. Show them why they should be.”
Sasha wasn’t ashamed of that night she and Thomas had been filmed in his kitchen, she just wished it hadn’t been broadcast to the whole world. And she wished she could be doing it with him right now, rather than standing here being draped in fabric.
When it came to the jewellery, Sasha’s breath was taken away. It was thousands of dollars worth. Quite the responsibility.
She tried on necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings. When Tina slipped one on her ring finger, Sasha frowned.
“That’s not a good idea,” she said. “It will start rumors.”
“We had strict instructions from Pippa. One ring on each finger.”
Sasha knew better than to argue.
Pippa had arranged for the hair and makeup people to work in the Amore offices. Several hours later, she was peened and coiffed to perfection and ready to be draped on Thomas’s arm as the ultimate accessory.
As the car picked her up to be driven to the back alley to meet Thomas, Sasha wondered whether Thomas had really meant it when he said he would quit for her. She’d only had a taste of this world but she didn’t like it. As much as she enjoyed being made to look fabulous, she couldn’t help but feel hollow, as though her mind was going to waste. She needed to get back into work. She would go crazy if this was the backdrop to her and Thomas’s relationship.
As Sasha travelled along in the back of the car, she remembered all the missed calls and messages she hadn’t got round to replying to. She turned on her cell phone. There were hundreds of missed calls and texts from her friends and family. As she listened to the voicemails and read the messages, a terrible picture began to unfold...
The Amore photo shoot wasn’t just to show off the clothes Sasha was modelling. In fact, only one photo from the shoot appeared at all. The one of her and Thomas kissing in the pool.
And there, photoshopped on her hand, the exact same ring she was now wearing.
She and Thomas had apparently gotten engaged...
Chapter Eighteen
Thomas’s words from before echoed in Sasha’s mind. ‘In this world, you can trust no one. Do you understand me? No one.’
She was fuming as she got into the shared car.
“Sasha, you look stunning,” Thomas said.
But she turned her cold gaze on him. “You absolute bastard.”
The driver glanced in the rear-view mirror.
Thomas frowned. “What am I supposed to have done?”
“You went behind my back. You planned this whole thing with Pippa, didn’t you?”
“What are you talking about.”
“The engagement!”
Thomas looked sheepish. “Ah. That.”
“Yes. That. How could you do this to me?” The chilled Sasha she’d become on the island seemed to have disappeared completely.
“It was arranged ages ago. When I was angry. I didn’t… I didn’t think about how you would feel. You’d agreed to do what we asked and Pippa suggested an engagement to distract everyone’s attention and give them something else to write about. I just went along with it.”
“Did you even think about how this would make me look. With my mother? My friends? They think I’m a selfish bitch because of you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“How long was this planned for?”
“We arranged it while you were napping.”
“On the plane? Within the first hour of me agreeing to this?”
Thomas looked deeply ashamed. “Sasha, I’m sorry. But it’s too late now. The article’s out there.”
“Why didn’t you pull it? When we started getting close, why didn’t you put a stop to it?”