Mandy

When the Captain tells us to prepare for landing, we instantly move from a state of bliss, to scramble to find our clothes. It has been the most peaceful and wonderful span of hours that I can ever remember, but neither of us wants that cockpit door to open until we have ourselves put back together. Where the hell is my bra?

Upon landing, Trey takes his phone off of airplane mode. “That’s not good,” he groans as text messages, missed calls and Facebook notifications begin piling in. “You’re not going to like this,” he adds after clicking one of the links.

“Now what?” Judging by his reaction, I’m sure it’s TMZ again.

“Turn on your phone,” he replies flatly. “Yours will blow up too.”

I feel a shudder go through me as I fish it out of my purse. My stomach churns as I press the power button and wait for it to come to life. The Facebook icon has the highest number, so I press that first. It only takes a few seconds to figure out that Liv has gone on a rant. “I don’t want to read any of this do I?”

“No. I think you will want to just go through and delete everything she posted. Basically, I’m your sugar daddy and you are a world class gold digger.” Trey smirks and pats me on the ass.

“Seriously? You think this is funny?” I feel my cheeks flush with rage.

“I’m kind of glad she lashed out like this. It will make it easier for me to completely cut ties with her,” he replies with a shrug.

“How did she know we were going to Monaco?” I ask after reading her initial post. “Great, over one hundred of my friends have liked and commented on it. I might as well just leave it there now.”

“You might want to delete those gold digger pictures though. You are nothing like Anna Nichole Smith or Erin Nordegren,” he comments.

“Erin who?” I ask, not having a clue what he is talking about.

“The chick who fleeced Tiger Woods,” he replies with a chuckle.

“He deserved to be fleeced…” I reply, shooting him a dirty look. “He was a total slut!”

“I know, it was totally his fault. But she has gone through a few rich guys since him including a Billionaire who is twenty years older than her,” he says, holding up her Wikipedia profile.

“If anyone is a gold digger it’s Liv!” I fume. “If you weren’t hot and rich, she would have never given you a second look. How the hell did she know we were going to Monaco?” I ask a second time, while deleting the rest of the garbage she had posted.

“I may have mentioned it,” Trey admits sheepishly. “I didn’t want to leave New York without at least telling her.”

“That’s fine, but you didn’t have to give her all of the details!” I reply still fuming.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I thought she had moved on,” he reasons with a totally straight face.

“Really?” I interject. “It didn’t occur to you that she was trying to make you jealous? Why do you think she tagged you in those pictures of her and Tommy?” He really doesn’t understand women.

“So now can I assume that things are finished? Or do I need to do something more?” The look he gives me is priceless, like a fawn in the headlights, as my dad always says.

“I think it’s probably done now. All I’m going to do is unfriend her and block her ass, so she can’t tag me on any more crap,” I mention, thinking he might want to do the same.

“I even offered her my NetJet card in case she needed a flight back to California,” he explains, still shaking his head in disbelief.

“She obviously wanted you to come after her, not offer her a flight back home,” I try to explain once again, simply shaking my head.

“I get it now.” He shrugs his brows and appears to physically cringe at the thought of dealing with her again. “She’s one crazy girl.”

“She definitely has her moments.” His phone rings just as the cockpit door flings open. “I’ve got to take this.” He exits his seat and heads to the back of the plane.

I catch a glimpse of the screen, so I know it is Vanessa. I stand up and collect my things before walking to the front of the plane.

“The helicopter is waiting to take you to Monaco.” The captain points to a helipad a couple hundred feet away.

“Okay, Trey just got a phone call.” I glance over at my bags wondering if I should grab them.

“Just leave them, someone will be here momentarily to retrieve them,” he says with a smile. “You can relax in here or step outside for a little sunshine, whichever you prefer.”

“A little sunshine sounds like a good idea.” I can’t help recalling what it was like to help Liv off the plane in Geneva. I hope she gets some counseling or rehab or whatever she needs. The heat of the sun greets my face, along with the sweet smell of the ocean. I stand on the top step for a moment simply taking in the incredible view of the coastline. I’ve never seen a view like this from an airport runway.

“Are you ready to roll?” Trey asks, suddenly emerging from the plane.

“Everything okay with Vanessa?” I ask, giving him a knowing smirk.

“Apparently Liv posted some pictures on Tyler’s Facebook page too,” he scoffs. “I noticed that Tyler has left me a couple of voice mails too. I thought maybe he was upset about me taking Dad’s plane.”

“Liv tries to cause as much chaos as possible, doesn’t she?” I roll my eyes and turn toward the helipad.

“That’s Liv. I’m glad I’m out of there… and out of that.” He takes my hand and leads me to the waiting helicopter.

Just as we begin boarding, my phone starts to ring. It’s Dad. He has left a couple of messages, but I haven’t had a chance to listen to them yet. I better answer; it must be something urgent.

“Hello, Dad.”

“Amanda! Oh, I’m glad I finally caught you,” he gasps, instantly making me nervous.

“What’s wrong?” Thoughts of Mom instantly fill my head.

“Are you and Trey Addison actually dating?” he asks with an unmistakable urgency in his voice.

“Well… yeah. I guess so. Why?” I reply, a little disturbed by his persistence on the matter.

“I apparently haven’t made myself clear. You two can’t date,” he insists.

“Why not?” I blast back at him, wanting a better explanation as to why it’s such a big deal to him.

“Because… Because I forbid it,” he says, not able to come up with a valid excuse. “You know our families haven’t gotten along for years. There is no way we could ever reconcile our differences.”

“I think you’re wrong, Dad. Trey is determined to make things right,” I counter. “Besides, Victor is the one who hurt us and he’s gone.”

“I know, honey. But you two just can’t date,” he says, his voice trailing off. The pause at the other end of the line has me wondering about his true motive. It seems as if he is desperate to find a good reason why Trey and I can’t be together.

“Is he with you now?” he finally asks as if he didn’t already know the answer.

“Yes. We just boarded a helicopter that will take us to Monaco.” Again, there is a long pause on the other end of the line.

“Can I talk to him for a minute?” he asks, seeming a bit desperate that I haven’t given in to his fool hearted demands.

“That depends on what you are going to say,” I reply curtly.

“I’m not going to be mean,” he insists. “I just need to talk to him for a minute if the two of you two are going to keep dating.” There is another long pause but this time it’s me who is doing the thinking. What could he possibly want to say to Trey? It has to be something bad.

“Honey, please just let me talk to him,” he pleads after waiting for nearly a minute.

“Okay, here he is.” I hand my phone to Trey. “Dad wants to talk to you.”

Trey gets a funny look on his face as he takes the phone from me. I’m sure he is just as confused as I am by his persistence. God, I hope Dad doesn’t say anything embarrassing. I just know he is going to embarrass the shit out of me.

Trey

A variety of thoughts run through my mind the instant Mandy says that her father wants to talk to me. If our roles were reversed, I guess I wouldn’t want my daughter dating my arch nemesis’ son either. Regardless of what he says though, it’s not going to change my mind about anything. But, the least I can do is hear him out.

“Trey,” he starts out with a gasp. “It’s been a long time. I think you were only seven or eight the last time I saw you.”

“Yeah, it’s been a long time Mr. Grayson.”

“Call me Ray,” he insists. “I don’t know how to say what I have to tell you. But, it’s very, very important.”

“Okay. Is something wrong?” I ask, suddenly feeling a little more apprehensive.

“It’s complicated, but there is something you need to know.” He pauses. “Please don’t share it with Amanda though, because I don’t want Maggie to find out. It would kill her,” he says, pausing again. Mandy had told me about her mother’s ongoing battle with MS. What the hell is he going to tell me?

“Go ahead Ray. It’s between you and me.” I give Mandy a look that lets her know that I am simply pacifying him.

“Hey, I know my daughter is sitting right beside you,” he replies, still worried that she will hear him.

“We are just taking off, so it’s getting pretty noisy in here. You are going to have to speak up,” I tell him as the pilot revs the engine. I’m hoping that if he realizes there is no chance of her overhearing him that he will finally tell me whatever is on his mind.

“This isn’t going to be easy, but Silvia and I both agree that the two of you have left us little choice,” he says, pausing once again.

“What does this have to do with Mom?” I ask, as he adds another element of confusion.

He slowly begins to tell me a story that began years ago. For Mandy’s sake, I am trying not to display any emotion, however, his words are wreaking absolute havoc inside of me. This not only affects my relationship with her… but this changes everything.

“Are you okay?” Mandy asks as we touch down in Monaco.

Within the span of a few minutes, Ray had completely upended my entire existence. Even though I am definitely not okay, I have no choice but to say, “Yeah, I’m fine. Come on, there should be a limo waiting for us.”

“What did he say to you? Did he threaten you or something? He’s all bark and no bite,” she says, trying to smooth things over.

There is nothing she can say, however, to ease the facts that have been permanently etched upon my mind. I definitely make painful choices when it comes to love. If Ray’s suspicions are correct and Mandy ends up being my half-sister, things are going to suddenly be extremely awkward between us. Son of a bitch!