Chapter 22
“It’s not here! She doesn’t live here!” Elizabeth slammed the landline phone back into its holster and went back to cooking breakfast for her children. After a night of Sarah dodging her mother’s questions – even when the waifish Mrs. Clayborn took up half of her daughter’s bed – she now had to face some of Elizabeth’s most invasive questions. But not before she gave every reporter and prank caller on the phone a piece of her angry mind. “What cowards. They won’t even introduce themselves before asking all sorts of nasty questions…”
Sarah sat at the island counter, where a glass of orange juice and some toast awaited her, like every day when she was a kid. “Who’s calling?”
Her mother kept a straight face when she said, “Reporters looking for you.”
“I see. Thank you for telling them off.”
“Didn’t think you wanted anything to do with that chaff. You’ve got better things to do with your day. Like avoiding this mess.”
Nigel popped out of his room, dressed in his work clothes. “What’s this, now?”
“You two need a real breakfast. I see all the bagels and bananas around here. Where the hell is the bloody protein?”
“In the hummus we put in our bagels.”
Elizabeth scoffed. “Eat your damn ham and like it.”
“I always do, Mum.”
Sarah wasn’t sure what her mother expected to find, but if it was uber-depressed, wanting to die Sarah, she was disappointed. That was the Sarah who went to stay with her after her miscarriage. This Sarah was too detached from the world to give a shit about what that same world thought of her.
“Whatever you do, don’t go online and don’t turn on the tele.” Elizabeth turned off the stove the moment Sarah received a text from Lucas. “Trash. Absolute trash.”
“Got it. Wasn’t gonna.” Sarah read her text. “Still meeting for lunch? I have some news to share with you.”
“What’s that? Who are you texting?”
Ugh. Moms.
“My boyfriend.” Sarah showed her mother a picture of Lucas from their trip that weekend. “Or did you miss that part of the news leak as well.”
“You don’t want to know what I thought the truth behind that was.”
“Lucas Blackbourne and I are dating, exclusively. He’s my boyfriend. Not sure how serious it is yet beyond that.”
Elizabeth scoffed at her daughter’s blasé candor. I know, Mum, I’m the most frustrating child you’ve ever had. Nigel got away with being quiet and withdrawn. Sarah, on the other hand, was expected to be the bubbly girl who lit up the room every time she frolicked in with her Sunday dresses and bouncing curls. The older she grew, the more analytical she became regarding her own life and of those around her. She was the one who kept her cool, remained rational, and thought out plans of actions when everything crumbled to shit. Like that time in high school when her family’s car broke down on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. No cell reception. No familiarity with the area. While her mother had a panic attack and her father cursed out the vehicle (and Nigel fell asleep,) Sarah was the one who walked half a mile within her parents’ line of sight and started flagging other cars down for help. Because freaking out didn’t help anyone.
Sarah may be at the center of this scandal, but her emotional detachment would be a boon. For a while, at least.
“Sare,” Elizabeth said, exasperation smacking her across the face. “I hope to God you know what you’re doing.”
“Lucas has nothing to do with that video leaking. We’re pretty sure that the person who leaked it was trying to get back at him because we’re dating.”
“Sare…”
“Everything’s a bit crazy right now. I’m meeting Lucas for lunch tomorrow. Maybe you two can meet afterward. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about him earlier, but we literally just got serious and I was waiting…”
“God damnit, Sarah!” Elizabeth slapped both of her hands against the kitchen counter. Her daughter’s jerk was the closest thing to surprise she espoused all day. “You’re in a bloody porn video! With half a dozen men! Doing…” She choked, hand pressing against her head. Every time she tried to look her daughter in the eyes, she was compelled to look away again. “Doing things I never thought…”
Sarah put a consoling hand on her mother’s arm. “Did you watch it?”
“Rather hard to avoid the screenshots all over the media right now.”
Oh my God. Nigel seeing parts of it was bad enough. Her mother, though? “Nobody forced me to do anything.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
Sarah immediately braced herself. “Nothing.”
“No, Sarah. No woman does that without some force behind it. You need therapy. God, I should’ve arranged it after… is this because of your baby?”
Sarah turned and went to her room without another word to her mother. Elizabeth Brown-Clayborn didn’t know it, but she was one of the only people in the world who could crash through her daughter’s mental defenses and get to the crux of every emotional issue. To both of their eternal detriments.
***
“Angel? Good Lord, I barely recognized you.”
That’s what Sarah was going for when she walked out of her building at ten in the morning and saw paparazzi camped out across the street. But she was so used to slipping into Angel’s mannerisms that she had no problem avoiding their cameras as they assumed she was another pretty tenant walking down the street.
Sunglasses and scarves were too obvious. Instead, Sarah unearthed one of the first wigs she ever bought, a mellow red scooped up into a fashionable bun. Half an hour in front of her vanity gave her contoured cheeks and a nose that looked like someone else’s. From the depths of her closet she pulled out a knee-length black skirt and a poufy gray jacket, two things neither Sarah nor Angel would usually wear. Even her black tights and Mary-Janes didn’t make her too recognizable.
She only needed to get to Bell Jar’s, anyway. While Sarah should have taken a cab the few blocks to get there, she really needed the exercise.
“Like it?” She didn’t smile as she entered the private room overlooking the downtown business district. Private, but brightly lit. A woman dressed in a smart business suit stood up from her seat at the only table in the room, pulling out the wrinkles in her jacket as she regarded Sarah with nothing but professionalism. “I like to mix it up.”
“How many wigs do you own?”
“Three. You don’t want to know what the third one is. Some Cleopatra mess.”
Lucas gave her a quick kiss before presenting her to the other woman in the room. “Allow me to introduce you to my Stateside public relations manager, Jana Clark. Jana, this is Sarah.”
“So good to finally meet you.” Ms. Clark shook Sarah’s hand. “As you can imagine, Lucas has told me many good things about you.”
Sarah spared her a smile. “And you’ve researched all the bad things to make up for that, yes?” She sat down in the seat in front of her.
Jana’s eyes widened in surprise. Yes, you weren’t expecting me to say that. Let’s move on. “Well, you did say that she was blunt, Lucas.”
The three of them were now seated around the circular table. Lucas had ordered on Sarah’s behalf, but he and Jana had already plowed through a small basket of breadsticks. Sarah plucked the last one out for herself. “It’s one of her many best traits.”
“Having a strong character and a thick skin is crucial right now.” That was directed to nobody, but Sarah took it as a compliment from Jana. “But the good news is that I think this scandal will blow over with the public soon. The only sexy person involved is Ms. Clayborn, and nobody cares who she is.”
How about that? Sexy, yet nobody cares about me. She’d give Jana a fake pout, but the publicist might take that the wrong way.
“That is good news, but we should tell Sarah the bad news.”
“Ah, yes… do you still want to be the one to tell her?”
“Please.”
Jana flipped her folder shut and was already dialing someone on her phone as she stepped out. Sarah cocked her head to one side as Lucas took her hand.
“We think we might know who leaked that video.”
“Who?”
A dramatic sigh shook Lucas’s large frame. “Jill. My ex-wife.”
Gravity claimed Sarah’s visage. “I see. No surprise, I suppose.”
“No, it’s not. My divorce lawyer was the one who tipped me off. He says this is going to harm my case for full custody.”
“I’m sorry, Luke.”
“It’s not your fault, Angel.” He kissed her hand, cheek nuzzling her knuckles. “I’m not afraid of who you are or what you’ve done. If you’re not ashamed, then neither am I.”
“That’s admirable, except it won’t help you win your case.” Sarah definitely saw this from the divorce lawyer’s point of view. Lucas dating a woman who showed up in gangbang videos wasn’t going to win him custody, even if he could say, “I’m Scandinavian, and we don’t care about this shit.”
“Probably not, but I want you to know that, regardless of how this may complicate matters, I intend on sticking by you and helping you in any way I can.” His hand remained wrapped around her. “I love you, Sarah. I don’t say that lightly.”
“I know.” Sarah believed him, but how could he focus so much on her right now when there was other bullshit going on in their lives? “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“What?”
Sarah hadn’t planned on telling him about what happened a few days ago. She didn’t think it relevant, and she sure as hell hadn’t wanted to worry him. Well, those thoughts were out of the window now. “On Friday I had to run some files to the Monroes’ lawyer down in the old townhouse district. You know, where I first saw your son?”
“Yes? Go on.”
“As I was getting back in the car, he and his mother returned home in your car. Victor recognized me.”
Lucas did not otherwise react. “I see. What did he say?”
“He tried to say hello to me. That’s it.”
“But Jill saw you, didn’t she? Damnit.” Lucas leaned forward, finger pressed against his temple. “I told her I was seeing someone and that I wanted Victor to meet her. But I hadn’t yet told her who you were. I was waiting until this week, after I told Damon. You know, a checklist of this shit. Tell one person, then the next… I was going to tell my family this weekend when I conference call them for my father’s birthday.”
“Victor was happy to see me, at least.”
“And Jill probably had a hernia. That’s why I wanted to tell her on my own terms.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. I’ll talk to Jill.”
Sarah sighed. It’s clear what’s happened here. Jill must have had the money and connections to hire a private investigator the moment she realized Sarah was the ex’s new honey. A good investigator wouldn’t need much time to find that video, assuming the man in possession of it had shoddy security. Following Lucas and Sarah on their weekend getaway had to be even easier. The scandal wrote itself once Jill Blackbourne put it into motion.
For what purpose? Revenge. Insurance. Jealousy and a mother’s need to keep her child near her was all it took. Hell, even one of those things would be enough.
Lucas must have had the same thoughts, for he said, “I’m going to talk to Jill about this. I promise you.”
Sarah didn’t feel like eating the lunch brought into the room. “My mother’s in town. She saw the tape.” Elizabeth would claim otherwise until her dying day, but Sarah knew her mother saw at least a few seconds too many of her daughter doing things no good girls did. No wonder she came running. The old Sarah would have been flattered that her mother still cared so much.
“God…”
“She wants to meet you.”
“Excuse you?”
“After lunch.” Sarah stole her boyfriend’s iced tea. “Promise it won’t be weird.”
He gave her a dubious look. “This conversation has gone places even I can’t imagine. It’s that damned wig. Throwing me off.”
“Stick with me, Luke, and you’ll be asking me what? every two seconds.”
“I already do, Angel.” He took his iced tea back. “I already do.”
***
“Mum,” Sarah said the moment she entered her apartment an hour later. “This is Lucas. Lucas, this is my…”
Elizabeth wasn’t one for simple handshakes and other cozy introductions. She strutted up to the potential son-in-law and slapped him across the face.
“Pleasure’s all mine,” she said, turning back toward the kitchen to finish cooking her own lunch. “Oh, that’s also from my husband, by the way. Although he said punch, not slap.”
Lucas looked across his girlfriend’s apartment in utter amazement. “Hate to meet your father,” he muttered.
“Oh, he’s the rational one. Like me.”
Elizabeth pulled a chef’s knife out of its casing and sliced an apple in half. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, dear.”
At least the worst of it was over.