We enter the house to my worst nightmare. Jonas, Simone, and Jeri sit in the great room. Liesa and I try to skirt them and go directly to the stairs and up to our rooms, but Jonas’s voice stops us.

“Now. In here.”

Liesa and I hesitate, eyes locked on each other. How will we get through this? Without much thought we hold hands and walk slowly to our execution. I would gladly shoot myself between the eyes when I see Kylie.

She sits in a white leather chair a few feet from the conversation arrangement where the sharks await us. She focuses on the window to the patio and doesn’t look at us when we walk in. Red circles rim her eyes and she clasps her hands in her lap, her flip-flops are kicked off and her feet twist together on the tile floor. She looks pale and wrung out. Liesa’s right. We need to do whatever it takes to push Kylie out of this life.

Liesa inhales sharply when she sees Kylie and quickly addresses Jonas in a curt voice. “Can this wait? After the surprise party and all the emotional excitement, I’m exhausted and have a headache.”

“Sit down,” Simone says, all trace of drunkenness gone.

Liesa huffs an irritated breath and flounces in, throwing herself on the sofa next to her mother. She holds her hand out to me and I pull my attention from Kylie to take it and prop myself on the arm of the sofa next to Liesa.

“Okay, Zach.” Jonas jumps up from his chair as if too angry to sit still. “What the fuck was that?”

My last chance to save you, Kylie. Please understand I didn’t betray you. I hold firm against Jonas’s rage. “The storyline is stale. Will Liesa and I get together? Will the virgin succumb? People aren’t tuning in for that bullshit. So, let’s go Bridezilla on them. Think of product placement. Everyone loves a wedding.”

Simone folds her arms, a long fingernail tapping against her elbow. “I think Liesa should recant. The competition story had legs. We barely got started on it. If Zach and I actually have sex, it would really add some heat.”

Kylie jerks as if someone stuck her with a pin.

Liesa glares at Simone. “No one wants to see you seduce Zach, except you.”

Jeri considers this. “She’s right. The last test group lost interest when the storyline turned to Simone.”

“That’s because Zach won’t do his part. He refuses to play to the chemistry between us.” Simone throws herself back against the sofa cushion.

Jeri leans forward, focused on Kylie. “We can drag this wedding thing into next season. We do a few episodes now, picking bridesmaids and colors. The dress itself will be fantastic. But our cliffhanger at season end can be Liesa discovering the whole time Zach and Kylie have been screwing in Kylie’s room.”

All eyes turn to Kylie. Her chin juts out and she sits as if turned into a pillar of salt.

Simone curls her lip. “You’re playing her like some kind of slutty Cinderella. All big blue eyes and struggling. But she’s not attractive and has the personality of a dirty dishrag. I say drop her. There’s way more interest in a mother/daughter battle.”

Kylie’s eyes glitter, but not with tears. She looks on the verge of exploding in molten rage.

“No.” Liesa stands up. “We’re not dragging out the wedding. Viewers are going to expect that. We’re going to get married in two weeks. One episode for the planning and the next is the ceremony.”

Everyone stares at her. Jeri starts to speak. “We’ll be missing a great opportun—”

Jonas slashes a hand through the air to silence her. His attention settles on Liesa as he considers. If there was a clock in the room, we would hear it tick.

I ach to take Kylie in my arms and protect her from these vultures treating her like a commodity. It’s my fault she’s sucked into this and I need to make sure she escapes.

I open my mouth to speak. Liesa tugs on my hand and when I shift to look at her, she reaches up and kisses me, effectively muzzling my comment.

Jonas nods. “Okay. Sure. But I want you two to up the love and devotion. Let’s go two-hundred percent romance.”

Simone pushes herself to stand. “This is a mistake. I say Zach and I fuck and make it all explode on the screen. Then bring in little doe-eyes. Maybe do a three-way.”

In the silence that follows her outburst, Liesa speaks in deadpan. “Shut up, Mother. You’re drunk.”

Jeri smirks and Jonas ignores them both.

Liesa stands. “The wedding will make good TV. But the truth is I love Zach and for once in my life, I want to do something real. I’m going to marry Zach in two weeks. You can either run with it or mask it. I don’t give a shit.”

Kylie finally shifts from her study of the ocean and focuses on me. Pure hate shoots across the room and scalds me. I can’t blame her. But hate is better than tears. Jonas still has the shower scene and, according to Liesa, last night’s record of what happened in Kylie’s bed. But Jonas can’t use it until next season. I’ll come up with something else by then.

In the meantime, I’m about to become a groom.