Royal Chase

“So sorry my pain messed up your TV show.”

“It’s okay.” She shrugged, totally missing my sarcasm. “It worked. It’s reality television. Everything’s about the drama. It’s what we do.” She expelled a deep breath. “And I should probably let you know that the audience saw the whole story.”

“What do you mean the whole story?”

“The whole one. Your engagement. Your previous relationship with Dante. We filmed everything. There are cameras in every room, including the bedrooms. We did censor out Sterling’s name, because he didn’t sign a release, but everything was filmed.”

“Not everything,” I corrected her, my heart thudding lowly. “There aren’t cameras in the bathrooms. And there were times Dante and I were alone that there were no cameras around.”

“The times you thought you were alone with Dante, we had cameras and long range microphones to pick up what you were saying. Even if we couldn’t see you, we could still hear you. His bodyguard nearly took out a few cameramen a couple of times. And when you and I were in the bathroom together, I had a small camera on my shirt.”

I felt so violated and betrayed. “The interviews when the camera was off?”

“Hidden cameras were filming.”

I thought of everything I had told her, everything I had admitted to in those interviews, everything that was personal and private that was now no longer mine. Had everyone at this party seen everything? Did they watch the show? The only thing I had going for me was that my parents’ crowd were not the television-watching type. Nobody here had said anything to me.

But that wasn’t the point. The point was that Taylor had used me to advance her own career. My life had been used to entertain. My problems, my suffering, would be given to the masses to enjoy.

And I was not okay with that.

“You signed a release,” she said defensively. She must have seen how angry I was getting.

“Are you filming me now?”

She paused. “Yes.”

Unbelievable. She hadn’t come here as a friend. She didn’t care about my feelings or what had happened to me. She cared about ratings. She had come here to film my reaction, to see what I would do next.

“Get. Out.” I marched over to the pocket doors, throwing them apart, and then to the front door, flinging it wide open.

“Lemon . . .” she tried.

“If I see you or any cameras on this property, I will sic the dogs on you. Now go!”

She looked sorry, but I knew it wasn’t for the pain she had caused me. Only that she probably hadn’t gotten on film what she had come here to get. I slammed the door shut behind her.

More than anyone else, I understood being devoted to your career, wanting to succeed more than anything. But I had also been willing to give it up, to put other things, like my own sanity, first. Taylor wasn’t, and she was willing to sacrifice me and our relationship to get further ahead.

I never could have done that to someone I cared about.

Our friendship was over. One more thing for me to be sad about.

The DVD reflected the overhead lights in my daddy’s study. My chest constricted tightly as I thought about what she said it contained. Weeks’ worth of episodes showing that Rafe had always been a part of the show.

Which would mean that Dante hadn’t cheated on me. He hadn’t lied to me. I had been so quick to believe the worst of him, to automatically jump to the worst possible conclusion. After he had told me he loved me and promised to be honest and true to me.

I would have to spend the rest of my life apologizing to him.

First, I had to watch that DVD.

“Lemonade, it’s time to go in and eat.” My daddy had been sent to find me. He put his arm around me, and it was all I could do to not rest my head on his shoulder and sob my heart out.

“I spoke to your young man,” he said. My pulse jumped and my whole soul lifted with anticipation. When had he talked to Dante?

“I’ll tell you what. I set that Sterling straight.” I felt deflated. “He said you were going to stay home after you got married, and I told him that my little Lemonade was just like me, and that you would figure out how to be a wife and a mother and have a career.”