You didn’t need to be a genius to see that he didn’t believe me.
‘I want her out,’ he said. ‘Right now.’
‘Done. We can film a snap Necklace Ceremony. Give us twenty minutes to get Z and the Juliets in place, and we can shoot right away.’
He nodded, just once, sharply.
‘Dylan, I’m so sorry,’ I said again. ‘Once we’re done with the Necklace Ceremony, we can cancel the rest of today’s filming, if you like. Push your intimacy time with the winners until tomorrow, and—’
‘No.’
‘No?’
He fixed me with the most penetrating stare he’d ever given me. ‘Can you edit around this?’
‘Around why you’re cutting Heather?’
‘Yes. This is not the story I want to tell.’
And you knew that,I heard, in the way he bit out the words.
‘Of course. If that’s what you want. We can suggest some other reason as to why you cut her.’
I had no idea what footage I had, or what reason I’d use, but I’d figure it out. Use some clips out of context. Frankenbite some audio. Invent something out of nothing.
‘That’s what I want,’ Romeo-Dylan said.
‘Then that’s what we’ll do.’
There was a slight unknotting in his posture. I didn’t have his trust back, not all the way, but maybe twenty per cent of him believed me.
‘Good,’ he said. ‘Then we’ll film tonight like we planned. Business as usual. I don’t want this to be a thing.’
‘We can do that,’ I promised.
The longing to have Lily back was an undercurrent through my thoughts all the time, but it rose up and crashedover me again like a wave. Being a white man at the helm of this season was already dicey, but now… fuck, I’d fucked this up so badly.
I forced myself to focus. Action. That was the way forward, not spin. The only way I’d get him back on side was if I did everything in my power to correct it.
I briefed Z before the snap Necklace Ceremony and got him to keep his language deliberately vague, so I could edit in a reason for Heather’s elimination later. ‘Dylan JM’s friend was the one responsible for picking the winning team today,’ Z told the assembled contestants. ‘But because they’re his friend, they were also looking for red flags – for women who might not be right for our Romeo. And I’m sorry to say, they spotted one.’
Lily started smirking.
I pressed two fingers into my eye before it started twitching.
‘Heather, your heart isn’t the other half of mine,’ Romeo-Dylan said. ‘We’re on very different pages, and I don’t think it’s right that you continue on this journey.’
Lily’s smirk didn’t change, but something about her posture did, the slight tilt of her head.That’s not how this play works,it said.Have you forgotten how to make people bleed?
My teeth were clenched so tightly my ears started aching.
One problem at a time, I told myself, as Heather started loudly declaring that her elimination was bullshit. Fix this situation. Get Romeo-Dylan’s trust back.
I did my job.
‘I know I’ve said this several times already,’ I told Romeo-Dylan, as he sat down in front of the green screen later for an interview, ‘but I’m so sorry about Heather.’
‘I don’t want to talk about it anymore.’
