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Chapter 9
I thought I shed all my tears when I broke down in Amanda's store this morning, but when Nick showed up unannounced, a new river of emotions hit me.
"Shh... Emma,” Bella whispers. Her voice has the quality of calming me down with just a few words."Okay, now take a deep breath, in through your nose, and out through your mouth."
I do as she says, and after a few minutes, a stream of relaxation unlocks my tense muscles, allowing me to relax as I let out a profound sigh.
"Much better." Bella grabs two chairs and takes a seat next to me. She places her hand on my knee. "Now, from the beginning. What happened? You showed a side of yourself I haven't seen in a long time."
I brush both my hands through my hair. Bella is right. The last time I've been this emotional was when I bumped into my parents while shopping for baby clothes. In shock, I tried to talk to them. But my father said he didn't want to speak because of me carrying an out-of-wedlock child. He told me he expected me to fail in life and motherhood. After those hurtful words, I ran away and went straight to Bella and Alisha, where I cried for hours.
When I look into Bella's calm eyes, the words flow out of my mouth, like verbal vomit. I tell her every detail from Cindy's house until I started throwing eggs at Nick. Bella listens without cutting in or stopping me, and afterward, my mind is calm and clear. She gives me a warm smile.
I'm startled when the sound of the doorbell infiltrates the room.
"I'll check out who it is," she says as she walks out of the kitchen.
A few moments later, the front door closes, and I perceive different footsteps walking through the hallway. As I lift my head, I see Bella walking in with another woman close behind her.
"Emma, there is someone here who wants to talk to you."
My body gets tense as I recognize the woman.
"Hello, Emma. I'm Ellen. I was at Cindy's this morning," she says while rubbing her palm over her forearm. It's the blonde who complimented my cake. I look at her; she shifts her weight from one foot to another while biting down on her lip.
"What do you want?" I ask.
"I came here to apologize and to confess something," she mumbles.
When I stay quiet, she continues.
"It was all staged. None of the women that were there slept with Nick." Right away, my eyes dart up to hers, and I raise my brows.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Cindy called us to be there this morning. She instructed us to lie to you."
"And the Meghan girl, who said she slept with him four weeks ago?"
"Also a lie. I heard her say she sneaked into his room and made him think they had slept together.”
I let out a long huff.
"How did you get acquainted with Cindy?" Bella asks.
"I'm a model like her, and she threatened to make my life a living hell if I didn't do this little thing for her. She has many connections in the modeling world, and I'm at the start of my career, so I got scared. But I’m just not like this“
My mind works overtime as I listen to her next words. "Cindy told me I had to sit and pretend to be one of Nick's exes, but when you came, her behavior became despicable." She swallows audibly. "I can't imagine how it must have been to stand there. I couldn't let Cindy get away with hurting someone like that. She's so obsessed with Nick that she is going to extremes. Again, I'm sorry."
"Thank you, Ellen. I appreciate you coming here and telling me this. How did you find me?"
"Through your cake," she says with a smile. "You had your company name on your box. So when I left Cindy's house, I googled it."
“I can’t believe she staged everything," I say, shaking my head.
"Yes, I even heard Cindy warn Meghan that she can never tell the truth."
Oh, God.I let her mess with my head. Ellen apologizes one more time before she leaves. As Bella lets her out, I plop down in a chair and rest my elbows on my knees, putting my head in my hands. "Holy fucking shit…”
