Allegra.
Was this it? Was Layla going to confess that she didn’t love anymore? I felt tears well up and begin pouring down my cheeks. My forrly joyous mood evaporated in an instant, fading into nothing.
My heart clenched, and I sniffled, though I tried to sound all choked up in what I said next. “I’m listening,” I whispered. A few strands of hair fell into my face that I didn’t bother to move away. I clenched my fist, waiting for her to say sothing. Anything.
The pause she gave felt like hours. Finally, she broke the silence and said, “Allegra... I... I’ve been lying.” There it was. She was going to say she didn’t actually love . I gave a choked sob, sothing she probably heard.
At this point, I didn’t care. My life would carry on, but my heart would be gray. This was terrible. Layla said, “No, no, Allegra, I... I still love you. Deeply. But I gave them information, okay. I misunderstood. They lied to .”
Now, I was confused. I furrowed my brow, reaching up to move those strands out of my face and tilting my head. She still loved . That was all that mattered, right? But what was she talking about? Them? Who? Who did she an?
“Elaborate, Layla. Please? I’m lost. I thought you were breaking up with just now, but now there is sothing else? Just co out with it, okay?” I said. My voice was edged with a mixture of frustration and fear. Surely she wasn’t talking about anyone connected to . Right?
Layla said in a strained tone on the other end, “The people who kidnapped you. I misunderstood, they paid , a-and, I thought–”
“Wait. You were working for the people, who... w-who...” I widened my eyes, my world crashing down in far worse of a way than if Layla was just breaking up with . Sure, my heart would be torn to pieces then, but this was flat out betrayal.
“Yes, but listen, hear out! Like I said, th-they lied, okay? They told it was because Becca stole from them. I misunderstood. Do you understand? I-I just thought, and, and... I should have known better. I’m sorry, okay? Really! I’m sorry. Please understand Allegra, I–”
She was stamring, tripping over every word, and I couldn’t handle it any longer. I hung up on her, my jaw clenched. Then, I threw the phone aside and buried my face into my hands, shaking with sobs.
mories of what happened to when I was captured flashed through my mind. I’d not been sure what they were going to do to . Even if no physical harm ca my way, I heard what they wanted to do to my brother.
I didn’t want to lose him, and yet I was bait for them to get to him. Being away from family and friends had been nerve-wracking. At any point in ti, they could do sothing horrible, if they got tired of waiting. They ca across as very impatient, after all.
Thank goodness I ca out of that alive and unhard, but other things could have happened if they were far more malicious with regard to and getting what they wanted. I swallowed, chasing those thoughts away. Nothing like that happened, I was safe now.
I needed to compose myself. After pacing in my living room for what was probably a half hour, completely drowning in my thoughts, mories, and miseries, I reached over to grab my phone. There were no cracks on it, at least, so what I did hadn’t caused damage.
Sitting there, I stared at my phone, noting several missed texts and calls from Layla. I didn’t read a single one of them, and I damn well wasn’t about to call back. I felt numb, surely having cried out every single drop that I could.
My mind was in a fierce debate with itself. Should I call Becca and inform her about this? She was going through a lot, what with recovering from the trial, no doubt. I closed my eyes and rubbed at my temples, trying to keep it together to think clearly.
Becca had the right to know, she was probably in danger from those goons now. I dialed her number and put my phone to my ear, only to be answered by the very stressed woman, who had a strain to her voice.
“Hello?” Becca asked, the sound of shuffling on the other end accompanying her voice as if she was busy. I couldn’t hide the pain dripping from my tone when I replied.
“Becca? I need to tell you sothing important, I–”
“I don’t want to talk right now, Allegra,” Becca said, sounding exasperated. “To either you or Neal. This is too much, I told him that, and I didn’t want him calling . Now, here you are, I don’t want to talk.”
“What? This isn’t about Neal, it’s–” I started, but she hung up on . I wrinkled my nose, shaking my head. Whatever went down between her and Neal had nothing to do with , and I hadn’t heard from my brother about it.
At this point, I was at a loss for what to do. I began to pace again, spending about a minute or so on that before letting out a sigh. Maybe I could just send a long text to Becca, but I had a feeling, based on her tone, she would just delete it.
I decided to think about it for a few hours so that I could calm down after realizing the love of my life was not who I thought she was. All of this, I was hoping to give to her. We were ant to have a life together, yet here I was, with a theoretical knife sticking out of my back.
Drowning myself in ice cream sounded like a great plan right now, but I’d need to work out even harder later to burn off those extra calories since I’d be on the runway soon. Oh, right. The runway.
That was one good thing that happened today. I needed to think of the bright side before I fell into the abyss of sadness after this news. But, honestly, how could she? No, no, I needed to refocus before I went back on what I just said I wanted to do.
I took in a deep breath, making my way to the kitchen and placing a pot on the stove. My stomach clenched, the pain from the stress of it all rather intense. I found myself looking for any distraction, such as what Becca could have ant about Neal.
I had too much on my own plate to deal with the issue Neal was facing, aside from whether or not he’d done the job. Had he gone after Becca again? Maybe that was why she was so upset. I didn’t want to press, at this point, either.
He needed to leave Becca alone because he really hadn’t been treating her well either. Was he hounding her? That was probably it. I groaned softly, shaking my head at how much of an imbecile he could be sotis. I loved him dearly, but he had problems.
This instance of said problems made things very inconvenient because the kids could be in a lot of danger right now. Layla had sounded regretful, but who knew if that was genuine? Maybe she only spilled because she was guilty, but it didn’t lessen the danger.
My mind switched back to the modeling job I now had, sothing that thankfully was going to start right away and be good in my life. Even if it was the only thing, well, it was sothing. Tears continued to crawl down my cheeks as I grabbed so chicken stock.
The runway would take away, be a ho for my mind, sothing positive. The interview had been wonderful, and the people I was working with were turning out to co across as genuine and kind, a rare thing in this industry.
Granted, I just t them, and my impression of Layla had been that she deserved to be treated like a princess, was wonderful, gorgeous, and lovely in every way. Clearly, I’d been completely wrong, given this horrible betrayal.
I began to make myself so homade chicken soup, sothing not too complicated and that wouldn’t be too hard on my stomach. This all was too much. The sa words Becca had said, really, after she ntioned my brother.
Maybe I should call Neal and ask him what happened so I could get so clarification. Or maybe not. Did Becca deserve to be kept in the dark?
I didn’t think so, even if she hung up on like that and didn’t want to talk.
There was one way I could get the news to her, but I didn’t like it one bit. Narrowing my eyes, I thought of Jas, soone who I definitely didn’t get along with. I’d been avoiding the possibility that I may need to speak with him for a while now.
His treatnt of Becca wasn’t tolerable, but of course, he continued that cold, standoffish behavior. Stubborn in the worst of ways, which was damaging. I wasn’t sure how happy I was that he got to see the kids, but it was what it was.
I sighed, pouring myself a bowl of soup and going to sit down at the table. After a few bites, I stared at my cell phone, not wanting to make that call and deal with that asshole right now. With what Layla said to , though, it would be wrong to keep my silence.
Several bites later, I was still at a loss for what to do, and just shook my head. My depression washed over in waves. I couldn’t believe I had to deal with this, here and now, right after I finally made so progress in my life.
The illusion that Layla was perfect, that we could have a life together, that things would work out, was completely shattered, and I was devastated. I shook with more sobs into my soup, sniffling and trying to get it together. Why did heartbreak have to be so painful?
Finally, I put my spoon down and reached over, dialing Jas’s number. It’d be a miracle if he even picked up, but who knew, maybe I could make progress with him over Becca. I placed my phone against my ear, listening to it ring.
Eventually, Jas picked up with an irritated, “What do you want, Allegra?”
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