It was a shocking and bitter twist of fate!
“No…” she screamed, feeling lightheaded.
She felt breathless, looking as if she was about to pass out.
Her mind whirled as she imagined Sebastian in the arms of another woman.
Did he whisper sweet nothings to her?
Did he kiss that woman the way he had kissed her? Touch her?
The idea was maddening… sickening… and it fueled a fire of possessiveness within her that she couldn’t ignore.
Scarlet had also watched his interview with her mum the other week, where he spoke so highly of his wife, but she had concluded that Sebastian was only acting for the cameras.
When she had also seen his marriage announcement earlier, she didn’t think much of it and thought he only did that to calm the intense media attention over his sexuality. She truly believed that the whole thing was a sham.
But now… now….
Turns out it was the fucking truth!
The thought made her stomach churn, and she felt as if the ground had been pulled out from under her.
Scarlet’s mind drifted back to their first trip to Paris, where they had shared sweet moments over croissants in a quaint cafe. ‘I can see us living here one day,’ Sebastian had said, his eyes sparkling with dreams. ‘Just you and me, nobody else.”
They had both been so young, in love, and full of dreams.
Until….
“Mom, I want to go back. I need to go back to Melbourne right now!”
“What? Are you out of your mind? The London Fashion Week is starting tomorrow. Do you want to lose your entire career because of a man?”
“You don’t understand, Mum! He was supposed to be mine! How can you expect me to just sit here?”
“Scar, if you leave now, you’re throwing away everything you’ve worked for. I didn’t raise you to be this stupid!” Eva wasn’t having it.
She wasn’t just the mother of Scarlet but was also her manager. And as a former top model herself, Eva knew the drill.
They would lose millions of dollars in sponsorship deals with the clothing brands if her daughter did anything brash in this dying moment.
“Look, Honey… why don’t we both calm down? How about this? We both go to Melbourne as soon as we’re done with work here. I…I…I’ll even accompany you!” She lowered her voice in panic and started to speak calmly, knowing how stubborn and headstrong Scarlet could be.
“But Mum….”
“No “buts.” Listen to me for once. I’m not letting you step out that door,” Eva lost her cool yet again.
Scarlet’s hands trembled, and she clenched her fists until her nails dug into her palms.
Her mind briefly flickered to Mia, her best friend and fellow model, who had just been dropped from a major Louis Vuitton campaign and was currently being dragged online due to negligence on her part.
“Fine… you win,” she said in resignation while Eva let out a sigh of relief.
“But book me a flight to Melbourne as soon as I am done with this shit show,” Scarlet yelled, slamming her phone against the wall, breaking it to pieces.
***********
Elsewhere in a Melbourne hospital room, Kathlyn Allen hurled a glass water pitcher against the wall in a fit of rage.
The sound of shattering glass echoed through the room, and the nurses rushed towards her, their voices a mixture of caution and concern.
“Miss Allen, please calm down!” one of them pleaded, but it only made her angrier.
“Calm down? You want me to calm down? You don’t know what I’m going through!” In a moment of blind fury, she grabbed a shard of broken glass from the floor and swung it at the nearest nurse, who yelped in surprise as she was caught by the edge of the glass.
Blood dripped from the nurse’s arm, and the sight of it sent Kathlyn into a deeper spiral of chaos.
“Get away from me!” Kathlyn screamed, her voice raw with pain and humiliation.
The scared nurses scrambled out of the room with speed. It looked like the patient was going crazy.
The video had turned Kathlyn’s life into a circus, dragging her name through the mud and exposing her dirty lies. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she thought about all the degrading remarks about her online, her heart heavy with shame.
But that wasn’t even the reason for her current state of madness.
Just half an hour earlier, the door to her hospital room swung open, and in walked her family-her mother, father, grandmother, and several other members of the Allen clan, their faces drawn with disappointment.
They looked like a jury ready to condemn her for her sins.
Grandma Florence, the ever-formidable woman with a reputation that preceded her, had stepped forward, her lips pursed in disapproval.
“You wretched girl,” she yelled as she slapped Kathlyn so hard across the face.
The sound of the slap echoed in the small room, sending shockwaves through Kathlyn’s body. It was the first time her Grandma or anyone else from the Allen family had ever hit her. The experience was new, and the slap hurt like hell, but it was nothing compared to the pain in her heart.
“You’ve embarrassed us all. You’ve made a fool of yourself, and now the whole world knows how despicable you are. Pulling such a stunt and killing your own child just so you could frame Kourtney? You’re a disgrace, and I’m ashamed to call you my granddaughter,” Grandma Florence roared, her voice shaking with anger as she spat on Kathlyn’s face before turning to leave.
Kathlyn’s head spun, and she felt her whole world crumbling before her feet. She had never felt so humiliated in her entire life. The sting of her grandma’s words felt like acid, burning through her already fragile resolve.
Her mother, Margaret, had looked at her with eyes filled with shame before walking away with tears running down her cheeks.
Her father, Luke, couldn’t even look at her. He stood at the door, back turned against the drama. His precious daughter was a failure and had let him down in the worst way possible.