KATE
I sit on the couch with Daniel and Rebecca, horrified as we watch the news.
In breaking news, Elliot Miles, CEO of Miles Media, has been arrested and charged with assault and criminal damage after an altercation with a photographer this afternoon in Battersea Park.
Mr. Miles, who appeared to be in some kind of domestic incident with a mystery woman, turned on a bystander when he was being photographed.
He was apprehended and arrested at the scene.
The footage goes to Elliot holding me against my will and I’m screaming at him to let me go, then he turns and we see the photographer, and Elliot begins to chase him as he runs away.
I put my hand over my mouth as I watch in horror. “Oh no, who took this footage?”
I already knew it was bad . . . but it looks even worse.
Elliot catches him, breaks his camera and then the man says something to Elliot who then proceeds to beat him. I can be seen in the footage running away from the scene.
Daniel’s horrified eyes find mine.
I stay silent.
My phone buzzes on the coffee table and the name Elliot lights up the screen.
Tears fill my eyes.
“What’s going on?” Daniel demands; he reaches down and turns my phone off. “Did he hurt you?”
“No,” I snap. “It’s fine, he came back and told me he loved me, that was the fight we had.”
“He looks angry,” Daniel says.
I roll my eyes. I can’t imagine how dead Daniel would be if Elliot ever found out what happened last night between us in the darkness.
Not that I care, of course.
“He was.”
I lie on my bed in the darkness; my phone has been off all night.
He can’t be still arrested, he called me. What if I was his one phone call and I didn’t answer?
Stop it, stop thinking of him. He doesn’t think of you.
I turn my phone on.
Twenty-six missed calls . . . Elliot.
I close my eyes in regret and switch my phone back off.
“Kate,” I hear Daniel call from downstairs. “I think we’ve got another problem.”
“What?” I call.
“You better come and see this.”
I drag myself out of bed and walk downstairs to see Daniel still watching the news.
In a breaking news update, the mystery woman involved in the domestic incident today with Elliot Miles has been confirmed as Kate Landon, until recently an employee of Miles Media.
It has been alleged that Elliot Miles is involved in a sordid love triangle with Kate Landon and her partner, Daniel Stevens.
Landon, who lives with Stevens, was photographed with Miles in New York last week but has since returned to her home and partner. It is thought that Mr. Miles is upset with her returning to her partner, thus the altercation this afternoon in Battersea Park.
It flicks to photographs of me and Daniel holding hands and Daniel with his arm around me. A few of us arriving at various balls in different locations, each one strategically shot so that it looks like Daniel and I are together.
Then there are photos of me and Elliot in New York together last week, holding hands as we walked out of a restaurant. Another where he is kissing me in the car. Another of us in a shop and Elliot buying me lingerie. Another shot of me with Elizabeth Miles at our lunch date.
“Get fucked,” Daniel whispers in horror.
“What the hell?” I put my hands over my mouth.
It goes to a shot of our house. Our eyes meet. “Hang on a minute, how did they get that?” He slowly gets up and walks to the window and his face falls. “Shit.”
“What?” I run over and peer through the curtains to see a sea of photographers all set up on the pathway opposite our apartment. Cameras facing the house, waiting for their shot.
“Oh my God.” I put my head into my hands. “This is a disaster, what do we do now?”
He hands me his phone. “Call him and find out. He does own a media company, after all. Surely there’s a law about making up lies about people.”
I exhale heavily. “I don’t want to call him.”
“Have you got a better idea?” Daniel points at the window. “Asking him what to do in this situation is not taking him back, Kate.”
“You’re right. Ugh, fine. I’ll call him from my phone.” I head toward the stairs.
“Let me know what he says.”
“Okay.” I trudge up the stairs and pick up my phone, turn it on.
Thirty-six missed calls from Elliot.
I sit on the bed and hold the phone in my hands. I really don’t want to call him.
What is there to say?
My phone rings in my hand, causing me to jump and fumble with it. It’s him.
“Hello,” I answer.
“Kate . . . hi.” His voice is soft, cautious.
I stay silent, unsure what to say.
“I’m sorry about the press, I’ll handle it tomorrow.”
“How?” I ask. “How will you handle it, Elliot?”
“I don’t-” He cuts himself off.
“The love triangle . . . with pictures as proof.” I get a lump in my throat as shame overwhelms me.
He lets out an audible sigh. “Don’t cry, sweetheart, I’ll fix it.”
“If I could believe anything that comes out of your mouth, then maybe I’d believe you,” I spit. “You can’t fix this, Elliot.”
“I’m coming to get you.”
“You are not, there are fifty reporters parked out the front.”
“I’ll get Andrew to collect you. I’ll meet you at my apartment in town. I’m relocating there tomorrow anyway.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to be followed to Enchanted Estate. I don’t want them knowing where I live.”
“These stories are lies. I’m not with Daniel,” I spit, except I accidently nearly was and I’m mortified.
“I know that.”
“But-”
“They don’t care,” he cuts me off. “Just stay there until Andrew arrives.”
“No. Nothing has changed, Elliot, I don’t want to see you.”
“We need to talk.”
“There’s nothing to say.”
“I’ll come myself,” he splutters.
“And I will kick you out in front of the press. Do not come here, Elliot, I mean it.”
“Kate, that isn’t fair,” he snaps. “You know I need to see you, don’t hold me hostage to the reporters outside your house. I want to talk to you.”
I shake my head, disgusted. “It’s always about you . . . isn’t it, Elliot?” I whisper. “What you need, what’s best for you . . . your dream girl. What you want.”
“Enough,” he barks.
“Okay. Fine.” Exasperated, I hang up.
The phone rings immediately and I answer it. “Do not hang up on me.”
“Fuck you.” I hang up again.
It rings again. “What?” I cry. “What do you want?”
“I want to talk to you.”
“I have nothing to say.”
“Please.” His voice softens. “Baby . . . I need to see you. We can sort this media mess out, but we need to be together to do it.”
I screw up my face in tears. When his voice is soft like that, it reminds me of the man I care about.
“Kathryn,” he says sternly. “Let me send Andrew, and come and meet me at my apartment.”
I listen.
“At the very least it will get you out, they can’t follow you into my building, you’re safe there. Regardless of what happens with you and I, you need to leave your house or they will hound you to death and make up more lies.”
I close my eyes. “I don’t want-”
“I just want to talk, Kate. I promise.”
“But . . .”