Page 55 of The Cinderella Arrangement

“Listen, I blocked it. He may be a board member, but he can only work in a limited capacity and it’s clear that his judgment is off his rocker. You’re a great employee, no matter how many soccer fans you beat up.The San Francisco deal you got for us is brilliant and you’ll always have a job at Pardini Worldwide. It’s your birthright and I won’t let him do this to you.”

Uncle Dominic patted him on the back as Luke pinched the bridge of his nose, his face screwed up in pain. I dug my nails into my palms as I watched him fight to keep his emotions from bursting out. The person who he wanted to hear those words from would never do it.

“I love my brother, but he hasn’t been himself lately. No matter what, you will get what belongs to you. I promise.”

“Thanks, Dominic.”

“I know it’s been hard dealing with your dad, but he won’t be around much longer. Promise me you’ll visit him more often.”

A bitter look crossed Luke’s face, but it softened when heard his uncle’s voice crack. “I will.”

He gave him a smile and one final pat on the back, and then he walked back toward the piano. “Who wants to hear ragtime?”

A volley of cheers and whistles blasted across the room and I looked away as Luke wiped his eyes with his thumb. I took his hand and squeezed it. “Everything will work out.” I slipped my hand into my purse and muted my phone. It had been buzzing all night. What did Natalie want?

“We can turn in early. My uncle will understand.”

I nearly collapsed in relief. “Really? That’d be great.”

Though it was only seven, I was exhausted, and I thought longingly of the bed upstairs with its fluffy, white comforter. Luke and I went upstairs, and I curled into bed as Luke took a shower. All was well. Luke’s uncle seemed like a decent man. I clawed the nightstand for the remote. I wanted to fix my mind on something else before I fell asleep. My thumb clicked the buttons, scrolling through the channels as my eyeballs burned from the bright, plasma screen. Jessica Knight. I stopped as I saw my name blazing on the television screen with an old picture of Luke and I kissing in Hyde Park.

How did they find out my name?

A blonde woman smiled at the camera. “Today, we’ve received an exclusive report about the Luke Pardini’s new girlfriend, or should we say, his escort.”

The remote clattered on the wooden floor.

“Jessica?” Luke’s voice said from the bathroom. “What was that?”

“Jessica Knight, a graduate from San Francisco State University, signed up on an escort website for rich men to make ends meet. The beautiful blonde caught the eye of Luke Pardini, son of Giacomo Pardini and heir to Pardini Worldwide.”

“Hey, are you there?”

My eyes wereglued to the television as horror suffocated my chest. How did they find out all this? I told no one—absolutely no one. Neither of us had. The bathroom door opened and steam poured in the bedroom. I heard Luke’s heavy footsteps and dreaded the moment he would seescreen.

“Jessica, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” He looked at the screen and fell silent.

“At TMZ, we wondered who the mysterious blonde and where she was from, check this out—”

The screen faded into a view of a dilapidated porch of a house that I knew very well. On itwere three people: a fat blonde woman and her husband, and squeezed between them was their son, Vincent.

A reporter held a microphone to them. “She was a difficult child, but we did the best we could. We had her for seven years, and then she left to join a group home. We never saw her again.”

Shelly Kramer leaned in, her watery, small eyes staring into the camera. “She had a major drug problem, behavioral issues.” She shook her head. “Always acting out.”

Vincent smiled at the camera. He had gained weight, but nothing else had changed. His white-blonde hair still hung around his head at shoulder-length. He had charmed and fooled so many people with his angelic face, but a close look into his eyes was like staring into the abyss.

I didn’t hear the rest of the program. The violence surged up my throat, and I shoved Luke aside to flip open the toilet seat and I voided everything I ate at the party. The man who haunted my thoughts for years was blown up on the television, unpunished—along with my foster parents.

“Jessica, you’re safe.”

My lip quivered as my stomach still clenched with nausea. All it took was a short video of my attackers to shatter the delusion that I had moved on. That I was fixed. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault.”

He held me. I was boiling in pain and I didn’t want to do it anymore. When will I be free of them? I wanted to break away from Luke and sob in private, but he refused to let me go. I felt ashamed. It was as though my tears were indecent that I should hide them like everything in my past.

“How did they find out my name?” I said in a shaking voice. “How did they find out all of it?”

---