Page 74 of The Final Rose

“You’ll go home now,” she says next.

“What?”

Anya is firm. “You can’t handle this, Callie. It’s not even fair for me to ask you to do such a thing. I couldn’t ask you to leave today because I didn’t want anyone to think you did something wrong. Tomorrow, I will tell them you had a family emergency and you’re out for the rest of the shooting.”

I’m shaking my head already. “Anya, I can’t--”

“Callie, I’m being rational when I tell you to keep away from him. But I can’t make a robot out of you. Go home. Be with your family and come back next season.”

I can’t argue with her. It’s torture. Every second away from him, every shot of him with the girls, is an arrow through my heart. This mansion. His smile. His voice through my earpiece.

I nod, agreeing.

I move on my feet, knowing that as soon as I get away from here, the best my chances are not to make a scene. I trail for the front entrance and Anya comes with me, her eyes showing something soft I’m not used to seeing from her.

“I’m sorry love hurts so bad.”

The words fail me. So, I simply nod and leaveThe Final Rose.

20.

Sebastian

“Was it you?”

I don’t tread as carefully as I should. My tone is low because it’s weighted with grief and defiance rather than because I’m afraid of being caught.

I don’t let Vera answer. I shoulder my way to the bedroom she shares with the other finalists. Maya and Abby are in the pool. The cameras are on top of them. That’s why I chose this moment to find Vera.

“Was it me what?”

My breathing comes out choppy. I fight the impulse to rake my hand through my hair. I have a solo interview in twenty minutes.

“They have a video… They… Anya called Callie and I…”

I hear the door closing while I cruise the bedroom from one side to the other.

“Sebastian, I don’t know what you’re talking about. You need to calm down and–”

I turn, my finger pointing to her face. “You were the only one who knew about Callie. No one else knew.”

“You think I outed you?”

“I don’t know what to think anymore, Vera.”

“Well, stop being an ass and maybe I can help.” She says, raising her nose up.

My fingers find my eyes and I do my best not to remove them. I held it together the whole day after our conversation with Anya, just at the thought of talking to Callie in private and thinking about a solution. But last night, after my date with Vera, Callie wasn’t anywhere to be found.

I asked a few assistants, and they all said Callie had a family emergency and left early. For a full hour, I blew up her phone, worried something happened with her parents.

I don’t believe that anymore. Callie never answered my calls or replied to my texts, and today people are saying she’s staying out for the rest of the season.

I know right in my bones they made Callie leave. We are not talking about a way to be together. We are through.

She’s done with me.

“Someone filmed Callie and I on the plane. Anya had a video.”

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