Page 9 of Legally Yours

I’m very grateful for her. We keep talking until the sound of the door getting forcefully opened draws both of our attention. Before I know it, Emma is storming in.

“How could you do this!” Emma stomps over to me and even in her rage, I can tell she’sverysick. Whatever I saw between her and David earlier, it’s true – she probably couldn’t have done the shoot.

“Hey, Emma. I thought you were sick?” I ask, taking a sip of my water. I keep my voice even, innocent, and curious.

“I may be sick but I can still stand! How can that bullshit man replace me with you!” She’s absolutely fuming, and it takes alotfor me not to laugh at how ridiculous she sounds. I already know who ‘he’ is, so I don’t bother asking.

Maybe she and David had a lovers’ quarrel?

How ironic that he would replace her just like that. I can already feel how much lighter I’ll be without David around, and it almost makes me excited to finally end things with him.

“Why don’t you just ask David? I’m just here as your substitute. I was just about to go home but then I decided, why not work again?” I pitch my voice up, hoping she’ll fall for my charade.

Emma grabs my arm, and her voice sounds softer now, but still contains an edge of anger. She squeezes, and I glance at Leslie who looks shocked.

“Cassie, c’mon now. Youwantedto retire! Remember? We’ve talked about it so much. You wanted to be a housewife.”

If it wasn’t for how desperate she seems to be, I’d almost believe she has my best interests at heart. “I did, but now I’m happy to stay in the spotlight. I forgot how much fun it was to model!” I say, grabbing her shoulder.

I want to make the distance between us, but she doesn’t let go. I almost feel bad for her. Her spot in the limelight will die if I’m available again. But then I remember how she slept with my fiance and all those bad feelings drift away. If she’s worried about her spot in the agency, too bad.

“No! It wasn’t supposed to be like this!”

She tugs on my arm, hard. I’m just about done with her nonsense, so I put my drink down and stand awkwardly, trying to yank out of her grasp as I hear footsteps starting to make their way to us.

As we both turn to the door, David walks in, looking furious.

“Cassandra! What are you doing here?” His eyebrows are furrowed deeply, and I feel honestly taken aback by the aggression.

He’sstillsiding with her. Even though I’m his fiance!

Well not anymore!

9

CASSANDRA

Still in recoil from his words, I stand there like a lost child as he takes who was supposed to be my best friend into his arms. If I didn’t want to save face so badly, I’d sucker-punch the two of them.

He holds her like she’s a prized pie that someone has just tried to smash. In reality, she was gripping my arm so hard I’ll probably have bruises tomorrow. But she is his precious victim.

Victim my ass. She is the one who instigated all of this!

But that isn’t what I’m here for. I wantrevenge,and revenge doesn’t come from immediate violence. It comes from the carefully curated plan I made with my husband in the other room. I wish he was here with me, so I could rub it in David’s face that I’ve met a man that not only looks twice as good as him but who’s shown more respect to me in the few hours we’ve known each other than David has in the years that we dated.

He treats Emma like a prize in his hands. His cheating is so painfully obvious, I can’t imagine how long it’s been going on when I was so naive. What kind of relationship is so full of pretension and lies? I had to respect myself enough to dump him and move on before the slimy bastard got to dump me first.

“I’m supposed to beyours,David! And instead, look whose side you’re on.” My words feel bitter, and my tone is laced with barbed wire. He tosses my words aside, disregarding all of my concerns.

“It sounded like you were hurting Emma! I can’t have an interpersonal conflict on the job!” he scoffs, still keeping up the lie. In his arms, Emma looks like a frail, broken bird. She snuggles in closer to him and catches my eye. With a wink, she lays her head on his shoulder and sniffles.

“Sh- She was! I was just trying to hold her arm to connect with her better, and she started pulling on it really hard to get me off! She could have just a-asked!” Emma puts her hand on my ex-fiance’s chest and leans into him like she needs protecting.

I swear to whatever god is around that she is asking to get punched. The act is just so completely over-the-top, it’s ridiculous.

“Cassandra. That’s no way to treat a fellow employee! Emma is already sick, she’s probably weak from the illness!” he cries in disgust atme.As if I’m the bad guy.

“Aww, I appreciate that Davey, but if I’m strong enough to model, then I can take care of myself,” she says, looking up at him with lovesick eyes. He looks back down at her with the same caring expression.

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