by Megan Cole
‘Madison, honey, you’re one clever bitch,’ she told herself. Reaching across the bed, she picked up the phone to demand breakfast in bed.
Three days later
If Sapphire had thought Casa Eleganza was something, Homelands was in a different stratosphere. With its countless turrets, huge arched windows and sprawling verandas running along four sides of the house, it reminded Sapphire of an upmarket Disneyland castle. The views were even more spectacular, reaching the turquoise waters of the Florida Keys. Sapphire had never seen an ocean coloured like it. Brad had mentioned last night that Florida was famous for its alligators, and that one of his neighbours had even found one sitting in his swimming pool one morning. Sapphire had shivered at this — it seemed like a good metaphor for the place. Beneath the luxurious beauty, tensions were running high.
Brad had been polite but distant to her since they’d got there. Every time Sapphire looked into his eyes, she knew she’d disappointed him. She hadn’t seen Cam since they’d got there, either. Homelands was the size of a small town and Cam and his team were camped out in guest bungalows on the other side of the estate. Sapphire had half-heartedly tried his mobile a few times, but it was always off. Her constant checking of her own phone wore off as she realised she wasn’t going to hear from him.
As much as she yearned after Cam, funnily enough the person Sapphire felt the worst about was Raphael. In some way, she felt like she had let him down, that she’d been the only person he’d ever reached out to and then it had all gone wrong. Cam had an open, confident manner, a solid warmness to him that made him easy to read. But with Raphael, it was different. Sapphire found herself wondering what was behind those mesmerising eyes, what made him tick. When Raphael had told her about Gabriel, she had seen a chink, but now Raphael’s defences were drawn up even tighter than ever. There was no way she would ever be able to get past them, not now.
I totally blew our friendship, she thought miserably. And now I’ll never see him again.
The next morning the three girls were sitting on the south-facing veranda, eating breakfast. While the other two made conversation, or rather Madison talked and Simonetta looked bored, Sapphire ate her waffles in silence. She had avoided seeing the other two as much as possible since the night on the beach, but with Brad busy at the recording studio with Cam, they had pretty much been thrown together again. Sapphire very much doubted the invitation to watch Cam work would stand. The only positive result out of all this were the new lyrics that had been pouring out of her. It felt like she was trapped in a five-star prison and writing songs was her only release. To her surprise, the melodies were coming thick and fast as well. Guess it’s true that musicians produce their best work when they’re going through some kind of trauma, she thought wryly.
Madison took a dainty bite of the kiwi fruit she was eating. ‘Mmm, this tastes sooo good! At least we’re away from all that pasta and cheese. I swear I put on, like, half a pound in Italy.’
‘You do look a bit fatter round the face,’ Simonetta said maliciously. With her idiotic chatter and constant sucking up to Brad, Madison was seriously getting on her nerves.
Madison shot her a death stare over the table. ‘Yeah, well at least I’m not like…’ Her eyes roamed over Simonetta, looking for some imperfection.
Simonetta raised a threatening eyebrow. Just you try it.
‘At least I’m not, like, a giant,’ Madison finally sniped, in reference to Simonetta’s statuesque height.
The model snorted. ‘Better to be tall than stupid.’
Madison’s mouth dropped open. ‘What did you just call me?’
Simonetta stared at her insolently. ‘Penso che lei è una ragazza stupida.’
Madison turned to Sapphire. ‘What did she just say?’
Sapphire shrugged. ‘No idea.’ She was sure she’d heard the words ‘stupid’ and ‘girl’, but there was no way that she was getting drawn into this stupid argument. Sapphire knew she wasn’t perfect, but she just couldn’t believe that she was related to such awful people. She wondered whom they had got their personalities from. The idea that they’d all inherited some kind of negative trait from Brad was a worrying thought. If she suddenly started wearing head-to-toe pink and talking in a baby voice, she was going to kill herself.
Unaware of her thoughts, Madison looked at her with fake concern. ‘Bumped into Cam recently?’
Here we go, Sapphire thought. She thought Madison had been far too quiet on the subject. ‘No,’ she said shortly. She was suddenly sick of being made to feel like Public Enemy Number One. It wasn’t as if she’d murdered someone. Sapphire threw her napkin down on her plate. ‘Was there anything else? I can tell you’re practically wetting yourself with glee about it all. So come on, if you’ve got any other snide comments, let’s get them out in the open. I’m fed up with these sly little looks you keep giving me.’
Madison’s eyes widened. ‘Ooh, the runt has got a temper on her! Mind you, I’d be pissed off too if Cam Tyler dumped me. Not that he would, obviously.’
Sapphire tried to stay calm. At this rate Madison was coming very close to being stabbed with her own fork. ‘You really don’t know what you’re talking about.’
Madison gave a nasty little smile. ‘Oh, I think I know a slut when I see one! And that poor boy, Raphael — you didn’t just lead him down the garden path, sweetie, you took him all the way down the path into the ocean!’
Sapphire jumped up, her fists clenched. ‘You leave Raphael out of this! That’s not how it bloody happened!’
‘Sapphire, calm down,’ said Simonetta. She was aware that a passing staff member had stopped to stare.
Sapphire remained where she was, hot angry tears springing into the back of her eyes. ‘You can think what you like of me. I really don’t care.’
‘Er, obvious much?’ Madison said. ‘If you cared about anything, you wouldn’t be running around like a bitch in heat.’
Sapphire looked into her pretty, hate-filled face. Stay calm, she told herself. Don’t let her get the better of you. She took a deep breath. ‘You know what, Madison? I actually feel really sorry for you.’ With a superhuman effort not to squash the rest of Madison’s kiwi in her face, Sapphire left.
Madison looked at Simonetta in outraged astonishment. ‘She feels sorry for me? Girls would chop off their hair extensions to be Madison Vanderbilt and that runt knows it!’
‘If you say so,’ Simonetta drawled. ‘Talking of hair,’ her eyes swept critically over Madison’s own tresses. ‘I assume you know yours is going green. It must be all that chlorine.’
Madison narrowed her eyes at the Italian. ‘Yeah, well, at least green is better than witch black! I didn’t realise Halloween had come early.’ They glared at each other over the table.
From his office on the edge of the lawn, Brad sat back in his chair and thought about what he’d just seen. He had no idea what they’d been talking about, but Sapphire had looked pretty upset. All three of them looked ready to blow up at the moment and Brad had a bad feeling Sapphire would be the first.
Chapter forty-two
Later that day, Sapphire had calmed down enough to face the outside world. She knew she should rise above Madison, but she was just so evil. Once again Sapphire wondered why she was putting herself through this when no one wanted her here, but then Maggie’s words came back to her. ‘Hold your head high, and show them what you’re really like.’
Not that Sapphire gave a hoot what Madison or Simonetta thought. But she did want to make amends with Brad, even though it was pretty obvious she’d blown her chances of becoming his heir.
Then, of course, there was Cam. Sapphire hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself until now, but there was still a little piece of her holding out hope. Her mind cast back to their night on the beach, Cam’s kiss and his warm, brown hands on her body. It was starting to feel like a snapshot from a film that she’d never been in. I have to make it up with him, she thought desperately. The most exciting thing that had ev
er happened to her had been wrenched away, and Sapphire was shocked to find out how much it hurt.
She needed to clear her head and decided to go for a walk. She’d only got a few yards outside when her heart stopped. Cam was walking straight towards her, Larry his manager in tow, talking on his mobile. Cam looked surprised to see her and, unless Sapphire was imagining it, a little bit guilty. What did he have to be guilty about? It was meant to be the other way round.
‘Hi, Sapphire.’ Cam managed an unenthusiastic smile. He was in a hooded top and jeans slung low enough to see a flash of his stomach. Sapphire felt a rush of longing.
‘Cam, I need to talk to you,’ she said.
He sighed. ‘Sapphire, it’s kind of difficult right now. I’m sorry.’
Larry came up behind him. ‘Cam, we’ve only got thirty minutes for lunch. Move along, please. I need a word with this young lady.’ Cam gave an apologetic shrug and walked off.
Larry looked at Sapphire like he’d just found her on the bottom of his shiny Gucci slip-on. His eyes were mean and nasty, like a ferret’s. ‘Now listen here, sweetheart,’ he said in a strong New York accent. ‘Cam’s got enough girls like you throwing themselves at him normally, but I won’t have it when he’s recording his debut album, you hear me?’
There was that expression again. Girls like you.
‘I’m not trying to distract Cam,’ she said tightly. ‘We’re friends.’
Larry looked at her. ‘Yeah, right. I know just what you’d like to be, honey, and friends it ain’t. There’s no way I’m gonna let you get your hands on his money.’
‘I’m not after his money!’ Sapphire exclaimed. ‘What do you take me for?’
Larry’s mobile started ringing again. ‘Exactly what I said, sweetheart. Now you stay out of Cam’s way or I’ll make sure you regret it.’ He walked off to take the call. ‘Ari! My main man. How ya doin’?’
Sapphire stared after him, open-mouthed. She couldn’t quite believe people could be so rude. Did Cam know how awful his manager was? Then again, she thought with a sinking realisation, he probably employed Larry for that exact reason. Larry made sure no one could get to Cam unless he wanted them to. Sapphire was starting to think she didn’t like the world he operated in very much at all.
That evening there was a big dinner party, to which Brad invited several of his friends and work colleagues. They were a very glamorous, sociable bunch and Brad made sure that all three girls were included in the conversation. Madison was talking nineteen to the dozen and holding court as normal, while Sapphire was placed next to a female executive from Brad’s record company. They had all been instructed to say they were family friends. Aside from having to keep up that pretence, Sapphire actually had quite a good evening. The food was delicious and the woman she was sitting next to was really nice. It was such a relief to have a normal conversation with someone who didn’t know what had happened.
By contrast, she noticed Simonetta getting more and more withdrawn as the evening went on. Even though she was wearing a stunning black dress and had piled up her hair elegantly, her eyes looked flat and lifeless. It seemed like Brad had noticed too. When Simonetta announced she had a headache and wished to go to bed, Sapphire found herself exchanging glances with him. After the meal, when they had all retired to the veranda for coffee, Brad took her aside.
‘Do you think Simonetta’s all right? She seemed very subdued tonight.’
‘I know,’ Sapphire replied. ‘To be honest, I don’t think she’s been herself for a while. I think I should go and talk to her, if that’s OK. I mean, I don’t want to leave your guests in the lurch…’
Brad smiled at her. ‘I totally agree. Take as long as you want.’ In that moment, it was like the old days, when he’d liked and trusted her. It gave Sapphire a nice feeling inside.
Sapphire still hadn’t found her way round Homelands, so it took a few wrong turns and trips down several long corridors before she found Simonetta’s bedroom. The door was slightly ajar, as if it hadn’t been closed properly. Sapphire knocked softly on it.
‘Simonetta?’ Sapphire could hear strange noises coming from inside, as if someone was gasping and choking. ‘Simonetta?’ she said more loudly, alarm starting to build up. Slowly, she pushed the door open. Her mouth dropped open at the sight that greeted her.
Food was everywhere. Well, the remains of it anyway. Crumbs of bread were scattered across the floor, empty crisp packets lay scrunched up, the remains of a huge chocolate bar was smeared across the duvet cover. Sapphire didn’t understand, where had this come from? Simonetta had the smallest appetite of anyone she knew.
Suddenly, there was a loud retching sound from the en-suite bathroom. Sapphire rushed over and pulled the door open. ‘Simonetta, are you ill?’ She stopped dead in her tracks. There, hanging over the toilet, her hair in soggy rats’ tails, was Simonetta. She had her fingers down her throat and was so intent on making herself sick she didn’t see Sapphire for a few moments. Sapphire wanted to move, run away so Simonetta didn’t see her, but she found herself transfixed to the spot.
Then, as Simonetta’s skinny shoulders heaved again, she looked up and saw Sapphire. Her beautiful face was blotchy and red, mascara running down from her watery eyes. Sapphire remembered when she had bumped into Simonetta outside the toilet at Casa Eleganza and thought she had been crying. Had she been making herself sick? How long had this been going on?
‘Simonetta. I didn’t mean to—’ she started to say, but Simonetta cut her off.
‘Get out!’ she hissed, trying desperately to wipe the sick away from her face. ‘This is my bedroom, how dare you come in?’
‘I’m sorry, I—’
‘You will be if you don’t get out!’ she shrieked. ‘Leave me, GO!’
‘All right, all right!’ Sapphire said. Backing out, she turned and left the room quietly. The last thing she heard was another retch, followed closely by a sob.
Chapter forty-three
Simonetta found Sapphire the next morning, reading by the pool. Madison was nowhere to be seen and the place was quiet apart from them.
‘We need to talk,’ Simonetta announced. She sat down on the sunbed next to Sapphire. She looked pale, but beautiful, with a hint of defiance in the way she held her chin. ‘You will tell no one about last night, or you’ll be sorry.’
Sapphire put her book down. ‘Simonetta, I wouldn’t say anything anyway. You can trust me.’
In truth, Sapphire hadn’t stopped thinking about it since. She had been piecing together the evidence — the food thief Maggie had talked about in the kitchen at Casa Eleganza, the sweet wrappers Sapphire had found stuffed down the back of the sofa. Katie, a friend of hers at school, had had bulimia, and Sapphire knew how unhappy and ill she’d been. She hated the thought that Simonetta was going through this by all herself.
‘Trust you,’ Simonetta said with a mocking laugh. ‘There is little trust in this place, that is for sure.’ She shot Sapphire a challenging look. ‘So you have found out about my little Problem. That was what my mamma called it, “The Problem”. You know, even when I ended up in hospital, when the doctor told me if I carried on I could die, she told people I was just suffering from a stomach complaint.’ Simonetta smiled bitterly. ‘She didn’t understand, you see. I think it embarrassed her.’ She shook her head. ‘I’ve always been an embarrassment to my mother. Nothing I do is right.’
‘I’m sure that’s not true,’ Sapphire said.
Simonetta laughed emptily. ‘Sweet little Sapphire, always seeing the good in others! Sorry to shatter your illusions, but my mother criticised me from the day I was born.’ She began to mimic her mother’s voice. ‘Why are you so naughty, Simonetta? Why can’t you be like your brothers and sisters?’ Simonetta looked disgusted. ‘As if I want to be like them. Fat, lazy and tied to my mother’s apron-strings.’
‘When did all… this start?’ Sapphire asked gently.
Simonetta flashed her a look. ‘What, my bulimia? You can say it, you know.
My mother never would. She thought it was a dirty word, that she’d somehow failed to bring her family up properly.’
She stared moodily into the distance. ‘As if our family were anything! There were eight of us, in one small house, and my papa’ — she stopped, smiling scornfully — ‘at least the man I thought was my papa, was lazy and cruel and picked on me. Mamma worked hard to try and make things better — always in the kitchen, cooking, cooking, cooking. She thought as long as we sat down as a family at every meal, it meant everything was all right. But it wasn’t all right. She wasn’t all right and she tried to mask the problems with food. Always there was food! I started to copy her. I ate when I was happy, which wasn’t very often, when I was sad, lonely, stressed…
‘People had started to comment on how beautiful I was, how I could make it as a model. I was stuck between two worlds: one where I would fill myself with food to hide the pain, and another, where I would panic about not being thin enough to be a model. I had started to gain weight and had to do something about it.’
Sapphire felt terrible for Simonetta. No wonder she was such a defensive, shut-off character. ‘Did you tell your mum?’ she ventured.
‘Si. She found me one day in the toilet, just as you did. I think it frightened her, because she didn’t know how to handle it. She told me to stop being so stupid, that Papa would be back soon and she didn’t want him seeing it.’ Simonetta laughed harshly. ‘It didn’t even occur to her that she and Papa might have something to do with it.
‘It got better for a while,’ she continued. ‘When I left home and went to Rome, I felt more… in control of my life, like I was allowed to be me for the first time.’