Secrets and Seductions

by Francine Pascal

  To Nicole Pascal Johansson

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Lila Fowler Matthews thought she’d died and gone to heaven. She sat in the middle of her enormous, expensively furnished living room while her husband, Ken, gently rubbed her feet. Her stylist rolled in another full rack of designer maternity wear for her to try on. True Housewives cameras sat strategically in all the corners, filming her every move, and #lilasbaby and #lilafowler had been trending on Twitter all day. Lila was officially a star.

  “I love this,” Lila murmured. She didn’t know what she loved more: her husband at her feet or the four cameras in her living room that would beam her face out to all her adoring fans. Ever since Ashley, her rival on the show, had tried to punch her on television, everyone—even Marina, who’d been hedging her bets—was fully on Lila’s side. Ashley Morgan had become the most hated housewife in America.

  And Lila loved every second of it. Her inner neglected fourteen-year-old, desperate for attention from her rich but always distant daddy, was finally getting the love she so badly needed.

  “I love you, too, sweetheart,” Ken said, mishearing her. He gave her a goofy, love-struck smile. “Does this help with the morning sickness?”

  “Sure does, honey.” Lila smiled at him and he grinned back. God, but he was sweet. Too sweet for his own good. Lila patted his head gently, like she would a good lap dog.

  “How about this dress?” asked the stylist as she held up an original Jen Kao. The bright colors popped, and so did the flattering A-line. “It’s not technically maternity, but it will grow with you.”

  Lila nodded. One almost-maternity dress was as good as the next. She had no intention of actually growing into anything. Her belly was going to stay nice and flat, thank you. She had three more weeks before she officially hit twelve weeks. She had it all planned: She would tragically miscarry her fictional baby before she hit the safety of the second trimester.

  In some ways, she was looking forward to that day. Granted, she’d lose some things, like the couture maternity wear and the foot rubs. But she also wouldn’t have to stick her finger down her throat every day to fake morning sickness. That would be a relief.

  “I still think it’s a terrible idea,” Jessica had said just that morning on the phone before the camera crew had arrived.

  “You’re just jealous because my idea is actually working.” Lila could hear the envy in Jessica’s voice. Lila had known Jessica most of her life, and she knew just how much she hated to lose. “Ken and I are like newlyweds—better than newlyweds. He can’t keep his hands off me!”

  And Jessica knew that Lila never could pass up an opportunity to gloat. Things had fallen apart with Todd and Jessica when Jessica had found Sarah Miller wearing her barely there lingerie at his place.

  “Right.” Jessica sighed. “I just think maybe this whole plan is going to end badly. Remember when you tried shoplifting in high school?”

  Lila did recall her shoplifting phase. It had been a desperate attempt to get her father’s attention.

  “But it worked,” Lila said. “Dad started hanging out with me more.”

  “For maybe a week,” Jessica said. “Then he went right back to all those business trips he was always taking.”

  “Whatever. You’re just upset because you got blamed for my shoplifting at first.” It was true. Lila, who didn’t really need any of the things she’d stolen, had generously “given” them to Jessica, which led the police to think she was suspect number one. Eventually, Lila had been the one who’d had to face police charges, though.

  “No, I’m just telling you this plan of yours won’t work. You can’t trick Ken into loving you.”

  “This from the person who tried to trick Todd into coming back.”

  “I didn’t trick him!”

  “No, you just let him think you didn’t sleep with Liam. And that you were giving up your job.”

  “I did give up my job.”

  “And you slept with Liam.” Lila couldn’t quite keep the smugness from her voice. “And you’re already back at your job. You went back to work practically right after Todd left. So who’s the scammer now?”

  “Thanks for rubbing it in.”

  In any other friendship, this would have been enough to do big damage, but Jessica and Lila had been doing this kind of one-upmanship since grade school and were still best friends. They were so much alike they didn’t even notice each other’s faults. “Look,” Jessica said, “I’m just trying to help you. This is going to backfire. Trust me, I know.”

  “Please. What do you know, anyway?” After all, Lila had her husband. Jessica didn’t. Who was the expert?

  Jessica sighed. She wanted to tell her friend that this was no way to get love. Jessica knew Lila well. Her dad had always thrown money her way instead of love and now, as an adult, Lila didn’t understand how love really worked. Jessica had been a lot like her—before she’d fallen for Todd. Now she knew what love was. True love wasn’t something you could buy or manipulate or fake.

  “I know you’re going to do this anyway, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Jessica said.

  Lila spent the next two weeks as the blissful, pregnant star everyone adored. She waded through dozens of presents fans had sent in. She had enough onesies to stock a baby boutique. Of course, none of them were remotely close to her style. Yet on some level it was sweet.

  Still, Lila was secretly glad her fake baby would never have to wear them.

  Lila planned out the exact moment when she’d have her miscarriage. She would do it on television, at Ashley Morgan’s formal dinner party.

  The party was Ashley’s way of offering an olive branch to Lila. Not that Ashley wanted to be friends, but she really had no choice. For weeks, Ashley had been vilified everywhere, and she was smart enough to know when she’d been beaten. If she didn’t at least try to make amends, she’d be edited to look like the Evil Housewife for the remainder of the season.

  Lila couldn’t have planned a more perfect setting for her fake emergency. What better way to make sure her rival never recovered her standing on the show?

  Lila arrived with Ken on her arm for the seven-course, black-tie dinner wearing a demure but elegant silver knee-length gown. Ever since she’d started pretending to be pregnant, she’d ditched the microminis. After all, a mom-to-be shouldn’t show that much leg.

  Lila waited until all the other Housewives had arrived and were seated at the table and all the cameras were in place. Instantly, the stars seemed aligned in her favor when Ashley’s butler set down a small glass in front of Ashley filled with ceviche.

  Anybody who knew anything about pregnancy knew that expectant mothers shouldn’t eat raw fish.

  Lila was going to play this one straight to the cameras. She took her small cocktail fork and demurely began to eat the fish.

  Then, after she’d eaten about four bites, she spit it out into her napkin.

  “Ashley…is this…raw?” Lila hit the perfect note of horror.

  Ashley, none the wiser, said, “Of course. Don’t you like it?”

  “I’m not supposed to eat that!” Lila dropped her fork. “Are you trying to kill my baby?”

  “No, of course not! I…”

  Lila pushed back her chair and stood. Ken hopped up beside her. “Are you okay, honey?” he asked, gently putting his arm around her, his fa
ce wrinkled in concern.

  “No. I’m not okay. That fish…” Lila made her voice pitch higher and took her breath as dramatic gasps.

  “Oh, no!” Devone exclaimed, glancing at Lila with concern.

  “Lila, just calm down. I’m sure it’s fine.” Ashley stood and walked toward Lila.

  Lila felt the concerned eyes of the True Housewives cast on her. They were holding their breath in anticipation. She was about to deliver on the drama they and their record-breaking audience had tuned in to see.

  “Stay away from me!” Lila screeched.

  “Honey, calm down. It’ll be fine.” Ken put a reassuring arm around her.

  “Ken, take me home. I need to get out of here.” Lila’s voice was pitch-perfect new-mom panic. She’d nailed it.

  Ken left to fetch the limo while Ashley sent Lila a look that should’ve killed her.

  “It wasn’t on purpose, Lila,” Ashley said.

  “Don’t lie to me,” Lila said. “I only hope you haven’t done anything to harm the baby.”

  “Take a deep breath, Lila,” Devone said. “One bite probably isn’t going to do anything.”

  “Just give my baby two heads or something!” Lila cried.

  “No, that would be your DNA,” muttered Ashley under her breath but loud enough for the microphones to pick up.

  “What did you say?” Lila took a step forward, her eyes blazing. “You dare insult me after you try this raw fish stunt on top of trying to steal my husband? You—”

  “Whoa,” Devone said, standing. “Lila, calm down. Getting this upset isn’t good for the baby, either.”

  “Seriously,” Marina agreed. “High blood pressure isn’t good.”

  “I wouldn’t be upset if it weren’t for her!” Lila felt Devone’s hand come up to her shoulder, preventing her from moving forward. She took a few ragged breaths to show just how upset she was and made sure her hands shook. Make this look good, she thought.

  Ken came rushing in then, concern on his face. “Limo’s here, honey. Let’s go.”

  Lila cast one more dramatic look in Ashley’s direction, a glance she was sure would be played and replayed in upcoming promos, and stalked out of the house without another word. On the limo ride home, Lila didn’t calm down. She let herself go, shouting and screaming and eventually, as Ken tried desperately to calm her, she wound up crying hysterical tears, burying her face in Ken’s chest. Too bad this wasn’t for a scripted show. Her performance was Emmy worthy.

  The cameraman in the backseat of the limo caught everything, of course, even the ragged hiccups and the point when Lila faked hyperventilating.

  “Ken, I just…I don’t think I can handle it. How could you have even thought of leaving me for her? You know how much pain that caused me!”

  “She doesn’t mean anything to me,” Ken said quickly. “It was all a terrible mistake, Lila. I love you. We’re going to have a family together and that makes me the happiest man in the world.”

  Lila smiled at him through her tears. “I don’t blame you at all, honey. I blame her. It was her plan from the beginning. She schemed and lied to get you.”

  Ken nodded in agreement and pulled her into a hug again.

  The cameraman followed them inside the house. This, of course, was too good to miss. Ken kept murmuring, “It’s okay, honey. It’ll be okay,” over and over into her hair.

  He was so tender, so caring, that Lila almost felt bad about what she was about to do. Almost.

  After Ken had gotten her a cup of warm herbal tea and made her comfortable on the couch, shrouding her in an expensive cashmere afghan, Lila knew it was her time.

  “Oh,” she began, a little peep, as she put down her cup. She shrugged off the blanket, and put a little hand over her stomach. “Ow.”

  “Honey?” Ken asked. “You okay?”

  “Um…I think so.” Lila put on her best game face. Then she faked another cramp. “Oh…” She groaned, holding her stomach. “Oh, that one hurt.”

  “What is it?”

  “I don’t know.” She could feel the camera lens focus on her face, catching every expression. She made sure to show them all: pain, concern, confusion and then…fear. “Ohhhh!” she cried again, doubling over this time. “Oh, no. What…what is happening?”

  “Honey?” Ken rushed over.

  “No…No…Can’t be…” Lila stood and ran to the bathroom. She slammed the door behind her, locking it. This part, Ken didn’t need to see.

  “Honey! Honey, let me in!” Ken cried, banging at the door.

  “Oh, God!” Lila shouted through the door, loud enough for the microphones to hear.

  After this, Lila thought, Ashley wouldn’t be able to show her face anywhere. Lila knew how the Twitterverse worked, and she’d just given True Housewives of Sweet Valley fans the chance to argue conspiracy around the miscarriage. Was it the ceviche? Maybe that was too farfetched. But Ashley’s insult and the stress of everything, including Ashley scheming to steal Ken, easily could have pushed poor, delicate Lila to the brink.

  In any case, all theories pointed right back to Ashley.

  It was almost too perfect.

  Chapter Two

  Caroline Pearce, Sweet Valley’s reigning gossip, loved nothing better than to be the bearer of bad news. Preferably bad, juicy news.

  Unfortunately, she’d not found any big scoops lately. In recent days, her blog had been decidedly boring. No great scandals, nobody calling her in tears. Readership had been steadily dropping since her last big coup: the bombshell news of Jessica Wakefield and Liam O’Connor’s steamy hotel tryst. She’d heard the blog entry, which she’d kindly forwarded to Todd because that’s what friends do, had stopped cold any hope of reconciliation between the unhappy couple.

  Some people might have felt bad about that, but not Caroline. The truth will set you free, right? She was only doing her duty as a friend. Reporting the truth—give or take a few white lies here and there for the sake of spicing up a good story—was her reason for getting up in the morning.

  Caroline knew of one surefire place to get some dirt on the residents of Sweet Valley: her OB-GYN’s office.

  Everyone Caroline knew who had been anybody at Sweet Valley High used Enid Rollins. She was considered the area’s top OB-GYN, and she wouldn’t let you forget it, either. Everyone went to see her: Lila Fowler, Jessica, even Elizabeth, who was not an Enid fan at the moment. Enid used to be Elizabeth’s best friend, before she became the self-involved snob no one could stand.

  “Caroline Pearce?” called the nurse, a tall forty-something woman with a no-nonsense salt-and-pepper bob.

  “Where’s Alese?” Caroline asked as she put down her magazine and stood. Alese was Enid’s regular nurse.

  Alese had been a great source for gossip. She was always quick to pick up the phone when a new client came in. She’d tell Caroline—anonymously, of course.

  “She doesn’t work here anymore,” said the new nurse curtly. “My name is Leslie.”

  Caroline tried to mask her disappointment as she attempted to chat up Leslie on the way to the exam room. Unfortunately, she got nowhere. Caroline frowned even as Leslie left and Enid came bustling in.

  “Oh, it’s you.” Enid’s tone sounded snide and cold as she came through the door, wearing her white doctor’s coat. Well, I guess she hasn’t forgotten starring in my blog, Caroline thought. A few months earlier, Enid had been having an affair with Brad Jones, the married pool salesman. That had been quite the scandal then, but it had been a couple of months. Caroline had thought Enid would have forgiven and forgotten by now.

  “Hi, Enid. Great to see you,” she said, ignoring the cold reception.

  Nothing irked Enid more than being called by her first name instead of Dr. Rollins. And that held true even for the people she’d gone to school with, whom, of course, she called by first name.

  Enid flipped through Caroline’s medical file.

  “Have you been to your oncologist this year?”

  �
�I’m still in remission,” Caroline said, smiling. Even cancer was no match for Caroline. While other people might have reevaluated their life choices after facing down death, surviving only made Caroline more certain than ever before that running her gossip blog was what she was meant to do. After all, in it she could get back at all those A-list people in high school who had ignored her when all she desperately wanted was a little bit of attention. Now they were frantically sucking up to little old D-list Caroline and, boy, was she loving it.

  “Good,” Enid said, but she didn’t quite sound like she meant it.

  “So, is Lila Fowler okay?” Caroline asked.

  “Why wouldn’t she be?”

  “Well, with the miscarriage and all…”

  “Miscarriage? What are you talking about?” Enid glanced up from her chart.

  “You don’t watch True Housewives?”

  “That garbage?” Enid sniffed. “Of course not.”

  “But I just assumed you knew about Lila’s pregnancy anyway. I mean, what was she…like eleven weeks along when she miscarried?”

  “What? That’s ridiculous. I just saw her not too long ago and she wasn’t pregnant! She—” Enid stopped midsentence, realizing she’d accidentally blurted out confidential patient information. “Caroline, you better keep that to yourself.”

  “Who me? Of course. My lips are sealed.” Caroline couldn’t help smirking.

  Enid went pale, understanding the enormity of her mistake.

  “I mean it, Caroline! You can’t breathe a word of this. If you even mention this in your blog…”

  “Enid, I promise I won’t put this in my blog.” This news is much too big for my little blog anyway, Caroline thought. This was national news, at minimum. TMZ would pay her big bucks for this little tidbit. She felt giddy as she thought about auctioning the news to the highest bidder.

  The truth wasn’t going to set her free; it was going to make her rich.