by C. J. Anaya
“I knew right from the beginning, and I had even been instructed to eliminate Madelyn that very first night. She never intended to pursue a relationship with the bachelor of this show and had no idea that I was the one who would be starring in it before she signed on to do the show.”
“My plan was to go for a day, and then leave with the rest of my college education fully funded,” Midge explained.
“Well, obviously that isn’t what happened. Care to explain why Madelyn is still on the show, Brody?”
“As you are aware, I had the opportunity to get to know Madelyn before the show started, and no one can discount the moments we shared at Club 23. I’d already signed a contract with the network at that time and felt powerless to pursue anything with her. So naturally her arrival on set was a bit of a surprise, and I had no intention of eliminating her no matter what my instructions entailed.”
Les smiled at this bit of information. “And what was your reaction to this, Madelyn?”
“To be perfectly honest with you, I’m not quite comfortable with cameras pointed in my direction. The thought of being a permanent fixture on a reality TV series left me feeling very uncomfortable.”
“Well, that certainly never came through on screen.”
“Does that mean my acting skills are going to win me an Oscar, Les?”
The audience let out some amused chuckles, allowing Midge to take in a deep breath, relaxing her shoulders in the process.
“It took me a while to get used to the idea that someone as powerful, successful, and handsome as Brody Prescott might be genuinely interested in me, but once I realized how truly sincere his pursuit of me was, it didn’t take long before I decided that staying around and seeing what might happen between us was not only the smart thing to do, but what my heart dictated I absolutely had to do.”
“So even though you came on the show for an entirely different reason, you are staying for all of the right ones now.”
“Exactly.”
Midge turned her gaze to Brody and found him staring at her with a delicious look of hunger on his face. She thought it very lucky that they were surrounded by so many people. She never would have stood a chance against him with that look in his eye if they were the only two people in the room.
“Many media hounds have claimed that Madelyn’s intentions are underhanded. That she’s merely interested in my money. I want to make it clear that I always knew why she came on the show, but was determined to change her mind and convince her to give the idea of ‘us’ a chance. She’s never been anything but wonderfully candid in her thoughts and opinions where I’m concerned. So I hope that people will see Madelyn for the amazingly honest and forthright individual I know her to be.”
Midge gifted him a smile of thanks, allowing him to take her hand and lift it to his lips. His soft smile peeked out around her knuckles. The audience let out some ohhhs and ahhs in response to his sweet words.
Les’s own smile became indulgent as he allowed them their moment of affection.
“Now how many more contestants are left on the show, Brody?”
“I believe we are down to eleven,” he replied.
“And how do you feel about this, Madelyn?”
“Well, obviously I’m not thrilled about him dating other women while he is dating me, but he came on this show to find the best possible chance at true happiness, and if he needs to explore those options with other women then I would rather he do that now than always wonder if he might be missing out on something or someone when he is with me.”
It was one of the biggest lies she had ever told in her entire life, but she knew it was the response the viewers were looking for. In truth, the thought of Brody dating anyone but her made her teeth grind in outrage. Revealing that Brody had come on the show just for her would essentially end the series halfway through the season. She knew he had to continue on with this farce and make an effort to get to know the other contestants, but she couldn’t wait for all of the nonsense to be over so they could have a chance to date one another under normal circumstances where emotions and situations weren’t so overly charged.
“Brody, have you been able to decide who you’ll be eliminating during next weeks diamond ceremony.”
“Three more girls will be going home, Les, and when that happens I will wish them all the best of luck and hope that they find someone who truly makes them happy.”
“I take it that Madelyn is someone who will continue on through the next round?”
“While I’m not at liberty to confirm or deny that information, I’m hoping that my actions will speak louder than my lack of words.”
Brody stood and grabbed Midge by the hand before she had the presence of mind to feel embarrassed about what happened next.
With a wicked grin on his face he pulled her to him, and gave her a blush-worthy kiss.
The audience’s applause and approval proved that they had successfully weathered that potential scandal, but Midge barely registered the noise, too caught up in the delicious sensations his kisses evoked. It was a bold declaration of his feelings for her.
“Well, I guess that answers that question. Stay tuned for the next installment of Marry Your Billionaire as we discover just who’s going home and who is still in the running.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Felicia Davenport was sick to death of seeing Brody and Midge lip-locking on national television. She reached for something else to throw against the wall and realized that there wasn’t anything left in her suite that hadn’t been decimated through her rage-induced temper tantrum. The small hotel they were all huddling in until Midge and Brody finished their interview was absolutely awful, adding insult to what she perceived as one monumental injury after another.
“I am completely over your uncanny ability to fail at every single thing you do, Liz. It seems like every time you work to tear Brody and Madelyn apart they grow closer together, and the viewers love her even more now than they did before the interview.”
Liz winced and drew away as Felicia took a menacing step toward her.
“I had no idea she would actually tell the truth. Most people, when backed into a corner like that, will deny everything, making them appear guiltier in the process. All she had to do was deny it, and then I could have leaked that contract to the press as proof of her deception. Going for the truth was absolutely brilliant.”
“You should have seen that coming. Did you really think little miss, ‘I don’t have a police record, I don’t get drunk ever, I’m a virgin so stop undressing me with your eyes.’ was going to suddenly turn into someone with zero morals?”
“Everybody does what they can to save their own butts. Self-preservation is primal and instinctive no matter how high your ideals might be. Besides, I believe leaking this information to the press was your idea.”
Felicia chose to ignore that last comment. “Well, clearly we’ve run into the one human being on this planet who doesn’t operate like a normal self-obsessed individual. If she can’t be bought, blackmailed, or beaten into submission then its better if we completely erase her from the competition.”
Liz gave her an apprehensive stare. “What…what are you planning on doing?”
“I’m taking matters into my own hands, dear. Your employment with me is terminated. I want you eliminated by the next diamond ceremony.”
Liz held up her hands in alarm. “Now wait a second. You promised me no one was going to get hurt in this venture, and I’ve found another in with Madelyn. She’s nearly finished an entire manuscript that she’s been working on for months. I’ve created a virus and emailed it to her computer. Once she opens her mail, the virus will infiltrate her computer and give me access to her files. I can make a copy and wipe her hard drive so that she has nothing left. Do you really think she’ll continue to stay on the show if you threaten to print her own work under a pen name? There’s no way she’ll give up her shot at being an established author. It’s what she’s been working toward for six years.”
“I’ve already sent the virus, Felicia. Just give me this one chance to take care of it without things getting messy. I’ll film the encounter. We’ll get it all on tape, and prove to Brody that Midge is more concerned about her career than she is about whatever relationship she may have been willing to pursue with Brody.”
“One more chance, Liz, and then we do things my way.”
Liz swallowed hard, sweat lightly glistening down the side of her temple, causing Felicia to glare at her in revulsion.
“Get it set up as soon as possible and then go take a shower. Scrub your skin with lye soap if you have to because you stink of failure.”
Liz quickly grasped for the door knob behind her and left the room.
Midge sat in her suite, doing her best to recover from the emotional ride of the interview while being placed into the terrifying position of having to bare her soul before Brody, a studio audience, and national television. The person to blame for all of this, she knew, was Felicia Davenport. Midge’s trepidation where Felicia was concerned grew with every jab the woman took at her. She had to wonder just how far the crazy debutante would go in order to get Midge off the show, and without some kind of proof tying Felicia to the threats there was very little Midge could do except prepare herself for the next assault and hope she was able to gather more damning evidence in the process.
She grabbed her laptop, deciding to throw herself into the mind numbing world of romantic interludes and happily ever afters since her life at this point definitely needed more of that. A note popped up on her screen, giving her notice of a new email from her father which she found odd. He never emailed her. In fact, she was pretty sure he didn’t even know her email address. The subject heading read: About The Trust Fund. She rolled her eyes, hoping that he hadn’t found a way to renegotiate their terms with more strings attached.
She opened up the email only to find herself looking at a blank screen. She snickered as she realized her dad had emailed her before remembering to add whatever attachment he’d intended to send. The screen flickered for a moment, went black, and then came back on again.
Hmmm. Is the battery ready to die?
She quickly grabbed her cord from her bag and plugged it in. Confusion engulfed her as she noted that the battery for her laptop was fully charged. Shaking her head at its bizarre behavior, she began edits on the rough draft of her novel, but found it nearly impossible to concentrate as her worry concerning Felicia took precedence over everything else.
Closing her laptop in frustration she climbed into bed and considered knocking on Brody’s door to see if he was interested in a late night game of Phase10 or maybe Yahtzee. Anything to keep her mind from racing with worry. Of course, if she asked him to distract her he might take measures that would leave them both fighting not only for breath, but for a little bit of control.
Letting out a frustrated groan, Midge rolled over and grabbed her phone from the nightstand, uninterested in attempting to fall asleep while her mind leapt to all sorts of ugly scenarios Felicia might be planning to throw at her. She needed some answers and she needed them now. She quickly grabbed her phone and called Lisa.
The ringing on the line continued until Midge wondered if perhaps Lisa had put her phone on silent to avoid Midge’s poorly timed phone calls.
“What up, lady?” Lisa asked.
Midge wondered at her chipper tone, but decided it might be best not to know what she’d been up to all night.
“Things are beginning to get a little hairy over here. Have you found out anything new concerning a certain psycho contestant?”
“Well, I was going to save this for tomorrow considering how seriously creepy the information I have to relate is. I wouldn’t want to keep you from your sleep. I’m considerate like that.”
Midge ignored the verbal jab. “That bad, is it?”
“You have no idea. Felicia Davenport could school a mob boss or two. Of course, this is all speculation on my part since nothing has ever been pinned on her and certainly no charges were ever filed, but I’m assuming that’s simply because she’s fabulous at covering her tracks.”
“Just tell me,” Midge said with zero enthusiasm.
“She started collecting husbands, it would seem.”
“Husbands?”
“Well, more specifically their fortunes. This girl is a big spender. She can’t seem to live within her means, and her daddy cut her off at the age of twenty due to her elaborate spending and delinquent behavior. He had to pull her out of a few scrapes that would have landed her in jail for possession of cocaine.”
“She doesn’t look like a user. I don’t see any of the signs.” And boy did Midge know how to spot those signs. Her mother had given her one heck of an education in that department.
“Felicia’s careful. She wasn’t stupid enough to use the products she pushed.”
“Are you saying Felicia Davenport was some kind of drug dealer?”
“No, nothing so trashy. Her crimes are a bit more refined and sophisticated in nature. It was just a way for her to make some extra money so she could buy all of those ridiculous pairs of shoes she seems to think make her legs look good.”
“They do make her legs look good.”
“I know, but I’m trying to be disparaging here since physically there’s not a damn thing wrong with her.”
“Right. So what happened once she was cut off?”
“She got creative and started schmoozing married politicians. The first man she targeted was Senator Kincaid.”
“Neal Kincaid? Didn’t his wife pass away under mysterious circumstances several years back?”
“I’ll say. It was five years ago to be exact. Gloria Kincaid’s car brakes went out during her drive to visit her mother in Ohio. She took a sharp curve too quickly and as a result went right over a cliff.”
“That. Is. Awful. That must have been terrible for the senator.”
“He took it hard, I suppose, but he was having an affair with Felicia Davenport at the time so I’m sure he had her to turn to during his time of grief.” Lisa couldn’t hide the disgust in her voice, and Midge had to agree. How completely inappropriate to find solace in the arms of your mistress over your dead wife.
“It would seem that Felicia was tired of the affair remaining a secret, and since the wife was now out of the picture she wanted to make it public.”
“No way he’d go public. It would hurt his credibility with his voters.”
“Right? He’s in his fifties. Way too old for a twenty-year-old. Dating someone that young is going to raise several eyebrows, so he agrees to marry her. They got hitched about two months after the wife died.”
“Two months? How did marrying Felicia help him avoid a scandal, and why don’t I remember this? I don’t generally follow which senators are dating whom, but that would have made some headlines.”
“He agreed to marry her in private and allowed her to live her expensive lifestyle so long as she agreed to keep their marriage and interactions private. Put her up in a house in L.A. and kept her comfortable for a year, after which she promptly filed for divorce. Her lawyer swindled quite the alimony bundle for her, and she lived off of that until Kincaid died of a heart attack a few months later and willed everything to his illegitimate son whose mother was the senator’s secretary.”
“Sweet maple syrup. He had an illegitimate son?”
“Yep. Everything was kept quiet, but Felicia no longer had any monetary support, and clearly hadn’t seen another heir apparent in the mix. So she moves on to some corporate big wig with some well-played
investments in the stock market. Randall Ramsey.”
“Wait a second. Didn’t he and his entire family die in a house fire a few years back?”
“Three to be exact.”
“Felicia strikes again?”
“Someone’s catching on. Apparently his wife died several years ago and he’d been raising his two kids on his own ever since.”
“Yes, but didn’t he get remarried to a woman named Lilith?”
“Yep. Lilith Davenport. AKA Felicia Lilith Davenport.”
“Cheese and crackers!”
“You said it. They hadn’t been married for even three months before that house fire hit. Lilith Davenport happened to be away on business when Ramsey and his two teenagers burned to death in the inferno.”
“I can’t believe this. So she made certain to get rid of any possible heirs to his fortune in one fell swoop. This woman is heinous. How have the police not caught on to her?”
“She had a solid alibi, which means she wasn’t working alone. I doubt this woman ever does her own dirty work, but again she wasn’t counting on someone else getting the bulk of Ramsey’s fortune.”
“What? There was another illegitimate kid in the mix?”
“No. Apparently, Ramsey was a die-hard fan of donations and everything went to St. Jude’s and various other charities that preserve endangered species or work to solve world hunger. I guess he wanted his kids to earn what they lived on. Wasn’t planning on giving them a hand out. Good guy, really. Such a shame he burnt to a crisp.”
“Seriously? How tactful, Lisa.”
“You know what I can’t figure out? If she really is behind all of these deaths, and I think she is, she should have been smart enough to check the wills. These plans have been so manipulative and elaborate. Cunning, really, and I hate to give her credit for being smart when I’ll never physically be nearly as pretty as she is, but I have to wonder how she could overlook something as important as her husbands’ beneficiaries.”
“Maybe they changed their wills last minute. Any way to check on that?”