Jeopardy in High Heels (High Heels #12) - Gemma Halliday Page 0,71
much I doubted that when someone tapped me on the arm. I whirled around to find Angela standing there.
With a death look on her face.
"You! I know who you really are," she accused, narrowing her eyes at me.
I licked my lips. "Uh, you do?"
"You thought you were so clever, pretending to be from some charity. But Alex Trebek told me the truth."
"He did?" I glanced behind her to the unsuspecting Trebek, who looked immensely relieved to have shaken Angela off his arm.
"Yes, he did," she said. "You're Fernando's daughter."
I shot an uncertain glance at Dana. "Uh…actually, I'm his stepdaughter."
Angela gritted her teeth together. "So it's true. You lied to me when you visited me in my dressing room."
"No, we just—"
She held up a hand in the air to silence me. "How dare you. And don't tell me you're here to pay your respects to Dog and his family. I know what you're really doing."
"Uh, you do?" I said, taking a small step backwards.
"You're following me in an attempt to sabotage me! You know Fernando has no chance of winning against me. So, what, you're trying to get in my head? Scare me? Use some psych-out technique?"
I blinked at her, trying to figure out if she was for real. "It's a charity match," I pointed out.
She scoffed. "That's just the type of thing the lying daughter of a loser would say."
"Hey now, Fernando is not a loser," I said. I glossed over the lying part, as she was kind of on point with that one. "If I recall, Fernando beat you."
"By cheating!"
"Fernando did not cheat," I shot back, feeling anger on his behalf rise in my chest.
"Maddie," Dana said quietly, putting a hand on my arm.
"Oh, please." Angela snickered. "No one knows that much trivial information. And he's hardly even a real celebrity! It's obvious he had the answers fed to him."
"That is an outrageous lie," I said, feeling adrenaline build. "My stepfather doesn't cheat. He's one of the most honest people I know."
"Says you," she scoffed. "Anyway, I've already alerted the network to my suspicions. I doubt if they'll even let him play in the finale tonight."
"You wouldn't dare," I said, taking a step forward.
"Already done." She shot me a triumphant smile. "Mr. Blick over there was very interested to hear the allegations."
"You low-down, conniving—" I felt my body lunging toward her all on its own, my right hand cocking back, ready to strike.
"Maddie," Dana said again, tugging at my elbow in an effort to steer me away. "Don't stoop to her level. You know that Fernando can take her on tonight."
"That's because he's a cheater!" Angela yelled. "Cheater, cheater, but revenge is sweeter!"
A silence fell over the room. Everyone was looking at us, and my cheeks heated with embarrassment. I caught sight of Alex Trebek near the door, his expression full of disapproval. Tina hovered near him, one eye on us while the other one was focused on her phone screen, her fingers merrily typing away. If I turned out to be the front page story in tomorrow's L.A. Informer, she'd be having her own memorial service next.
"Just walk away," Dana said softly beside me, still tugging at my arm.
While everything in me wanted to smack that smirk off Angela Gold's face, I knew Dana was right. Instead, I turned and let Dana lead me quickly from the building, brushing right past Tina on the way. Marco trailed a step behind us, and I saw him mouth a Sorry to Alex Trebek as we pushed out into the sunshine.
I sucked in big gulps of air, the anger slow to leave my system.
"Ohmigosh, I thought that was going to come to blows," Marco said, popping the last of his cookie into his mouth.
I blew out a long breath. "I almost wish it had. Someone should knock some sense into her."
"She just knows she can't beat Fernando," Dana said.
I glanced up at her. "You think she really tried to have him disqualified?"
Dana shook her head. "Even if she did talk to Blick, I'm sure he took it for what it is."
"Her pathetic attempt to get rid of the competition," Marco said hotly.
"Right," Dana agreed. "Trust me—if Blick thinks Fernando will get him ratings tonight, there's no way he'd pull him from the show."
I nodded, feeling less than totally reassured.
"Tell you what," Dana said, eyeing me. "There's a restroom just down and to the left. Why don't you go freshen up while we get the car and bring it around, huh?"