of a small cafe. My cell buzzed in my pocket once more. I almost didn’t pick it up, but quickly hit answer when I saw the name on the screen.
“Hey there, how are things?”
“You are? That’s great.”
“You know I can’t say why.”
“Yeah me too.”
“Don’t worry I will, and take care, OK. Remember what I told you to do. I will call you again soon.”
Well that was certainly the reminder I needed right now. I couldn’t forget what was at stake here. I just need to get into the mindset that this was my last job. Then I will be gone, and I’ll make sure my new destination remains a secret. There was no way I was going to be put into this kind of position again. I would go past Kyser if I had to. I had been around longer than him anyway. There were people much higher on the ladder and with more power. I didn’t need his help to disappear. I did feel more comforted with the hope this would be over soon. I just had to do my best to try and relax while watching the Voltaggio kid.
I stared out of the car again, and saw that Samuel and some of his group had gone into another store called Ronoldo’s Menswear.
Oh great! Now I get to see him try on suits. What fun!
Chapter 11
Garden Gala
~ ~ ~
I stared at my reflection in the mirror, adjusting my dress. I was wearing a long black Alexander McQueen Grecian gown with bandage straps against the bodice. I was ready for my night out with Clint and Josh at the Lappell’s annual Garden Gala charity event.
As I studied myself, I started to wonder. I looked like Lenorah Rossi, but who was that really? She was supposed to be a determined and passionate artist who was loyal, strong and committed, and in love with Clint Weston, but everything I know I am, everything I thought I was, is being tested. There were secrets I knew were being kept from me. I had discovered a name with unlimited possibilities, but I had found nothing, not one piece of information, that would give me any insight into what the name could mean. I had spent the last few days researching the name ‘Devon Lockley’ and had come up with nothing. No public listings, pictures or articles. Nothing. It was as if the name didn’t exist in the real world, although, I knew it might be different in the world of the Lappell. Cracking that vault of secrets would be near impossible unless someone volunteered the information for me. Clint made it very clear that the secret to that name would not be accessible through him. I had other options though. I was about to attend a Lappell function tonight, so perhaps if I name dropped, I could possibly get lucky with a reaction or some kind of acknowledgement.
I heard Clint enter the bedroom as I stood in the bathroom. He was in my line of sight but was focused on adjusting his suit. I stared at him as he fixed his tie in the other room. He can’t possibly be hiding anything from me, can he? He feels so sincere in his devotion, so binding with his love. It was hard for me to believe that he would do anything to hurt me again. But he had hurt me once before, I reminded myself. That awful lie almost broke me into a million pieces back in Morewell. We didn’t have the strongest start to our relationship, but Clint had made a part of me come to life. It was a new side to me that had embraced love and all its forms. Clint wasn’t perfect and neither was I, but we felt perfect for each other and that was what I was using to guide me in my decisions. However, with my recent brushes with cheating on Clint and our fights, feeling perfect for each other was fast becoming a past memory. I wasn’t sure what was real any more.
Clint finished adjusting his tie and then turned and smiled at me, but not just a sweet smile, the kind of smile that was warm and looked at me as if he saw his whole future. No, I’m being stupid. I’m chasing a lie that doesn’t exist. I’m wasting time with this ridiculous idea that Clint is doing something behind my back. It was about time I stopped these childish insecurities and weird feelings I