The Billionaire’s Bun In Her Oven - Ellie Rowe Page 0,64

the fuck is it doing under your station, huh?” I demand.

Her nostrils flare, and she looks helplessly at the camera. I hear footsteps and know the execs have scrambled in. Too late, assholes, I think as I stare her down. Nadia’s face changes from fear to concern.

“Cynthia, is this how low you have to stoop?” she asks, putting an offended hand to her chest.

“What?”

“You’d really plant your own ingredients under my station, just to make it seem like I tried to cheat?” My mouth opens in fury, and she shakes her head like a disappointed mother. “I’m surprised at you. Cynthia, you’ve got to believe in yourself, you don’t need all this.”

She’s completely turned the tables on me. I hold my ground, but I’m at a loss for words.

“Tell the truth,” I finally say, keeping her gaze. She crosses her arms, sighing mournfully. I’m losing them. She’s got her claws so hooked into this show, they’ll believe her even with the evidence staring them in the face! Just as I’m about to despair, I hear a commotion behind me.

Whipping around, I see Stephen barreling toward the kitchen hollering for Paulie and Chase.

“Guys, get out here now!” he hollers and Paulie and Chase burst from the sound room, their hands full of cords and electronics, with a speaker in tow. Kenny tries to stop them, but Stephen puts out a hand.

“What is this?” I ask incredulously.

“It’s a recording,” Chase says proudly.

“A recording from Nadia’s mic,” Paulie finishes, blowing a kiss at Nadia.

“Let’s have a listen, shall we?” Stephen smiles as Chase powers up the sound.

Forty-Eight

Stephen

As the recorded conversation between Nadia and the execs plays – and goes out live to millions of viewers – the set becomes a silent ballet of organized chaos.

After the first wave of disbelief and intrigue passes over everyone, Kenny begins to mutely, but furiously set the crew into action. He points to the cameramen to get new angles on everyone to more precisely capture the drama that’s unfolding.

Rachna comes racing toward set, stopping just short of the bright lights. Fear and anger vie for supremacy on her face. She waves to get Kenny’s attention, then draws her hand across her neck in a ‘cut it’ motion.

Kenny shakes his head ‘no’, then gives me a wink.

As the recording plays, and the depth of the plot against Cynthia is revealed, I become increasingly furious. I knew Nadia was a lying, cheating piece of shit stuffed into a tacky, too-tight dress. I knew she was trying to cozy up to Rachna, and for her part, I knew Rachna was using editing to manipulate Cynthia’s image for the sake of ratings.

But what I didn’t realize was just how aligned they all were. I mean, it’s a goddamn conspiracy.

The recording finally ends. A rich, heavy silence falls across the set.

“Well, that’s pretty damning,” I say into the camera that’s focused on me.

I glance toward Nadia. She stands frozen in place, eyes on the stolen ingredients lying before her. Her bottom lip trembles.

“Here’s the thing, folks,” I say, turning back to the cameras. “I had no idea just how fucked up this whole thing was.”

The stage manager gasps, Chase’s jaw drops, and Paulie smiles with amused shock. Yeah, I just dropped an f-bomb on live, family TV. And I don’t give a shit.

I keep talking into the camera. “You all already know that Nadia’s a piece of work – oh, yeah, I said that about her, not Cynthia. But let me now introduce you to her co-conspirator, my executive producer, Rachna.”

Kenny quickly grabs a camera and trains it on a shocked Rachna. God bless Kenny. I could kiss him. Maybe I will when the show wraps.

“So, Rachna. What do you have to say for yourself?” I ask.

“This was… I…” Rachna stutters. Then she quickly regains her cool. “Stephen, you got just a little bit ahead of us! We were planning on outing Nadia the whole time. It was going to be great drama. Ha, ha, I guess it still is!” She forces a laugh for the cameras.

“Oh, bullshit!” Nadia suddenly shouts. “You knew what I was doing the whole time and you liked it! I never could have cheated like I did if it weren’t for your help!”

“All right, fine,” Rachna confesses. “But we had nothing to do with what started this whole thing! We had nothing to do with the rats!”

At the mention of the rats, Nadia begins to unravel. She literally pulls at her hair as she screeches, “Yes, I