Ch. 246..250: Fatal Kiss Of The Vampire Chapter 246-250
Chapter 246: I Do Love You
The time that Ethan had arrived at the hotel, he reviewed the security cameras in his search for Kylie, and it wasn’t long before he located her. He had seen Kylie throw up all over at Cliff, and then he had seen Cliff check into a room on the first floor with Kylie in his arms.
Ethan had planned to go straight to the room and bring Kylie away quietly, but the media had rushed in behind him. He knocked hard on the door to the room that Cliff had rented and was annoyed that Cliff had turned him away. In fact, he was so annoyed that he kicked the door down and barged right in.
When Cliff had peeked into the bathroom, he had assumed that Kylie was sleeping, but she had only been playing possum. She had even taken off all of her clothes so that her act would be more believable. As the events unfurled in the hotel around her, she had known that she was too drunk to handle any kind of confrontation, so she had kept her eyes closed and tried her best to remain still.
That being said, she heard every word of every conversation that transpired.
When Ethan barged into the room, the first thing he’d seen was Cliff, but the first thing he’d paid attention to was Kylie’s clothes. They were strewn all around the room, and even though she had a quilt wrapped around her, he could see plainly that she was naked.
Seeing this, he clenched his fists in a slow but forceful way that caused his knuckles to crack open and his palms to bleed.
Ethan looked at the few remaining reporters, and in a very calm tone of voice, he told them that if they didn’t leave, he would kick the shit out of each and every one of them. Just looking at him, they could tell that he was serious, and they scurried away. Once they were gone, Ethan got a housecoat and put Kylie into it.
Kylie was partially dressed when she opened her eyes. Because of the alcohol, her vision was blurry. All she could recognize was shapes and colors. She looked at Ethan and said, “Please turn on the air conditioner. I am too hot.”
Ethan frowned, set her down, and went to look at the thermostat. When he returned, he laid her back on the bed and asked her if she knew who he was.
At first, she was going to name Cliff because he was the one who’d brought her to the room, but then she recognized that the voice belonged to Ethan. “My love,” she sighed. “It is you, Ethan.
“Everything that went wrong tonight though,” she continued, “was your fault. The dress that you bought for me was the exact same design as the one that the main actress was wearing. It caused a lot of problems; it is no wonder that I’ve finished the evening by getting drunk!”
Kylie began to cry. She hit Ethan in the chest and said, “You don’t love me…”
Ethan caught her hands and said, “I do love you, so get that thought out of your head. But let’s forget about that for a moment. The reporters are still right outside. When you came to this room, was there a plan in place to get out.”
Kylie sobbed, and she said, “I don’t know what to do. I have no plan.”
She turned to Cliff, who was curled up in an armchair and said, “He was the one who brought me here. He must have a plan!”
Cliff shrugged, and he said, “Bringing you here wasn’t part of some elaborate scheme. I was simply trying to protect you.”
“I have an idea,” Kylie shouted happily. “Why don’t we send Cliff out and we can just stay here and enjoy ourselves until the paparazzi get bored and wander away. I am sure that they will only be willing to camp out in the hallway for so long. Furthermore, the hotel is a five-star hotel, and they will only allow their loitering for so long. Eventually, the staff will call the police.”
Hearing her idea, Cliff said, “Your idea is genius,” and he slipped out the door.
Once Cliff was gone, Ethan looked at her and said, “It’s a good idea, but what if they never leave? What if they just switch off with other reporters? What would we do then? If needed, I could miss one day of work, but not a day more than that!”
“I don’t know,” Kylie replied dismally. “I suppose that I hadn’t thought my plan through…”
“Whatever we do, before we do it, you need to sober up,” Ethan said. “You need to take a nap. If I figure something out before midnight, I will wake you up. If not, then I will climb into bed with you, and we can talk about it in the morning.”
Their room was on the twenty-sixth floor, and Ethan had Kylie on his back as they descended from their open window. Ethan was letting them down, hand over hand, on a rope made of bedsheets. Though the wind wasn’t chilly, it was fierce. It bashed against them as it howled. Kylie closed her eyes and cried, “I don’t want to die…”
“Relax,” Ethan laughed. “If you don’t want to die, you need to relax.”
Kylie looked down, and she was so dizzy that her body froze solid, and her foot caught a pipe. A sharp pain spread outwards, and she let go – and the ground began to race towards her at a helter-skelter speed. She tried to count the windows, but they went by in a flash. She was going too fast.
Senselessly, she shrieked, “E-I-E-I-O,” and then everything turned white.
“Wake up,” Ethan cried as he shook her. “You’re having a nightmare!”
Kylie opened her eyes and sat up. She could see right away that it had been a dream, but she was hyperventilating.
“What did you dream about?” Ethan wondered.
Kylie said, “I dreamt that I was falling.”
“That is a curious dream; almost a premonition,” Ethan laughed. “I noticed that there aren’t any reporters outside of our window. Since we are only on the first floor, it will be easy to jump out of the window and make a run for the car.
Dora looked at Cliff and asked him if Mr. Parker had been there. Cliff frowned. He didn’t know how much she knew about the relationship between Kylie and Ethan, so he decided to tell her as little as he could. “I ran into Mr. Parker downstairs,” he said. “I thought he was there to talk business with you, so I didn’t bother with the 21 questions. I’m sorry if I let you down, but I have to go now.”
Cliff turned, got into the nanny van with his assistant, and drove away.
Dora bit her lips lightly. She couldn’t figure out what was going on, and it was getting frustrating. As far as she knew, Ethan was still looking for Kylie, but she hadn’t seen him recently. She had thought that Kylie and Cliff might have been together, but Cliff had left alone – it made no sense.
Dora wanted to see the security cameras, but the man at reception wouldn’t allow her. She demanded to see the manager, but he wouldn’t let her either. He said, “We promise our guests privacy, and that is what we give them.”
Dora walked away, shocked, and annoyed. She wasn’t used to not getting her way. Dora’s heart was beating faster and faster, and she was gasping for breath.
Not knowing what else to do, it occurred to her that she may as well apologize to Ethan.
***
One of Ethan’s assistants, Elliot, greeted Dora outside his office and said, “Miss Hilton, what great timing! Lord Ethan was just talking about you.”
Dora nodded and followed Elliot, not knowing what was going to happen next.
Ethan was sitting on a leather couch in his office. There was a bottle of wine on the table in front of him. His body was relaxed, and Dora could see that he was enjoying himself. He pointed to a less comfortable chair and ordered Dora to sit down.
Dora sat and looked over at Ethan. “What can I do for you?” She wondered.
Ethan smiled curiously. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that question?” he wondered. “I did not call you to me. Rather, you have sought an audience with me – so, what do you want?”
Dora suddenly froze, and her face turned cherry red, Ethan motioned for Elliot to pour her a glass of wine. Once it was in front of her, he told her to drink. “It is the queen’s wine,” he told her. “Perhaps it will ease your nerves…”
Ethan raised his glass and said, “This toast is for you. You deserve it.”
Hearing these words, Dora’s arms broke out in gooseflesh. She raised the wine glass, took a look at it, and put it down.
Ethan looked her in the eyes, and he frowned at her. “My wine is not good enough for you,” he sighed. “You think I owe you something because of that time that you saved me, but, by my tally, we are Even Stephens. In honor of what you did, though, I continue to treat you with respect but, every time I see you, I am reminded of that terrible memory…”
Dora looked at him, curiously and said, “I don’t understand what you are saying.”
Dora didn’t know how, but she assumed that Ethan was somehow testing her – and it was one test that she didn’t want to fail.
Chapter 247: I’ve Lost Everything
Dora looked at Ethan and said, “I know that Kylie means everything to you; that no one is more important to you than she is. You want to help her be popular; that is obvious, and I was the one who contacted Director Miller, which is why things are going so well for her at the moment.”
Hearing this, tears came to Ethan’s eyes, and Dora reached forward with a kerchief to wipe them. “My true intention was to gift her with the most beautiful dress imaginable,” she said. “I had no way of knowing that Sally would wear its twin. Nevertheless, if you see fit to punish me, I will not fight you.”
Ethan drank up the rest of the wine in his glass and placed it on the table. He stared at Dora with a cold look. “What then?” he wondered.
Dora said, “What do you mean?”
“What would be the point in punishing you?” he laughed. “Imagine if I went around punishing every person with whom there was a mistake or misunderstanding!”
Dora laughed. “I suppose so,” she laughed.
“What about this evening?” Ethan wondered. “Tell me more.”
“You know how Khloe Finch doesn’t get along with Kylie,” Dora began. “Well, she really set Kylie up this time. None of this could have happened without her. If anyone needs punishment, it is her!”
“So be it,” Ethan roared as he pounded his fist on the table beside him. He looked at his assistant and said, “Get on the phone. I want Khloe Black Balled from the industry effective today. Let it be known that she isn’t even good enough to wash the toilets of the stars!”
Ethan finally turned back to Dora and said, “You can leave now. Take the wine, though. It is expensive, and it was poured for you. It would be bad luck for you to walk away from it.”
Dora’s face filled with amazement. “I can take this?” she gasped. “Thank you so much, Lord Ethan.”
Dora took the glass of wine in hand and fondled it with care.
“In the future,” Ethan said, “please protect Dora from herself. I do not like her drinking. Do we understand each other?”
Dora nodded and agreed that they did. It was ironic, though, that after everything, she had been tasked with protecting Kylie.
Once Dora was gone, Elliot walked into Ethan’s office. “Lord Ethan,” he said, “here are all the videos from the security cameras.”
There was a CD in Elliot’s hands. He had had someone collect useful information and organized it. Ethan nodded to the DVD player and said, “Play it.”
Elliot put the CD into the player and pressed the play button. Ethan frowned as he watched it. There was no audio on the video, so there was no way of truly knowing if what Dora had said was true. After watching the video three times, Elliot turned to Ethan and said, “Lord Ethan, do we need to teach Miss Hilton a lesson?”
Ethan thought about it for a second and said, “At the time, discretion is our friend. We will let her think that she is safe while we watch to see what she does next.”
***
By the time Ethan climbed into bed, Kylie was asleep. He picked up her phone and saw that her batteries had died. He chuckled. She must have been very tired. He plugged it in for her, and like magic, more than a dozen notifications popped up. One of them, he noticed, was from Aiden. He was trying to determine what that meant when the phone buzzed. He looked at the Caller ID and saw that it was Aiden.
He pressed the green button to accept the call, but he remained silent.
Aiden said, “Kylie, Kylie, I’ve lost everything… The company has suspended me, and an investigation is on its way…”
“Fuck!” he screamed. “They say that I’ve accepted bribes. Fuck them! I know it’s Ethan who set me up. Even though there is nothing between us, he is so jealous that he can’t rest until he’s destroyed my life. Please help me. I don’t deserve this.”
Ethan sneered but remained silent.
Aiden felt the coldness through the phone. He went silent for a moment, and then he said, “Is everything okay? Kylie? Is that you?”
“She’s asleep now,” Ethan hissed. He stepped out of the room and said, “Aiden Parker; listen to me. I don’t want to get revenge on you or set you up. You are nothing to me, so quit acting paranoid. It is pathetic.”
“What do you mean?” Aiden gasped.
“The one who wants to set you up and ruin you,” Ethan replied, “is your father. He has even been with your girlfriends, cheating on your mother!”
“Impossible!” Aiden shouted.
“Believe it or not,” Ethan laughed. “It doesn’t matter to me. Goodnight. Next time, don’t call in the middle of the night. I hate being woken up for no reason!”
Ethan canceled the call and shut down Kylie’s phone.
Aiden stumbled through his home, ran to Matthew’s room, and kicked the door open. Taylor, who was lying in bed beside Matthew, sat up and shouted, “Aiden, what is going on? Why are you so drunk?”
Matthew sat up after Taylor, the bed shifted, and Taylor fell to the floor as soon as she hit the floor, her wrist slit open. Blood splashed the floor, and she screamed. Aiden ignored Taylor, who was shouting loudly. He pulled Matthew out of bed and punched him in the face.
Matthew brought his hand to his face and touched his split lip. It was bleeding, and he was in complete shock. “What’s going on?” he hissed. “Are you nuts?! Don’t you know that it is unacceptable for a dad to be punched in the face by his son?”
“If you were a better father,” Aiden shouted, “then perhaps I would give you the respect that a father deserves. You are no father, though. You are an animal!”
Taylor struggled to her feet. She scowled at Aiden and said, “Watch your tone and watch your language! He is your dad! There is nothing you can say to change that!”
Aiden looked Taylor in the eyes and said, “He ceased being my father on the day that he slept with my girl, and he has had this coming ever since that day!”
Hearing this, Taylor’s jaw nearly hit the floor. She turned to Matthew and said, “Is this true?”
Matthew met his eyes and said, “It is what it is. Even if I wanted to go back in time and undo what I did, I cannot. Furthermore, since I know that you won’t forgive me, there is no point in pretending to be sorry. You’ve punched me, and I supposed that I had it coming. If you do it again, though, I will hit you back.”
Aiden couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had come in the way that he had as a kind of test, one that he hadn’t expected his father to fail. Taylor turned to Matthew and said, “Aiden is your only son. How could you treat him this way? How could you treat me this way?”
“What do you expect?” Matthew laughed. “All my life, I’ve taken what I want, and the two of you have always had the best because of it. Don’t act so hypocritically. My health is not good. One day I will be gone, and this will all be yours – so turn those frowns upside down and calm your tits!”
Matthew got out of bed and walked out the door. He had expended all of his patients.
Not knowing what else to say, Aiden watched him go.
Taylor felt terrible as well, but she knew her husband was right. He would be dead soon, and then everything that was his would be theirs. She turned to Aiden and said, “Put this out of your mind. Go to sleep. I will figure out a way for you to reduce the pain in your heart.”
Aiden looked at his mother. He misunderstood her words, and his anger rose up in his chest. He couldn’t believe that she was sticking up for her husband. “Our family is fucked!” he screamed, and then he ran back into his room.
Once Aiden was gone, Taylor finally looked at her hand. She hadn’t realized it until now, but she would need to go to the hospital – and now there was no one to drive her…
Chapter 248: You Are A Perfect Man
When Kylie woke up at two o’clock in the morning, she rolled over and saw Ethan reading beside her. She asked him what he was reading, and he showed her the cover. It was Lady Chatterley’s Lover. “Are you interested?” he wondered.
Kylie frowned. She didn’t know what to say. By now, he should’ve known that she hated reading. Ethan put the book down on the bedside dresser. He stood up and poured Kylie a glass of water. Kylie took a second look at the book.
“Do you remember what happened last night?” Ethan asked her.
“I was drunk,” she sighed. “I think that I remember everything, even if much of it is foggy. I remember escaping out the window and running for our cars. I think I puked half-way there but, if I remember correctly, it was pretty hilarious. I remember us both laughing.”
“I heard that you have a new lover,” Ethan grumbled.
Kylie looked at him and said, “I would be an idiot to leave you. You are a perfect man.”
Ethan snorted and said, “You will eventually have to explain what you were doing in that room, with Cliff, undressed. Just the thought of his eyes on you as he undressed you makes me crazy.”
Kylie stood up quickly, and she said, “Ethan, you misunderstand. I undressed. I swear to God!”
Ethan didn’t believe it. He didn’t see a reason for her to undress if not for his viewing pleasure.
Kylie looked at him and said, “I only took my clothes off for him in the hopes that he would leave me alone.”
Seeing how Kylie was being so honest to him, Ethan decided to forgive her, as for Cliff, though, he decided that he would make him pay. Ethan turned the bedside lamp off and cuddled up beside Kylie. “Let’s go to sleep,” he said. “It’s three o’clock in the morning, and I’m tired.”
Kylie placed her hand on his chest so that she could hear his heartbeat. She closed her eyes, but it was hard for her to fall asleep. After everything that had happened recently, her brain was still trying to process everything that had happened.
Ethan ran his fingers through her hair. He said, “I owe you an apology. Your dress comes from Dora. I shouldn’t have tried to take credit for it. It was wrong of me. I feel awful. It won’t happen again. I promise you.”
Kylie smiled. “If Dora and I fell into the water at the same time, who would you choose to save?”
“You, obviously,” Ethan laughed.
Kylie kissed his jaw, and she said, “I am glad that I am that important to you.”
Ethan’s hand slipped down her back and pinched her ass with a moderate amount of force. “Guess what?” he asked her.
“What?” she replied.
“Oh nothing,” he giggled as he pushed his finger into her anus.
Kylie yelped, and she smiled. “Oh, you cheeky little monkey!”
Since they both usually slept naked, Kylie wasn’t surprised when she felt Ethan’s hand cup her pubic mound. “Shall we,” he wondered.
“I…I…I don’t know,” Kylie replied. “Do we have a condom?”
“We do,” Ethan said as he opened the top drawer in the bedside dresser. “If you put it on for me, I’ll be gentle.”
“Where did you get the condom?!” Kylie wondered in an attempt to change the subject. “Are they hard to find?”
“They can be found at any drug store or convenience store,” he replied. “If you don’t know how to put it on for me, I can walk you through the process.”
Ethan handed Kylie the condom, and step by step, and he showed her how to roll the condom onto his erect member. “Has it even been used by another woman?” she wondered.
“One-time use only,” he replied.
Once the condom was on his hard member, he slid it into her wet core, and she moaned in pleasure. He began to pound against her, and she could not believe how good it was. “Why does it feel so good?” she gasped.
“That is because the condom is ribbed,” he said, “for your pleasure!”
It wasn’t long before they climaxed together and fell asleep in each other’s arms. It was all very romantic.
***
Alice was awakened around midnight by somebody pounding on her door. She put on a coat and went out to see who it was. “Who is it?” she cried.
“It’s me!” Aiden cried. “I’m looking for Khloe!”
Alice didn’t dare to open the door at first until Khloe woke up and told her to. She had been in a daze when she’d gone to bed, which was why she hadn’t woken up at first. She hadn’t even told anyone that she was moving yet, and she had been losing sleep over the matter, which was why she’d begun taking Trazadone to help her sleep. It helped with insomnia but, once she was out, she was really out.
With a foggy head, Khloe stumbled into the living room and, once she was updated on the situation, she said, “Mom, let me take to him. It’s very late at night. I don’t like the idea of him roaming around outside by himself… Don’t worry. Aiden has feelings for me. Even though I betrayed him, he won’t hurt me.”
Khloe opened the door despite Alice’s concern.
The minute she opened the door, Aiden embraced her, and the strong smell of alcohol hit her like a Mac Truck. “Aiden,” she growled, “Why are you so drunk?!?!?”
Aiden’s eyes were bloodshot. He glanced at Alice, who looked worried, and he said, “Khloe, let’s talk in the car.”
“Sure,” Khloe replied.
Aiden and Khloe sat silently in the car for a while until Aiden finally broke the silence. He touched the dashboard of the car and said, “This was a birthday gift…”
Khloe looked at him and said, “It is a nice car…”
Aiden smiled shyly and asked Khloe if she’d ever loved him. She was taken aback by his sudden show of emotion. If Aiden was willing to forgive her, she would accept him back into her life. She could see that he needed help, and she was willing to be there for him. Not knowing where things might go, she clasped him on the shoulder and said, “Aiden, honey, I know I’ve done so many things that irritated you, but I only ever did them because of my love for you.
“I was jealous, though,” she continued. “You treated Kylie so well, and I always felt like Sloppy Seconds.”
Aiden patted her head and kissed her hair. “It was all a misunderstanding,” Aiden sighed. “You were always the one that I loved. If anything, Kylie was Sloppy Seconds. The only time I ever loved Kylie was when you weren’t around!”
Khloe looked at him and said, “If you mean it, then let’s get married in the morning!”
“I will marry you,” he promised, “but you have to wait until I am out of jail.”
When Khloe heard this, she was stunned. “Why are you going to the jail?” she wondered.
“Mostly business stuff,” he replied. “I bribed some people, committed fraud, abused my power, and stole from my business partners.”
Khloe was struck still for a few seconds and, when she finally came to her senses, she tried to climb out of the car. Much to her surprise, though, it was locked, and she couldn’t get out.
“What is this?” Aiden screamed. “You just promised that you’d love me forever – was that a lie?”
Aiden grabbed Khloe’s hair and pulled her into his embrace.
“It was not a lie,” Khloe shrieked. “It’s just that I have to work tomorrow and I need to go back in and go back to sleep!”
Aiden put the back seat into a flat position and pressed Khloe onto her back. “You don’t need to go back,” he said. “It will be just as comfortable here!”
“It will not be just as comfortable,” Khloe cried. “Let me go! Let me go! Please, let me go! Can’t you see that I’m begging you!”
The minute she’d heard that he was going to jail, she’d lost interest in him. However, the way that he was acting, she determined that it wouldn’t be safe for her to speak her mind honestly.
Aiden looked at Khloe intently. He didn’t want to force Khloe to do anything that she didn’t want to do. All he wanted to do was scare her. When she fought back and lied to his face, though, he began to feel annoyed. In retaliation, he grabbed her wrist, twisted it, and bit her on the back of her neck.
“Ouch!” Khloe shrieked. She began to kick and hit him, but she was a week girl, and he barely felt it. He was able to completely ignore her attacks until one stray swing connected with his genitals.
“What the fuck!” Aiden yelled as he let her go. His hands went to his genitals, and he looked at her as a sad dog. “I was just playing. You didn’t need to do that…”
“I’m sorry,” Khloe replied. “It was an accident. I was scared. Please let me go. I love you, and I wish we could be together, but as an actress, I have a reputation to uphold. I would be ruined if it got out that I was with a criminal.”
“Alright,” Aiden sighed as he opened the door for Khloe. He didn’t believe her story, not for a second. As she climbed out, he shouted after her: “Khloe Finch, did you really think that I could love a dirty bitch like you?! Even if you were a whore, no one would want to be with you. Instead, you would have to pay them to be with you!”
Aiden closed the car door and drove away.
In Khloe’s driveway, there was a large puddle. When he hit it, the muddy water splashed Khloe.
Chapter 249: I Am Tired
The next day, when Faith came with the clean clothing, she noticed wounds around Kylie’s waist. When she asked what they were from, Kylie said, “They are nothing but superficial scratches. I got them from climbing out of the window at the hotel after the ceremony. It sounds bad, but it was nothing compared to what happened to Princess Dianna when she tried to get away from the paparazzi!”
“That was very bold of you,” Faith said. “You must have been scared. I can only imagine what would have happened if the reporters had caught sight of you!”
“It was nothing,” Kylie laughed. “I was still drunk at the time. I barely even remember it. At worst, they would have taken pictures of me puking.”
“Be that as it may,” Faith countered. “You also look very tired.”
“I am tired,” Kylie admitted. “I will tell you something in confidence: Ethan and I made love last night. It was very vigorous, but when he woke up, he was chipper and full of energy. With me, though, it is different. When we have sex, I wake up exhausted.”
Faith frowned and said, “I can’t relate to your story but, if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m your Huckleberry.”
“Thank you,” Kylie cried as she hugged Faith. “You are a true friend.”
The day after the party, Cliff’s face began to appear on the internet. Everyone knew that he’d holed up in a hotel room, but no one knew who he’d been with. The next day, when housekeeping opened the room, it was empty, and everyone had assumed that the mysterious woman had escaped through the window with Ethan.
Cliff had updated his Instagram with a short sentence: “To the woman that I love the most, I wish you happiness throughout your life!”
Out of all of the things he could have said, people found this sentence particularly interesting because it implied unrequited love. Almost minutes after it had been posted, the server crashed as countless fans, and media personalities guessed who the woman was. Cliff’s post had already been shared almost two billion times, which he would later learn, was a world record.
The mystery was cleared up days later, though, when Cliff came forward and said, “I’m sorry to disappoint everyone, but my last post was for my mother. It was her birthday.”
The response to his post was mixed. It was definitely disappointing to have the story end so anticlimactically. That being said, many of Cliff’s fans were in love with him, so they were happy when they learned that he was still single.
Kylie felt very nervous as she followed Cliff’s story on the internet. She felt that it was inevitable that she would eventually be connected as the mysterious woman who’d flown out of the window. It was only a matter of time before someone got a hold of the guest list and began to narrow it down to only the women that Cliff knew. Once that was done, it would be a simple thing to pick Kylie out of the list. Her only hope was that the guest list wouldn’t go viral…
If there was any evidence that could prove she was the woman in the room with Cliff, Kylie assumed that the fallout would end her.
Faith drew her iPad form from her bag, opened an internet page, and gave it to Kylie. “Read this,” she said.
Kylie pushed it back and said, “Just read it and give me the Reader’s Digest version.”
“I already read it,” Faith admitted. “An earthquake struck Japan yesterday. There was a mass shooting in Italy this morning. A thousand-year-old turtle was released into its natural habitat. There is a new international clothing brand that everyone is talking about. They are boasting that their clothes’ quality will be high, but their prices will be low. There is speculation that, if their product lives up to their hype, they could put businesses like Oscar de la Renta, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton out of business.
“A film directed by Bob Miller had its opening ceremony yesterday,” Faith continued. “There is also some news about Sally Cooper. It is mostly about the film you will be working on together.”
“Is there any news about Khloe?” Kylie wondered.
“It is very strange,” Faith replied, “but Khloe’s entire life has been swept clean away. I searched for her name, and I didn’t get a single response.”
“I wonder if Faith did this.” Kylie wondered. There is no love between them, but I didn’t even know that it was possible to erase someone from the internet…”
Kylie sat down in front of the mirror in her room and began to do her make-up.
Faith continued to surf the net. Once she was fully satisfied that she wouldn’t find anything about Khloe, she decided to check what Cliff was up to. She typed his name into Google and pressed ‘Enter’.
As the results popped up, Faith was surprised by how few stories there were – and anything that was current had been scrubbed. No one even mentioned his presence at the opening ceremony of Director Miller’s new film. He had even been edited out of the group shots. It was all very mysterious.
Faith might have had reasons for killing Khloe’s online persona, but as far as she knew, she had no beef with Cliff.
In Cliff’s studio, everyone was running around like chickens with their heads cut off. People had begun to notice that he’d been partially scrubbed and had begun to speculate on whether or not he would still be working with Director Miller on his new film.
Not knowing what was going on, Cliff had decided to remain silent, which only led to more public speculation.
“What the hell has happened?” his number one assistant asked him. “A reporter claims that when he tried to upload an image of your face, it immediately disappeared. It is like you have been universally flagged as inappropriate content. In fact, the internet seems to hate you more than it hates kiddy porn…”
Cliff sat down on the sofa. “I don’t know,” he sighed. “It makes me long for the days of old when the internet was nothing but the science fiction nonsense of geeks and nerds… As long as we keep up with the filming schedule and the movie is released on time, we are gold.”
“Yeah,” the assistant laughed. “Stay gold, Ponyboy!”
When Cliff arrived on set, he was bombarded by the press. “What’s your opinion on Director Miller’s new film?” one reporter wondered.
“If I didn’t think it was awesome,” he replied, “I wouldn’t want to be a part of it. I am also excited to be working with Sally. She was crowned as the Best Actress at Cannes Film Festival, as you already knew. I am also honored to work with Kylie. She may be a bit of a newcomer, but I have seen her work. You will not be disappointed. There is no question in my mind that she will play the lead in her next film!”
Right at that exact moment, Kylie stepped out of a car. Faith saw the reporters from afar and suggested that they go through the back entrance.
“No,” Kylie sighed. “If I plan on being a public figure, I need to get used to facing the crowds.”
“Alright,” Faith replied as she took Kylie’s arm and led her up the sidewalk and through the crowd. At the moment, everyone was so focused on Cliff that they didn’t even see Kylie, which upset Kylie a little. She didn’t want to be bombarded the way that she’d seen A-List actors be bombarded, but she had hoped to at least be recognized.
“Please step aside a little,” Faith shouted.
As they reached the end of the crowd, Kylie faced Cliff and called out to him: “Cliff, are you going inside?”
Cliff stared at Kylie and introduced her to the reporters: “Let me introduce you to the up-and-coming actress that I was just talking about. Kylie Finch, why don’t you join me? I am sure that the reporters have as many questions for you as they have for me!”
Chapter 250: I’ll Make Her Pay
Cliff made room for Kylie on the platform, and as soon as she stepped up, the questions came. The first question came from a scrappy little nobody. She had a small stature and only looked to be about twenty-one, yet Kylie sensed that she had a bit of fight in her. “What do you think about playing two parts?” she asked. “You may not be playing the lead, but there is no doubt that the focus will be on you!”
Kylie smiled. She hadn’t thought about it that way before. She had thought about it as if she were playing two half roles that added up to one. Only now did she realize that she was actually playing two roles. “It is a little intimidating,” she admitted as her face turned a light shade of red, “but the team I am working with is great, and I am certain that they will be there to support me.”
The interview went on for almost an hour, and the only reason it had to stop was that Director Miller had sent someone out to collect them.
Throughout it all, Khloe had been watching Kylie from her perch at the gate. As question after question came, she raged and continued to grow, and by the end, she wanted to dash ahead and tear Kylie’s smiling face from her skull – with her bare hands.
Before she’d left home, she’d notice graffiti on her door. It read: Those debts that can’t be paid with cash are eventually paid by other means. Of course, she knew what that meant.
This is all Kylie’s fault; she thought to herself. If it hadn’t been for Kylie, I would still be living the life of a princess. Instead, now, my life is like that of a rat or a garbage grabbing raccoon!
“I will make her pay,” she hissed silently.
Khloe waited until the media had gone away before she entered the studio. The way things were now, the last thing she wanted to do was face the media.
Khloe waited in the green room with all of the other extras who were waiting to be called. Most of them had been picked up on the street, and they were very happy to be there. Not only had Director Miller offered them fifty dollars a day, but they would also be able to say that they were in one of the Millers films.
She had been there for about three hours when Miller popped in. He thanked everyone for coming, told them where the washrooms were when lunch would be served, and who to go to if they needed anything. “The most important thing to remember,” he said, “is that you cannot go on the set unless you are directed to be on the set.
“If anyone breaks this rule,” he continued, “they will be fired, and they will not be paid for any of the work that they’ve done. Considering that any take could be the take we use, everyone needs to understand how important this rule is. Other than that, we are a fun bunch, and I hope you all enjoy yourself.”
Miller was just about to leave when he saw Khloe. “I recognize you,” he said. “Who are you?”
“It is me,” Khloe gushed. “Khloe Finch – sister of Kylie Finch! I play one of the beggars!”
Director rolled his eyes and said, “I’m sorry to say this, but your part has been cut. You can collect your payment for the day at the front door.”
“Cut?” Khloe cried. “You can’t cut me. My dad invested money into this production so that I could have this role!”
“Your father must have been mistaken,” Miller replied. “We hire qualified people to play roles. We look for investors, but we do not take bribes. This film will be successful, and everyone who invested in the film will have their money returned to them with significant interest. This is how business is run in Hollywood.
“Furthermore,” Miller continued. “I am aware of your father’s condition. Let this role of yours go and be happy. Once the film hits theaters, the money will begin to roll in, and you will be able to pay your father’s hospital bills, and you won’t have to live in squalor anymore.
“If we took bribes, the quality of our films would go down, and everyone would lose in the end. If that doesn’t make sense to you, I am sorry, but I don’t have time to get into it any more than I already have. Feel free to grab a bite to eat on your way out.”
Khloe was angry, but she refused to let it show. She actually was hungry, but she doubted they would feed her if she made a scene. Once Miller was gone, she put on her jacket, crossed the hall, and into the room where lunch was being prepared. She looked at the chef and said, “This is embarrassing, but I was just fired. I don’t want to have to face my sister, who is one of the lead actresses. Do you think I could get my lunch to go?”
The chef rolled his eyes and said, “If you were fired, I need to feed everyone else first. Once they are done eating, you can take as much of the leftovers as you’d like.”
When Kylie was changing her clothes and preparing to go to the makeup room, she saw Khloe arguing with the chef. Curious about what was going on, Kylie walked over and asked what was going on. The chef smiled and told Kylie everything. Hearing Khloe’s story, Kylie felt empathy for her, and she told the chef to give Khloe her share. “If I have to,” she concluded, “I will skip lunch.”
“Never mind,” Khloe hissed as she turned and stormed away.
“That was really strange,” the chef commented.
“Indeed it was,” Kylie admitted. “We are sisters, though. Over time, you get used to each other’s quirks…”
Kylie watched the makeup artist as she performed magic on her face. “I don’t know how you do this,” Khloe laughed. “You could turn John Merrick into an angel!”
The makeup artist looked at her funny and said, “Who’s John Merrick?”
“I can’t believe you’ve never heard of John Merrick,” Kylie replied. “He was born in1862 with severe facial deformities. In his early twenties, he joined the carnival, and people called him ‘The Elephant Man’. There is even a movie about him. Anthony Hopkins is in it.”
“I’ve never heard of it,” the makeup artist admitted, “but from what you’re saying, it sounds like no amount of makeup could have helped him.”
Kylie said, “I know. It was just a joke.”
As the makeup artist applied eyeliner, she said, “Kylie, your skin is really good. I don’t know how I’m going to turn you into a dirty little village girl…”
Kylie laughed and looked at herself in the mirror a little more closely and said, “I have heard that some actresses use a kind of injection into their face when they are trying to alter their appearance. What do you think? Would that help me?”
The makeup artist frowned and said, “I don’t use that technique, and I don’t recommend it. There is nothing that it does that I cannot do – and there are side effects to the injections. Don’t tell anyone, but Sally has had injections. Now there are lumps on her face. I can cover them up, but it wouldn’t be necessary if she hadn’t used them in the first place…”
The next time that Kylie saw Sally, she couldn’t help but look for the lumps. The makeup artist was as good as she claimed to be, though, and she couldn’t see the lumps.
In Kylie’s first scene, she was wandering through the market. Occasionally she picked up an apple or some other produce, but she purchased nothing. To the casual observer, she was just another shopper on the prowl for that one special ingredient to go with the soup she had simmering back home. Looking at her, there was no way of knowing that she was on a mission to end someone’s life.
At one stall, an elderly woman grabbed her and said, “Buy some broccoli.”
It was a prearranged code, and the elderly woman was her contact. The elderly woman exchanged the broccoli for cash and palmed a piece of paper into the assassin’s hand.
“Is there anything you need for tomorrow?” the old woman wondered.
“Two pounds of pork,” the assassin replied. It was all doublespeak – a language that few people understood.
A few blocks down, the assassin tossed the broccoli into the garbage.
Director Miller looked at the monitor and smiled in satisfaction. He could tell that Kylie had really studied the screenplay carefully, and when it came time for her to perform as a blind person, she did just as well as she had when she was an assassin.