After a few minutes, I decided that the big quiet house was starting to get to me. I needed to do something before I slowly went insane. The first thing I did was call my best friend who had to go into hiding from the eyes of the media just like I did. But she was in a worse situation than me. Her boyfriend of five years was part of Jax Moon’s scandal.

“You get arrested for murder?” I asked as soon as she answered my phone call. Her face filled up the screen of my phone.

“They won’t even let me anywhere near him enough to murder him,” she complained, “You think you know someone after five years and he turns out as a complete sleeze bag.”

“How bad was it?” curiosity made me ask that question.

“They broke down my door. I’m not home enough to know that he was stashing some of the stuff in my guest room. I’m facing charges,” she said, almost in tears, “My life is ruined because I loved and trusted the wrong person.”

If I knew where she was hiding, I would have left this house to go to her. My best friend didn’t deserve something like this. I’m sure there were some magazines already saying how someone like her who came from rags would live a life like this. But Em was the most honest person I knew. Sadly she was also too trusting of people.

“At least with Jax you knew what you were getting yourself into. I had no idea that my boyfriend was just like him,” she said through tears, “I almost accepted his proposal. I was going to marry a criminal, Riley.”

“It’s not your fault, Em. He was just really good at pretending and showing you what he wanted you to see,” I reassured her.

It took everything I had to not remind her that her boyfriend was Jax’s best friend. Even though he had the image of a saint compared to Jax, there was obviously more than what we were seeing. But she didn’t need to hear that right now. Em needed someone to comfort her and reassure her that it wasn’t her fault to fall for a trap that was Julian Wade.

So instead of scolding her. I just let her cry it out and complain because I was a good friend. Em just needed someone to listen to her until she felt better. Then she would turn the focus to me. I’m sure she had so many questions about what was all going on. I just wasn’t sure I trusted her enough to tell her the full truth.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

It only took about five minutes before Em dried her tears and then gave me a serious look. Her puffy red eyes only made her look more fierce, “So what is this engagement I keep hearing about?”

“Trust me, I had no idea about it until today,” I told her, “It’s something my mother arranged in order to save my skin and career.”

Em rolled her eyes and made a dramatic exaggeration, “What would your mother do if her precious daughter lost her image as the movie industry’s angel?”

I giggled a little, “Stop it. She means well since she worked so hard to help me get to where I am.”

“How did she take you dating Jax Moon?” Em suddenly asked. I hesitated to answer, making her look at me in shock, “She doesn’t know that you are dating Jax Moon?!”

I held up a finger to my lips to quiet her down, “She only knows that I was hanging around him. And I wouldn’t even call it dating when he didn’t take me anywhere.”

“That’s right. You were the love sick puppy that he only paid attention to when it was convenient,” she mentioned, “Now tell me was the sex worth it?”

Not even bothering to answer her question, I just glared at her. She knew that it wasn't something I talked about. I wasn’t like her. Also the number of times Jax and I actually had sex could be counted on one hand. He always came up with excuses to cancel any plans we made. Or, he would just show up late at night at my house completely drunk and just pass out on my bed. By morning he was long gone.

Suddenly the sound of a door closing somewhere in the house made me jump. I got up from where I was sitting and left the bedroom to see who walked through the door. Em stayed quiet but was ready to make any calls if she needed to. But the sight of Zaden walking into his office at the foot of the stairs made me relax a little.

“It looks like Zaden is home,” I told Em.

“Zaden? Is that the guy your mother set you up with? Is he hot?” Em started shooting questions.

I glared at her, “I’ll call you later.”

She protested as I ended our call as I headed for the office that Zaden had entered. I found him looking through a book that had some words on it that confused me. He glanced at me before going back to reading.

“I’m not staying long. I just needed to look something up,” he told me as he turned the page, “It’s a complicated case and I need to get myself familiar with it for the best outcome.”

“That’s right, you said you were a surgeon,” I mentioned, “What kind of surgeon are you?”

“Neurosurgery,” he answered as if he was stating a fact in the book he was reading.

I was a little taken aback by what he said. But the more I looked at him, the more I could see it. He carried himself like a highly respected surgeon and to be one in a difficult specialty was impressive.

“Why did you decide to go into that field?” I heard myself ask.

He looked up from his book and stared me right into the eyes, “Because I needed to be just as impressive as the woman I admired.”