Rachel had let herself out of the car as it came to a stop in front of the small complex with the temporary office Francis had rented for the day.
She didn't think Nate would want to be seen in front of the complex with her, maybe a back alley packing would have been more appropriate. But then again, she had been seen with Nate more than twice now but she still found it surprising that he didn’t care to be seen with her – must come with the knowledge of knowing the public loved him whether or not he found himself in a scandalous situation. Since he didn't worry about it, she forced herself not to worry too.
He hadn’t kissed her goodbye but then again they were hardly romantically involved and he hadn’t kissed her since the last time, he wasn’t a man to kiss after all.
All he had said as she came down was, “Make sure you’re here when Tom arrives.”
She arched a brow guessing this was a situation where resistance from her side was necessary as he wanted. “What if we are not done by then?”
He tilted a corner of his lips, she took that as a sign of approval. “You will be here waiting for him.” The arrogance in his voice reminded her of the first time she met him in his office and how he had boldly invited her into his bed. The man was an expert at demanding and throwing orders. “I will have a dress sent to your bedroom, when you’re done here Tom will you bring you to the 45th Bistro –“ it was a chic restaurant opened by the recently retired actress Stephanie Hill. “I’ll be waiting for you with some friends. Don't make me wait."
“Yes, sir,” Rachel responded thinking excitedly to herself, stage 2 is getting hotter, Rivers. It was stated in the contract after all that he could pick her outfit and decide what was generally best for her.
“Good. Tom, drive.”
She watched him leave before strolling toward the complex. She had barely gotten more than a few steps when the door of the office Francis rented flew open. The tall thin man excitedly came out with a wide smile plastered on his face.
“Miss Rivers I’m so glad you could make it.”
She put out her hand to shake his, sharing his enthusiasm. Larry was right behind Francis beaming with smiles. “The pleasure is all mine, Francis. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
Francis rested a hand on the small of her back and led her back to the office where the photographers and makeup artists were checking to make sure they had everything they needed. Larry held an empty folder which she assumed he planned to use to collect the pictures from today’s shoot so he would send them as fast as possible to the right magazines for publishing.
“Was that lover boy dropping you off?” Larry asked once he got her to himself.
Rachel rolled her eyes. “Nate is not a lover boy, Larry. Get your damn nose out of my business.”
“Whatever. Anyways, I have a good feeling about this,” he gushed. “You seem calmer about this than I am." He eyed her with mock suspicion."
"That's because I am trying to be positive, Larry."
"Good for you, I'm going to try some positivity too. Anyway, do you want to hear the latest gossip from ABN or do you want to finish the shoot first?”
“Larry you know I feed and live on gossip, let me know what happening in ABN it’s not like anyone is missing me there now is there?”
Francis was calling the cars that would move them to the shoot location. Apparently, he wanted some shots on the overground and underground train station and some shots in the bar of a five-star hotel that had given him permission for the shoot in exchange for some pictures to use on their website.
“You still have Ben and Mark on your side, ya know? Anyways the latest gossip is Ben is planning to leave the network and the Allen Brothers are running out of ideas to keep him with them. He told me they offered him a 70% revenue share to keep him.”
Rachel’s eyes bulged.
“70%?” she echoed Larry’s words. “That’s huge and unusual for the Brothers.”
Larry shrugged. “You should probably call Ben, he’s been trying to reach you for a while and I suspect it’s because of this. He wouldn’t tell me why they are fighting to keep him with them but I suspect he wants to tell YOU about it.”
“I should call him now then, it’s been a while since we spoke.”
Larry stopped her as she reached for her phone. “We don’t time for that, you can call him after the shoot.”
Rachel made a mental note to call him. Maybe she could offer some support to get him out of ABN, he was a loyal friend after all.
The cars arrived and everyone got into them to the first location for the shoot where Rachel was put in various outfits and made to strike different poses for the cameras. Francis directed the shots and Rachel loved him. He was excellent at his job, he knew what colors were good for her complexion, knew her best sides and angles and he explored them to the fullest. Even his crew, though exhausted by the time they got to the hotel, loved him because he was efficient in his profession.
In every location, there had been onlookers and Rachel was happy to note that no one was staring daggers at her. Well, what can I say? Being with Nate does perform wonders for one's public image.
Although her pleasure at the lack of hostility was about to come to an end when after the last pictures in the hotel bar. For this last shot she had coupled up with a young male model in a suit designed by Francis and another designer friend of his, holding whiskey glasses and laughing in each other’s faces, she was approached by a tall, severe-looking woman with her auburn hair pulled up into a tight bun and dressed in a black suit requesting to speak with her.
Rachel left the model who had obviously been flirting with her throughout the shoot. He reminded her of Leo – whatever happened to that kid anyway? Nate had refused to talk about him but to anyone who was curious, Leo had suddenly gotten a dirt bike, some cash and was now planning to open a bar of his own.
“Hi,” Rachel said in a friendly manner.
The woman simply nodded before bringing out several sheets of paper stapled together. She pushed them into Rachel’s chest.
“You’ve been served.”
Divorce papers?!
Rachel stared dumbfounded at the papers she had expected, yet it still took her by surprise. She looked up to question the woman about them only to discover she had already left, walking briskly toward the door.
Well well, that’s a good way to get served.
But as she flipped through the pages of the supposed divorce papers her heart sank as she realized they weren’t divorce papers. It was a contract crafted by her cunning husband Jacob Henderson.
The bastard!