Authors: Beth Ashworth
She saw him bristle slightly. “Don’t always read what the tabloids say,” he warned
her gently. “Those people are willing to sell their souls for whatever piece of juicy gossip they can get their hands on, regardless of whether it’s the truth or not.”
Although she had completely lied about reading up on him, she didn’t let on because she was already trying to dig
out of the hole she had created. Everyone on the planet seemed to know who Callum Ellis was apart from her. She had only learned of him through conversations with Gabby and Marco following his appointment as International Operations Director, but he was supposedly well known before this.
Ashley’s eyes widened. “
Oh!” she exclaimed louder than intended. “You must know a close friend of mine, Marco Conti?”
“Ah, yes. Marco runs our central Milan boutique. I know that he is
here in London at the moment as he has tragically lost his sister in a horrific accident,” Callum explained with a rue smile.
“At the moment?” she mumbled under her breath.
It was possible that he hadn’t heard about his recent departure. Clearly he was too busy a man to know these things.
Ben puffed out his chest awkwardly. “Apologies for the outburst, Callum, but Ashley is a little sensitive at the moment. She and Mr Conti’s sister, Gabriela, were very close friends, so her loss was quite a shock. But thank you
for your time this evening, I hope your event runs smoothly,” he said, turning Ashley away from Callum and leading her back to her seat.
As she sat back down, she noticed the room had drastically filled during the short length of time she had been talking to Mr Ellis and his wife. Looking around their table, she found many unfamiliar faces staring back at her. Usually, every
body knew each other at these functions because the same people were mainly invited to each. Unfortunately, given her time away from the circle, she had now fallen out of touch with people over the years, so they were merely strangers to her now.
“
Why were you talking to Callum about Marco? Please, can we not mention him for the rest of tonight? I want to have an evening away from any drama if we can help it,” Ben said, fiddling with the name card on the table.
Her head jerked to the side as she studied Ben’s expression. His brows were drawn together and his lip had curled
slightly. He actually seemed pissed that she had spoken to Callum, which was really rich considering the bomb he had managed to drop.
“
That’s fine, but what about you? Oh, this is my
fiancée
, Ashley,” she whispered back, making sure to keep her voice low. “You said that you understood me!”
“I do!”
“Then why aren’t you showing me?”
Ben placed
a hand under the table to grip her thigh. He applied a little pressure as he turned to look at her with a sickly sweet smile. “Please can we stop acting like this in front of everyone?”
Dropping her hand to her thigh, Ashley
gently removed Ben’s touch. “So, how do you know Callum Ellis?” she asked, deciding to change the subject as her curiosity was becoming more than she could handle.
Ben picked up his champagne flute and gulped back the remaining liquid. “He gave me a loan to start the dental practice with Patrick and Gabby.”
This news was unexpected. “I thought your parents would have helped you with that?”
“They would have
,
eventually
. But they wanted me to try and do it on my own first, and I did. Callum was more than happy to invest in our start-up business, so I owe that man a lot.”
“I underst—”
“Excuse me a moment,” Ben apologised, pulling his vibrating mobile phone from a concealed pocket of his suit. He glanced down at the screen and grimaced, before pushing back his chair and leaving the table.
A
shley watched as he discreetly weaved through the tables of people towards the exit. His head was dropped as if he was trying to keep his voice low.
“
I hate these sorts of events,” a feminine voice spoke softly from the chair beside her. Turning to her right, Ashley was surprised to find that Charlie Ellis had occupied Ben’s seat, her expression knitted with confusion at the sight of him leaving. “It’s even worse when you are hosting it.”
“Yeah,” Ashley murmured.
“Is he taking a business call?” Charlie asked, her eyes glimmering softly with the dimmed lighting in the room as she watched Ben leave.
“I’m honestly not sure,” Ashley replied with a
brief shrug. “It must be important because he wouldn’t usually just leave like that.”
She watched as Charlie narrowed her eyes and moistened her
bottom lip slightly. “I’ve been in your position before, Ashley, and it most definitely isn’t fun. It’s not any sort of base to start a marriage from either, so I suggest that you both lay it all out on the line now.”
“
I don’t know what you mean?” Ashley tried not to understand Charlie despite her knowing exactly what she was getting at.
Charlie shifted in her seat and propped her elbows on the table. “
You don’t seem really bothered by it? Is it not that sort of relationship between you?”
A cough erupted
from the back of Ashley’s throat. This conversation was starting to make her uneasy. She didn’t really know Charlie, yet she appeared to be forthcoming in wanting to analyse her supposed relationship with Ben.
“Please can everyone find their seats?” A deep and throaty voice rumbled over a microphone.
Ashley was immediately grateful for the announcement as Charlie flashed a quick smile and headed to the table beside them to take a seat with her husband.
Watching them discreetly, she watched as
Charlie cuddled into her husband while he spoke with another gentleman across the table. Callum shook his head softly after a few minutes before snaking an arm around her to pull her close. It was cute and not something that you usually saw at such a stiff function.
“So
rry about that,” Ben apologised again as he sat back down beside her. “I had to take a business call.” He leaned backward and caught onto a waiter that was passing by. “Can I have another glass of champagne?” he asked, helping himself to a flute from the tray.
“Ladies and gentleman, thank you for attending this event tonight in aid of the Ellis Family Foundation. My wife and I flew in especially for tonight, and we are pleased and honoured to have so many of you in attendance,” Callum announced with a microphone in his hand.
Ashley turned towards the stage where Callum was
now standing. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ben knocking back his champagne, but chose to ignore him. It didn’t matter if he got himself arsehole drunk, because it wasn’t as if she were going home with him tonight. Her attention was going to be focused solely on the charity they were supporting and that was it.
“Right, now enough of my little speech,” Callum laughed ten or so minutes later. “I think that we are about ready for food
, aren’t we?” He placed the microphone back onto the stand and helped his wife to their table in time for the food that was being placed in front of everyone.
“Thank you,” Ashley smiled as a waitress put a plate in front of her. “Are you not eating?” she asked, looking at the empty space in front of
Ben.
“No,” he muttered, his interest
suddenly seeming to be captured by something on the far side of the room. She tried to follow his gaze, but struggled to see what he was looking at.
By the time the main courses had been placed in front of them, Ben had completely gone into his own little trance. Under the table, Ashley could feel his leg bouncing up and down, his tension starting to become a problem as it
was affecting those sat around them.
Spearing a p
iece of asparagus with her fork and raising it to her lips, Ashley sighed deeply. It seemed that things were just going from bad to worse tonight. She wondered how things would be if she approached her father to see if he would arrange a car to take her back to her flat. She couldn’t put up with this silence for much longer. And it wasn’t as if she
actually
needed to be there anymore. Now that she had made contact with Callum Ellis, it would be relatively simple for her to obtain Marco’s number. And once she had that, she would be laughing. She would have one up on her mother in the end, which wasn’t bad for a night’s work after all.
“
Is everything alright?” Ashley asked as she finished off her pudding.
She heard Ben grumble something under his breath before he stood sharply.
His reaction shocked her and those sat around the table. Placing her cutlery onto her plate, she rose to her feet and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“What’s going on, Ben?”
“Its nothi—” He cut off and reached into his pocket once again. Pressing the phone against his ear, he snapped his head towards the exit. “What?” he barked, easing himself away from the table.
“Ben!” Ashley
hissed, trying not to draw attention to them. She had never seen this sort of reaction from him before and it was starting to scare her. “Where are you going?” she asked, gathering the front of her dress so that she could follow him.
He was upset with somebody on the phone, but he wouldn’t tell her who it was.
She could hear his hushed but harsh tone as she silently followed behind him. He sounded irritated and had no problem in letting the person on the other end of the phone know.
“This isn’t a game!” he suddenly shouted as they approached the double doors
that led out from the gallery. Ashley flinched at his sudden harshness. She wasn’t sure if he had spotted her trailing behind yet.
“Right, where are you Melissa?” Ben snapped as they stepped out of the gallery and into a long and winding hallway.
Ashley’s feet glued themselves to the floor at the mere mention of Melissa’s name. It was most definitely not who she expected to be on the other end of the phone. After all, he had said that it was a business call. What business would he have with her? And what was so important that it couldn’t wait until morning?
Questions plagued her mind as she watched Ben forcefully stride towards the end of the corridor. He turned right at the very end and disappeared from view, leaving her with a decision to make. Did she follow and ambush him, or did she go back to the table to play the pretend fiancée
until he returned?
“Fuck it,” she said with a shrug.
Reaching the end of the hallway, she heard the distinct sound of Ben’s agitated voice. She paused and leaned back against the wall. Eavesdropping wasn’t usually her style, but she was in a needs must situation where there wasn’t any other option.
“What
do you think you’re playing at? How did you even get in here?” She heard Ben’s voice rising steadily from around the corner.
“You bastard!”
The sound of skin hitting skin echoed along the narrow hallway causing Ashley to gasp loudly. Raising her hand to her mouth to stifle her sudden outburst, she tried to remain quiet as Melissa’s screeches carried on around her.
“That’s rich coming from you. So while you’re off flouting about with that rich bitch, I’m the one that has to just stick
around and wait?” Melissa cried out as the sound of a further slap echoed.
“And how do you think I feel about all of this? Do you think that I’m
actually
enjoying
what’s going on right now? I don’t like it one bit. And I’m pissed off that you’ve turned up here... with
him
of all people. Do you know how dangerous it is? What if she sees him? I don’t know where your head is at tonight. Are you purposely trying to get a rise out of me, or are you trying to play me at my own game?”
“
I needed to come and speak to you, but I couldn’t get inside uninvited. Then
he
showed up and offered to let me in with him. But don’t worry, he didn’t see her and he’s already left, so your little plan is safe. But don’t worry about me or anything, you just keep thinking about yourself.”
“
Don’t give me that shit! Everything I’m doing right now is for
you
. Do you think I would even look twice at her if it wasn’t for all the money and property she’s set to inherit? She’s got nothing on you, baby,” he tried to explain. “Look, I know that the plan came together sooner than we hoped, but we couldn’t just pass up this opportunity with Gabby dying. She’s going to be vulnerable now which is why I’ve brought up the marriage proposal sooner. You just need to stick this out for a little longer. I’m going to play every card in my hand to get her to marry me. And once she does, you and I have got it made. Her mother has promised me that her father wants to hand over the business as soon as possible, so once they do, half of it will be ours.”
“Well, we are going to need it. There isn’t much money left, Ben. You’ve blown most of it on those dates and that stupid engagement ring!”
Ashley stiffened and shook her head in disbelief at what she was hearing. She pushed her back firmly into the wall to balance her now unsteady legs. It was like she had just been punched in the gut. He had just been using her to get to the one thing that repulsed her more than anything... her parents’ money. And he was only doing this because he had a loophole with Gabby’s death.